Successful Open Heart Surgery for Sal Cafiero

Our good friend and classmate, Sal Cafiero, underwent open heart surgery to repair the mitral valve on March 12, 2019. The surgery was successful, and Sal is now recovering in the ICU at Banner - University Medical Center in Phoenix.

No, this photo wasn't taken today. This was a special dinner prepared for Sal by his brother Mario, before his surgery. Mario's note this morning said, "Last night, Sal took a few steps, sat up in a recliner, and was in great spirits, although he drifted off a number of times in the middle of a joke."

Folks who want to visit Sal are being asked to consider waiting until he is out of the ICU, probably tomorrow. Yay Sal!!!

Obituary for Paul McCaw

Sorry this wasn't posted sooner. We lost another one back in November.

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/phoenix-az/paul-mccaw-8066726?fbclid=IwAR2QpKpLZapSYbo0YH83jcn0tZb0D1tgmMeelpH54xlnAdM4oRhv7d4e8wE

Paul Mcaw's obituary:

Tom Ditsworth Elected to THS Athletic All of Fame

It was recently revealed that our classmate, Tom Ditsworth, has been selected for induction to the Tempe High School Athletic Hall of Fame! The induction ceremony will take place in April 2019.  Congratulations, Tom!

Passing of Ted Reiser

Sadly, we have just learned of the passing of Ted Reiser last year.

He is fondly remembered by many of our THS Class 1971 classmates.

Dear 1971 THS Classmates and Associates,

Greetings and salutations! Right now, we’re about halfway between the successful 45-year reunion we had in 2016, and the coming BIG 50-YEAR REUNION!

We were able to make up a list of over 100 e-mail addresses of classmates after our 2016 reunion. This letter has been distributed using that list and we’d appreciate your sharing it with other classmates you’re in contact with, even if they may have already received it. One of our main goals for a 50-year reunion is to make it as inclusive as we can with as much participation as we can get!

A big reason we were able to reach enough people to get the 45-year reunion to happen was using Facebook. Many don’t use Facebook, and that’s completely okay. However, you might not realize, our current “THS Class of 1971” Facebook group consists of about 130 people. It’s fun to see our friends and classmates interact, so please consider joining in.  As we plan our next reunion, Facebook will continue to be one of the communication tools that we use, but e-mail, phones and USPS mail will also be used.

Using the network we built in planning the 45-year reunion, we’ve started a process for planning the next BIG one. 

We established a date of Saturday, April 10, 2021 for the main event. That date was set after a considerable discussion of alternatives. (It’s not as far away as it sounds!) The nature of the main event, the venue, and all ancillary events are still wide open for planning. It’s time to act! Securing reserved venues is the first critical need, and detailed plans for the rest will follow.

The 2016 reunion was a buffet dinner and live music (provided by classmates and family members) with a cash bar. It was held at the Rolling Hills Golf Course clubhouse, and we wore casual attire. Costs were purposely kept pretty minimal.

There were also three ancillary events: a fun morning hike in Pima Canyon (South Mountain), a happy hour gathering at the former Varsity Inn, and a guided tour of our alma mater led by the current THS Principal.

Now, we’re looking for help to make the BIG one as successful as it can be! If you’d like any role in planning or implementation, please just ask or volunteer.  Obviously, planning is the big need right now. The canvas is practically blank, but there are some very creative people among us. We can’t expect people to just toss out an idea and have it magically happen; these things take work. However, we anticipate it will be rewarding, fun work! Let’s get the planning committee staffed up, shall we?

Write to us at ths71reunion@gmail.com, or contact us on Facebook. (You can PM Patrick Fleming or Debbie Logan Willette, or post a photo or comment on our “THS Class of 1971” or “Tempe High School Class of 1971” Facebook pages.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Pat,   Debbie,  Sal,  Vicky,  (your name here?)

The THS 1971 50-Year Reunion Planning Committee         

Passing of Debbie (Roberts) Welker

Another graduate from the THS Class of 1971 has died. I believe most of us remember her by her maiden name, Debbie Roberts. 

Thank you, Laurel Ostler Jensen, for bringing this to our attention.

Obituary for Debbie (Roberts) Welker

Write in to Get On the E-mail List!

Now that it’s 2018, the 50-year reunion in 2021 doesn’t seem very far away, does it?

We set the date of April 10, 2021 as THE DAY. Serious planning must begin. Involvement of as many of our classmates as we can get, EARLY in the process, will help create a success.

Facebook has been great for getting us back in touch with one another, and it’s a nice platform for discussion. I’m sure we’ll keep using it a lot as we plan reunion activities. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t reach a lot of our classmates. We’ve learned that some folks prefer e-mail, and some even like snail mail. And we’ve learned that some don’t want to be bothered.

We have a good start on an e-mail list after our 45-year activities and with additions made in the time since then. The planning committee set up a gmail account dedicated to class reunion activities, and it's still active:

ths71reunion@gmail.com.

We’ll soon start communicating about the reunion using e-mail from that account. If you don’t know whether your address is on our list, write to us there, and we'll make sure it is.