UPPER DARBY SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL | Class of '76 knows that CLIFTON RULES

WELCOME!!!!

WELCOME TO THE CLASS OF 1976 WEBSITE!

It's our hope that this site gets utilized by all of you for information on future reunions and gatherings, as well as a way of reconnecting with old friends.
There are multiple pages, all listed to the left.
Be sure to click on each to find out details of gatherings, news of the school, alumni news, and to check out the photos of our times together as we graced the halls of Upper Darby School District. Hold your snickers!
We are sure to find one of you sometime soon! If you have something you want to add, or a photo stored away, send it on so all can share.
This is OUR site, and what gets put on the site is up to the input of each of you.
Once again, welcome, and be sure to visit often as the site is always being updated and changing.

A WORD FROM THE COMMITTEE CONCERNING WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND A GATHERING

In our quest to get as many of you to the 30th reunion as possible, there was a great deal of confessing going on between classmates.
It seems that the hurts that came along with being in high school are still just skin deep to so many (and you thought you were alone in those feelings???).
A common remark was, "Hadn’t I been through all that once? Why exactly would I subject myself to them again?"
THEM... being whomever was their personal bane of existence during those shared years of adolescence...
Others have lamented that they already see the people from the class that they want to see, and have no desire to see anyone else.
(Made us kind of wonder if they saw us on the street if they would stop and talk to us…maybe us was them?)

Maybe the reluctance to commit to a reunion was because all of us, in some way or other, felt this way.
And just how do we get passed that? We bantered around some of the reasons we felt coming to a reunion were important, other than the obvious,
which is we are not the people we once were, and that time changes everything. Our twenty-fifth reunion took place right after 9/11.
It was an important time in all of our lives. It's when we came to accept on a grand scale how fragile life is, and how tragically short it can be.
There were many of us who were impacted that day, through our proximity to the World Trade Center; through our jobs; through people we knew who perished.
Seeing our classmates that night, who were impacted so directly by that day, brought a renewed sense to those in attendance about living in the NOW.
We are nearing our half-century birthdays, and as crazy as that sounds, we are also coming to grips with what is left of our lives and how important we are to one another.

We thought this belief from one of THEM on the reunion committee summed up the real importance of YOU attending a reunion.

"The mention of 9/11 struck me as related to what we were talking about the other day -- reasons for us, as adults now, to see each other when we can.
We all grew up together, were idiots together, liked, loved and hated each other at times together -- and whether or not we like it,
we are bonded in such a way that no one else is to our lives. It just doesn't make sense to completely cut that much out of our lives by not coming to reunions and get-togethers
-- we all have too much in common, though we have moved on to our various career and family lives.
At this point in life, we need to put the hurt and offended feelings we all have behind us and look at each other in a new and different way.
Laugh about the school stories, share the family pictures, talk about the ups and downs of life, and just be very grateful to be above ground and not below.
Now more than ever, we know how short life can be -- why be concerned with the silliness that went on when we were 16-18 years old?
We're not those people anymore, and the reunion will give us a chance to get to know one another all over again.
"Hopefully, now, you will rethink how significant your absence might be when we gather and recount our times,

and that you realize you are part of who we are, and we are part of who you are.
And we would LOVE to see you!
Signed – THEM

YEARBOOKS!!!!!!

Lose your yearbook? Maybe the ex has it....maybe in all the moves you made it went out in the trash....and maybe you never bought one.....?
UDHS School Store has the 1976 yearbook for sale!! How COOL is that????? For $48...minus the signatures....but you can bring it to the bash and fix that!!!!
Get your ordering info at:

http://www.udsd.k12.pa.us/royalstore/yearbooks.htm

RIVALRY AND CHALLENGES

It's too funny to hear us talk, even as adults...it's still, "What neighborhood did you grow up in?" ...or "Where did you hang?" Upper Darby encompassed a large parcel of ground, including three very distinctive junior high schools...Beverly Hills, Clifton, and Drexel Hill...These three different schools gave us a very diverse graduating class...and we all are who we are because of what we went through during childhood as well as where we grew up, and who our friends were...as well as our adversaries...but the rivalry that existed between the junior highs continues well past high school...
We hear someone say, of course without any "r's" in true UD twang, "Once from Upper Darby, always from Upper Darby" ...it's that edge we all know and feel that runs through us...we all have it to a point...it's in our blood and boils out when we get pushed a bit too much....it comes from being a student of UD.....and is that really a bad thing??? It's who we are and what makes us the stuff of legends...it's safe to say that no matter where we go, or what road we travel on, you just can't take us completely out of Upper Darby.

Our lines of demarcation clearly are still in existence today, just as they were back then, 30 some odd years ago. We think it's good to never forget where you came from...as it's what has made our collective character what it is...a class not to be taken lightly, who will leave their mark wherever they go... we are quick to laugh and have a good time, yet we never get pushed around, and when someone seriously crosses that line, despite being 50 years old, we remember well where we came from...!

The junior high school that had the most attendees at the Beach Bash was Beverly Hills, however, there isn't a person who was there that doesn't know that CLIFTON RULES!!! The Clifton Chicks were the best! They wore their orange and black with pride....leaving the rest of us wondering why we didn't do the same... So this will stand on the class website....and the rest of us will have to deal with the repercussions and bragging rites till a future event, if ever there is one, comes around.

Make sure you sign up on the page to the left so we have your email. We will keep you in the know on things that are happening as they develop... We have also started a group on LinkedIn, that is being maintained by Chuck Persing, and another one on Facebook, that is being maintained by Carol (Marter) Palo, and an events listing on Classmates.com

that Anita (Richardson) Archuleta is maintaining...these are all avenues to keep you in contact with the rest of the class...check us out!!!

WANT TO HELP?

If you're interested in helping out or being part of this happy little band of nuts that put this last reunion together, please email Doug Wilson @ bandaid4you@comcast.net
If you moved anytime in the last 30 years we need to know! Did you marry and take your spouse's name??? Then we need to know that too!
Don't be left out of future gatherings and newsletters!!! Make sure you send your updated information to us ASAP!!!
Lee Hopkins and Stephen Shannon are toiling away and sifting through as many sources as possible to find YOUR address!
Help us out and send it to us first before we post you on the missing list!And if you are looking for classmates from other years?
Want to check out other class websites? Go to http://udhs75.com to connect

To contact us by snail mail, please send your correspondence to: UDHS CLASS of 76 c/o Lee Hopkins, 425b W Uwchlan Ave, Downingtown, PA 19355

THE 1988 REUNION

IN GOOD COMPANY

We are in good company....Madonna turned 50 this year too.....here's what CNN had to say about being fifty........

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/08/15/turningfifty.irpt/index.html

WHO ELSE IS 50...?

Guess who else is 50?
http://melaman2.com/cartoons/singles/huck.html