Comments:
I found this website by accident, searching for a lost friend, and it led me here. As I looked it over, I realized from Garland to Jordan to Paly, and all the sports and classroom time, all those from other schools I played against, and the occasional shenanigans, that I do remember just about everybody here. To see those who have passed, so many I knew so well, it is both stunning and humbling.
My career is in the public eye, and if you're curious, a few people track what I'm up to and post the latest at Wikipedia, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Stienstra.
After Paly, I was working at the Beacon Station on El Camino in Menlo Park to help pay my way through college when a guy tried to kill me; hit me in the back of the head with a hatchet. In light of those who got cancer, heart attacks or fatal wrecks over the years, I guess I was lucky to make it. I wrote about it in the San Francisco Chronicle at http://www.sfchronicle.com/outdoors/article/Dog-at-your-side-peace-in-your-heart-10943245.php.
There was another story, several years ago, that went around the world, published in 8,000 outlets, where I was busted for pot. Truth is, I wasn't involved in the case at all and nothing came of it. If you remember me from the old days, drinking a beer was about as daring as it got. Plus as a pilot certified for high-power, complex aircraft, we get drug tested all the time.
One sidelight of the head injury is my memory is near-perfect, and I when I see a name, I remember the person who goes with it, and the interactions, no matter how passing or how little we were at the time.
[If anybody could provide me with any details how those passed, I would appreciate it.]
I do also appreciate your personal stories.