There were a bunch of broken links here that I am fixing up now. That’s mostly because I was storing content offsite and those servers don’t exist anymore, or the pointers to them have changed and I don’t want to bother with it. I can store all the content for this website here now.

So far I have the Advocate pages back, and I have more of those to come. Also I’ve got our literary journal, Inquiry, scanned and I will put those pages up soon. The photo galleries are something I’m working on, and I hope to have all that back up and spiffy by month’s end.

In the meantime, our official 50th reunion Facebook page is Here. If you haven’t already please sign up. See you there!

The class of ’72 is having its 50th reunion this September. Details Here (You will need a Facebook account to access this).

So I’m paying attention to this website again, and hopefully for the foreseeable future, because the social media corporations shouldn’t have 100 percent of our lives and memories.

Stay tuned…

-Bruce

My Apologies for not maintaining this blog more seriously. As Facebook has pretty much taken over the Woodward alumni conversation, and as we Still haven’t organized another Class of ’72 reunion since the last one, I pretty much let this space grow dormant. Then it’s older version of WordPress became incompatible with the host server software it runs on and I procrastinated even more in getting that resolved.

This is something I intend to correct going forward, even if very few of my classmates hit this site now, because letting Facebook, or any other corporate social media monopolize our…well…Socializing, is a Bad Thing.

Because with Facebook socializing comes the social manipulation by commercial and political interests. And…because this is a space where I can celebrate on my own terms (and hopefully yours if you’re a Woodward classmate!) some of the best years of my life. Not that I don’t have a very good life now, but during those Woodward years I made friends, learned in the classrooms of some of the best teachers a kid could have, and grew in ways that were positive influences for all the decades that came since. My host, Winters Web Works (who I Highly recommend!) has updated WordPress for me, and everything is working now, but for a few photos that aren’t displaying I need to fix. And I just now noticed the photo galleries I posted before are gone now, because Apple rusty-railed Mac.com, which is where I was storing them to save space here. I’ll fix that soon.

Also (sigh) put up links to the Facebook alumni pages. Because resistance is futile.

I’m going to keep this place as a celebration, and a testament to those Woodward years. If you feel the same way, come visit from time to time!

Woodward class of 70s alumni now have our very own Facebook group.  The 70s Alumni of CW Woodward High School group “is designed to keep in touch with the students that graduated in the 70s from Woodward HS Rockville Md.”

Scott Michael Gorman
by Liz Bauer (maiden name Stobie)

In loving memory of my dear friend….

Humanitarian, arts and peace activist and writer, Scott Michael Gorman died peacefully in Mt. Vernon, Washing on June 20, 2009.

Scott was born in Washington, DC on August 11, 1954 and was a 1972 graduate of Charles W. Woodward High School in Rockville, MD.  He spent the last 27 years of his life in Anacortes, WA.

After graduating from high school, Scott attended Emerson College on an acting scholarship which resulted in some of his plays being produced by the National Theatre for Children.  Scott eventually moved to the West Coast and worked for a few years in San Francisco producing and writing public service announcements.  He moved to Anacortes, Washington in 1982 to become a nanny to two young girls and shortly after arriving, he began his long and selfless career nurturing and educating the community in the arts.

After just two months in Anacortes, Scott helped create the Anacortes Youth Arts.  He joined the board of the Anacortes Arts Foundation and participated in local theater as an actor and producer.  He spent many years volunteering for the Anacortes Arts Festival and was the stage manager and master of ceremonies for the festival’s stage.  In the mid-1980s, Scott started an arts page at the Anacortes American, where he was a writer and columnist.  He also did a year long stint as the editor of the paper.  In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he wrote about the arts and other topics for the Everett Herald.  In recognition of Scott’s marvelous contributions, the School District named him co-winner of the Walter A. Brodniak Cultural Education Award in 2005 and the Arts Festival selected him as the 2006 Patron of the Arts.

By the mid-1990’s, he was contributing to the Anacortes American and Fidalgo Magazine and wrote about arts and travel for the Skagit Valley Herald, the Toronto Star and several other publications.  In 1999, he published the best of his columns as the thought-provoking “Gormandizing: Collected Essays and More.”

Most assuredly, Scott’s proudest accomplishment was his award of a Fulbright Senior Research Grant which provided residency and a study period in Japan.  Even though he was working for a tiny newspaper and lacked a college degree he wrote an outstanding proposal and to his astonishment, he won!   Scott chose to live in Kisakata, Japan, where many ancient traditions are still observed in a meaningful way.  He was immersed in the culture and forced to adapt to local customs.  He lived there for six months beginning in August 2001, living in a shoji-screened home provided by the town for a nominal fee.  His efforts to blend in were detailed with great humour and humility in a series of columns that ran in his hometown paper.

In 2005, Scott had to give up his job with the Anacortes School District as the Cultural Education Coordinator due to serious health concerns.  After serious complications from diabetes and heart disease, Scott’s battle ended quietly.  Scott will be greatly missed and was an inspiration to everyone he came in contact with.  He was the quintessential friend.

