This is a message forum for members of WHS 1962. 

What's on your mind?  There are no set topics. You can start a discussion or add your 2 cents to respond to a classmate. Forums work when people participate ~ Click the "Post Response" button to add your entry to the forum.

Dorothy Silver (Perkins)

Diane, I'm up for a class 62 reunion next year . The good Lord willing and the creek doesn't rise. Any month is usually good with me. 

Dot Perkins

Douglas Barbour (Barbour)

I am up for 62 and I will also be watching that creek Dot. September is a good month for me.

Marcia Vandam (Ringel)

Always loved and remembered my class with Miss Burns. Certainly encouraged me to read everything and anything I could get my hands on to this day. So happy she lived a full and long life. 

I would be interested in a 62nd reunion. 

Hope all are healthy and enjoying life.

Marcia

Peter Meisenzahl

September of next year works for Jan and I and the same restaurant in Foxborough would be agreeable . Jan and I are healthy ( Thank God ) and enjoying a good summer on Cape Cod . We hope everyone is healthy and in good spirits 
Peter & ( Jan Keltie ) Meisenzahl

Deanna Aldrich (Henry)

September 2024 sounds great for our next reunion. I would prefer not Labor Day weekend however as I'll still be in Chatham with my family.

Phylis Tyler (McCafferty)

Hello all,  I too will do my best to be there for the 62nd celebration!!  I am grateful that Claire posted the obit for Ms. Burns.  What a life!  What a force she was for many of us and it was fun to read aobut her full life.  I passed the  obit to my daughter, Heather, entering her 25th year of teaching Spanish and now head of the world language department in her school.  She loved reading it   Remember Ms Valentine???  What a character she was!!  Be well everyone and we will be together soon I hope...................Phyllis (Tyler) McCafferty

And I thank all for my birthday greetings...............good to know friends :)  

Richard Youlden

Count me in for 2024!! September sounds great too.Wishing a 79th Happy Birthday to all that have had one & to those of who have one coming up soon.

Sandra Peterson (Johnson)

Susan Peters (Mariano)

I am interested in a 62nd reunion and willing to assist in anyway to make it happen. Septemver works for me as well. Thanks Claire for sending a link to Ms Burns obituary.. a life well lived.

I would like to wish everyone one on this forum a very Happy Birthday and thank all who sent a birthday message to me ..THANKS. Looking forward to meeting up again next year for our 62nd.

Gail Fowler (Troilo)

I just read the news of Claire passing from Diane's message.Everyone who knew who knows we have lost one very , amazing lady. She was always so welcoming to me when I first came to Westwood high. I truthfully can't picture Claire without that wonderful smile and her laughter.She was a bright spot in my life and I believe everyone's life.Claire made this world a better place and will be dearly missed by all the people who had the privilege of knowing her.  RIP , Claire😢

Deanna Aldrich (Henry)

Claire was a beautiful person who did so much good in her life! I am grateful for all she did to bring our class together through this website (with Joe's help of course) and our many reunions.She is loved and will be missed! Dee Aldrich/Henry

Douglas Barbour (Barbour)

The tribute was beautiful, what an outstanding represenative of the Class of 62. 

Marcia Vandam (Ringel)

I just heard the news about Claire. Was so sad and am missing her already. She was an amazing friend and person. Sending hugs and love to her family. 

John Spears

Hard to put into words how nice Claire was as a person and how much she has always meant to our class. So nice and so much. 

Phylis Tyler (McCafferty)

Dear all,

First, Thank you Dianne for sending us the news.  Claire was a loving force among us.  I was delighted when I learned she was living in Needham where Brother Bill lived and they lived close by.. She took me home after our gathering. I am not sure which reunion it was.   She told me at that time that she had had a bout with cancer and was  in remission then.  Now both Bill and Claire are no longer with us and are sorely missed.   It will be hard to have a reunion without her as she has been so central to these last few.  I will be at our 62nd to raise a glass to our formidable Claire!

(In tribute to Miss Burns, I reread my note and found a few typos.  Hope I caught them all :) ) May all be well.

Peter Meisenzahl

Since learning of Claire’s passing I have been gathering my thought in order to add a response . The Kroll family moved to Carroll Ave when Claire was four or five and we met as she lived four houses away from the Meisenzahl family . Claire and I met , became friends , played together in the neighborhood and were in school together from first grade thru high school graduation . Claire was all the good things that everyone else has stated  in their responses . Claire and I had a bond from our earliest days of childhood and we were always close because of our growing up together .Claire and I worked together on WHS reunions and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company . We , the Class of 1962 have lost an extraordinary person , a warm and giving person and a friend .RIP Claire .

Susan Peters (Mariano)

Thank you Diane for your announcement on the passing of Claire

Dick and Claire had such a heartfelt discussion at our 60th luncheon about the cancers they were fighting and Dick was grateful for her input. They are both together once again and sharing their thoughts. The tribute on line was beautiful and told the story of a woman who dedicated her life to service and family forging forward demonstrating her own personal beliefs and principles. She was such a driving force for our class and always worked on bringing us together and unifying our group.
I was a late comer to WHS arriving in 1960 to begin my Junior year and found Claire to be so welcoming with that beautiful smile. May she RIP as she fought courageously against a tough disease. Indeed, she will me missed by the class of 1962. 

