Did you ever look up your long lost high school classmates?

I am friends with a couple of my high school friends on Facebook. I don't remember who reached out first. There are a couple that I might like to contact but I don't know their last names.
 

Classmates.com can connect you with the names of former high school classmates who have registered with their system and allow you to create a "profile," but will not allow you to communicate with them unless you buy into one of their "plans." If the people so connected were not those that you were friends with, it's not worth the expense of doing so...
 
Class of 1960 with about 625 members. I joined the Navy a couple of weeks later and rarely went back. Someone got in touch with me for the 45th reunion and since I was traveling out that way, I went. It took me quite a while to recognize anyone that I knew in HS, except my Chemistry Teacher who looked healthier than my classmates. As the evening wore on, I learned that so many of us had passed. I also got updated on my "nobody nerdy" friends, most of whom had gone on to earn Master's degrees and have very successful careers. My general impression is that a high percentage of the big shots were not doing so well.
Later, we were supposed to sing the "School Song" and I did not have any clue what that was. (My wife mentioned that she didn't have a clue as to what her school song was either.)
My final impression was that "these people need to get a life." The antics from 45 years ago, and the outcome of the football game against Austin just didn't count anymore. I did learn what I had "not been missing."
 
I was popular in high school, had a lot of friends. Connected with many of them on FB. Tried to go to a high school reunion but when it didn’t work out I gave trying to relive the past and focused on the present.
 
Graduated in '65 and enlisted by December.
Anyway, we have enjoyed reunions every ten years and a group of us still keep in touch and were getting together every few months until the goddamned virus hit. (some call it Covid but to me it's just the goddamned virus).
I actually ran into a classmate during my induction and we went through bootcamp together. Our serial numbers are in sequence. He's the glue that keeps us going.
Also bumped into a couple of classmates during my service. One, who I surfed with a lot, was a pilot and we both laughed upon saluting.
I'm one of the rare people who has no social media presence but still keep in touch easily.
 
A couple of the grads of 1957 started a site with news of other grads, reunions, etc. They also have the class of 57 pictures from the yearbook. Half of us are dead. The rest of us are pretty far flung from Canada (me) to Florida, and a few stayed right there in So Calif.
 
I went to a website called classmates.com. I found 2 former classmates who were pretty good friends of mine, but I also got a boat-load of emails from the website urging me to pay the monthly fee that would allow me to message those friends.
I tried 'classmates ' for a minute too.
And then the emails came telling me so and so left me a message, but you'll have to pay to see it.
All kinds of baloney.

I kept on going and never looked back.

The friends I want to see or talk to are on my fb page.
Went to 1 high school reunion. That was enough.

ETA:I have looked for 2 old boyfriends, I heard 1 of them is deceased(maybe) and I can't find the other one.
 
I've reached out to a couple of old classmates over the years. I forget how I connected with one who was one of the two girls I actually went on dates (very few) with during high school. She and I had lunch and connected on Facebook when we were both on there. Another classmate I just connected with recently when he joined the Facebook group for our high school. He was among a group of friends who would go to my house at lunch and play pool. We also used to hang out together and make movies or take pictures. We drifted in different directions immediately after high school and didn't stay in touch.

I've got four people I keep in very sporadic contact with and have done so since high school. One of them and I were in regular contact commuting to college together and hanging out for many years. However after he finished college before I did he met my then girlfriend and the two of them hooked up and eventually got married. I'm more in touch with her than with him.

Another was a year younger than me but he was almost like a brother and stayed with us part of his senior year because his parents moved to Idaho and he wanted to finish high school where we lived. He has visited my parents more regularly than he's visited me but we've gotten together from time to time and speak on the phone every few years.

Another friend was actually a neighborhood friend who went to a boarding school but he was almost a high school friend. We connect every few years.

Finally a friend who died about 10 years ago and I did spend a lot of time together through college and years afterward. He was a very odd person but I enjoyed him. He had a physical issue that made him look and walk strangely, but he eventually found a woman who enjoyed him and his company. I was honored to perform his wedding ceremony. He eventually passed from complications of colon cancer.
 
