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Hi - if you haven't already, add your "bio" and "Then and Now" pictures to this page, or sign in on the guest book page, and don't forget to RSVP if you are planning on attending the reunion. |
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![]() ![]() From Harry: UDHS for me brings fond memories of rock and roll, Livesy Lane and frankly, not a whole lot more. My dearest friends were Carol Kravitz (Gray), Wayne Becker (may he rest in a more peaceful place now), Wendy Milgrom, Neil Roseman (UDHS ’72), Connie McNutt and Beth Roseman. They called me “Berlez.”
In ’68 I began working at the Electric Factory @ 22nd and Arch (my brother David was managing the company) and helping produce EFC concerts at the Spectrum, Academy of Music, Walnut Street Theatre, Univ of Penn and in the tri-state area. I was deeply involved in the Atlantic City Pop Festival 10 days before Woodstock and basically met, played pinball with and took care of every rock band that came thru Philly thru ‘74. Janis, Jimi, Dylan, Who, Dead, Stones…you get the picture. If I had a Nikon then, I could have been Annie Leibowitz.
In ’71 I moved to 12th and Rodman and began attending Temple in Psychology/English. I was dating Barbara, the Sandy Run JrHS art teacher. Being deeply distracted by love as well as the seizure of the student union, I was asked to leave 2 years later for lack of grades to support my financial aid. In ’72 I met Peggy at a Seals & Crofts concert at the Spectrum and we never parted for 10 years. We married (I was 19 and she 20) in ‘73 after returning from the amazing Watkins Glen Rock Festival in NY which had nearly 600k people who were mostly naked and very high on love. We also got saved (yes, born again, baptized in water, deacon of the church, teaching Sunday school and witnessing on the street to save others) Don’t laugh too hard, Bob Dylan did it several years later!
We returned to school at Philly Comm College and I changed my major to education as Peggy was having fun teaching pre-school in a head-start program in the ghetto.
We both moved to Providence Rhode Island where in ’75 I finished my BS in Elementary Education (magna cum laude-get out!) and in ’77 my M.Ed. in Elementary Education with a focus on Gifted & Talented (G&T)/Language Arts (summa cum laude-look it up!!). I sent all of my Dean’s list notices to the UDHS guidance counselor who told me “auto-mechanics might be a good fit.”
My teaching career began at the Wheeler School in Providence in ‘75, a private boarding school that went co-ed that year. My first class was 13 third graders. (I am close friends with several of them today-salary $7,500!) Peggy was teaching nursery school at the Jewish Comm Center. In ’76 we became “boarding parents” and lived on campus helping raise 3 teenage girls until ’79. I was also politically active with Greenpeace (GP), the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the Clamshell Alliance and help stop the building of the Seabrook Nuke plant and in unison with many others, chained myself to nuke subs at Groton, Conn on inaugural launch day.
In ’79 we moved to Denver leaving our dearest friends Leroy & Diane Davis behind for me to take a job at the Grayland Country Day School and Peg went to work in the Aurora Public Schools. We were rich now as my salary had soared to $14k! While in Providence, I had applied to Harvard to get my PHD with Larry Kohlberg teaching about post Piagetian theory of his own called “cognitive moral development.” I got accepted to Harvard but for $10k per year and Larry said I only had “5 years experience in the private sector schools, go get 5 years in the public sector.” So I took his advice and moved to the Aurora Public Schools where I taught G&T in 5th grade and wrote federal grants to get Apple IIe computers in all the schools. I taught an enriched curriculum English “open classroom” style with filmmaking, photography, puppetry, cooking, model rocketry, organic gardening and solar cooking all replacing text books and dittos.
My students and their parents nominated me for Colorado State Teacher of the Year (CTY) in ’81 and I was the runner up! Peggy and I went our separate way that year after seeing every state in the US together (except Alaska & Hawaii) and touring Europe on food stamps and NDSL college loans several times. My activism continued at GP & AFSC and now I was on the board of Directors of both. Began my PHD at CU Boulder in computer education of the G&T and got deeply involved in the Rocky Flats Coalition to stop nuke weapon manufacturing. Along with many others, I chained myself to the train tracks at the plant during a large protest.
