Ithaca High School Class Of 1961

Kathleen Denison (Overbaugh)

Then

Now

Birthday:November 27, 1943 City:Trumansburg State/Prov.:NY Occupation:Almost retired Propane marketer Website:Ehrhartpropane.com Marital Status:Married No. of Children:4 What elementary school(s) did you attend?:Fall Creek What Junior high school did you attend?:Boynton Jr High Did you attend ninth grade at Boynton or IHS?:no What have you been doing for the past 50 years?:Kathleen Denison Overbaugh - The Rest of the Story

Since Tom wrote a good description of his take on our life together over 47 years, I will try to add to it, and not repeat anything. Live has been good to us – we married young, worked hard together as partners, raising our four children and building our business and are now looking forward to retiring together.

As Tom said, we have four grown children – Tracy, the eldest, lives here in Trumansburg with her husband, John, and their son Louis, 9 years old. She works in our business and is in line to take over my responsibilities as financial officer. Our son, John, lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, Holly, and their three sons, Ethan (16 years old, with a wonderful singing voice), Caleb (13 and a champion wrestler and tuba-player), and Gabriel (10 and a Karate expert). I don’t get to see them as much as I should, but John keeps us informed on Facebook.
Bill lives here in Trumansburg with his wife, Darlynne, and is our General Manager. They have been married just a few years and are too busy right now to think about having children, but I look to them for a granddaughter. Darlynne has a chocolate shop in the village.
Lydia is working on her PhD in anthropology at University of Texas at San Antonio, and lives there with her significant other, Chris, and their 2 year old son, Connor.

Tom mentioned that we have been able to travel, which is my favorite thing. We have youth exchange sons, daughters and grandchildren all over the world, and many friends that we have worked with in youth exchange. We have had many adventures in our travels – including a wonderful dinner with Hungarian friends in a 1000-year-old wine cellar in Eger, Hungary; a breath-taking day at Iguazu Falls on a day when the water was rushing over the viewing platforms; a wonderful boat ride around Hong Kong harbor and a walk on the Great Wall of China. We’ve ridden elephants in Thailand, and found the Royal Barges of the King in the middle of Bangkok, and have watched the sun rise on the back side of the Taj Mahal.

But the best part of traveling is coming home. We live a few miles out of Trumansburg in a house that was big enough for our family, now gives us lots of room to wander around and fill up with our stuff. I serve on some community Boards. A friend of ours once told us to always have a project, and Tom and I have taken that advice to heart. Being busy in positive ways keeps us both young.

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Armida DeSantis (Horton)

Then

Now

Birthday:December 14, 1943 City:Jacksonville State/Prov.:FL Occupation:retired teacher Marital Status:Married No. of Children:2 What elementary school(s) did you attend?:Fall Creek What Junior high school did you attend?:Boynton Did you attend ninth grade at Boynton or IHS?:IHS What have you been doing for the past 50 years?:Graduated from SUNY Oswego in 1965, married Dan in 1966 and taught 5th grade in Syracuse 5 years.Our daughter Jennifer and son Matthew were born there in '70 and '72. We have lived in Jackson,TN, Norwich,NY, Ft.Walton Beach, Destin, Ormond Beach and settled in Jacksonville, Florida in 1986!I have taught Kindergarten and Special Ed here for 21 years retiring in 2008. Our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter and grandson live in Hickory NC and our son, daughter-in law and 2 grandsons live in Ft. Myers. I love having the time now to spend with all of them! I keep busy volunteering, going to the beach, traveling, gardening, walking and doing yoga and am thankful to be happy and healthy!

From Armida:Has it really been 50 years already?!
I was at our 45th reunion and am sorry I will be missing this one.
Our 45th anniversary and husband Dan's 70th are the same weekend and we have plans to celebrate.
I would love to hear from anyone through email.
Have a great time!!

