Please honor anyone you may have known who has gone before us by sharing a remembrance on their page. Scroll down below the poem to find names of Classmates who have passed.
We asked one Classmate to write a remembrance of all those who have passed, and this is the poem Kim Besheer wrote:
Memoriam
“And in the end,
the love we take
is equal to the
the love we make.”
P.McCartney, 1969
It is said that consciousness began an aeon ago
at the graves, in those who grieved.
Memory etched, ensconced, hypostasized,
Making Us Mensches!
Memory—a precious commodity in this third of Life—
Is precious when it is more than sentimentality-- rather a linking back
to the circles and cycles of the playground
the face in the hallway that brought a smile
the daydreams at a desk,
the fury-of-Orange and decidedness-of-Black
game days;
The feeling of immortality that belongs to adolescence;
the wish for a mirror of ourselves, the mystery of becoming
a Lover and an
Individual in that great World out there—
A world away from Wornall Road.
------------
All memory is associative!
And in our meeting, our emailing, our hugs and associations
--that live only between us and among us--
memory waves through and brings its bright marks.
They are ours!
Forty is us and it is also Woodstock, among other things,
Boomers. But this is not the reunion of showing off,
of proving ourselves to our peers.
More like a visit from Janus,
from horizon to the Horizon. Grandchildren and Mortality.
Earthy, creaky, counting, requiting, settling into ourselves and our destinies.
Southwest, southeast, northwest, northeast;
We come from the four directions and those who have passed,
from our class, (from their beloveds),
will live in us for a [humid, hot, Kansas City-] evening when we
Remember together and
to the four directions we will
carry a memorial
a piece of which only we, each one,
can carry.
Steve’s mirthful wit,
Patti’s shining eyes,
Jon’s brilliant music,
Linda’s bubbling brightness, and, and, and…
[Fill in the space that needs filling
with your heart’s memory, a Silent Thought Memorial!]
May they rest in peace,
alive in our joy, and
celebrated in reunion.
Kim Besheer, ‘69
If you are aware of a Classmate who should be added to this page please let us know.