When I began my "Nostalgic Overload" in 1993, I was overwhelmed with the joy of reconnecting with those that had meant so much to me. But, there was one individual who was no where to be found. I knew then and there I had to find a very special person from my Lancer days.
I spent the next 3 years actively persuing the allusive address. Many inquiries to as many agencies, government offices and bureaus led me across half the country as I got nearer to my goal. There were many close calls and near hits along the way.
Just when I thought that my trek may be a futile one at best, the phone rang.
BINGO !
On a warm July afternoon in Atlanta, Ga. at the 1997 Reunion, I hugged a very lovely girl for the first time in 32 years. I will never forget her smile, the tear on her cheek and the twinkle in her eye.
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Finding one another is good! Hugging one another is better!
See what happens when we put two of the
Lost & Confused
back together...
"There are no words in any language that could express my graditude for your kindness. I talked to Theresa Gelsone for the first time in 32 years. We tore up the phone line. We are making plans to travel to San Antonio TX to visit. I feel like I am walking around on a cloud. The sun is brighter, the sky is bluer and air is cleaner. My feeling of elation is fannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnntastic. Thank you."
Jeannie Borg
I received a letter from my high school sweetheart last year. A lot of years had past by us, but memories of her had never been forgotten. She asked how I was doing and would I mind a call from her.
The one call led to another and then to a meeting in Galveston. She was only a little older, but still the one I had loved so dearly. Future meetings became dates. Dates became reawakings of old emotions. This past March we took our vows on the Galveston beaches.
Email Received 07-04-2001
At the reunion, I touched the man who was so dear to my heart during my youth. When he hugged me and said how nice I looked, the years seemed to move away and the two time periods just connected as one moment again. A very magic moment for us both.
Email received July 17, 2001
As a psychotherapist, the implications of re-connecting with my past after 33 years of no contact are profound.Letter received Feb. 2002
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I was at the home of my dearest friend when she asked what school I attended as a teenager. She looked up Lakenheath on ClassMates and I spent the rest of the evening reliving my LHS days with her. I have never owned or used a computer, but tommorrow I will buy one! Thank you so much for this Web Page. You have cost me a small fortune in tissue paper.Email Received Dec 2001
On a Saturday morning in the Air Terminal at Mildenhall I kissed him for the last time, I kissed him goodbye. Though we promised to write everyday and get back together as soon as we could, in my heart I knew I would never see him again. He was off to boot camp and his future. I was off to my last year at LHS with a teenage broken heart. Yes we wrote everyday. The letters were wonderful and full of love but time was against us. The letters continued but days were missed. Eventually they stopped altogether. I can't remember who wrote last. I went on to college, marriage and raising a family with a most wonderful man. Three years ago, my husband passed away. While cleaning the garage out of old forgotten envelopes of pictures, documents and other stored away items I came across a box marked Lakenheath. For the next three hours I read the many letters and stared at the pictures I had saved. The memories came back at me like the incoming tide. I wondered if I should try and find him. I wondered if he would remember me.
I found the Lakenheath site. I found him alive & well. We plan to meet in Texas this coming autumn. EMAIL received June 2003
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We were the consummate boyfriend girlfriend back at Lakenheath. Always together, stealing kisses when opportunities allowed and never losing sight of our growing passions. Those were terrific times, the best of times. After graduation our tracks took us to other parts of the world and the love we shared eventually became just fond memories.
Last year Paula and I reconnected via telephone. We agreed to meet in Boston in January while I was there on business. After 25 years, both of us were now leading a singles life and the reunion was not an uncomfortable event for either of us. Memories flooded the dinner table conversations and the glint in her eye was still there. After dinner and on our way to the car with fresh snow falling, I stopped and asked if I could kiss her. Her answer was simply if I hadn't asked, she would have. Email Received May 29 2003
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Two years ago, we became reacquainted and then surprised ourselves by falling in love. Last night we went to a beautiful hotel overlooking the ocean and the harbor. As we sipped wine on the balcony and watched the sun go down, he asked me to marry him.
