Sue Lockyer Update

Sue sent this along with the Castle Rock photo:

At the reunion, Mike R. and I were trying to figure out who went all the way through from Castle Rock Elementary, Foothill Intermediate through NGHS. Isn’t is strange how well you remember the folks you grew up with?

Now my kids are growing up! Cue the Twilight Zone music.

Along with my hubby, Mike, I live with my kids Andrew, 12, Fiona, 8 and Julia, 4 in Montara, CA. If you’ve never heard of Montara, you’re not the only one. It is a small town on the coast, between Pacifica and Half Moon Bay, south of SF.

I teach my kids at home. As scary as it sounds, it is actually very cool. During the school year my head is filled to overflowing with cosine, proper nouns, ancient Egypt, fractions, ABC’s, atomic structure….you get the idea. It is a bit of a stretch to teach a 4 year old her letters at the same time guiding (I don’t really teach him anymore) a 12 year old in literature or physics. But I love it. And them.

I have fun doing my own things too. Love to hike (such great hiking around here!), visit with friends (who doesn’t?) and write on my BLOG!

A Serious Attempt at Fun

Something strange: turns out my pastor’s wife in Pacifica went the NGHS too! Class of ’89. More Twilight Zone music, please.

Love the site – thanks Jeff

John Barry

Hey Jeff,

I stumbled upon your blog the other day – what a great idea & very cool that so many people have found it already. I have been out of touch with just about everyone from NG over the last twenty (two!!) years, but I was able to make it to the 20th reunion in '06 – at first I hadn't intended to go, but I was inspired by my wife's 20-year reunion a few months before, and just couldn't resist ours! It turned out to be an incredibly fun time – I can't wait until the next one! It was interesting seeing so many people I hadn't seen in YEARS and seeing how everyone had aged since high school. Amazingly well, I might add – I have heard all the reunion horror stories, but in our class everyone looked pretty fabulous! (just wait till the 50th!!) I ended up hanging out with some really cool people & had a great time, and got a chance to spend some time & get to know some of our alums I didn't even know in high school. (I think some of them didn't even go to NG but just crashed the party, but they were a blast to hang out with anyhow!!). I did not take many pictures at the reunion - wish I had taken more, but I do have a few to share. Attached is a shot of myself and Kerry Breen at the party – it was a blast seeing her again, and to also hang out with Sue Lockyer, who I didn't even really know in high school. I also have a couple of pics of the crowd waiting for the group photo that never came out! (At least we now have a shot of the back of everyone's head!). It was hilarious seeing the old pic you posted of Sue's kitchen with John Weisel & Rich Jursich sportin the flannel shirts. How it brought me back again! It must have been summertime or Weisel probably would have had his Derby jacket on as well!

After high school, I went to college at Saint Mary's over in Moraga, living in the dorms & spending most of my time partying & going to Dead Shows, occasionally showing up in class. My college girlfriend Nancy & I ended up moving to Los Angeles and getting married in the summer of 1991, where we have lived for the last 17 years. We adopted a beautiful baby girl named Monica in 1991, who is now 10 (going on 25!!) and will be in the 5th grade next year. My wife Nancy was the recipient of a Kidney-Pancreas transplant in 2001, a fairly uncommon procedure at the time, which effectively cured her of her juvenile diabetes and she has not had to take an insulin shot in over seven years, when it used to be several times a day. Although her transplanted kidney failed in 2006 & she is currently on dialysis & hoping for another transplant, the pancreas is still going strong. Her illness has been tough at times, but also helps us appreciate the time we have together & make the most of every day we have. Life is too short for all of us... For most of the 90's, I worked in the computer industry, both at a small computer & audio/video rental company in Burbank, as well as spending several years in the IT department at Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, which was pretty cool & quite an experience. After my daughter was born, I decided to get a real job (ahem) and went to work for a commercial escrow company in downtown LA (www.comescrow.com) where I have been for the last 10 years (time flies when you're having fun!!), where I work as an escrow officer & specialize in 1031 exchanges. I spend most of my time these days hanging out at home and enjoying life in what little free time I seem to have these days! Attached is another picture of myself, my wife Nancy & daughter Monica taken a few years ago in Manhattan Beach.

