Laura Reid (Pease)

Sorry, typo.....Davida, not David (autocorrect!!)

Sandy Steele (Bauman)

DearClass of 64, It was so much fun catching up with all of you at our birthday bash. Special thanks to Rick for being the driving force and spirit of our class, and to David and Betsy for always being such gracious hosts. Also, the special jam  session on Friday night by Euge, PUl, Dave, and David was fun. Thanks to Steve Collett, Rosie Byniski, and the Levinsons for traveling so far to be with us. The weekend definitely affirmed what a special group of people Walnut Hills High School developed in the early 60s. Looking forward to seeing all of you again in five years.

Mary Vore (Iwamoto)

My heartfelt thanks as well to those who worked on this - to David and Betsy Schneider opening up their home and Rick Steiner for being a great Master of Ceremonies!!  I especially have appreciated the Message Forum as a way to connect/reconnect with so many classmates.  It made it easy to talk with so many of you, having seen your wonderful pictures, know of weddings, etc, etc.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the hard work and all of the preparations - they were wonderful!  My husband also had a great time, and especially enjoyed the bus tour.  We spent Sunday afternoon at OTR, enjoying on foot what we had seen on the bus.  I hope to see you all in 2021 - stay fit! 

John Isidor

I want to thank the reunion committee and Rick Steiner and David and Betsy Schneider for a wonderful weekend. So proud to be part of our wonderful class. If you did not go on the WHHS tour, do so if you get a chance. The school looks fabulous.  I hope some of you got to meet the bartender on Friday night as he is my son, Sam Isidor.  I hope everyone will consider a donation to the Class of '64 Performing Arts Fund as a small way of thanking Rick and David and Betsy.. The money is being put to very good use.

Sharon Okrent (Yosafat)

What a wonderful weekend. Ricky, you are so great and enthusiastic

. It's catching. Anne the boards were so much fun. DAvid and Betsy, thanks for your hospitality.  

A great time seeing "old" faces!  Just kidding. So many memories.  How did this happen so fast?

Ashley Brown

Tnaks to Rick, David, Ann, and all of the organizers for all of the work that went into the wekend. It was great seeing so nany classmates and catching up. It was a terrific time and very much appreciated.

Linda Karpen (Nachman)

What a wonderful example of "wonderful"! How fun to reminisce with "old" friends and make heartfelt memories come alive again. Much appreciation, Betsy and David, for your gracious and generous hosting Friday evening...and to DeeDee and Ricky for the wine (all these years, didn't know!??).

APPLAUSE to "Rick and Company" for yet another stellar Reunion! I'm so sorry to have missed Tour Day but was also busy with family happenings all weekend. Looking forward to the videos.

With sincerest thanks and best wishes to all, Linda

***For those of you who didn't know, Mr. Knab passed away. Google Joseph E. Knab for his obit. He was such an eloquent, stimulating/demanding, and humorous teacher.

Linda Karpen (Nachman)

Ann and Gail, love these elementary boards, thx!!!

Jim Hilb

I want to share my gratitude to David, Betsy, the Reunion Committee and our leader, Rick for the wonderful experience of our 70th Birthday Bash. The entire weekend was a "Smash Hit". Being with so many of our classmates was special and enabled all of us to once again realize the uniqueness of what we had with our Class of '64 at WHHS. The openness and honest reflections at the Talk Around was a special event having been unable to be part of the previous two. It was great to reconnect. My apologies to those of you at the brunch and the difficulties that occurred. I take responsibility for that and hope you were not greatly inconvenienced. The staff at the Palm Court are aware of their lack of response to our needs. I look ahead to our next Bash in 2021.

Jeff Daum

Jim, no apologies needed- the snafu was on them!  The delay gave us more time to interact as a group prior to sitting down for the excellent brunch and then everyone scattering to the four points of the compass.  Thank you for finding and setting up the Palm Court.

Richard Murdock

Well I certainly want to add my thanks to the team who worked so hard for so many months to make this reunion a reality.  For me the reunion was a  great success !  And it was very enjoyable to re-connect with so many of my classmates.   Special thanks to David and Betsy for sharing their beautiful home with us and  to Rick, Larry, Laura, Ann and no doubt others for putting it all together. 

