Jack Conlee

I graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1967, and went on to complete residencies in general surgery and plastic surgery. In 1973 my wife, Darien, and I moved to Corpus Christi, and I began a practice in plastic surgery. On the weekends we raced our sailboat "Flat Busted" in local and state regattas.

After a bareboat sailing vacation in the Bay Islands of Honduras, we decided to buy a 10 acre Cay near the island of Guanaja. We built a main house and 2 guest houses on the island, along with the infrastructure to make our electricity and water. We moved there full time in 1985, along with our best friends Diane and Terry Smith.

We occupy ourselves with off shore fishing, diving, traveling, reading, playing with the dogs, and having a pleasant life on the beach. The island is beautiful, with hundreds of tall palm trees, white beaches, and crystal clear water. We are about 3 miles from a town of 5,000 and the airport. In addition to the islanders, there are about 100 "gringos" in the area. The Bay Islands are English speaking.

After 15 years we decided to again live part time in the United States. We chose the French Quarter in New Orleans, and in 2000 we moved into a house we built, with some difficulty, in this historic neighborhood. Now we split our time in two month increments between the Quarter and the Cay.

I'm sorry to miss our reunion, but we had previously planned a trip to Eastern Europe during September. Have a great time!

Bill Cassells

The lovely lady standing beside “Twiggy Legs” in the attached photo is Maggie, my wife of 45 years this past February. Her patience and resilience have been tested, as a casual observer to a listing of our former residences would have to assume that we have been in the witness protection program over these many years.

The brief(?) history: After getting my degree in civil engineering and yearning to work in the outdoors, I headed north and west with my bride and spent the next 30 years with the U.S. Forest Service at various locations in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Colorado. After retiring from Smokey’s legions in 1997, we moved to Bellingham, WA where I had my own business as a residential and commercial building inspector and part-time instructor. I closed my business in 2007 and we now live in Loveland, CO where we’re closer to our son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. I still enjoy the outdoors, but have given up abusing my body in running shoes for the more age-friendly pursuits of bicycling (road) and hiking amidst the decent scenery out here.

I will not be able to attend the 50th reunion festivities, but hope that any of my old (historically speaking) acquaintances who read this will make contact. My e-mail address is wash3079@gmail.com.

Geneva Bray Johnson

This painting is hot off the press--finished it yesterday.  It is part of a Spear-O series from our troop 502 visits to Susie Rhiems's family's dude ranch in the Bighorns of Wyoming.  This particular scene is based on an old sepia photo in an old brochure of the Spear-O Wigwam Ranch of the 1920's; the Sheridan Journal printed a brochure of pix taken by the daughter of the owner (late 1800's into early 1900's) who herself would dally the pack mules to take guests to the ranch; she took to early photography & photographed many Crow indians as well as survivors of the little bighorn battle.  It is the lovely location, the marvelous history of the place and its setting, the cowboy elements that strike my imagination.  The mother of a scout friend started giving me pastel lessons in 2007 when she was 90--yes 90---and our small group would go on plein air trips in west Texas; really liked this time.  Now Lucretia Donnell Coke is 93, 94..and hasn't been giving lessons anymore as she is in a retirement place (smaller room, etc).  She was taught by Frank Reaugh whom you can google to see his magnificent pastel paintings of a complete roundup that is in the Ransom Center on the UT campus.  The way she taught, collaborative, low-key, her sitting and narrating while painting what her students painted, really took hold of me, a complete and utter late bloomer.....so this is one of my several pieces....hope you like it.  xg

Robert Rosenbaum

I have been practicing law in Washington, DC since 1968, but my practice has now morphed into a totally new direction. For more than 40 years, I represented corporations, law and accounting firms, trade associations and some individuals as a member of the law firm of Arnold & Porter. When I joined the firm, there were only about 60 lawyers, and but it grew over the years to more than 700 attorneys, with offices in major cities around the country and in Europe. My practice took me into the board rooms of some of the nation’s largest corporations, to courts throughout the nation and into the halls of Congress. I retired as a senior partner, wrapping up all my commercial work in 2009.

