When I
mentioned organizing the reunion before, I mentioned that sometimes there were
names coming up that I knew were questionable, because it was simply an issue
of graduation credits.
This is not
speculation. When the 10 year was approaching, they sent out a list of people
they couldn't find, and I tried to help locate people. One of them I remembered
as being class of '89, but I called him
up anyway, and he was surprised to find out that he was showing up. I
think there had been an issue with a math credit, but he had never thought of
himself as class of '90, even if that might technically be the date on his
diploma.
Falling
back on my usual method of using spreadsheets, I went through the yearbook
first, and then the memory book from the first reunion. I thought the
graduation program or memory book from the 20 year reunion might be good, but I
have no idea where they are right now. Still, it seemed like a pretty complete
list.
There are
names I don't recognize at all, and some I recognize as older. Two I have gone
ahead and left off the spreadsheet - the one I called up fifteen years ago, and
another that I saw a few years ago. His year was 1988, whether he got a diploma
then or not.
(It feels
appropriate to leave names out, though that would make things easier.)
With
everyone else, I am more cautious. For example, one guy, I always thought was a
year older. Is that because I met him and socialized with him only in the
company of another guy who was class of 1989? There is another girl I always
thought was younger. Did I just never see her our sophomore year, so when I saw
her in junior year I thought she was new? I don't know, but clearly I can't
just assume I am remembering the age right.
Also, it
occurs to me that it is not always clear-cut. Two girls came up, both of whom I
remembered as only being there for senior year. One's family moved when her
father got a new job; another was sent to live with her aunt. They both had
more years at their previous schools. They might feel more connected there,
even though their graduation was here.
That's one
reason that I'm leaving it fairly loose. If someone from a different year wants
to come, and they feel a kinship, that's nice. I'm not going to fight that.
I currently
have it an invitation only event, because I want to make sure everyone on the
list gets invited, and it can only get harder to track as more people are
added. However, once the spreadsheet is filled out, I think I'll change it to
"Open".
After the
names were all added, I went through all the invited and matched their
invitation status. I am now going through the names with nothing by them, and
seeing if I get an auto-fill when I start typing. I am finding a fair amount this
way.
Next I will
take the remainder and try regular searches, outside of the invite field. I
will probably also try LinkedIn, because a lot of people who won't use Facebook
still use that. (How often they check it, I don't know.) After that, I hope it
will be just a small list where I can ask for help. With a big list, people
would get lost reading it.
Is this
process overly laborious? Probably, but I wasn't sure of a better way to do it.
Believe me, now that I have a fairly complete digital list of the class
members, I am hanging on to it.
I have
found a way to put up a survey on whether people are going to Friday, Saturday,
or both, but it feels too early to do it now.
Memory
books and memorials are still a question. There must be someone more technical
than me in our class. Surely we have a few programmers and web designers out
there.
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