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.