JOHN FLESCH

22 DAYS AND COUNTING

John Flesch and his wife Jeanne are living in Madison. They have three children : Jessica, 32 - Eric, 30 - and Amy, 28........and they have 2 grandchildren.

John is working - he is the " Executive VP Treasurer Gordon Flesch CO ". Hmmmm wonder if he knows someone there?

and what has he been doing? "Built a cottage last year in Northern Wis. And spoiling my grandchildren."

Any favorite memories from his EHS days? "814 Broom and friends I made and have to this day."

Thanks John - see you in a few weeks ...WooHoo !!

JAMES RIES

Jim Ries and his wife Mary (Kennedy '69) are living in Austin, Texas. They have five children: Eric, 31 - Joe, 30 -Dave, 29 - Phil, 28 and ( a girl !! ) Emily, 25.

Jim is a CFO and Mary is teaching second grade.

They have spent their years living all over the country.

Jim's best memory of EHS? "The senior fraternity "

JOSEPH COOPER

Joe Cooper and his wife Sue live in Madison. They have four children: Jennifer, 33 - Travis, 30 - Courtney, 28 - and Cary, 23. They also have four grandchildren.

Joe is working at the UW "32 years at UW-Residence Halls … Assistant Director of Physical Facilities "

How does he enjoy his days? "I am the Head Coach at West HS in Girls Volleyball & Assistant Coach at Edgewood HS in softball. I (along with Sue) love to garden, walk our dog and bug my grandchildren (all girls!!!)"

How about his favorite memories....."In high school it was my friends, our apartment our senior year (I Felt a Thigh) & sports – my favorite teacher or coach of all time was George Chrsyt (who I think of a lot when I am coaching) "

Thanks Joe - great to know we'll see you in July!

DANIEL LYNAUGH

Dan Lynaugh is retired from the Post Office after a 35 year career.

And so how is he spending his time? "I am married. My wife is also a retired Postmaster. I have three wonderful children, all married and doing well. I have 5 grandchildren, with more likely in the future. I spend about 7 months a year at our home in Eagle River, the rest in the Madison area for now. I hope to winter in Florida or Arizona in the future. "


His favorite memories? " My favorite memory of EHS was the first floor flat we kept senior year at 314 N. Broom St. near campus. I recall having a lot of fun there. We should have thought of that prior to senior year."

Dan, hope we see you in July....... and if we'd had that apartment too much earlier - we 'd have had to take a bus.

MICHAEL DASPIT

“Daz” and his wife Diane are currently living in Des Moines, Iowa. They have 3 grandchildren, a daughter Jennifer 36 living in Omaha, Nebraska and a son John 32 living in Huntington Beach CA.

DAZ is on his third career. After serving in the Air Force for 20 years, City Administration for 12 years, he is now working in the technology field, a network administrator for an ISP. Daz graduated from the University of Nebraska Omaha with a BGS in 1984 and a MPA in 1988. Mike, while in the AF, served in numerous locations around the world including 3 years in London England, Alaska, Montana, North Carolina and Omaha NE. While assigned to Strategic Air Command Headquarters he worked on the development and fire protection for the B-2 “Stealth Bomber”. He was city administrator in Alton IA, Bayard NE and Pleasant Hill IA. After all the moving he decided to get into a field where he would not be moving so much. " We are looking to retire in the southwest. Tired of snow and hot humid summers the south west will prove a nice change."

For pleasure Diane and Mike travel extensively, Mike caught the fly fishing bug in Western Nebraska.

Favorite memories? State baseball tournaments and of course 314 Broom and water skiing on Lake Wingra in the “Durks” boat.

EDWARD MURPHY

Ed and his wife Julie live in Madison. They have two sons, David 29 and Brian 25. David is married - Brian is single. Ed is still enjoying his job at SubZero. And what else has been going on?

"After high school, I attended UW-Madison, and graduated with a BBA in 1973 and an MBA in 1974. Found my soulmate in 1971 while on a summer vacation trip with Howie Heusinger, and luckily she chose me over Howie! Julie and I were married in 1975 (she also graduated from UW-Madison in 1974) and had two sons who are now both working in Chicago after also graduating from UW-Madison (seems to be a trend in our family!). My older son David was married last fall. My younger son Brian is still single . I was employed in various accounting and finance positions for Oscar Mayer/Kraft Foods from 1972 to 1995, where I worked with fellow EHS '69 classmates Mike McKenna and Terry Skolaski. Was very fortunate to find a second career at Sub-Zero in 1995 where I've been for the past 15 years. I still enjoy going to work every day and being part of a company where making high quality products that consumers want is our focus. Now I see another classmate every day at Sub-Zero in Pat Phelan, whose wife Judy (Choles) is on our class reunion committee (small world!). Julie and I are avid Badger basketball and football fans and longtime season ticket holders. It's great seeing Tom Fahey's son Dan on the Kohl Center floor as a member of the Badger team this year. "