In ’82 I met my 2nd life partner, Kelly in a hot tub at a GP board meeting. We fell quickly and deeply and moved in together. I spent the summer of ’83 backpacking throughout Alaska and interviewed for a teaching job in Anchorage (salary was $54k!) while she worked as a paralegal. In ’84 she decided to become a lawyer and in June moved to Hawaii to go to UH Law school. Her mom, dad & I wept at the airport. I decided to leave teaching because after 10 years, ½ way through my PHD and CTY honors, I was making $23k. I realized if I was ever to own a home, car, support and family and travel in style, I needed to come up with more green.
I spent my summer in Denver planning my final career change. I thought about buying a Haagen Daz ice cream franchise but the $250k was prohibitive, and a National Video franchise would have made me the star of “Clerks” but also didn’t work out. So I kept coming back to the “Teacher” job ads in Denver Post where I saw and ad that said “Teachers make great Financial Planners (FP).” It was run by an AMEX company so I called to ask “what is a FP and do I have to be able to balance my check book?” (which had no money in it) I spent the better part of 3 months in the library researching why AMEX had bought this company IDS from Minnesota, what’s a broker, who are the players and what are my chances of being a success? So in 9-84 I officially started training with IDS/AMEX in Denver. Kelly was doing well but our phone bills were out of control and she kept sending me the jobs from the Honolulu Advertiser. AMEX ran the same ad so I moved to Hawaii to be with my lover on 10-20-84 and began my new career in Hawaii.
My instant success at AMEX made me “Rookie of the Year” and many other accolades followed. Kelly graduated in ’87 and we were married on the Eiffel Tower on my birthday. We traveled the world together seeing Europe several times, South America, the Caribbean and our favorite, Africa! Eventually her whole family moved to Kauai (except one sister). In ’94 I left AMEX and started Kasanow & Associates: Wealth Management and it has been nothing but success! After an agonizing struggle with emphysema, Kelly’s mom died in
1-95 and her dad was tragically killed in a car crash 9-95 and we were devastated and split up in 12-95 after 13 years.
My business has continued to prosper, Worth/Robb Magazine and Medical Economics Magazine have named me one of the Best 100 Advisors in the USA for almost a decade and I am a speaker at conferences nationally and in Australia. My photographic skills have also grown over the years and I had my first professional gallery opening entitled Women on My Mind in Honolulu in 9-05. My next exhibit is Children of Asia in Thailand and World in Transition in Sydney 11-07. I have traveled now to 39 countries and every continent multiple times and will finish the world with a trip to Antarctica in 07. When I am not helping clients see their goals and dreams to fruition, not traveling or looking through the lens of my camera, I dedicate most of my energy to helping the amazing IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre. Go to www.iona360.com!
