Awalt High School - Class Of 1981

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Awalt High School

Awalt High School Class of 1981
25 Year Class Reunion Information

Please save the dates for our 25th year reunion weekend this summer (2006):

August 25 - Icebreaker August 25th at the California Roadhouse - 401 Castro Street Mountain View 7PM

August 26th - a night to eat, drink and be merry at the Hotel Valencia - Celebrating old friends and making new ones...

August 27th - Family picnic at the old Awalt campus - come one, come all...

Contributions To The Reunion Committee Greatly Appreciated!

If you would like to help financially we would greatly appreciate it!
P lease go to Paypal.com and take the following steps:

1) Open an account (VERY easy)
2) Go into "send money" and list Awalt1981@aol.com under recipients email
3) list the amount you would like to help Marjorie and Erica with
4) Select category of purchase and away you go!

Thanks for ANY contribution large or small!

Webmaster's note - NO money is being accepted by myself or by MemorablePlaces from these funds. The time and labor needed to administer this website are my gift to the Awalt High School Class of 1981.

Funds are 100 percent administered and controlled by Marjorie and Erica.

Please select this link to see the names of those who have helped with this project. Our sincerest thanks to each of them.

Previously Emailed Notices

Posted September 6, 2006

Dear Awalt Alumni-
So, as they say, the party's over. After a week, I finally have enough sense returning to sit down and send out an e-mail. We had a great time with thanks to the following people-
Luci Barry and Alex Myers- you stepped in at the last minute and saved the picnic. Your generosity, help and support was more than appreciated!
Vicky and Phil- Thank you for all your support and for manning the greeting table at the hotel. You made everything so much more positive and fun!
Eileen, Lynn and Linda- WONDERFUL picnic! I don't think I have made (or broken...) that many water balloons in my entire life. Really classy affair, ladies! People really enjoyed themselves. And Linda- thank you for your clean-up efforts.
Sean Kirkpatrick- Not only are you a talented artist, but a fabulous D.J. who knows how to work a crowd, and the wind beneath our wings. (But, we truly thank you for not playing the song....)
To the rest of you who helped and are a bit miffed not seeing your name in print....I said my senses are RETURNING......
A special thank-you to all the people at the semi-formal who magnanimously (<<<Found this word in the online thesaurus) helped us whittle down our rather sizable debt. You are generous and wonderful confreres (<<<Word of the Day from the online thesaurus. Works here.). We thank you deeply.
Do you remember the presentation we had going at the semi-formal? We will be adding pictures soon (Remember, your "soon" and our "soon" may be two different things- but probably within the next 6 weeks) and not the ones with my finger in them. People who were at the semi-formal will be receiving these as a memory of the evening included in the cost of your ticket. (What could be more fun than spending couple hours on your computer re-hashing the reunion?) for the rest of you....we will be selling copies for a mere $12 bones each so you can see with your own eyes that the skinny, scrawny Marjorie Lowry of yesteryear may soon do her shopping at Fat Lady Sparkle City.
So, after all was said and done....the people reacquainted, the dances danced, oysters eaten (Except by me...), good-byes said (Can you hear Air Supply between the lines?)...was spending over a year of our life on this endeavor worth it? I think so. Erica thinks so. I have very vivid memories of these people from my past, though I think I would trade hearing Steve Salinger telling me he was 5 and 9 10ths 35+ years ago to know right now where the eighteen dollars I had in my pocket yesterday was. (I will confess at the present time I do know where my car keys and cell phone are, though that too, may change as the sun's rays crack over the horizon.) I have heard many people thank us for our hard work, and honestly, neither of us minded. (Except for the last week where I was seriously considering whether or not to get my money's worth at the reunion or to spend a drug-induced, relaxing weekend in a padded room at the Kaiser Funny Farm) It would have been nice to have more than 20 minutes to look for an outfit that would make my nicely-rounded figure into a svelte silhouette of a gym-junkie.(A note here- instead of paying gym fees, simply get your teaching credential and throw in your lot with kindergartners. I have dropped a dress size in one week. No joke. Payback, I guess from Miss Skarda) Honestly, we had fun. A lot of fun. It was good to see all of you. We missed those of you we did not see. To those of you who came from afar- Dawn, Jennifer, Dave and even Carol from Canada- we were honored to have you. Thanks for your effort!
By the way, you can order T-shirts. They are $22.00 each and are available to all classes 1963-1984. This is our little fund-raiser to take a bite out of our debt.
Send a check to:

