Ribbit from Robb

Sorry about the long delay in posting, but we are still having problems uploading pictures, etc. Apparently the blog site is the holdup, so we should be back up and running soon.

Emails to us have slowed down - maybe it is vacation time for a lot of you. It makes our day to open email from our classmates who we have not seen or heard from in years. Please keep sending in your updates and photos.

Robb Melancon recently got in touch with us. The first photo is of he and his wife, Mary Martha. The second, we are not quite sure, but assume it was Halloween or something of that nature. Check out Robb's Website if you want to know what he has been up to. I must warn you, if you are afraid of Frogs like I am, be cautious - he apparently is still into reptiles. Robb, what was the name of your snake you had in High School?

So shortly after graduating from USL in 92 I began developing custom software for a small company in New Orleans. In 95, myself and a fellow USL graduate took over the company and built it up to the point where we were acquired in late 2000 by an overvalued Dot-Com company that went bust in short order with the rest of the Dot-Com bubble pretty much stranding myself in Charlotte, NC where I reside today, and my partner in Atlanta, GA. After doing some independent consulting I took some time off from working and just recently signed on full time with another small company (financial web-services) as Director of Development for their applications. So for me, round 2 of the professional life has started…

On a personal note I got married in 2000 to long time Slidell Mayor Sam Caruso’s daughter Mary Martha. No kids yet… we’ll see.

And yes, for over 10 years now I have been commercially raising dart frogs, so the bizarre hobbies never stop. Although I no longer have snakes, the name of my pet boa constrictor I had for years was (as Greg Tischler will confirm) “JKz” pronounced “bo” (long o).

As for the second picture, I fell into deep depression after the Dot-Com bubble burst and tried to hide my pain by transforming myself into a woman and found work as a Cher impersonator (among other tasks) in order to pay the bills. It was rough going for a while but I am glad to say that I am back living my life as a man as god intended.
Peace,
Robb

We Are Still Here

Hello Everyone

Kim and I are still here but quite a few issues have delayed our posting........

1.) Both of us of have had some computer problems with all the lightening storms around here
2.) We both have been very busy with work & family.
3.) We are having technical difficulties uploading pictures. For some reason the blogsite has this problem quite frequently and while certain members are able to upload pictures with no problems, others cannot. We, my friends, are in the group that CANNOT at this time.

In the meantime you can
---check out Paul Mauffray's blog @
http://mauffray.blogspot.com/

---email us at
shsclassof1987reunion@yahoo.com with your updated contact info. Now is a good time to do so if you have not done so already. While you are at it, send in an update with some photos.

STAY TUNED......................................

Sugar and Spice???

Some of the committee members were chatting via email last week and we realized that we have met twice, but do not really know what we had been doing for the past 20 years. We realized that we are asking you for your pictures and stories, and we have not shared ours. Here is what Kim Patterson Ammons has been doing for the past 20 years.

I am living in the Baton Rouge area (Prairieville) with my husband of 9 years and our 5 year old daughter. I have been working in Downtown Baton Rouge as a Paralegal, and have recently decided to make a career move to partnering with a friend and running a fine stationary and gift shop. I'm anxious and excited about the upcoming move. Mark, my husband, works in the finance department of Healing Place Church.

Our daughter, pictured here, is staring Kindergarten in August and being our only child, this is a big deal for us.

I am looking forward to the Homecoming get together along with the Reunion weekend planned in June of 2007. I hope to see all of you there.

Labels....Do They Still Exist?

Check out Calling ALL...Heads, Jocks, Geeks, Punks, Skinnies and Fatties. We could not decide whether to just link our blog to this post, or to write our own. Charlene Cafarelle made the decision for us and her email was so touching that we just had to share it with you. This is what she had to say:

In addition to checking our reunion blog, I often check the NHS '87 and SHS '86 blogs. The blog posted Monday on the NHS blog caught my eye and I wondered if Rami would mind if we borrowed her idea and posted a message similar to hers. The post was about typical teenage "labels" and how they, unfortunately, may be contributing to the resistance some fellow graduates feel about attending the reunion. Read her post...I bet some of us have had similar encounters.