Several guys have contacted me and have asked to meet somewhere but there was only one, my first true love, that I considered until he told me he was married with 3 kids. He said his wife was meeting up with old friends so no big deal. He was now a rich accountant and sent pics of his family vacations at ski resorts etc. I said I couldn't meet with him because when a woman falls in love it lasts a long time and I still somewhat had feelings for him. My "no" was final and he didn't push. I cried after we hung up.

The only person I contacted from HS was my very best girlfriend. I was so looking forward to reconnecting with her. When we were young we sang together once on stage and I was terrible but she was awesome. The audience must have been holding back their laughter with my "soprano" voice. She did a lower beautiful harmony.

She was destined for a very social life, performing in front of many and socializing non-stop...it just wasn't me. Well it was me for about a year in the spotlight but I was uncomfortable with it. She became well-known. I looked her up but sadly she died in 2016 of cancer. There were many online videos, her work-out videos, her book promotions, interviews, and her funeral:( I watched them all...and cried throughout. She was such a good roll-model for me. I'll never look anyone else up again.
 
It's easy to find old classmates online .. even going back to early 60's for me. Have talked with many over time.
But I find it hard to find any common interests today with most when we connect ... going back to shared events of high school loses interest quickly. And I (and hubby) moved across the country after college days.

It's still an emotional drain to find out when someone passes.. and so many are gone now.
Really prefer not to spend time looking way back.
 
We had a pretty good turnout at our 50th reunion despite being scattered all over the country. Part of the reason for that was I worked my ass off trying to find and contact class members for the event organizer (i.e., our class historian and coordinator). Out of that came a number of renewed contacts, some of which persist to this day. The key is understanding where shared interests lie and talking about those rather than the past.

Unfortunately COVID killed the plans for our 60th along with my plan for a last ride back on the motorcycle - am getting too old for those thousands of miles rides. Also, we have lost a good number of class members over the last decade. I take every opportunity to remind them how we helped shape each others' lives to some greater or lesser extent and wish them the best going forward. Sadly, as to be expected, the contacts are passing on.
 
I went to an all-girls school and the girls I was closet to that are still alive, I still have contact with them. I speak to one that I was friendly with starting in 1st grade as a matter of fact we spoke on the phone this morning. It's funny that I read this today because I was thinking of a friend I had in High School. She passed away before we graduated. I remember going to her funeral mass and crying. I was worried that the Nun would see me crying until I looked around and saw another girl crying too, so I thought if it's ok for Rita (the nun's favorite ) to cry then so could I.

May your troubles be less and your blessings be more and nothing but
happiness come through your door.
 
Last edited:
I went to three different schools. One in NY and then 2 in FL. I have reconnected with many of my classmates through fb. Some I am closer to than others. Of course, that is where I connected with my boyfriend since we were in same class in school (K-4th grade) until my family moved to FL in 1962.
 
Quite some years ago, I was in touch with one of my closest teen friends .. after I'd paid a visit to her parents when I went out to the west coast to see my brother. We wrote each other for awhile, then it petered out, unfortunately.

Way back in the mid-70's, another high school girlfriend visited us with her husband. They got married just out of high school. Again, we wrote for awhile, then, lost contact.

I think too many years went by, and there was little we had in common anymore.
 
Quite some years ago, I was in touch with one of my closest teen friends .. after I'd paid a visit to her parents when I went out to the west coast to see my brother. We wrote each other for awhile, then it petered out, unfortunately.

Way back in the mid-70's, another high school girlfriend visited us with her husband. They got married just out of high school. Again, we wrote for awhile, then, lost contact.

I think too many years went by, and there was little we had in common anymore.
It is the same here, and after being retired from the Navy for 30 years I find that I have little in common with most of them either. Life only moves in one direction and we all move on. I only have three old Navy friend that I regularly communicate with, and none from my HS years.
 

Back
Top