Erica Zarsky-Connors
[redacted]

Please put the amount and sizes of t-shirts you would like to purchase. Don't get left out- everyone will be wearing them this fall.
If you wouldn't be caught dead in an Awalt T-shirt, but want to make a donation and incur our undying gratitude, please send a check to the same address and put "donation" on that little line you make notations on. We may soon have a site where you can download an order form. Take care, classmates.......Marjorie and Erica

P.S.- The janitor got the rest of the cake- a token of our appreciation. Mystery solved.

Posted July 31, 2006

Hello, Classmates! Three short weeks until the reunion!I hope you are all looking forward to seeing everyone again! As of today, we have received a total of 35 RSVP's. Because of time constraints, we need to know ASAP if you will be attending the reunion. Please send in your envelopes with your reply or e-mail us at your earliest possible convenience. The more people, the more fun it will be!And, thanks to those folks who have already taken care of this! Thanks, Marjorie and Erica

Posted July 25, 2006

Hi, Classmates-
As of today, there is only ONE month to the reunion. Boy, time flies! Twenty-five years ago, most of us were either collecting essentials to decorate our barren college dorms with (The guy in my dorm that brought Star Wars bedsheets does not count) or embarking on our career (Which may have changed about nine times since, according to statistics.) So, here is the latest news-
News for your perusal twice warmed-over- So far, we have only received payment for about 20 tickets, and are wondering if this is all that will attend. Otherwise, Erica and I will be forced to eat all the extra food at the hotel so it does not go to waste and may end up weighing about 457 pounds. These are the foods that will be offered- (Subject to change, but not by much.........)
Shellfish Display- crab, shrimp, oysters on the half shell, green-lipped mussels with sauces
Pasta Display- Ricotta Tortellini and Penne Pasta served with marinara and alfredo sauces
Antipasto station- peppers and olives, italian meats, cheeses, grilled and raw veggies, hummus, baba Ghanouj (I have no earthly idea what this is.......) with pita, breads and crackers
Dessert station
Coffee/Tea station
Imported and domestic cheeses
Melon
Sound delicious? It will be.........
We are hoping for at least 150 people to attend the Semi-formal event. We are also considering inviting alumni from the Class of 1980 who did not have a 25-year reunion. And to those twenty that have sent in their RSVP's- thank you so much!
So, please get your RSVP's sent in with your money. If you cannot attend, let us know that, too. We will be very grateful.

The t-shirts-
By next week, we should have everything set up for the purchase of t-shirts. This is the chosen design-

This t-shirt can be purchased by ANY Awalt alumni 1963-1984. Children's shirts will run from $10-12 each. Adults from $12-15 each. There will be a man's style, a woman's capped sleeve style and a child's style. The link will be up soon.
Pictures- Please, please, please send in current pictures of yourself. I am slaving away over a scanner in record temperatures putting all of your mugs into a presentation . As a reward for my hard work, please e-mail an updated photo of yourself and your family + where you live now.
Hope to hear from you soon- Marjorie and Erica

Posted July 14, 2006

Hi, Classmates!
Hope your summer is going well! We have a few updates, and some new information-
*Deja Vu's-
1- RSVP's are beginning to trickle in (We are hoping for a flood, folks.) PLEASE put your name, and the name of whoever is coming with you to the semi-formal and picnic on your RSVP. We admit, sheepishly of course, that we are the ones who left off this small but important little detail...in other words, it is nice that you are coming, but let us know who the "you" is.

2. Send us a current photo with the following information in the subject area- Your current name (ladies)......what you are employed doing.......and the names of your family members in the picture if there are others in the pictures.