Ed has wonderful memories of his years at EHS : "It's hard to pick one memory as a favorite and I've probably forgotten more than I can remember, but I am thankful for many things about having the opportunity to attend and graduate from Edgewood High School.
-Having parents with the foresight and commitment to send me to Edgewood along with my older sister Kathleen (EHS '68) and younger brother Steve (EHS '70). Coming from Middleton and having attended public school grades K thru 8, I fought my parents tooth and nail to send me to Middleton high school but thankfully they didn't give in!
-Having the opportunity to compete in class with some very smart kids who it was impossible to get better grades than (Steve Roth, Steve Riederer, Katie Miller, and Peggy Zweifel come to mind; don't fret if I didn't mention your name, remember we're all getting forgetful!).
-Making life long friends in Mike McKenna and Dave Heilman, who I still do things with since we all live in Madison. I still can't believe we didn't stop to party in New Orleans on New Years Eve in 1968 (see Mike McKenna's post), but hey, that was why we weren't members of I Phelta Thi!
-Being a part of the Edgewood community and reconnecting with old friends such as my former EHS band director Dennis McKinley. Seeing people like Dennis who are so committed to keeping the Edgewood spirit alive is awe inspiring to say the least.
-Having very committed teachers at EHS whose mission was to prepare us for the world (remember Sister Alphonsine and her NHS motto (No Hollow Students)? There were definitely some characters in our teachers at Edgewood, but more importantly they were selfless and only cared about making their students better (my memory of them seems to be improving with age!).
Thank you, Anna for organizing the class reunion and setting up the blog. I hope all of our classmates post updates so all of us can find out what our classmates have been up to. Thanks also to the other members of the reunion committee who made this happen. Having a 40th reunion would have been so ho hum. A 41st reunion makes us unique! Way to go, class of '69! Looking forward to seeing all of you in July."

Thanks Ed - we're pretty excited too!

MARY ROWE

Mary Byrne Rowe is living in beautiful Gotham, WI after spending 35 years in Southern California........don't say a thing. She still works as a designer - her motto is "If it doesn't move - decorate it" Three darlings: Carolyn 29, Meghan 24 and Matthew 21.

Exactly what has she been up to ? "Traveled around in the early 70's - including two extended stays in CA. Finally finished UW in '74 and moved to So CA in the Spring of '75. Married Peter Rowe - settled down and spent the eighties having babies, being the PTO mom, soccer mom, T-Ball mom with a mini van ...... and through it all - a self-employed interior designer. Turned fifty, got a divorce and moved to the beach. Laguna Beach is a fabulous place - and I loved every minute of my time there, but reality set in and the rent came due and I decided it was time to get back to some sort of normalcy. With all kids graduated high school and happy (as they could be) I moved back to Wisconsin in 2007. Of course "normalcy" is relative: I bought an old country church circa 1840 outside of Spring Green and am renovating it and turning into my home.
Life is good. "


Favorite memories? "I have wonderful memories of Edgewood ...... sure I was insecure and self-conscious - but isn't that what high school is all about? A few favorite memories in no particular order: The U-Haul !! ....... going to McDonalds after the final episode of The Fugitive - it was raining and Gary Lloyd ran in front of our car with his arm tucked up his sleeve- just like the opening scene of the show ! .... Senior retreat and dancing like Zorba ... T.P.'ing Shimanski's house - if you have a front lawn w/ that many trees, be prepared. Dan L. singing "The House of the Rising Sun" Going to Lombardino's and then Hoyt Park w/ the girls who were dressed like nuns (after they broke into the nuns laundry) - I Phelta Thi - Cactus Bluff - pep rallies and games- getting out of detention to go get Coke for Sister Alphonsine at Fauerbachs ........... this was all great, good , clean fun !"

THOMAS FAHEY

Mary Ellen and Tom Fahey live in Chicago where he is a managing partner at Ungaretti and Harris Law Firm. They have five children: Colleen 24, Tom 23, Meghan 22 and twins Matt and Dan 19.

What has he been doing? "Have tried to keep it simple...one house; one wife; one job; five kids now nearing their ejection into adulthood. Transplanted successfully into the Beverly neighborhood on the south side of Chicago in 1976 but returning frequently to Madison to visit my mother, my high school friends, and children (three of whom have gone and are now going to the UW".

How about some memories: Black Sox shenanigans, Aunt Sabina's cookies, basement parties freshman year; 314 Broom; baseball with Mr. Osipowicz; etc. etc.


Thank you Tom - and happy to know we'll see you in July.....and who is Aunt Sabina and why didn't I know about her cookies? And "hello....what about prom?"