Glad News, Not Just Sad News

There are good memories and there are so-so memories. There are bits of sad, bad, and glad news that come our way too.

Some talk has circulated among Mac 65 classmates about how it might be good to use this blog to share some happy happenings, weird wonders, and intriguing incidents that are occurring with some classmates.

Certainly life is more than celebrating its end via an obituary, although that is important to do. I do wish to keep folks up on the passings, but there are other things that transpire. Share some of them. I'm not talking just about grandkids being born or people moving from one town to another, but of the notable notables.

So I'll use myself as an example to point out a few bumps in the road taking place recently. I would encourage people to contact me with your news. Write me via the form you find here.

Here I am in Decatur, at about three years old.

In the realm of you are only as young as you feel, I'm going to get married for the third time on Halloween 2013 (see here).

Other recent Loren Coleman news...

Stackpole Books published my 30th book, Monsters of Massachusetts, on August 1st; my museum and I will be on the Travel Channel on television's Mysteries At The Museum on September 19; and I'm scheduled to be in the Tracy Torme (Mel's son) and James Fox film 701 soon.

So share something with me, for this blog, if you happen to be part of the Class of 1965. Write me here.

Thank you.

And remember. Our 50th Reunion is only two years away.

Mac 65's Valedictorian Barb Dyar Passes Away

MacArthur High School Class of 1965's Valedictorian has died.

Barbara Dyar (married name Fox), who worked as a teacher in Mesa, Arizona, in her pre-retirement years, passed away in Phoenix, on Wednesday, September 4, 2013.

On August 12th, Barb posted on Facebook that "Matt took me to Banner Baywood Hospital because I couldn't breathe. I was admitted for four days. They gave me some tests and diagnosed a paralyzed left diaphragm. (What?) There is no treatment. (What?) The richest and most militarized country in the world has no cure. I made it home late Thursday night, along with three oxygen tanks, which I needed to use just once so far. We got a Social Security check today -- I never thought one could look so good. Hold on to your medical insurance, folks!"

That was the last public message from Barb.

Besides being Mac 65's Valedictorian, Dyar was voted "Most Likely To Succeed Girl."

Barbara Diane Dyar was noted as being involved with Cadet Band 1; Concert Band 2, 3, 4, Secretary 3, 4; Girls Glee Club 1; Girls Choir 2; A Choir 2; A.F. S. Club 1, 2, 3, 4, Secretary 3, President 4; Orchestra 2, 3, 4; Senior Class Play; National Honor Society 3, 4.

For the reunion, Barb wrote in that her first car was a 1970 yellow Opel.

Fox, Barbara Dyar
66, of Mesa passed away on September 4, 2013. Valedictorian of her high school class at MacArthur High School in Decatur, Illinois in 1965, she then was an exchange student in Paris, France. After her year in France, she attended Eureka College in Illinois, graduating in 1970. Barbara was an outstanding teacher for 30 years in the Mesa Schools and chair of the Fremont Junior High Reading Department when she retired. Barbara is survived by Steve Fox, her loving husband of 32 years, her sons Michael Julian Perkins (Meghan Steptoe) and Matthew Fox, brother Gene Dyar, sister Jodie Dyar Rohrer, (David), and nephews Alex & Daniel (Becky) Rohrer & Lucien Dyar Smith (Jennifer). She was predeceased by her parents John & Betty Dyar & her sister Treva Dyar Smith. Funeral Services will be [given at] Angels Cremation and Burial, 422 W. McLellan Rd, Mesa [Arizona] on Monday. September 9 [2013] at 2:00 [p.m.]. Published in The Arizona Republic on September 8, 2013. (Thanks to Gary Blackburn for forwarding the newspaper obituary.)