3. We need your RSVP's and moola BY August 1st, 2006. The ice-breaker at the California Roadhouse is free. You buy whatever you want to eat/drink. Ticket prices for the semi-formal at the Hotel Valencia are $85.00 per person. For the picnic, there is a suggested donation of $5 PER family. This donation will fund cold drinks, jumpy houses and other fun things for your family.

Last note-
Sean Kirkpatrick (THANK YOU!) has designed Awalt High School T-shirts. They do not have a "1981" because they will be offered to ALL class members 1963-1984. More information will be available soon.......Marjorie and Erica

Posted July 6, 2006

Hi, Classmates-
We are sending out our weekly update early because we have some
important information to share- The most important information is a
change to the Paypal account. We found that accepting credit cards was
costing us too many bones- money we would rather see put to use in the
actual reunion instead of funding a new Yacht for a PayPal executive, so
we will not be accepting credit cards after all- We still have PayPal and
you CAN use your checking account to buy your tickets....we are very
sorry about this.

Eileen (Elam) Thelen with help from Lynn (Kopf) Reed and Linda
(Beck) Flynn have taken over the picnic at Mountain View High School on
the 27th. Thank you very much, ladies.

Sean Kirkpatrick is hard at work designing a retro Awalt High
School T-Shirt that can be bought at an additional cost. Please note that
it will NOT say 1981 so that any student from Awalt 1963-1984 will be
able to buy it. Sean is a working artist out of Ventura, so this should
be great! More about this later.....

Did you know that there are 5-7 teachers at Mountain View that
taught us at Awalt? We have invited them as our guests to the picnic. If
you are in touch with any others, invite them to the picnic!
That's all for now- now, a word from the broken record- if you
have not sent in a current picture by attachment, please do...it will
really add to the presentation. Please send in your RVSP's, also- if you
are unable to attend, let us know.

Marjorie and Erica

Posted July 5, 2006

Hi,Classmates-
7/3/06
Happy 4th of July! Hope this will be a wonderful holiday for every
one of you!
**New Information-
The invitations have been addressed and sent out. Inside is
information about all the events. Little snafu on our part- there is no
area for the names of those attending- please just add it to your RVSP
card, and chalk us up one mental point for a brain fart.
We know that some people have no interest in reunions. If you would
like to be dropped from any future mailings, send us an e-mail with
"unsubscribe" in the subject area and your name in the body of the
e-mail.
Old and Very tired information-
I am currently scanning every one of your high school mugs into a
presentation that for all intents and purposes, gets longer and longer as
it evolves. (Once again, you can revel in the beauty of your winning

homecoming float....) We would really like to add your current
picture/family picture to this project. If you haven't sent one, please
do.
Erica and I have asked for volunteers to help with the reunion
because we feel that other people add new ideas and creativity to the
process. However, the most important thing to us is that people attend,
and have a great time....the greatest help we could receive is just
seeing you again. Which brings up the picnic- would anyone be willing to
take this on? So far, it is sketched out, and we have already reserved
the school. Let us know if you have an interest.
Marjorie and Erica

Posted June 25, 2006

25th June, 2006
Dear Classmates-
This week (The 28th), we will be sending out the invitations for the reunion. I say this because we have had some questions about how to pay for the events- We have not asked for any money yet(With the exceptions of donations to get the bash started.) , but will start accepting it as soon as the invitations are out. The invitations will contain instructions on how, when and where you can pay.

*New Information-
There will be a limited amount of tickets available at the door. They will be $95.00 per person, which includes a $10.00 procrastination/stressing out the planning committee fine. The only exception to this will be: if you can prove through a passport, visa or boarding pass that you were in inner Zimbabwe in a remote village without electricity, toliets, snickers bars or WiFi connectivity until a day before the event.

*Reminders-
About sending your photos...frankly, none of us look like we did in high school. I, personally, think you all look wonderful. But here is a quick test you are not sure: compare yourself to the following picture-

[redacted as copyright is unknown]

if you look better than this, send us a photo in jpg or gif format.
Even if you cannot attend, feel free to send in a current photo of yourself. These will be compiled into a presentation. We would also like to know what you are doing in your career( Homemaker is a pretty awesome position, by the way!) and where you live. Send us a note with your photo attachment. If you have other pictures from high school, or would be willing to scan pictures in from your older yearbooks (Except my junior high school pictures), please do.

