1960 Volkswagen for $1,500 (it was sitting in a garage for the last 20 years!) with plans on getting it running and driving it to the reunion.

I'm also living in Ojai, married for 24 years to Gayle Wyborny, class of 1971. We have one child, a son, who lives with us and works in Ojai. (Tom also has one living at home - in his case the guest house - our generation wanted to leave home as soon as possible, while the current generation seems very happy to stay forever!). I'm been involved in the office furniture industry for almost 25 years, and for the last 13 years have been an independent consultant working with furniture dealerships across North America. Lots of traveling, but I enjoy the work and I do get to visit cities throughout the U.S. I'm the pacifist of the reunion team (someone has to counter Tom's hunting for fun and taxidermy), although I do enjoy good food (sushi in Calabasas; The French Laundry in Yountville; Tru in Chicago) and recently have been working obsessively (my wife's word - I said working hard) to fill my iPod with jazz and oldies.

Some other classmates have sent information on what they have been doing since school:

Tom Burola is trying to make it to the reunion, but he's not completely sure he will make it. He is an "International Consultant" currently working in Afghanistan where he's helping uncover archeological sites. Our last email from him:
"This is Tom Burola in Afghanistan working at the 3rd century (15 century's) Buddha site for UNESCO on the Silk Road. What a project! Helping rebuild two giant Buddhas (170 and 114 feet high) plus maybe finding a few other lost treasures."
I only get to travel to places like Peoria, Illinois, or Birmingham, Alabama - Tom seems to get to go to much more interesting places.

Kathy Buckstaff also won't be able to make the reunion, but she sent this information on what she's been doing since high school:
"I've been living in Branson, Missouri, for 14 years, working as the Branson Bureau Chief covering this fascinating town for the Springfield News-Leader, a large regional newspaper based in Springfield. I've been happily married for 11 years now—my third and last attempt at this marriage thing. I've had three books published including two murder mysteries (Evil Harmony and No One Dies in Branson). I have all my hair and only 5 pounds overweight, so life is good." Kathy has me beat both on the hair and the weight.

Susan (Strong) Lewis lives in Long Beach and has had an interesting career:
"My career has been less straight forward. I graduated from UCLA and then later got an MBA from Pepperdine. Worked for several high-tech startups mostly doing marketing (although in a startup, you do lots of different things). In 1988 I was recruited to manage a National Science Foundation-sponsored research center at Caltech. Spent the next 8 years involved in research management, first in molecular biotechnology and then in engineering. I was then recruited to run another NSF center at USC. This center specializes in multimedia and Internet technologies. Among my responsibilities there was the design and buildout of the office space and research labs. The faculty director of the center became Dean of the USC School of Engineering in 2001 and appointed me Associate Dean...in charge of all the School's facilities. I've done a LOT of renovations, office and lab moves and my most recent project was designing, building and outfitting a new engineering building that opened in Feb. As of July 1, I am moving to the USC Provost's office to work on strategic planning as liaison between the academic units and capital construction."

Bob Clopper came down from Chico last weekend and went to the VHS Brown Bag reunion with Tom and me. The Brown Bag reunion is an annual event for all VHS graduates - though most of the attendees were from the 50's and 40's (one woman there graduated in 1936!). Gary Amar (class of '64) is the president of the VHS Alumni Foundation, a non-profit set up to help and promote Ventura High School. Gary will be at our reunion and I hope some of you will join the Alumni Foundation ($25 per year or $250 for a lifetime membership). There is a quarterly newsletter and the foundation is working to help VHS with funding of some projects.

Bob Sanders lives in Ojai, still involved in racing with his firm Titan Speed Engineering. From their website comes some background:
"Titan's roots run deep, indeed — all the way back to the late Sixties, when company cofounders Bob and Heather Sanders began racing a series of FoMoCo-motivated machines on California drag strips. The husband-and-wife team ultimately advanced to a Fontana-powered Top Alcohol Dragster that regularly qualified in tough West Coast NHRA competition (and established Heather as one of the fastest females in drag racing). They financed their dragster with Bob's earnings as an oil-systems engineer with Conoco. This oil-field experience with giant pumping systems made Bob a welcome addition to the loose-knit group of racers who began building experimental Top Fuel oil pumps and Hemi rocker arms under the name of Titan Speed Engineering. When Bob and Heather Sanders bought out their partners in 1992, Sanders Clutches was brought under the Titan umbrella."
And to think that I get excited when I go 90 on the 5 freeway!

Lin Rolens still lives in Santa Barbara and is still writes as well as ever. She was recently in Eastern Europe and sent this:
"Lithuania is lovely, and rural; whole families forking hay onto horse drawn carts, men riding bicycles carrying grim-reaper scythes to work, a husband stands fanning flies from cow's eyes while wife milks into metal can beneath, farm wives selling strawberries that dissolve in your mouth by the side of the road. Riga in Latvia is ancient and sophisticated, beautiful and self-confident. Spent a day with Eric Tetris; lots of good food and a wonderful classical concert. Lots and lots of farm land again and wildflowers, often, as far as you can see. Skies filled with big, sofa-bed clouds that stop every so often to deliver driving rain for 2 minutes."

Bill Glassley works at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Northern California, and will miss the reunion as he is doing research in Greenland. He sent this in an email:
"Living in the Bay Area is nice, because of the fine restaurants popping up all the time, good ones that have stood the test of time, and great ones that will always be standards (e.g., Chez Panisse). I've also gotten interested in the wine world and spent sometime playing in that. Travelling has been a great opportunity to explore both of those worlds - I feel very lucky to be in a job that requires world traveling (you have to go to the rocks since they can't be shipped to you). In that regard, Ileave for Greenland this Saturday, and will be gone for a month (hence missing the reunion). Sad to say, though, Greenland cuisine is pretty basic (fish, caribou, seal, whale, or birds and potatoes). But, the scenery more than makes up for it."

Others we've heard from (and I'll get information up on them later if they have sent me anything) are: Ricky Graey, Sue (Lyons) Beevers, Stuart Hall, Lee Van Slyke, Janet (Splies) Anderson, Graham Town, Karen Smithson, Glen Hoover, Ed Hessemer, Mark Meierding, Dan Lehnhoff, Weldon Thiele, Judy (Tramel) Osborne, Jerry (Schultz) Wise, Chuck Yuva, Stan Ellsworth, Ray Houle, Phillis Trevor, Neal Mace, Phil Ranger, Lorraine (Barajas) Megowan, John Getchell, John Wright, Ron Garcia, Gary Leiper, Alan Plasch, Judy (Stamps) Lehnhoff, Dale Towne, Vikki (Grenig) French, Robert Shultz, David Anderson, Pat (Stanley) Orzech, Darrel Bice, Mike Cadwell and some others that I just can't remember right now.