Since 2003, however, I have also worked on a pro bono basis to protect our national parks. I have now made that practice my full-time occupation, continuing to have an office at the law firm and access to all its capabilities.

Allan (Bunky) Garonzik

Bunky is semi-retired and living with his wife, Sandra, in a house that he designed and build by himself in Argyle, Texas. He did almost 100% of the construction with one part time helper. The project took 2½ years.

Bunky works part time as a handgun instructor for the Texas Department of Public Safety. He sold his graphic arts shops, but still maintains his real estate business.

In 2007, he was inducted into the Military Hall of Honor at the University of Texas at Arlington, and in 2009 Allan was selected as a Distinguished Alumni at UTA.

Bunky is on the Scholarship Board of the Business Department at The University of North Texas, and has been a guest lecturer at that University. He has published two books, and is working on his third book.

He continues to build and maintain his antique car and motorcycle collection, and has won numerous show and racing awards. For 9 years, he was the director of Operations at the Dallas Grand Prix.

For 22 years Bunky was a member and Chairman of the Chili Society helping raise over $750,000 for Leukemia research. He was a volunteer for the American Red Cross during Katrina. Bunky is a certified Pilot, SCUBA Diver, SCCA Race Car Driver, DPS Hand Gun Instructor, and Adult Leadership Trainer for the Boy Scouts of America.

He has two children, and 4 grandchildren.

Hi from Tommy and Sherry Blagg

Tom Blagg and Sherry Johnson Blagg went from 1st grade at Hyer Elementary all the way thru HPHS together. Tom works for the City of Richardson as Park Planner and I am Office Manager for a medical practice (contact me if you have foot and/or ankle problems, I work for the best in Plano/Frisco area!)

We have two children and 6 grandchildren. Our daughter Christy is a Project Manager for an educational testing company her husband David is a high school Math teacher in the San Antonio area. They have a daughter, Charlotte who will be a senior in high school this year and a son Matthew who will be a sophomore. Our son Brian is a Missions pastor at First Baptist Church in Bryan, his wife Jill is a senior at Texas A & M. They have 4 children, Cole, 10, Mason, 8. Austin 6 and Zoe who is 4.

We have been blessed beyond measure and look forward to our 50th reunion. The question is will we remember our class mates? Let's see some pictures so we can refresh our memories! Anyone on Facebook send us a message.

Bill and Shirley Betty Hightower

Direct quote from Bill Hightower: "I am attaching a picture of Shirley and I. I am the old one."

"We live in Florida in the winter and spend our summers in the mountains in North Carolina. Bill is now retired, but has become a master cabinet maker. We both play 'really bad' golf, and Shirley enjoys playing bridge whenever I get the chance."

"Shirley likes to travel and went to China with a girlfriend. All in all they have been on six trips together. Their husbands didn't like to go, which enables the girls to go more often."

Again from Bill:

"My cabinet making started out as a hobby but has turned into a full time job during the winter. We just completed a rather large kitchen for one of the builders we work for in Ponte Vedra. We typically build face frame cabinets in a traditional style and we do all our own finishing."

"We have two children and four grandchildren."

A Book Release from Nina Rosoff

The title is The Power of Paradox: The Protean Leader and Leading in Uncertain Times. It is short, a very easy read; the publisher says. It has some decent reviews. What I am most pleased about is that I did the whole book, every little word all by myself. This includes getting a publisher without an agent. I had no ghostwriters, nor anyone but me doing any of it, from its creation through the index. I wanted to learn how to write a book all by myself. Except for being required to work with the copyediting and editors corrections, at the publishing house, somehow I pulled it off. I was never sure I could pull it off. This is why I never said a word about it. Amazon’s ship date of July 12, 2011.

Warmest regards,
Nina (7/11)