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Ross Dicker

Then

Now

Birthday:September 30, 1943 City:North Bethesda State/Prov.:MD Occupation:attorney Marital Status:Married No. of Children:3 What elementary school(s) did you attend?:South Hill & St Johns What Junior high school did you attend?:Boynton Jr. Hi Did you attend ninth grade at Boynton or IHS?:Boynton What have you been doing for the past 50 years?:Since 1970,I have been practicing law in the District of Columbia, the last 25 years for the Office of Bar Counsel.
Since 1977, I have been visiting Vestal to see my wife's family. For the last two years, I visit 2-3 time a year Ithaca because my youngest son is at Cornell. I often drive down Hudson St. which hasn't changed much since my family moved away. The view of Cayuga Lake at the crest of South Hill still ranks as one of the most picturesque views I have ever seen. I look forward to the reunion, even thou I only spent one year at IHS.
Best to all, Ross

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Anne E. Dorsey (Rehfeld)

Then

Now

Birthday:February 10, 1943 City:Beverly Hills State/Prov.:FL Occupation:Retired Trauma RN Marital Status:Married No. of Children:2 What have you been doing for the past 50 years?:Graduated from nursing school as an RN in 1964; married raised two children while working; spent weekends drag racing x 3 years; divorced, remarried, worked @the University of MD Trauma Center in Baltimore, MD from 1972 thru 1989 - worked at the Baltimore VA Medical Center starting their Radiology Nursing Program specializing in conscious sedation for interventional procedures 1989 - 2009. Retired twice the last is final. Was a volunteeer National Registered EMT-Paramedic x 5 years while working as an RN. I also flew part time free lance air ambulance for about 5 years while working fulltime @ Trauma. Deployed to the Pentagon post 9-11 with my husband, Michael & our SAR K9, Boomer for human remains recovery from the crash site. Life now is slow & easy! I have two teenage grandchildren - one graduates this year. and the beat goes on!!!!! Loving life.

From Anne E.:

Finally I'm no longer MIA thanks to Marge's detective work. The 50th, OMG, reunion!!! Can you believe it? We aren't really that old are we? I'm really looking forward to meeting folks all over again and deeply sorry I missed the previous events. Though a transplant to Ithaca HS, I always enjoyed our time together. "Til we meet again.....

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Bruce Dotson

Then

Now

Birthday:September 29, 1943 City:Charlottesville State/Prov.:VA Occupation:Professor Marital Status:Married No. of Children:3 What have you been doing for the past 50 years?:I attended Cornell earning three degrees (bachelors, masters and PhD). Diana Dalman and I celebrated our 45th anniversary this year. We left Ithaca in 1970 and moved first to Colorado and then California. We have lived in Charlottesville Virginia for the past 33 years. I am the Chair of the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning in the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia.

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James Dreitzler

Then

Now

Birthday:December 21, 1941 City:Las Vegas State/Prov.:NV Occupation:Teacher - Business Website:donnellslearninganalysis.com Marital Status:Married No. of Children:2 What have you been doing for the past 50 years?:After high school graduation I attended Iowa State University for a year and half where I participated in wrestling. Then I transferred to Moorhead State College located in Moorhead, Minnesota where I won the NAIA National Wrestling Championship, got married (1965), and moved to Flagstaff, Arizona where I graduated from Northern Arizona University with a degree in education. Taught school in Arizona for two years and in 1970, Pat my wife, our two sons and I moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. There ... I taught high school, coached wrestling, and enjoyed the entertainment and the weather. In 1979 I was selected to serve as a member on the Clark County School Board of Trustess. In 1990, wrote and published a book called "Don't Call Me Stupid: The truth of Why Public School Fail." Was in business and designed and promoted Donnell's Learning Analysis which explains and illustrates the emotional factors behind the motivation of all learned behaviors. My oldest son Shawn, won the high school state wrestling championship for Nevada, graduated from Cal State University at Fullerton locate in California and now (2010) works at the Bellagio on the Las Vegas strip as a engineer. My youngest son Cary, was a four time high school wrestling champion for Nevada and now (2010) is a engineer at Trasure Island, also located on the Las Veagas strip. I have two grandchildren which live close to us so I see them all the time. I miss New York but love the western culture. I have gone searching for gold, went boating and sailing, explored old mining towns and did a lot of camping. I think I am really a New York cowboy in many ways.

From James:Thanks to all those who orgainzed the reunions over the past years and to those who are working on our 50th reunion and this web page. Please allow anyone to have my phone number, e-mail, address, and/or any information.

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Linda Drew (Struble)

Then

Birthday:July 02, 1943 City:Groton State/Prov.:NY Occupation:Retired from Cornell University Marital Status:Married No. of Children:2 What elementary school(s) did you attend?:Central School Did you attend ninth grade at Boynton or IHS?:Boynton What have you been doing for the past 50 years?:Married my husband of 48 years a couple years out of high school. We have 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters.

From Linda:

Linda passed away on April 29, 2016. To read her obituary, click here.