I'm sure as adults we now realize that all schools/students encounter these or similar feelings and situations. Teenage years are some of the hardest times socially for most children. In addition to basic academic and social struggles, many children have to deal with difficulties at home as well. As our identities blossom they may not fall into the "norm" within a school environment, as a result insecurities and differences surface. Unfortunately as 16-17 year olds the maturity isn't there and those differences are viewed negatively and ultimately end up being transformed into baseless labels.

I'll try to shorten this up...basically high school is a tough time for a lot of teenagers. I will admit it was a difficult time for me. I moved to Slidell during my sophomore year. The change from a big city to a small one like Slidell was difficult. Finding my way into a circle of friends when most people had been friends since kindergarten was even more difficult. When the 10 year reunion came around I was adamantly opposed to attending. I assumed I would have similar feelings during the reunion that I experienced during high school. I am happy that my dear friend Eric Abney convinced me to go. I had a wonderful time at the 10 year reunion. In addition to spending time with people I was friends with but hadn't seen since graduation, I spent time with people I didn't have the pleasure of knowing during high school, people I knew but were intimidated by, and ones I wrongly assumed weren't so nice who turned out to be lovely people. It was nice to see the friendly, welcoming personalities that had developed in so many people I didn't really know in high school.

I encourage any of my fellow graduates who may have had similar feelings during high school to give the reunion a chance. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the wonderful people you will "meet"...I say "meet" because even though you may have known someone in high school by now we are all different people...20 years of life are sure to have molded us, matured us, and changed us....possibly into a future dear friend.

Thanks for your time. I look forward to June 22-24, 2007!!

Charlene Cafarelle

I do not think we could have said it any better. And Charlene, I can personally assure you that Rami is excited that you read her blog, let alone, wanted to reference her post. Hopefully this will reach those of our classmates who either have the same feelings as you and/or who were worried what others would think of what has happened in the past 20 years. Does it really matter 20 years later and do those labels still exist......We certainly hope not!

In The Nick of Time

Lisa Morey Pankow happened upon the blog by accident. She wasn't quite sure how she did but was happy nonetheless and contacted us. Hopefully more of you will do the same.

My name is Lisa Morey (Pankow). I graduated with the class of SHS 1987. I hung out with Sandy & Stacey French, Tracey Forstall, Julie Scott, Missy White, Doreen Middlestaedt etc. It's a great site. The two of you have done a really good job with it. I have been checking it every few days. I love seeing all the updates.

My husband and I just moved to the Houston area during Katrina. We had already made plans to move and had sold our house days before Katrina hit, luckily we had very limited damage but still were not able to go to closing until Nov! My parents were transferred here in 1989 and I was getting married (the first time) and wasn't ready to move. My husband Paul (of 2 yrs this July) and I have been talking about moving for a while and finally bit the bullet. We live just northwest of Houston in Cypress. My sister is here and she has two little ones and we were just missing out on so much. It got really hard to take off work for holidays and birthdays. Houston is nice but very different from Slidell. We miss Slidell and are back periodically. My husband's parents are still there. It was a hard decision after living there for 25yrs and 40+ years for Paul! Enclosed is a current picture. All my old pictures are boxed up, I will have to go through them to see what I have. Again, thanks for the blog spot and I am sorry I am not there to help with the planning, sounds like fun and hopefully will see everyone next year
Lisa Morey Pankow
Cypress,Tx

Lori,
Hi it's Charlene Cafarelle. I live in Houston, too. I've lived here since 2004. Send me an email if you'd like to get together to catch up. It would be great to see you.

Charlene

And We March On..........

