Annandale High School

Countdown to our 50th AHS class reunion

1.) A new video is available on the "In Memory" page remembering our classmates. 

2) As you can see in the boxes below we've just passed a year of having a permenant website.  The statistics cannot truly show the wonderful email, personal exchanges and reunitings that have taken place over the last year.  New and old relationships have blossomed.  Absolutely, over 40 years later love still grows within our hearts.  For you romantics remember, high school sweethearts are never forgotten. We now move into our second year as a committee and with the websiite and the resources made available through new technology we are continually searching for lost classmates and expanding our efforts to keep our ATOMS family together.

Site Created: 2/4/2011 Home Page Visitors*: 15112 (this number is the cumulative total visitors we have had since creating our web site)

Percentage Of Active Classmates **: 47% A: 260 Active B: 299 Inactive

Percentage Of Active Classmates Who Have Added Photos: 37%

(If you have an announcement, commentery, or submission for print please email: 1971grad@gmail.com)

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Dear Classmates –

2011 has been an amazing year filled with some significant changes in our lives and throughout the world. If I were asked to put the top 10 events of the year in order, I’d most certainly give glowing remarks to our class reunion and, in fact, for me I’d say the reunion was probably within my top 10 events of the year. Like many of our peers my focus has withdrawn some from world events and has concentrated within the parameter of where I am most needed. I’ll confess, being on and working with the reunion committee was just the right amount of politics for me, and the perfect opportunity to serve a body of my peers that appreciated each minute of every effort.

As an end of the year report to you; our new website has been a roaring success. Its use has become phenomenal with 1000’s of emails being exchanged since February of this year. Photos, ranging from our days in elementary school, travel logs with pictures, through the birth of grandchildren have been posted on the website. Remember, the website is free for your use. We’ve made arrangements to have it in continual operation until just after our 50^th anniversary reunion.  You can email classmates (the webhost has done some amazingly good upgrades that allow email communications simple, they’ve updated the word processor and overall, the site is bigger, and much more useful) post your favorite photos, add or reply to a comment on the message forum, and a whole lot more uses for your enjoyment.   

As we close, the book on 2011 there is much to reflect upon. Our 40^th reunion was absolutely a success, the golf tournament, a well fought challenge of biblical proportions, the AHS tour, and Kilroys’ Friday night mixer were successful as well. In fact, there is movement towards holding a 41^st reunion (inexpensive and casual).  More on that in the near future!   Unfortunately, we lost a few classmates in 2011 as well.  Our memories of each of these classmates will forever remain etched in our minds.  The gift of these memories will provide warmth to entertain and warm our hearts and delight our minds when the days become long and our spirits need a quick boost.

The reunion committee wishes you the best in 2012 and reminds you to keep in touch and visit the web site often.  Post those great or just plain photos add a comment on the forum page and update your personal profile.  Let us know if a missing classmate shows up or if you discover their address.  We truly want to bring our Annandale High School classmate fold back together, maintain contact, and be available if needed. 

We most certainly have so much to be grateful for and the upcoming year should be something we actively take the time to rebuild and maintain AHS friendships.

Thank you for letting us, the reunion committee be part of your family.  Together we will be there to support, restore, and rebuild past friendships, discovering lost classmates, and sadly report the tragic losses of dear friends.  We’ll talk, we’ll share outstanding memories, we’ll party, and we’ll mourn together knowing that classmates are a strength we need in our lives as we march on through the years.   How you live your life is a great freedom.  However, peace in thought, action, and deed only comes through wonderful memories, and grand plans for the future.  Let’s do so together.  Go Atoms!

 Happy New Year from your reunion committee.

PS. The reunion committee has sent the AHS Booster Club a donation in the amount of fifty ($50.00) towards support of one of their projects. This is being done on behalf of the classmates of 1971 and dedicated to those students of the class of 1971 who have passed away.  Thank you for the trust and support of this decision to place a donation on behalf of the entire graduating class.

Life is fragile and difficult to press on without those we have loved and those whose simple actions and friendships made life so wonderful. 

                                                                     -  Paul Peters

Lost recently -

Roland Steele - June 30, 2011

 We kindly ask you to forward any information on classmates who have passed without our notice.  We will truly miss them and do recognize that without their individual influnences our lives would not be as blessed.