Looking forward to 2021  !

And Jeff - great photo of Cincinnati.

Jeff Daum

Stephen (Steve) Dixon

If I had been able to make it to the Birthday Bash last weekend, this is what I would have wanted to say during the afternoon talk-around:

When I think about my time at Walnut Hills, what remember is THE GIRLS!

Now, bear with me, it’s not as mundane and sleazy as you are presently assuming.

I had the good fortune to land among an extraordinary group of people when my family moved to Mt. Washington during my second grade year. And I came on to Walnut with some really special people: Dale Siemer, Jerry Blake, Ray Heithaus, Mike Colangelo…

And the girls (oh MY!)… Pam Hall, Barb Hay, Karen von Boeselager, Nancy Kemp. Jill Bertsche and Carolyn Ahlert were here with us for a while before moving on.  I had been in awe, and pretty much in love with these girls since the 2^nd or 3^rd grade.

Then, I come to Walnut Hills and find girls like that by the THOUSANDS. Classy. Funny. Creative. Self-possessed. And unbelievably smart.

Not too many of you had the good fortune to date me (ha-ha) but what you did was create the model of what I wanted my own daughters to be.

Larry Klein

What a WEEK!!  First, last weekend was the best WHHS'64 Reunion EVER.  Rick and Dave have outdone themselves yet again, and the rest of the committee provided all the backdrops and venues and decorations and souvenirs - I could go on forever.

THEN, beginning on Monday after the reunion, I had the pleasure of following my favorite Lady Eagle golfer, Katie Hallinan, around the course for four days in the Cincinnati Metropolitan Women's Championship.  First, she qualified as co-medalist with two-time past champion Lynn Thompson.  Then, Katie defeated last year's HS state champion 5 and 4.  Then, in 38 gruelling holes on Wednesday (with a 2 hour rain delay), Katie put away TWO past finalists in the event on the last hole of play,  And today, Katie wrapped it up with a 1-up victory over top college player Katie Tomassoni.  One down with two holes to play, our Katie hit a 6 iron over trees (TALL trees) to within 10 inches to square the match.  On 18, she nailed a 25 yard wedge to 2 feet, another birdie, and the championship.  Katie will probably sleep well tonight, but I'm FRAZZLED!

Here she is getting her trophy and a cameo with the "old" Coach.  Go EAGLES!!  a GREAT DAY FOR Walnut Hills HS Athletics.

Jeff Daum

Congratulations to Katie Hallinan and you Larry.

Mary Benjamin

Dear Classmates,

I wanted to echo all the wonderful messages others have posted. I had such a great time at the reunion - it was so heartwarming and wonderful to see all of you that could make it. My thanks go to Rick, David and Betsey and to the amazing committee who put the weekend together. Rick, your producing skills and your generosity are so amazing! And I know many of you worked so hard for everything to be as flawless as it was for those of us who were lucky enough to just show up as "guests."

As Jonathan Marks said in the talkaround, "it was just wonderful to see your faces", to talk to many of you and hear your stories and to get at least a little bit of an update on many of your lives. I have to say that when I left the party Saturday night, knowing I couldn't make it to the brunch Sunday, I felt so sad to leave. I really felt bereft leaving all that warmth and all that love. I had such a strong sense of being seen and known just for who I am now and was in the years we were together. That really touched me.

It's a feeling I have had at all the reunions although maybe it is becoming even more precious over time and as I get older. Since I'm still doing work that is often fun and creative but can also be competitive and political, I particularly value being with you all at the reunion where I had nothing to prove to anyone and felt so appreciated in an unconditional way!

I also wanted to thank so many of you who told me you watched and enjoyed "The Story of God with Morgan Freeman." It meant a lot to me that you took the time to watch and got something out of the series. 

I hope all of you and your families have wonderful summers and I look forward to see you again in 5 years. Kudos also to Richard Winter and Gail for all their work on this website, which has made it so easy to stay in touch. I also want to thank the wonderful Ann Shepard Rueve, who is so sweet and kind to all of us and cerntainly to me.