Reunion Meeting at Southside Cafe on Saturday July 15





Julie Cappel Richardson, Kim Patterson Ammons, Carol Fewell McCleery, Mark Blake, Donna Busby Dusang, Stu Crockett, Paul Mauffrey, Heidi Burch Hernandez, Leslie Green Indorf, Stacy Smith Zechenelly, & Ken Starling

Our meeting this Saturday went well. The main thing we continue to work on is locating you. As you can imagine trying to locate almost 400 classmates is not an easy task. We are working off of the 10yr reunion list which was divided up between a group of us. It is important for you to please contact us with your updated information. Yes, we are talking about YOU !!!!! You may think we have your info but most likely we do not so please take a few minutes and send us a quick email with your address, phone numbers, etc. to the email listed to the right of this page where it says Click Here to EMAIL us. We save your email into the contact list and then forward your info to Stacy Smith Zechenelly who is handling the database. This is the preferred method of accumulating your info. It has been working well so far. Even if we have your email address, it doesn't mean we have the other stuff. We plan to send out two mailings. The first will be for the HOMECOMING Event in October and then the second will be for the Reunion weekend events. Otherwise we plan to communicate via the blog and emails as this is an easy, fast and economical way to keep everyone updated.

Updates:

October -
Homecoming - We are waiting on the date from Slidell High School

June 22-24 Reunion Weekend Events:
Friday- Meet & Greet - To Be Determined
Saturday - June 23, 2007 @ Pinewood Country Club
Sunday - Informal Picnic - Heidi Burch Hernandez's House (tentative)
Price Per Person - TBD

MISSING Classmates List - Coming Soon...........................

Men In Tights

Sometimes there is just no need for words.

Have a good weekend!!!!!!

We will post an update after our meeting on Saturday.

I Get By With a Little Help from My Friends

Tiffanee Goins Noack tracked down the blog via a Panther (Rami Stein Parker-NHS 87') and sent us the following:

Hi Heidi & Kim,
I found these pics and thought you might want to put them on the reunion blog. The pic of the four of us is Dorren S, Kelley R, Kathy S and me at Ag camp (Junior year I think). The others are us goofin off in the gym during/after exams. (Leslie P, Susan T, and of course Jeanne B), then the four sitting are Shay M, Karen B, Paula G and Laura C. Thanks for the info Rami. I've been looking for Kelley R since I left and Karen B, so if anyone can send me some contact info I would REALLY appreciate it. I missed the 10yr and can't wait to see how much everyone has changed since graduation.
Thanks
Tiffanee

We sure could use your help in locating fellow classmates. Please email us with any contact information you may have on people you have kept in touch with over the years. We have located quite a few of you this way already. Thanks!!!!!!

With A Little Help From My Friends-Beatles-1967
Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends.....

One by One

One by one we are tracking you down. Stacy Smith Zechenelly was able to get a hold of Gerald VanBeek. He emailed us back with some great photos of himself and his beautiful family. Gerald wrote the following:

I was just thinking about the reunion a couple of weeks ago. I met my wife Ashley while at LSU. Worked in Baton Rouge for Specialty Plastics that manufactures composite piping systems. In 2000 we made the tough decision to leave Louisiana when I took a job with International Paper. Although we miss Louisiana (but make it back 2 to 3 times a year), we love the cincinnati area (good schools, low crime and 6 months of great weather).
Gerald

We know everyone is busy but please just take a few minutes to email us at:

shsclassof1987reunion@yahoo.com.


with your updated contact info. Also, we are meeting on Saturday July 15. If you are local or happen to be in town, please join us.

SLIDELL HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1987
20 YEAR REUNION MEETING
SATURDAY JULY 15
2:30 P.M.
SOUTHSIDE CAFE RESTAURANT
PONTCHARTRAIN BLVD.

IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT

ATTENTION ATTENTION
Great, you found the blog- Now What?

If you have not done so already, please email us all of your contact info to:
shsclassof1987reunion@yahoo.com.
Your contact info WILL NOT be posted on the blog unless you request otherwise. We need addresses, phone numbers, and anything else you would like to tell us about. You can also mail this info and/or pictures to the address at end of this post. We know alot of you are looking at the blog but you aren't emailing us with your info.WE NEED YOUR INFO ASAP. The events are coming up faster than you think and we need a way to let you know about them. Remember we have a HOMECOMING event in THE FALL!!!!!
Send us some pictures:
This is not the "Kim & Heidi Reunion". This is the CLASS OF 1987 UNITED REUNION!!!!!! We want pics from EVERYONE ranging from High School pics to pictures of you and/or your family after High School. At this point, we are limited to the photos Kim & I have accumulated over the years. We will do our best to post all photos at one point or another so keep checking back.