We are looking for people who would be willing to take tickets at the door, and meet and greet everyone in half-hour shifts. Does this sound fun? Let us know.

We have asked the artists of our class (Sean Kirkpatrick, Jan [Lehrer] Verdieck, Erica Zarsky-Connors, to name a few) to provide us with some of their art to display during the semi-formal event. If you are an artist of any kind, photographer, etc., even if you do it just for fun, would you be willing to lend us some of your artwork for the evening? Let us know.

That is enough for now. Look forward to hearing from you. Keep an eye out for your invitation! Marjorie and Erica

Posted June 18, 2006

Hi Classmates-
*We still need current pictures, even if you are not planning to attend any of the reunion events. We will be using your pictures to create a "then" and "now" Powerpoint show. (These photos will NOT be displayed on the reunion site. Photos taken during the reunion will be displayed with your express permission.) After the reunion, more pictures will be added from the events. The cost of these mementos is included in the price of the Semi-formal event, and those not attending the Semi-formal event will be able to purchase a copy. We can also use any class-related pictures, such as pictures from previous reunions, scanned pictures from high school, etc.
*For the Sunday picnic; Feel free to bring any family members (parents, siblings, etc.) and friends who would have an interest in our class......Just let us know how many will be attending so we can plan for them.
*Keep watch on the Awalt 1981 website to see who will be at the reunion! There is a new page just to let you know who is coming! Bookmark this page and watch it grow-
Click here: Awalt High School Class of 1981 reunion Confirmed Attendees

Marjorie and Erica

Posted June 7, 2006

Hello Awalt Classmates-
Here are some updates- We are still waiting for some RVSP's and home addresses to send invitations to, so if you have some time, please let us know if, and what events you are planning to attend. Friday- PM-? ICEBREAKER at California Roadhouse Saturday- 7-11:30 PM SEMI-FORMAL at the Hotel Valencia on Santana Row Sunday- 1-5 PM Picnic in the Mountain View High School Quad (The old Awalt campus on truman)
You can check this link to see who has rsvp'd-
Click here: Awalt High School - Class Of 1981
Now, the changes- Thanks to erica and her work with the hotel valencia, ticket prices will be $85.00
per person. We have not made a decision yet about a price for the door- This will include substantial Appetizers, non-alcoholic drinks (A bar will be available, but it is no-host), a DJ, dancing, a photographer and more...it is a beautiful and elegant venue. The other change is that we are going to ask for a donation for the picnic of $5 per family. please bring a picnic lunch.
This is more than enough for now. Hope to see you all there- Marjorie and Erica

Posted June 3, 2006

Please pass along your mailing address so we may be able to send you an invitation to this summer's 25th reunion... Smiles, Erica

Posted June 3, 2006

Sorry to bother you, but we are making our final plans for the reunion, and beginning to prepare invitations. What we currently need from you is an RSVP for the Saturday night event at the hotel valencia on santana row, and how many will be attending with you. (See pictures and link below) We will also soon have a link with the awalt 1981 website to pay for the reunion with a credit card via paypal.......

Click here: Awalt High School - Class Of 1981

Click here: San Jose Luxury Hotel | San Jose Lodging | Hotel Valencia Santana Row CA

HOTEL Valencia

if possible, we would also like to know which days you will be attending, and how many of you will be at the picnic. if you have not sent us a current picture of you and your family (Or significant other), please send them at your earliest convenience. We look forward to seeing all of you in august. Marjorie and Erica

Posted May 27, 2006 - modified June 3

A big thank you goes out to Dennis Allen and his wife Caren for starting the Awalt Class of 1981 donations off to a great start. A most generous gift...we are hoping everyone can send in just a little something so we can keep the ticket prices to a minimum for Saturday nights event and have some left over to pass on to Mountain View alumni so they can have funds in the treasury for future reunions.

Checks made payble to Erica Z. Connors and they can be can be sent to Erica Connors (Zarsky) - [redacted] Amounts given will be kept private.