Scott is survived by a sister, Lynn Caffrey of Oakland, CA and brother, Bruce Gorman of Berkeley, CA.  Also surviving are his brother-in-law, Pat, sister-in-law, Judy, 4 nieces and nephews and a family of friends in several countries.

[Update…]  Scott’s family would appreciate it deeply if donations in lieu of flowers could be sent to the Anacortes Schools Foundation, 2200 M Avenue, Anacortes, WA 98221 in Scott’s memory.

Here’s the list as of today. We now have 63 confirmed attendees, counting the teachers…

Tom Barse
Ned Branthover and wife
Linda Burden
Blair Calton
Nancy Carlin
Steve Chidsey
Russell Damtoft
Chris Davenport and husband
John DeGiorgio
Rose Dennis
Barbara Dixon
Kim Donnally
Robert Eberle
Ingrid Egeland and husband
Kathleen Fanning
Paul Farrell and wife
Kathleen Fanning and husband
Paul Farrell and wife
Dorothy Feldman and husband
Betsy Franklin
Bruce Garrett
Susan Gaylor
Paul Gootenberg
Scott Gorman
Sally Griffin
Beth Hayden
Kal Johnson and wife
Ann Kaplan
Joan Kingsley
Tom Knapstein
Allan Lee and wife
JD Leonard
Carol Maher
Michael Marlin
Cheryl McAlly
Sheila Moran
Tom Moran
Karen Olson
Karen Pedone
Miriam Sanders
Clay Scarborough
Mallon Snyder
Elizabeth Stobie
Susan Stein
Susan Stone
Bruce Walters
Allen Walker
Arthur Wood and wife

Plus…teachers Frank Moran, Bill Osche, Greg Dunston, J.D. Grewell, and Corkey Logston have all indicated they’ll be coming.

Once again…if you don’t see yourself on the list, and you haven’t sent in your ticket money yet, don’t worry. You can still get a ticket at the door. See you there!

Weather’s looking good for Friday, not so good for Thanksgiving day.  This for Montgomery County Maryland from the National Weather Service…

.THANKSGIVING DAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE
MORNING...THEN A CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE
UPPER 60S. SOUTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 20 MPH. CHANCE OF RAIN 40 PERCENT.

.THURSDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS IN THE MID 30S. NORTHWEST WINDS
10 TO 20 MPH.

.FRIDAY...SUNNY. COOLER WITH HIGHS IN THE UPPER 40S. NORTHWEST WINDS
10 TO 15 MPH.

.FRIDAY NIGHT...CLEAR. LOWS IN THE UPPER 20S.

So you may want to bundle up…

Just so you know, the folks at the Garrett Park Town Hall are recommending that we park at the elementary school down Oxford Street, about a block past the Town Hall. So when turning onto Kenilworth Avenue from Strathmore, you would pass the Town Hall and continue down Kenilworth past the left hand turn onto Oxford Street to the right hand turn onto Oxford Street a little further on (if that’s a tad confusing, see the Google map in the post below), and turn right there. Go down Oxford a little way and there will be a parking lot on the right.

It may seem a bit of a walk back to the Town Hall from there, but it looks like there is a footpath into the Holy Cross Academy parking lot from the elementary school parking lot, and from there I’ve heard there is another footpath to take you to the Town Hall. Since Holy Cross is private property, obviously we cannot recommend parking there instead. There will probably be some street parking in the neighborhood around the Town Hall, but it will likely be scarce, and not nearly enough for all the people we expect will be coming. So if you do decide to park on the street, please be courteous to the neighborhood residents.

If you’re unfamiliar with the neighborhood, here’s a tip: go to the Google map I’ve posted below and select the ‘Hybrid’ view from the buttons at the top right hand corner. In the upper left corner of the map there are arrow buttons for scrolling up, down, left and right, and two buttons marked ‘+’ and ‘-‘. Click on the plus button two or three times to zoom in and you will get a good view of the layout of the area around the town hall, and where the parking is. You can also scroll the map by click dragging with your mouse cursor.

Note please, that Google Maps has the specific location of the town hall wrong: it’s not near the corner of Oxford Street and Kenilworth…it’s much closer to Kenilworth and Strathmore.

See you all there!

The reunion committee mailbox was experiencing a problem taking delivery of incoming mail and regrettably we only noticed that this morning (we tended as the date approached, to ‘cc each other a lot on specific tasks, like arranging the venue, getting the catering done, putting together the reunion DVD, thereby bypassing the committee mailbox). The good news is that it looks like anything that was sent to us in the past 28 hours was still waiting in the queue and has now been delivered. The bad news is that anything older then that has probably been lost now. So if you sent the committee anything and you didn’t get a response or you got a bounce-back please resend.

Sorry again…and thanks!

I’ve been asked if you can show up at the door with ticket money in hand. Of Course! If you haven’t had time to send us your check, or you only got the notice recently, please don’t feel left out. Come on by and have a good time with the rest of us.

Once more, the location is the the Garrett Park Town Hall, located at 10814 Kenilworth Avenue, Garrett Park, Maryland 20896. We’ll be gathering this Friday, November 23, 2007, from 7 to 11PM.

Here’s a helpful map to get you there…

View Larger Map

See you there!