Reasons you may not see some of your photos:
-Blog technical difficulties
-Some pictures are not uploading correctly
-We are saving it for a future post
-It was innapropriate to post-Remember we are trying to link to Slidell High School's website and therefore must monitor the material we receive/post.
-Well, work &/or family duty calls and we will get to it eventually so stay tuned :)

Comments on the BLOG/Posting:
All of the posts have titles. At the bottom of each post there is a COMMENT link. Click on this and you have the option to post a comment to that particular POST. You may need to sign in first. All comments get sent to our email for approval so you will not see your comment immediately. Once we have approved it, we will post your comment. You may also notice some people have appeared to have a full titled post. These are emails sent to us and then copied to the blog. We will only post email comments that are general in nature and appear to be addressing the class as a whole. This is a GREAT way to "POST" your own TITLED BLOG POST with a picture. Just email us with whatever you want to say with the picture and we will post it for you. The older the blog gets the harder it will be to navigate & keep up so just pop in once a day to stay updated.

LINKS:
On the right side of the blog you will see a LINKS section. These are links we thought might be of interest. Notice we have a link to Northshore High School's reunion BLOG. Rami Stein Parker is doing a great job with it! Check it out. There are photos with some Fighting Tigers in there. Notice we have some Panthers in ours.
Also, there is a link to SHS Class of 86 reunion blog. Kris Belyus Simmons (86') did a fantastic job with theirs.
Any suggestions? Email us: shsclassof1987reunion@yahoo.com
Need to mail us?
SHS Class of 1987
c/o Stacy Smith Zechenelly
509 Winbourne
Slidell, La 70461
Need to call us? Eric Abney - 985-639-9300

THIS MESSAGE WILL POST MONTHLY

Then and Now

As posted earlier, Paul Mauffray is in town and has been digging up old photos at his parents home. He will be meeting with us Saturday at the Reunion planning meeting. He will not be able to make the Reunion, as his work takes him so far away. The fist picture is from his graduation piano recital in 1987 and the second photograph is a recent one from a benefit concert he performed in
Europe to help raise funds for New Orleans musicians affected by the hurricanes.



Click here to read about our fellow classmate:

Paul asks the following:

IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO COULD HELP ME CREATE MY OWN PERSONAL
WEBSITE???
Thanks,
Paul

"If You're Happy & You Know It...."

If You're Happy & You Know It
Clap your hands

Kelli, Greg, Brad, & Jim (Mark picnic)


If You're Happy & You Know It
Stomp your feet
Kevin, Ken, Mark & Greg (Pep Rally)



If You're Happy & You Know It
Shout Horray
Ken, Mark & Greg (Pep Rally)


LOL, what the HELL were we doing in skirts?
Ken

So You Think You Can Dance?

YEAH BABY!!!!!!

Greg Hartley - Bringing down the house at an End of the Year Interact party


Joe Bihlmeyer (86') & Robb Melancon - I am not sure what this dance is called but somehow I don't think these two will be in the finals.........................


Joe Guidry - Gettin down at one of our Mark picnics
Greg Hartley - "Stayin Alive Stayin Alive ah ah ah ah"

"Dance Hall Days"

Leigh Ann & Alan

Hah, the joys of high school dances. We have numerous dance pictures that we will be posting throughout the year. PLEASE keep them coming. These are great! You will notice along the way a kind of musical chairs theme going on. How weird was that that we just kinda swopped dates around from dance to dance.


Danae & Greg
Meredith & Kevin, Leslie & Scott, Jay & Elizabeth

Dance Hall Days-WANG CHUNG-1984
We were so in phase
In our dance hall days
We were cool on craze
When I, you, and everyone we knew
Could believe, do, and share in what was true
Oh, I said
Take your baby by the hair
And pull her close and there there there
Take your baby by the ears
And play upon her darkest fears
Julie & Jimmy

And They Belong To..........