Excellent idea again, Jeff thanks for putting this together – what a great way for people to keep up with each other & be able to post comments & stuff! Hopefully it will get even more to the next reunion & we can all party till dawn... (or at our age until about 10:30 or so..)

Anyone feel free to email me at johnnyrocberry AT gmail.com

Hope everyone is doing well - happy 40's!!

John Barry

Group shot, with Kristin Hicks getting excited


Kerry Breen and John Barry

Lockyer, McDounough

Sue Lockyer, Larry McDonough

(If anyone has Larry's email, let me know as his old address is bouncing)

20th Reunion Pictures

I'm sure many others are floating around out there. Send me your photos!

1) Sue Lockyer and Bart Hummer

2) Mike Radakovich


3) Kerry Breen

Some Photos From 1986

Sue Lockyer sent me these photos from Senior Year

1) Chris Bowhay, Kevin Herney, and Jon "Bean" Hastings



2) Billy Schaub, Sue Lockyer, Rich Juricich

A Moment in Time: 1985

Here's an old picture I found and scanned. I must have taken this in 1985, probably toward the end of our Junior year (though could be early Senior year as well...)

In Sue's kitchen. I'm taking the picture.

Clockwise from front:
Sue Lockyer (facing away from the camera)
John Weisel (seated)
Rich Juricich, smoking a pretzel
Matt Burris (also smoking a pretzel)
Mike Totman, who had transfered to Acalanes High after our Freshman year
Anneliese Hopwood

Note the flannel (predating the Nirvana-induced trend by at least 2 years
Note the orange juice, we were so well behaved
And about 10 Dead tapes in the gold box on the table.

A moment in time.

Sue Lockyer

Excerpted from her blog with permission:

...In high school I continued my path of bizarreness by shunning and sneering on anyone who I considered "normal", ie. cheerleaders, school govt. people...etc. I became a stoner, an outcast. I globalized my antipathy for all things mainstream when I spent a summer in rural Mexico, realizing that my Walnut Creek (and probably all of America) world was incredibly privileged and ignorant of how others lived. Cut me a little slack here, I was sixteen and seventeen and thought that I knew what was right, and that everyone else was wrong. Doesn't everyone feel that way at that age?

In college I mostly put my head down, studied and avoided all the partying and sleeping around that my private Catholic school peers indulged in. OK, I partied a little. Met my hubby, became a democrat and swore that I would never take a job that was "just a cog in a wheel". Instead, after college I took crummy, low paying jobs in nonprofits which I mostly hated.

When motherhood came along, once again I chose my own path - homebirth. I know, I know, I've heard all the arguments against it. But I felt safer at home. So I did it - three times. Yep, three home births all safe and sound. That decision is probably one of the best ones I made in my whole life. I'm so glad I didn't do what everyone else was doing - going into the hospital, taking pitocin and epidurals and ending up with a C-section - yuck. (no offense if you did it that way).

When my son was four and I started thinking about sending him to kindergarden, I started to feel sick in my gut, my intuition. I had heard about homeschooling from my sister-in-law and when I tried that on for size I got all excited. Long story short, I am now homeschooling all three of my kids.

"Oh, I could NEVER do that! You must be so patient!" is the most common reaction I get when someone learns that I homeschool. Really, I'm not known for my patience. I just look at educating my kids like it's my career. My job. And I do the best I can because I want to. But, one again, it places me out of the mainstream.

And now? Let's see....we don't have TV, I read the Bible to my kids (among other things!), I don't have cool clothes, and probably craziest of all I am totally into Ron Paul. I am still wierd!

Do I do anything that is normal? Let me think....I wear jeans - that's pretty common, my kids take swim lessons, my husband is a techie, I like to eat, we live in a house..........oh! I color my hair (for some unknown reason my hair turned dark when I had kids). I think most ladies my age do that.

Sometimes it is lonely to not be a part of the crowd. When people make American Idol references and look at my like I'm crazy when I say, "What is that?", when folks at a party do endless shots of tequila (I'll have my wine, thanks), when people talk about our government as if it has the right to do everything it does....well, I just don't fit in.

But I suppose the alternative is not to do what I think is right. No can do. So....

¡Vive le difference!

Sue in 1985

and below, Sue in 2008 (visiting New York)

email: mamasue AT sonic.net