Hall of Fame - flashback

I was cleaning out an external hard drive and happened upon this screenshot of a Facebook post by American High Class of 84 President Michael Shelley. I understand the Hall of Fame wall is no longer up at American High. It was hard then to grasp how much time would pass before the school would run out of space lest the entire building be covered in photographs. I am grateful that I was at American between 1981 and 1985, or less than ten years after the school opened. Being there allowed me and others to see the generous attempt at capturing the faces and names of some of the people who walked through those school doors via this wall. If memory serves, it is in Central Plaza where a skylight likely offered enough sun in to make the photos fade faster. My photo is right under the words Hall of Fame. To my right is fellow Class of 85ers then-Kim Andrews (Lang) and to her right, Kaylois Henry. Oh, what memories. Click on the photo to make it bigger. My four years at American were some of the happiest of my life. I see my faded photograph and those of others in this screenshopt, and I remember the past joy and sadness. Time flies. Some of us are here. Others are not. My brother Duane Garcia Andrews who wasin the Class of 84 passed away in January 2023, or a year or so ago. Next year will be the fortieth anniversary of my high school class graduation. Wow! I celebrate my 57th birthday today remembering my brother, my classmates, staff and teachers. Hope everyone is well.

Rest in peace, Ramon

I learned today from our American High Class of '85 classmate Gonzalo de la Vega that our class member Ramon Ruiz, a successful surgeon based in Orlando, passed away. I remember him as being a shy, but very bright young man. Rest easy, Ramon. I saw your Linked In account. You sure did a lot during your time on this planet.

Gonzalo has kindly shared Ramon's obit and digital remembrance walls:https://www.degusipefuneralhome.com/m/obituaries/Ramon-Ruiz-7/Memories

2023 Multi-class reunion

It was such a joy attending our multi-class reunion. I was actually in Miami for my great aunt Lottie Mae Anderson's funeral. My sister encouraged me to drive north to Broward for the reunion. I am so glad I did. Tonja Nunnally, Robin Starkes and so many classmates including ones from the Class of '85 were so welcoming. I could say more but my heart is heavy and I am exhausted. All I can say it's still true: there are two types of people in the world, Patriots and those who want to be. Shout out to everyone from the Bahas.

rest in peace, classmate Meryl Mobley, and Class of 85 sponsor Pattie Linton

Amid preparations for the all class reunions for our beloved American High in summer 2022, I tried to learn more about Pattie Linton, Class of 1985's faculty sponsor and English teacher. We annually exchanged holiday cards until a few years ago. I sensed she had fallen ill. We stayed in touch over the years. I even spent the night in her North Carolina home with her and her husband, who built, among other things, an eye clinic in Zambia. I still have the beautiful piece of blue cloth from Zambia that Mrs. Linton gave me. She was very dedicated to her church. Their mission work also includes work in Haiti. She passed away January 3, 2020. Her obituary can be read here

As I reflect on how much she and other American High teachers and other teachers in the Miami-Dade County School system inspired me, I can only hope that I encourage and inspire my own students at the University of Alabama. And rest in peace to our classmate Meryl Mobley, who passed away this July. It's never a happy subject to see so many of our Class of 1985 classmates pass away, but I wanted to share an updated list curated by many people on Facebook (and class membership verified by our graduating yearbook and official class print out from American High) to honor our friendships and memories. Some of the names mentioned were earlier on this blog. Those names and additional ones are as follows: Warren Burney, Linda Dorn, Bryce Dudley, Anthony Crawford, Debra Frazier, Keevin Gillard, Alfred Heaton, Terry Houston, Lisa Jones Guiterrez, Milton Ivory, Greta Jordan, Wanda Lamar, Tracy Maloy, Delone Mathis, Meryl Mobley, Dorothy Myers-Bolm, Monica Poole, Mark Raines, and Derrick Stanley Special shout-out to Class of 1983 classmate Tonja Nunnally and Bajas neighbor for always including our class in her reunion plans. I hope to be in the States to attend the next reunion. I was teaching overseas this past summer. I loved seeing the updates and can tell everyone had a great time.

rest in power to all of our classmates

As Tonja Nunnally from the Class of '83 generously works with other American High classmates to prepare for the July 23 picnic, which begins at 8am at Amelia Earhart Park, I had to look for the names of our classmates from the Class of 85 who have passed away as a tshirt is being made for our now-gone cherished friends. I realized I never did a salute to Lisa Jones Gutierrez who passed away in 2018. She was on our Lady Patriots basketball team which was the only team to go undefeated in regular 84-85 season. The starting players were Nilka Carter, Carol King, Lisa Starks, Lisa Jones and Fatima LaFond. I later saw Lisa Jones at the University of Miami where we were both students. We also attended Lake Stevens at the same time. Rest in power, Lisa.

Rest in peace to all of our classmates who have crossed over including Lisa, Delone Mathis, Warren Burney, Keevin Gillard, Bryce Dudley, Mark Raines, Anthony Crawford, Linda Dorn, Willie Graham, Milton Ivory, Greta Jordan, Terry Houston, Wanda Lamar, Dorothy Myers Bolm, Monica Poole, Derick Stanley, Alfred Heaton, and likely more. Here's to our shared past together.

Rest in peace, Mark Raines

Class, I wanted to also share that we lost another classmate: Mark Raines. I can still see his smile in Mrs Portee's math class at Lake Stevens. He played for American High's football team. Another one gone too soon. Rest in peace, Mark!

Rest in peace, Bryce Dudley

Another member of our class has passed away. Will always remember how much Bryce and the rest of the Awesome Fawsome (Conrad Dobson, our late classmate Keevin Gilyard and Tim Forbes alongside Felecia (Scott) Jenkins, Priscilla (Smith) Woodson and Eleanor Humphrey under the direction of our beloved Roscoe Speed) made us laugh on and offstage. Where did the time go? Rest in peace, Bryce. PS A link to our 30th reunion is here. I just looked at it and appreciated seeing the smiles of all of us including Bryce.