The twin girls belong to Shay Murray R. and her husband Scott - here is a recent picture of the proud parents. I am sure they have their hands full with these two little girls.

Your emails have slowed down and we are assuming it is due to the holiday. However, we are in need of your information. We will be having a planning meeting on July 15th in Slidell. If you are interested in attending, please contact us and we will give you more information.

We need more pictures and stories - please send them so that we can keep the blog going.

Lethal Hurricanes

November 1987
No no no-I don't mean the dreadful likes of Katrina, Rita, Wilma.............. I mean the "other" lethal hurricanes from good ole Pat O'Brien's. Tiffany McIntosh forwarded one of these pics & then I dug out mine which has "the man" in it that she refers to who bought us all those hurricanes. I was trying to figure out which one might have been taken first only because in one photo my hair is up and the other my hair is down. I also decided to put on a pair of gloves for some odd reason. I would imagine that after a few hurricanes the one with my hair down would be the second one but goodness only knows, we were in the piano bar til the wee morning hours. BTW---remember that the legal drinking age in 1987 was 18 :)

Hi guys,
I finally had a chance to go through a few of my pics and I found this one. We went to Pat O'Brian's for some reason or another (do you really need a reason?). I do remember we met a girl who was there with her family (they were from out of state) and she would be going to LSU in the fall. Her dad purchased these pictures for us. Maybe you all remember more details about the evening. Anyway, the date on the back of the pic is Nov. 28.
Hope you all enjoy this trip down memory lane!
Tiffany McIntosh Drewes

Double the Fun

Can you guess who these twins belong to? It seems we have quite a few classmates who have had multiples.

Please pass along your contact information to us. We know there are a lot of you out there reading the blog, but we do not seem to have your information. We will be finalizing the reunion plans within the next month or so, and we will post them here. We want everyone to have enough time to plan to attend. We think it is going to be a lot of fun. Your suggestions are always welcome - maybe you have been to your spouse's reunion and liked some of the ideas. Please share them with us.

Pass along the blogsite to all those you keep in contact with....we are still missing quite a few classmates.

So Far Away, Yet So Close

We heard through the Grapevine that Paul Mauffray was back in town and we just had to get in touch with him. Many of you may not know, but we have a worldly traveler among us. Here is what Paul has been doing for the last 20 years. He is in town for the Summer and would love to be reconnected with friends. Please email us for his contact information.

Great to hear from you. Kris knew that I was back in Slidell??? i don't
remember telling her. in fact, hardly anyone knew, since my trip home
was just a spur of the moment whim. about a week ago, i found a last
minute special on a flight back to america that was just too good to pass
up. So, yes, i'm back in slidell for the first time in 2 years. otherwise i
am living in the Czech Republic in a city called Brno which is located
right between Prague, Bratislava, and Vienna. after doing university
studies in music in Germany in 1990-91, i have been based out of Europe
for most of the time since then. about 10 years of that was spent in
Prague where i worked as an assistant conductor on operas at the National
Theater. i have been lucky to make a living out of conducting symphony
orchestras and operas and recent trips have taken me to Hungary, Romania,
Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. Of course, no matter where i go, i
always miss our unique southern cooking. can you imagine going 2
years without crawfish??? so i'm happy to be back home to enjoy a summer
full of seafood!

just yesterday in New Orleans, i was at the Ogden museum, and someone
came up to me and said "excuse me, but where did you go to high school?"
i recognized her immediately, it was Susan Whelan (SHS class of '86).
what a surprise! that sure doesn't happen to me very often over in
former Czechoslovakia :-)

so i would love to be in touch with former class mates, but i probably
won't be in america if the reunion is scheduled for june 2007. i have
concerts in Bratislava and Zilina in April and June. I also won't be
around for the homecoming game since i need to be back in europe starting
again before october, but please pass word along that i am in Slidell and
NOLA probably for most of the summer.

best wishes to all !
Paul