On November 17, 2008 the classic brick building completed in 1926 started on a new mission: the Sarasota Museum of Art. The Ringling College of Art and Design (which was the more humble Ringling Art School when I was in high school) was given the property by the school board. While the ceremonies were taking place, I cruised the hallways looking for my personal ghosts and pictures. How many thousands of students and faculty climbed the stairs, how many fell in - or out - of love, how many jettisoned from black robes to life. Several ended in Viet Nam.

The old building was last used as part of the SHS campus in 1979, I think. (Corrected to "late '90s" per Guest.)

I graduated in 1964 and my brother and sister followed, and my niece graduates in 2009.

It's said that everyone old enough remembers where they were when they heard about President Kennedy being shot. I certainly do, I was in my electronics tech class (Nerd! Nerd!)with the several other students when the main office announced on the PA that he was shot. Since we were in electronics, we were able to follow any updates on a radio until we heard of his death. November 22nd, 1963, our homecoming and the birthday of my sorta girlfriend. Lee Harvey Oswald sure botched that weekend. ("Other than that, Mrs. Kennedy, what did you think of homecoming?")

Another historical event was the Cuban Missile Crisis. Up on the third floor in Study Hall I watched military convoys heading south to Homestead Air Force Base. Very sobering.

In that era of the Cold War, it was mandatory that every senior had to take an American vs. Communism class. Can you imagine a greater waste of time? Over forty years later I could say what I learned from it: The Bush administration was everything we were warned about what the Communists would do.

If you trudged through these hallways, fell in or out of love here, got sent to the principal's office, or thought that at age 18 you knew it all, see www.grandreunion.org . See ya in 2010?