Thanks to the entire committee for working so hard to organize this awesome event and for you hanging in there to get to this point in my life!!! |
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![]() ![]() Marital Status: Married No. of Children: 2 From Donna: I have been with Prudential for 33 years. For the last ten years I have been in the annuity business as an Operations Manager. I met my husband Rick at Prudential in 1980, and we were married in 1981. We have lived in Horsham for the last 22 years. Rick left Pru in 1996, and started his own DJ business. He is also a realtor for Long & Foster. Our son Mark is 24, graduated from Penn State in 2004, and resides in Washington DC with his girlfriend Tracey. They are both in management at the Grand Hyatt in DC. Our son Matt is 21, a scratch golfer and works for a plumbing company while taking college courses. He is still at home with us. He keeps us young. Rick and I enjoy long weekends relaxing in Surf City on Long Beach Island, golfing in Hiton Head and shopping and bar hopping in Martha's Vineyard. For those of you on the reunion committee, yes, I do have hats from all three places. We take occasional trips to DC to spent time with Mark & Tracey. We will be there this weekend for the NCAA regional games. |
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![]() ![]() Marital Status: Single From judi: Well, the devil (Cindi) made me do this so here goes....I think this website is a great idea, as we all get to catch up on what's been going on with each other..It's hard to believe we're "this old", but actually, I still feel like that 18 year old that graduated way back when in '71....My life so far: After UD, I went to college in Boston, graduated and then moved to Washington, DC, where I spent the next 30 years in various sales positions..I worked for L'eggs Pantyhose, driving a big truck for my first job..Then Bic Pen, No Nonsense, and now the company I'm with now....I am currently a sales rep for a company that makes picture framing supplies...4 months ago I moved to Phoenix, Arizona to start a new phase of my life..I needed a change, and the opportunity presented itself..So now, I'm a stranger in a strange land...Or as some of my friends say, just a scared lil ol' easterner moved west..Actually, so far I'm enjoying the wild west...It's so beautiful here, and honestly, I don't miss the cold weather... Still single and right now...available..so any of you "recycled" boys........(Cough)....so that's the "skinny" on me for now...Feel free to write me at my email address...I'd love to hear any old stories (good or bad) about those days at UD, since I seem not to remember a whole bunch...It's nice to know that there's at least about 300 people out there that are the exact same age as I am (39, again, right??) |
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![]() ![]() Marital Status: Single No. of Children: 1 From bruce: The last thing I remember about Upper Dublin is Mr Gilronan coming up to Miss Curl’s math class and grabbing my pot off the top of my desk. He then dragged me by the scruff of my neck down to the detention room. Which is a room that I’d known quite well thru out my student career. He threw me into one of those shitty school desks. Here I am sitting in the detention room “Waiting for Godot” and I see Mr Gilronan walking across the street to the Police Station and returning about 10 minutes later with big Sgt Zafferano, who’d been trying to bust me for something since I was 12 years old and had moved out there to Dresher, the Jewish Mt Airy. So Zaffy busted me for possession and from that moment on I was no longer a member of the “Class of 71”. Luckily my entire life didn’t reflect the tumultuous years of my youth. After my bout with drug addiction and a minutia of other idiocies I landed firmly on my feet and am well into my adulthood finally. So now I’m an ELVIS Operator in live television. I’m sure none of u knows what that is but it pays great and I travel all over the world. I have a gorgeous 16-year-old daughter, thankfully have never been married. I live in Center City around Rittenhouse Sq and love life. Everyday it gets even better. stay safe L8r bruce;}~ |
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![]() ![]() Representative, GE Marital Status: Married No. of Children: 2 From Robert: Organizers, you have done a great job getting this reunion going. The Website is fantastic and has got me "going". I cannot wait to see everyone, seeing that I have not been to any of the previous gatherings. I graduated from Penn St. back in 1975 and started working in sales in Phila. That is where I met my first wife. It was not long after that I switched companies and moved to Tampa, Fl. We adoped twin daughters(Shanna & Tara). Man what a handful! Five years there and then we moved to Atlanta, GA where I still live and work. Unfortunately, things did not work out on the marriage front, the first time. It is great the second time and Connie (in the photo) and I have been together for 15 years. Steve Barnshaw was my Best Man. Tara graduated from college and