And I said yes.Email Received 07-13-03
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The last twenty plus years just disappeared when I got his phone call. Wow, I could not believe the emotions I felt all over again. I can’t wait to hug him again.
Email Received 07-25-03Twenty some years ago we saw each other for the last time.Twenty some odd years and your parting words have never faded from memory.
It seems as if it was yesterday when I last kissed you.
Twenty some years have passed, but the thought of seeing you again has lingered always.Maybe someday you will find this place.
Maybe someday.
Lori D
There are moments in life when you miss someone so much, you want to pick them from your dreams and hug them.
Author Unknown
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I think I can handle it, but I actually find myself crying!! The other night when you said "welcome home" I had to get off the phone fast. It is a highly charged emotional thing to me, I wonder how well I will even do at a reunion! Maybe some of the novelty will wear off in two years. Hope so.
Comment made after reconnecting with us 38 years later.... 11-22-03
Kathleen and I were High School sweethearts. We started dating in May 1966 and stayed together, even though I moved to Germany in the summer of 1967. She made two trips to Germany and I made two trips to England over the next year so we could be together. The last time I saw her was in June 1968 as she was driving away with her family for an Italian vacation 30 minutes earlier than planned, so we never really got to say goodbye. She moved to California and I went to college in Mississippi. In November 1968, the separation finally doomed our staying together. However, we would send each other Christmas cards. Standard salutations and wishes for a Merry Christmas--maybe a newsletter. In late 1985, I was at Castle AFB in California and had a couple of days off. I thought I would drive to San Francisco and maybe visit Kathleen. The day I decided to go, it turned out I couldn’t. I would go the next day. It was a Friday. I had Kathleen's address, but not her phone number, so I knew I was going to try to see her, but she didn't know I was coming. We hadn't heard from each other since the last Christmas card. I arrived in San Francisco in late morning and drove down to the coastal town of Pacifica, just south of San Francisco, where Kathleen lived. I turned down the narrow street headed toward her house and had gone about half a mile. Another car was approaching. For some unknown reason, both cars slowed down, and then stopped abeam each other. I looked into her eyes...and saw "What the hell are you doing here?" But I was wrong.
She was on her way to a hair appointment and asked me to follow her and wait until after her appointment. That hour was turmoil for us both.... feelings buried for so long suddenly exploded. The rest is history. If I had gone to San Francisco on Thursday as originally planned or if I was a couple of minutes late on Friday, I would have missed her and who knows where we would be today.
We married in April 1987--almost twenty years late, but nevertheless, finally together and "Never Apart." Submitted by Glenn Lunsford '68 12-03-03 I just moved to New York from Lakenheath about a month ago. I'm 15 and I was a freshman at Lakenheath high school. I'm American but America is like a foreign land. I miss England so much. My father was stationed there for 10 years so unlike many of you I haven't had much experience with moving. I lived in Italy (Aviano AFB) when I was 5 and have traveled all over Europe, but Lakenheath is my home (my father retired). I can connect with a lot of messages on here. It is so interesting to see and hear about how LHS was in the sixties. I really liked listening to the radio station clip you guys have on here. I'm not used to so many things here in the US. I now understand what my friends meant about Wal-Mart and Dairy Queen, but I’d rather have Woolworth’s and Fish & Chips. I miss so many things about England. Added on tax, my friends, teachers, admin and of course the military. It is so strange not seeing clean cut slim men and woman wearing their uniforms. Our parents defended our country but many of us feel familiar with everywhere else but our country. Still I hold my head high and am proud to be known as a Military Brat.
Take care and God bless sincerely, Danielle Schneider
Guestbook entry 07-26-03
I have had a lot of time to reflect, since finding the Dayroom Years. At first, I wondered how could I have let such good friendships slip away so easily, but I realized that as we all left England, so young, it was inevitable that most would lose touch. We had our whole life in front of us; college with new friends - work - and marriage ( for us lucky ones that would be with our best friend forever). For me, it took the passing of my wife, to be brought back to the years that molded me as a man. Years that can never be erased from my memory. I wish I would have found the Dayroom Years sooner, so my wife could have made the trip back with me. The pictures and sounds bring memories to life, memories that are hard to describe to someone who was not there. The great thing is how wonderful it is to reunite with long lost friends!! Reunions that would not be taking place if we had not all stayed in touch.