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Diane Driscoll (Schwartz)

Then

Now

Birthday:August 04, 1943 City:Ithaca State/Prov.:NY Occupation:Emerita Professor of Mathematics, Ithaca College Marital Status:Married No. of Children:4 What have you been doing for the past 50 years?:Teaching math and computer science, writing, raising kids. Life is good.

From Diane:Hope to catch up with all my IHS classmates, at least on this website. I'm keeping busy---sailing in summer, singing year round, and keeping tabs on seven beautiful grandkids who are scattered around the world.

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Sandy Durbon (Clary)

Then

Birthday:June 06, 1944 City:Brooktondale State/Prov.:NY Occupation:Retired/but still working Marital Status:Married No. of Children:2 What elementary school(s) did you attend?:Caroline One Room School What Junior high school did you attend?:Newark Valley and Boynton Did you attend ninth grade at Boynton or IHS?:IHS What have you been doing for the past 50 years?:I was married in June 1962-two children Tery and Robin-divorced in 1967. After my divorce, I went to work as a waitress at the Old Sheraton Inn. It was there I met my husband Bruce. In June, we will have been married 39 years. We have 8 Grandchildren, 6 GreatGrandchildren and 2 on the way. Fortunately, we are able to spend time with 4 of our Great Grandchildren because they just moved in next door.
Except for a few years early on in our marriage, Bruce and I have worked together. We previously ran a small tool and appliance repair business and currently own and operate a Small Job contracting business as well as an Insurance Agency with two separate offices. I am legally retired, however,I still work most every day. We were EMT's for several years as well as volunteer firefighters-due to all the continued education required for EMT's and Insurance Licenses, we gave up our EMT certification. We are still volunteer firefighters.
Our son, Terry, was in the Navy and served both in the Gulf War and Iraq. During the Gulf War, a friend and I started the Yellow Ribbon Campaign in the Town of Caroline-at about the same time, another friend started the "Faith Hope Tree". I was a blue spruce tree in front of their home which was decorated with yellow bows, a huge sign in front and pictures of friends and family in the Military. We spent hours making huge Yellow Bows-these bows were mailed all over the world. Several of us making the bows had kids in the military-some overseas-others were there just because they cared. The "Faith Hope Tree" not only helped the military during the Gulf war-it helped the Veterans from the other wars as well-several of the Vietnam Veterans expressed their thanks because the tree honored them as well-Our Efforts got us recognized on the cover of Time and Life magazines as well as TV.
As a result of the of the Faith Hope Tree, I became friends with a lot of special people. One lady from that friendship worked with me on Geneological Research. We even wrote a book about the "Snyder Hill Cemetery" on Snyder Hill Road outside of Ithaca.
Our son Terry and his wife Laura currently live in Fort Plain, New York. Our daughter Robin and her husband Bob purchased a home next door to us.
Bruce and I live in the home where I grew up. We are both animal lovers and currently have 4 horses and 7 dogs. We have 2 Percherons, a Spotted Draft and a Quarter Horse-two of our dogs are Newfoundlands, one is a Golden Retriever/Great Pyrenees cross and the other 4 are Great Pyrenees. Except for one Newfie, all are rescues. I am currently a volunteer with National Great Pyrenees Rescue.

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Connie Durfee (Marion)

Then

Now

Birthday:August 16, 1943 City:LaFayette State/Prov.:NY Occupation:family therapist, psych nurse - retired Marital Status:Married No. of Children:2 What elementary school(s) did you attend?:(in Maryland) What Junior high school did you attend?:Boynton Jr. High Did you attend ninth grade at Boynton or IHS?:IHS What have you been doing for the past 50 years?:Well, that's a daunting question! The brief version is: raised our family of two sons, helped found Rapha Community (a house church of now 40 years- a spiritual community and wonderful extended family to each other), worked as a family therapist/psych nurse and administrator at a pastoral counseling center for 30 years, struggled with aggressive osteoarthritis and multiple joint replacements, learned to paint landscapes, and stayed married to Roland Marion ('60) for all these years. We have both been retired for 5 years now and I love the increased time to read, paint, sew or knit, garden, and visit son Michael, an interpretive ranger at Acadia National Park in Maine, and son Scott, a marine biologist on the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. We've lived in LaFayette, near Syracuse for this whole time, in a 114 year old house that needs nearly as much repair and renovation as our aging bodies! Music and nature fill our spirits as often as we let them.

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