Thank you again to Dennis and Caren!!

Marjorie and Erica
1981 Reunion Committee

Posted May 27, 2006

Dear Classmates

Dear 1981 Alumni-
Now is the time to send in updated pictures of you (and your family) for our slide show at the reunion. Please send them, if at all possible in jpg. or gif. formats. After we have added pictures from the reunion, you will all receive a copy of the reunion C.D. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this- Marjorie and Erica

P.S- if you cannot scan a photo, please send them to-
Marjorie Lowry
[redacted]

Posted May 2006

The time for our reunion is getting closer and we are gearing up for a wonderful weekend. Erica and I met last weekend, and wanted to let you know what is going on.

First, the Ice breaker venue has been located- it will be held ar the California Roadhouse - 401 Castro Street in Mountain View. This will be a no-host event where you can order your own drinks and food and simply mingle with other people. This event will begin at 7pm.

Second, we are starting from scratch financially. Many of you may not know there are no funds left from previous years. Erica (Zarsky) Connors was kind enough to use her own money to hold the reservation at the Hotel Valencia. She is also willing to open a bank account for the Awalt Class of 1981 funds. Therefore, in order to get the ball rolling financially, we are asking you for donations so that we can keep ticket prices to a minimum. Any amount would be helpful. (Please make checks out to: Awalt 1981 Reunion)

Monies can be sent to:
Awalt 1981 Reunion
c/o Erica (Zarsky) Connors
[redacted]

Please know that any monies over and above necessary for the reunion will be donated to a needed area at Mountain View High School in the name of our class and to thank them for allowing us to use their facilities.

I know this is a rather long e-mail, but we want you to know where we are and what we need to make this a successful and memorable time for everyone.
Thank you all so very much,

Marjorie and Erica

Previous (edited for location) notice:

Please save the dates for our 25th year reunion weekend this summer (2006):
August 25 - Icebreaker (location to be determined)
August 26th - a night to eat, drink and be merry at the Hotel Valencia (http://www.hotelvalencia.com/san-jose-santana-row-home.php) - Celebrating old friends and making new ones...
August 27th - Family picnic at ! the old Awalt campus - come one, come all...

We hope you can join in all the fun!
Erica (Zarsky) and Marjorie (Lowry)

WE NEED YOUR ADDRESS...PLEASE EMAIL US BACK SO WE CAN MAKE SURE AN INVITATION GETS SENT TO YOU!

Previous (edited for location) notice:

NEXT summer, August 25th - 27th, 2006, we will be having the Awalt High School Class of 1981 25th Reunion.

Icebreaker on the August 25th at the California Roadhouse - 401 Castro Street Mountain View 7PM

Semi-formal evening on the August 26th a night to eat, drink and be merry at the Hotel Valencia in San Jose

Family Picnic on the August 27th at Awalt

We are currently canvassing to see who would be interested in attending as we need to make reservations for a venue. PLEASE, we need the following-

Are you & your spouse/partner considering attending? (We are trying to keep costs to about $100 per person for the weekend. The Icebreaker will be no host, and the picnic will be just that - a picnic.)

We need your current contact information...email and mailing address

Contact information for other alumni, including those who would like to attend, but did not get to graduate with the class for various reasons.

Planning ! committee help - so far, there are only two of us doing everything....

Awlat Diploma If you are NOT interested in receiving any further information on the reunion, and will not be attending, please let us know.

Please send your contact information and correspondence to - Awalt1981@hotmail.com
Thank you, Marjorie (Lowry) and Erica (Zarsky)

This page was last updated on: February 10, 2007

Awalt High School Class of 1981 Reunion Information
- Events - Maps - Located Alumni - Volunteer - Links - About Us - Contact Us - In Memorium
Missing Persons! - Alumni We Are Still Looking For

Chester F. Awalt High school was located in Mountain View California.
The class of 1981 was the last graduating class from Awalt before its name was changed to Mountain View High School. This website is the official home of the class of 1981. Official reunion information and contact points may be found for Awalt's class of 1981 on these pages.