Mon 11 February 2008 - Not everybody made it
This year marks the 20th anniversary of my leaving high school, and the Old Boys’ Association has a reunion dinner organised which I’ll certainly be going to. I’m even thinking I might go early for the tour of the school, to see how it’s changed. (A teacher I knew at a different school is now principal, for a start.)
The MHSOBA web page has a summary listing of which ex-students they know about: name, years at the school, postcode. The postcodes are mostly in Victoria, with the odd UK (or possibly Canadian) format postcode, and one or two at five-digits, apparently in the USA. One I know to be Polish, and a couple in formats I don’t recognise. Some are blank - out of contact.
And there’s another column: “Dec”. Of the roughly three hundred names, three four have this column filled-in. If I’m reading it right, these are the people who — like my friend Charles (who attended another school) — didn’t make it to their 20th anniversary year. It was a big year group, and I didn’t know these guys personally, but that saddens me a bit.
Maybe we should toast them on the night.