Where Do We Live?

Where do 1965 graduates live today?

"Home is where the heart is." ~ Pliny The Elder

There is information coming in from all the grads who have been relocated, due to the reunion project.

Whether people attend the reunion or not, some enjoyable info is being revealed and reconnections are occurring. Of course, the reunion will be fun, but there's no reason not to start sharing some of this data now.

One of the simple questions I always wonder about is "Where do we all live now?"

Here are some discoveries.

Not surprisingly, most graduates are still living in Illinois, many staying right in Decatur. Others have moved to the surrounding states of Missouri, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

But other good numbers, perhaps reflecting a desire to escape the cold winters of the Midwest, have moved to the Southwest (Texas, Arizona, California) and the Sunshine State of Florida. I don't think this merely reflects our ages of 62-63. The trend in moving to these areas seems to have been well-established in our class, long ago.


This map shows the typical snow cover for North America, December 2008.

I recall doing a count of where people had moved, as listed in the 20th reunion booklet, and New Mexico startled me then as having a high number of relocated Mac '65 grads. Nowadays, not one person lists New Mexico as their home state.

I have done an analysis of the full database compiled to date and organized by Sandy Rentfro Porter. Below is a list weighed by the locations identified by those Mac '65 folks who have been found, as to where they are living in 2010.

We cover the USA quite well.

IL - (139)
FL - (13)
AZ - (11)
TX - (9)
CA (9)
IN - (8)
MO - (8)
WA - (7)
CO - (5)
MI - (5)
GA - (4)
VA- (4)
WI - (4)
NV - (3)
TN - (3)
AR - (2)
KS - (2)
ME - (2)
MN (2)
NC - (2)
NY - (2)
AL - (1)
DE - (1)
IA - (1)
NE - (1)
NJ - (1)
OH - (1)
OK - (1)
OR - (1)
PA - (1)
RI - (1)
SC - (1)




The USA temperature map's red areas mirror the shift in population of most of the graduates who have departed from the Midwest. There is nothing earthshaking in this finding, but it is interesting to see it visually.

"Be he a king or a peasant, he is happiest who finds peace at home." ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe.

"Be her a queen or a milk maiden, she is happiest who finds the mortgage paid on her home." ~ Anonymous MacArthur '65 graduate.