Sursum ad summum and much love,

Mary

Philip Spiess

Okay, all!  I really was not happy that circumstances prevented me from attending the Reunion.  Your numerous comments make me glad that it was the success intended and that the spirit of this Forum was extended into real time at the Reunion, for I feel that this Forum has once again made me close to you all after all these years!  Your comments, of course, also make me sad that I could not have been with you!

I have therefore informed Spring Grove Cemetery (my favorite, Don Dahmann's Vine Street Hill Cemetery not withstanding) that I request they delay my interment in the family plot ("ashes to ashes, dust to dust") until at least 2026, so that I might attend the "75th Reunion" (as it's now being called).  In the meantime, don't let this Forum fade; keep your thoughts and opinions and family fortunes -- and pictures -- flowing, for that is what is of real interest, not just "Happy Birthday."

Jeff Daum:  How did you do that remarkable picture from your hotel window?  It almost looks like an etching by Whistler of London at night!  (And the Union Central Building, regardless of what they may call it now -- Central Trust Tower, or whatever -- still is one of my favorites of downtown Cincinnati architecture, even though they removed the classy wrought iron pinnacle atop the chimney years ago!)

-- Philip

Jeff Daum

Philip you were clearly missed.  Witty electronic intercourse will never replace in situ dialogue imho .  Thank you for the overly generous comparison to Whistler.

My picture was a fortuitous outcome to timing, lighting and a bit of post composition software.  The later is something I rarely use (as you can see from other pictures I have posted), but when I looked at the original image, something about it suggested the modification.

Lydia Morris (Brown-Johnson)

What a winderful weekend, especially connecting with a classmate I hadn't seen since the night we graduated. Hey JoAnn. 

Thank you so much Rick and Dave and Betsey and the awesome reunion committee. See y'all in '2021

Paul Simons

After seeing the link that Ann Rueve just put up on Facebook I have to say it was a heroic thing from many angles. Thanks very much to everyone involved - Ann, Brad and Jim Schloss, Dick Winter and Larry Klein with the website, Dave and Betsey, and of course Oz, the man behind the curtain, the only actual proven practitioner of Intelligent Design, Rick Steiner. Those B & W videos are the stuff!! I have black and white videos myself of artists who appeared at Babe Baker's jazz room on Reading Rd near the old Sears building. History we can be really proud of. And speaking of roads thanks to Rick's son and pals at the limo wheels. Thanks to everyone there. It takes time for the beauty of the whole thing to work its way through the motel checkout, the travel, back to work, unpacking but there it is. Y'all are flat out fabulous! 

Zola Makrauer

It was great seeing everyone.... Thanks to all who orchestrated 

The weekend.... Special thanks to Rick...amazing!!

Chuck Cole

I want to add my thanks to all of you who made the reunion a fantastic experience, from Rick, David, and Betsey to the many many others whose efforts pulled this off.  And I want to thank all of you, my classmates (and their partners) for your presence and openness and friendliness.  We are all so fortunate to have gone to WHHS and to have had each other, not only in our class but also in our lives.  Thanks so much for your openness in welcoming my wife, Liz, to our reunion and helping her understand how special is the place we spent those six years of growing up together.  Even though I don't see most of you very often (certainliy not often enough) you make assembling every five or so years a peak experience.  I'm trying to figure out what it took until our 40th for me to come to a reunion.   

Chuck

Rick Gloeckler

Thank you, thank you, thank you...Dave & Betsey Schneider for your gracious hospitality and once again hosting an incredible evening....I add my thanks to the reunion committee for another well planned event and the excellent communication in getting everyone there....all the best...it was fun to see old friends and classmates......Rick Gloeckler

Jon Singer

i threw a surprise 70th birthday party for my wife, ruth on june 11th. i brought in the kids and grandkids who stayed for a week. i was severely conflicted but chose to remain with the biologic family on the reunion weekend.  i've since heard first hand and now reviewed pictures confirming the joy you all had. sorry to have missed some handshakes and hugs. jon

Jonathan Marks

I'll be brief because, as I've demonstrated, if I'm allowed to run on I'll get sloppy and sentimental.

We're so lucky to have Ricky as the guy who stepped up to the plate, and then did it again and again, to lead us.

We're so lucky to have that wonderful committee, a cross-section of our class, and therefore amazing.

We're so luck to have Walnut Hills and each other.

Thank you, my friends.