September 2025Dear Friends, soo enjoying seeing and reconnecting with you all...here is a toast I wanted to give, so even late, here it is:

Before Patty and Diane and Ralph have some more wine and start dancing on the tables, and while I am still in therapy wondering why Sheila picked Ronnie over me...I truly wanted to thank you all for welcoming this guy who arrived 4 weeks before the start of our Jr. year and then, my life changed for the better... it started as I first met Tom Cravens and Bob Moore in Maple Haven where we lived and Tom even drove my sister and I to school for a few weeks;

then at summer training for Xcountry - Peter, Bill C, Jim Munton and Billy H greet me and say 'hey, you seem like a good guy who probably can't hurt us, so we will tell Grogan we want you on the team;

Ronnie stops me on the first week of school and says 'we are going to be best friends' and we wer inseparable for the next 4 years;

then, Joan, Sandy and Pam allow me to join the Riot Squad!; John Norris, Fred and I intend to go to Woodstock, but when we heard about the parking back log we went to the Montreal Worlds Fair and got drunk at the Japanese pavilion drinking Sake;

Karen Brown turned me down for the Jr. Prom, so Jon Kimball and I got George Carpentter to buy us beer and we play pool at BowlaRama,
Kerry, John Fab, Russ all come join me for the Indy 500 then Sr, Prom when Nick takes Marie home unexpectedly and Denise and I wonder what just happened;

and of course, fun house parties at Debbie B's house... and THEN, years pass, and FB allows renewed contact with so many of you and your support for my FUNN raising efforts - thanx to Steve G, Jim M, Nanci L, Carol W, Peter Cryans, Andy and Nancy, many of whom join for my 70th Bday party
sorry if I left out any special mentions - a dementia gene in the fam you know.

Thank ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL of you for welcoming this kid, allowing me to join and share and see you all now as Dear Friends...here's to more regular contact before our 60th.....

HUGE Hugs to all,
jimmy

Jayne Begala recently married June 2021

Hello friends and members of the Portsmouth HS graduating class of 1970.

Since I can't be at the reunion I'll give a quick update:

My husband Tom served in the Air Force for 20 years and then worked for Lockheed Martin in Marietta, GA until 2013. We raised our family of 5 children along the way in North Dakota, California, Korea, Illinois, Utah, Nashua, NH and Massachusetts, finally retiring in Marietta, GA, which is home now. We have 18 grandchildren. Two of our sons and their families live near us in GA, and we have a son in Colorado Springs, a daughter in Frisco, TX and another daughter in Bentonville, AK.

Last April Tom and I rented out our home in GA and flew to Italy to serve as Military Relations missionaries for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for 18 months. We live in a beautiful little town about 2 miles from Aviano Air Base called Roveredo in Piano. We are volunteering, supporting and interacting with military personnel here. We're enjoying being back in a military environment again.
Our travel is somewhat limited due to responsibilities here, but we have managed to get to Firenze (Florence) and Venezia (Venice) so far and hope to see much more before we go back home. Needless to say we are enjoying great pizza and gelato! The language is coming slowly, but the Italians are kind and very willing to help if we give it a try.

When we're back home in GA we like to spend time with grandkids,and garden in the large neighborhood garden near our house.Tom is an avid bike rider, and we rode the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP), a four day ride, last August. My favorite pastimes are reading, gardening and beekeeping.

Warm regards to my former classmates,
Heidi Day Owen

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Our Grandkids

Our Church