PS..Frank, I have been reunited with Dan Stahl (my old roomate), Marsha Carol (the girl who would not date me), Bill Brady (my basketball team mate), Don Osborne (my old friend), and Mickey Estes (my guitar mentor) and that's only after a couple of weeks since I talked with you.
Frank, I have been reunited with Dan Stahl (my old roomate), Marsha Carol (the girl who would not date me), Bill Brady (my basketball team mate), Don Osborne (my old friend), and Mickey Estes (my guitar mentor) and that's only after a couple of weeks since I talked with you. Email received by Mark Grisham '68 03-05-05
In the summer of 1972 while walking through the Day Room with my then LHS sweetheart (Susan Bryan) to play our nightly card game and have a grilled cheese sandwich, she broke the news to me her Dad had told her he was retiring from the Air Force and they were heading back to the world a year early. Trying to remain cool and not to distraught, a week later in the outside stair well of dorm three, I told her we should get married, she laughed a bit which needless to say took me back, “aren’t you supposed to ask me to marry you not tell me” she said. Anyway, I regrouped, asked the question to which she of course said yes… That should have been the signal I would spend the next 33 years with her correcting me, but truth be told, thank God for that. Eight years in the USAF with even a stint back in England at RAF Upper Heyford, living in another five states before finally settling down here in Massachusetts with two great sons, a beautiful daughter-n-law with an awesome grandson.
It has been an incredible journey with many more ups than downs and to think it all began at LHS just makes visiting this site and reading all the stories & comments that much more special. We all share such an incredible bond that only we can understand and can never be broken. And to think after all these years for some small reason, I still love a good grilled cheese sandwichPat Jolicoeur (72)
Susan Bryan (73)
Not only did we fall in love at Lakenheath, others did too.
Our paths began to cross at Maguire AFB, Matt being seen off on his first trip to Europe by his family from Boston and Roberta alone after a flight from Oregon. Landing in Mildenhall, we discovered that we were both assigned to Lakenheath in similar positions as Head Counselors; Matt Cohen in Dorm 5 and Roberta Horning in Dorm 2. Lakenheath was for us both an exciting job as well as a romantic adventure. Our first dates were trips to Paris and Edinburgh. As counselors we lived on the economy : Roberta in Bury St. Edmonds and Matt in Sawston. Matt's first purchase right after de-planing was a 1960 Morris Minor which provided transportation to and from the Base. A later purchase was a brand new white Triumph Spitfire which he paid a student, Rick Risher, $.50 a week to wash . While on base we would take long walks ending up in the village of Lakenheath for fish and chips or the British Post Office for McVities.
A shared interest in music, travel and adventure, working with young kids, good food, late hours at the Officers Club developed into "a relationship" that continued in countless hours of talking (mostly) after "lights out". Those shared interests have been a continuing theme throughout our entire 43 years of marriage since. We continue to travel as often as the budget allows, getting to Europe at least every few years, South America and just last month in South Africa to visit our daughter who works with Doctors Without Borders establishing AIDS/HIV Treatment clinics PS: After reading and listening to the remarkable story of Mark and Marsha Grisham, the strains of the background music reminded me of a Day Room story. It was 1962 and a group of students and Roberta were planning a "Welcome to LHS" dance. Our main task was nailing down a band to provide the music. We knew of a group from a nearby base who were known to be terrific, but rather expensive. Having received a call from some agent who was trying to promote his group (an English foursome) Roberta presented the idea to the committee. While the cost would be less, and we wanted to be thrifty, we also wanted to be certain of quality. We decided not to take a risk on the unknowns and she called the agent, Brian Epstein in a northern city and declined the group's offer. Imagine our chagrin when only a couple months later their first album came out and the world met The Beatles.
Looking.. Searching.. Forever Seeking.. Then Discovery