Richard Youlden

To Claire…you will be emphatically missed by everyone that new you as you always have made everyone your friend. Till that reunion in the sky above …R.I.P.

I almost dread clicking on the new posts as it worries me that another classmate might have passed but I am pleased that our 62^nd reunion is quickly coming up. Hope we all can be there.

George Trethewey

George and I were so sad to learn of our dear friend Claire's passing.  She was such a special person and it was always great when being with her.  She was a kind, gentle, very intelligent woman and she amazed us with all she did.  Reading the beautiful obituary her son wrote certainly described how wonderful she was to family ,friends, classmate and how many people loved her..  RIP Claire.  We all will miss you so much! 

With heartfelt memories,  Dee and George Trethewey   

Suzanne Perkins (Gunston)

I was so very sad to hear this news - shocked really, I had somehow missed the message from Diane and can't find it  even now. It feels like a light has gone out somewhere. Perhaps a sunbeam.

Robert Chamberlin

Claire's obituary said it so well; it was further amplified by the heartfelt comments from our class.  The entries in the funeral book further showed how much she meant to her recent close friends. Will always remember our 8th grade class trip to NYC.  Her battle with cancer was an example for everyone.  Claire was truly a SPECIAL person who will be missed by all.

Robert Chamberlin

I am sad to report that Mark Valencia passed away in Hawaii on December 6, 2023.  He has not been well for years, and several days ago his wife "B" contacted me to say he was in intensive care.   His wife and children were at his side when he passed.  I know Dianne will post as she gets more info but she asked that I notify the class. 

John Spears

Tough news to read in our '62 message forum these days, losing Ritchie, Claire, Mark, Peggy, and who knows who next. How about something to look forward to?

I still teach my weekly Street Math prison classes, now required by the Suffolk County South Bay House of Correction for new inmates (indicating the state of the rest of its curriculum). A few weeks ago I announced to a class (of men ranging from mid-20's to late-50's) that they would hear something in the next five minutes they would never forget. Did they know what a bucketI was?  All nodded suspiciously.  What should be at the top of everyone's list?  I turned to the whiteboard and wrote:

Sleeping  with  an    80 year-old woman   (or man)

That needed an explanation:  NOT just with any 80 year-old!  That person should be The Love Of Your Life.

This, my fellow '62's, is not theory.  I have 6 months of fantastic experience, and counting.  And this is something for ALL of us '62's to achieve in this coming year: having this experience, providing this experience, or sleeping (like Rick and Susan and several others) with the cherished memories of the Love of Your Life

Getting to 80 years of Life (next year for all of us) is an achievement to be shared.  

Alan Rother

Dear Classmates of Alan G Rother,

 OBITUARY

Alan G. Rother

September 10, 1944 - December 29, 2023

Alan G. Rother, 79, of Medfield, MA, passed away on December 29, 2023, surrounded by his loving family. Beloved and devoted husband of Dottie (Meeks) Rother. Devoted Godfather of Mariah Williams of Stoughton, MA. Beloved brother -in- law to Jayne and Mike Williams of Stoughton, MA and Glenda and Jack Atkinson of Taylor, MI. Dear cousin of Fritz Rother (Ingrid) of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and the late Mark Rudolph, his wife, Laura of Sullivan, ME. Dear uncle of Phil, John, Kristen, Crystal, Thomas, Heather, Mikayla, Joshua, Cassandra and Mariah and great-uncle of Jaylen, Briel, Madison, Ellie, Benjamin, Henry, and Addison. Alan was predeceased by his loving parents, Fritz, and Selma Rother.

Alan attended the Westwood Public Schools and graduated from Westwood High in 1962. He then attended the Wentworth Institute of Technology and received his Associate in Engineering Degree in 1965 with his course work in Mechanical Design Engineering Technology. Alan worked at MDL before getting a job with the Polaroid Corporation from where he retired. He worked in the Engineering Department as a Draftsman while at Polaroid and also continued his college education at Northeastern University where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering in 1971.

Alan enjoyed working on cars and in the yard. He restored a motorcycle and a Chevelle. Alan was very adept with anything mechanical. He cherished his family and enjoyed working in his home. Alan loved to talk about and show his friends and family all the improvements he had made in his home and yard. He was a friendly and caring man who will be so greatly missed.

Alan was a devout Christian, and he loved his church. He was a member of The Dover Church, Dover, MA where he sang bass in the choir and was a member of the House and Grounds Committee.

Alan’s Celebration of Life Service was held on Saturday, January 13, 2023, at 11 am at The Dover Church, 17 Springdale Avenue, Dover, MA 02030.

Ruth Abernathy (Peksens)

“ONLINE PAYMENT FOR REUNION may be made via Venmo as follows: Pay to: Marilyn Cookson (@malliecooky) for the amount of $35/pp. Please describe as WHS, then the full names of all attendees, eg: WHS, John & Jane Doe”