is teaching in Japan. Shanna is living in Texas after a tour in the Navy which included a stint in "Operation Enduring Feedom", in the Gulf. When not working we enjoy spending time in Amelia Island, Fl. and Bozeman, Mt. trout fishing and hiking. The tough part was back in 2002 I was diagnosed with cancer. It was a rare and deadly type of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. The prognosis was short term "good" and long term "bad". I underwent chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. I went into remission but in 2004 it came back. A clinical trial on a new treatment was available here in Atlanta and I enrolled. It was only partially successful, meaning the cancer was not gone or in remission. After the trial was over we tried a combination of new therapies and with it and tons of prayer I was back in, sort of, remission, where I am today. Class, I can only say count every day as a blessing and enjoy it. Look at how many of our fellow classmates are gone! God has blessed me any my family with each new day without cancer effecting me. I spent 30 years as a middle distance runner and was locally competitive as a master. Cancer was something that everyone else gets. Look at Lance! You cannot look back but push forward. With our Lord everyday is a blessing. See you in November!!! |
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![]() ![]() Marital Status: Married No. of Children: 3 From Paul: As best as I can recall (which at age 53 is limited), I have been out of contact from my Upper Dublin classmates since our 10th reunion in 1981. I missed the 20th and didn’t know about the 25th until it was over. So I am really look forward to seeing ya’ll (I live in Oklahoma now) in November. That’s right, I’m an Okie. If you haven’t been here, contrary to eastern folklore, we’ve had running water here for years, our bathrooms are indoors, cowboys and cattle don’t dominate the landscape, the Tumbleweed is not the state flower, the roads are paved and the ground is not always flat. It has been a great place to live and raise a family. After UD, I went to Bucknell, and after graduation, decided to see the country. My destination was Portland, Oregon, where my brother was living and taking a year off from Oregon State. I arrived in Portland after 6 weeks of camping and adventuring, with about a half dozen or so near-death but exhilarating experiences thrown in. My objective for the next year or so was to work out there in a job not related to my college education. This was easily achieved, since I majored in Sociology and what could I possibly do with that. While in the Northwest, I also lived in Seattle and Spokane. I returned back east in September, 1976 with a special package – my finance, Marcia. We just celebrated our 30th anniversary. We have 3 really great children – a daughter, age 27, a degreed photographer who lives in Chicago and just provided us with our first grandchild (boy) on May 2nd; a 25 year-old son, a Baylor grad living in Dallas doing software development; and another son, age 22, who is working on his masters’ degree at the University of Oklahoma. From 1976 through 1982, we lived in various areas of southeast Pa. until transferring to St. Louis in 1983. In 1989 we moved to Kansas City and then on to the Oklahoma City area in 1994. My profession has been Human Resources and for about the last 7 years I have been the VP of HR for Devon Energy. Proudly, we were one of the 3 companies who made the recent major oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico. Since that announcement, the price of gasoline has been dropping significantly and I can confidently say that I can take absolutely no credit for that. I made an attempt earlier this year to “retire”, i.e., go do something radically different, such as mission work or something outdoors. But my company talked me out of it, at least for a couple more years. My hobbies are skiing, scuba diving, golf, hiking, working out, fly fishing, travel, tennis, and tinkering around the house with various projects - all enjoyed but none mastered. I can honestly say that my life has been remarkably blessed, having been given far more than deserved. See you soon. |
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![]() ![]() No. of Children: 1 From Michael: Thirtyfive years and still going , just like that rabbit guy . I'm happily married to (Kelly) a hottie from Chicago. We were married one and one half years ago in our bathing suits , on the beach , at sun set. My (our) son John was present for the wedding and said "he does " so "I does" and that's the way we do it down here. John Michael is from my previous marriage of twenty years. John is thirteen years old , happy , healthy , and attached to the computer , like most kids. Kelly is a Coldwell Banker office manager , poised to get her brokers license and take over a very busy office. I have been in Florida for around twelve years. I love this place ! We live on the water. Our nearest neighbors to the west , all speak Spanish . Fish , bald eagles , otters (stinky poops) other jurassic looking birds , gators , snakes , and bugs , are all living happily together.The sunsets are stunning ! I have worked in a variety of jobs , and enjoyed every one of them. My current quest is to achieve my E.M.T. / Paramedic certification , at a local college. I have been in contact with many of our class mates recently . I have shared in our past loves , lives , and laughs . It has been GREAT ! I hope to see all of you at the reunion ! Bring your bathing suit , for the tan contest ! |
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![]() ![]() Instructor Marital Status: Married From Janet: Thank Heavens for Mrs. Luboweicki (sp?), Ms. Harms, Mr. Stipe, Mr. Franklin, Mr. Beckmezian, Mr. Virgilio, and Mr. Neubauer: they "discovered" me. I went on to earn a BA in English, cum laude; MA in English & American Literature; and JD in Law. I practiced law in California for 8 years, got out of the law biz, and returned to my first love, teaching. I'm a Comp and Lit Instructor at a community college in Minnesota. I married a Mandan Indian from Ft. Berthold, ND, my spiritual guide and mentor. My fondest memories of UD are: the class trip to see "Romeo and Juliet," with everyone thereafter falling in love with Laura Silvestri once they recognized she had the same eyes and brows as Olivia Hussey; Beth Roseman bravely wearing jeans and fighting the dress code; Tony Zecca's high energy; Mark Stein's debating, red-cheeked; Penny Morris's exquisitely color-coordinated wardrobe (down to the socks, Weejuns and John Romaine handbags); Carol Edwards' very, very long, poker straight, platinum hair; Bruce Tuller's witty, feisty, sardonic spirit; Jackie Wiener's small but powerful presence. I don't want to get greedy with the space here: oppresssed kids are keen observers and become writers later in life. Stay tuned for my mini-series. Love, Janet |
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![]() ![]() Website: www.kdaviation.com Marital Status: Married No. of Children: 5 From Ken: I can remember like it was yesterday, my grandfather saying to me, “Work hard, but don’t forget to enjoy your life, because it’s over in a blink.” I’m beginning to understand!!! To miss an opportunity to visit with the old friends and or acquaintances that you went through adolescence with would be almost tragic. I will definitely be there!! I have had the privilege of working with the reunion committee and others, trying to locate missing people. I am not a big help, but the fun I’ve had with nightly emails, is beyond words. Life in brief: After HS, moved to Florida for school. Have worked in aviation ever since. Our company does aircraft refurbs (interior and exterior) I travel between our two shops in NJ and NY. I was married, divorced, and now remarried for 10 yrs to my wonderful wife, Kim. I have five great children, ranging from 25 to 5, so I have no clue what an empty nest feels like. Maybe someone could explain!! After twenty some years I moved back to Upper Dublin, so in the end, I’ve not strayed very far. I thoroughly look forward to our 35th reunion. Its an event that should not be missed. See you there!!! P.S. What a great job on the web site |
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![]() ![]() No. of Children: 2 From Perry: My choices were, write a bio or get a restraining order issued against Cindi. After about 25 emails from Cindi requesting a Bio I opted against the restraining order since it costs fifty bucks to file, so, here I am, stuck between Reese and Rovner, ordered to write a 500 word bio by Ms. Muhlrad. What she doesn't realize is that I wasn't even in your class, I'm from the class of 70. I was asked to assist the class of 71 since I had helped track down the class of 70 alumni back in 2000 for our 30th. When I started helping out the class of 71 reunion committee I was emailed a list of 75 missing alumni. I would have never guessed that a few months later we would have found every single member of the class of 71. That has to be a reunion record for a class your size. We even found seven people that had moved away before graduating from Upper Dublin. Everyone helped out with "the great search" but I feel the class owes Cindi Muhlrad and Donna Senopoulos a special thanks for the countless hours they put in tracking people down. We had a blast together playing "Reunion Bounty Hunter". My stint at UD was only 3 years 11 months, sadly that was my longest stay in any one place during my youth. By the time I graduated we were moving again, into my ninth house since birth. I got to live all over the country, Detroit Michigan, Wheaton Illinois, Oakland California, even a short stay in Memphis. After four years in the Navy attached to a helicopter squadron I joined Eastman Kodak's microfilm division. Later I started my own business that I have been at for 30 years. Back in 1976 I settled 15 minutes north of Upper Dublin in Upper Gywnedd. My two sons are grown and gone, they are 32 and 33, yikes, how did I get old enough to have a 33 year old. OK Cindi.....did I hit the 500 word minimum yet, am I done? |
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