EULOGY FOR MARK BRICKLEY  Weds. November 27, 2002

Mark was my best friend.  I mean that in every sense of the word.  Not just that he was my best man and I was his.  From the time we were 16 our lives we intertwined.  We played sports together, applied to college together and were in business together.   We went away together, double dated and even went out with some of the same girls, just not at the same time.  Whatever was going on in either of our lives we always found time for each other.

The Mark I know is best embodied by his toast to his guests on the day he married Suzanne, “To a room full of optimists”.  Mark was an optimist. It’s a testament to him that brought us all here today, despite short notice, snowstorms and Thanksgiving being tomorrow.  Mark was as smart as a whip.  The last time he was at my house he’d finished the NY Times crossword almost before I’d finished my first cup of coffee.  Mark was one of the best card players I ever met.  When it came to sports trivia, fugetaboutit!  He was also thoughtful and considerate and had a great sense of humor.  Mark was a great guy to just hang out with.

Mark always gave to everyone in every way imaginable.  He was there at my father’s funeral back in his Union College days.  Ironically so was another great friend and classmate from the Staples High School class of 1970, Drew Lubarsky.  Mark and Drew and I were partners in the Limelight Dinner Theatre immediately after we got out of college.  Now Mark has joined Drew and Ann Craig and others from that class who left us too soon.

For those of you who lost touch with Mark after high school he was clearly one of the stars of our peer group.  By the age of 30 he was Vice President of the New York Cosmos, the team of Pele and Franz Beckenbauer and Gorgio Canalia.  When the North American Soccer Link went south Mark created Sports Link, a successful sports marketing company involved in Major League Baseball and the National Hockey league.

As a result of Mark’s thoughtfulness some of my three daughter’s earliest and best memories involve him.  My eldest, Jessica was featured in an early Cosmos television ad.

One of my middle daughter Jaclynn’s great thrills was to be the batgirl for the NY Mets.  She got to sit in the dugout and visit the locker room thanks to Mark’s thoughtfulness.  It’s not a big surprise that she is now in sports marketing herself, working for DC United the professional soccer team.  My daughters all insisted on being here today.  As my youngest, Rebecca said, “Mark was a part of the family, dad.”

When I was between relationships and careers Mark and Suzanne were there for me.  They put me up and put up with me in their home in Stamford for six months.  I would probably have stayed longer but Mark’s first child Erin was soon to come.  My wife Alicia and I are proud to be her God Parents.  Erin was joined five years later on Christmas Eve by her brother Sean.  Look at them today.  Erin got the highest grade in her school on her science test-a chip off the old block.  And Sean’s hustling quarters playing table hockey, just like the old man! 

Earlier this year Mark told me that he’d heard a rumor there was going to be a class reunion this summer.  I told him that seemed odd.  It would be a 32nd reunion.  “This is the year we all turn 50” he said.  Mark turned 50 this August.  Tragically, he won’t turn 51.  But I hope you will all do what I plan to do.  Remember the good times we all had with Mark through the years.  Tomorrow I’m going to give thanks for the great times I got to share with Mark.  To try and get our thoughts moving in that direction I’m going to leave you with Mark’s favorite song, the hauntingly beautiful “For Emily Wherever I may Find Her.”  I love you Mark.  A lot of people love you.

Scott died of a heart attack. As a life long sports nut he appropriately enough had the TV clicker in his hand.
- - Scott Shearer

On 14 September 2006, Ronette Evershed Stoddard passed away after a courageous fight with lung cancer at the age of 54.  Apparently she had been ill for several months. The lung cancer she had was rare and is termed a "non to light smokers cancer".  The cancer was deemed terminal, and was caught too late for conventional medicine . A precious few have won the battle of bronchio alveolar carcinoma.  She was misdiagnosed 5 times with pneumonia over the winter into the spring- she passed away 8 weeks after her initial diagnosis, surrounded by her family.

Ronette is survived by her husband, Dan Stoddard of Kennebunk ME, and children Mareike Every Muszynski (&husband Josh) of Waltham MA, Morgan Chisholm and Robin Stoddard, both of Kennebunk ME.  Mareike is also the daughter of David Every, from our class.  

Funeral services were held on September 20, 2006 in Kennebunk.  Ronette's family is planning a Celebration of Life Service in the near future.  Anyone wishing to attend, please contact me...and I will let you know the date as soon as I hear from the family.

Ronette was a beautiful, sweet, unique and spiritual person, and I know many of us will miss her.

- - John Kyle

Our class mate Chris Fremont died on Saturday July 29, 2006 in Stillwater Oklahoma. Even though he dodged every class reunion, he kept in touch with Frank Barrow, Jerry Stone, Tim Esser and me. He claimed I was his best friend to his friends and I was asked by his family to be his "best man" at the funeral and give the eulogy. It was an honor to be Chris's best.

He leaves two young children Ali (14) and Cameron (12), and three ex wives, and lots of girl friends. He remained a lovable rogue and a man’s man, just like in high school. And judging by the crowd at his funeral, he was admired for his traits.

--Bob Kelly

Sue Hill lived in Westport her entire life.  She had a great laugh and a wonderful smile. She died at age 42 (1994) from a heart attack as she awakedened from her sleep one day. Her two kids were everything to her.

I remember Steve's smile most of all. He had a hearty laugh, appreciated a good joke and told a few himself. He always seemed to have a secret he wanted to tell but never did. He was a really strong guy who liked to rough house. He was known for his athleticism, especially in football, and was a star athlete in his entire school career.  He played guitar like nobody's business. I think he resisted adulthood like most of us.  When we saw each other in later years, it was usually beeping at each other, he'd give me that familiar sweet smile and looked like the same boy I knew in elementary school.
- - Mary Palmieri Gai

John Ryan Kyle died today, February 12, 2008, from Cirrhosis of the liver.  He had a very peaceful passing surrounded with family and friends at Norwalk hospital hospice. Born May 4th,1952, John lived on Steep Hill Road in Weston and graduated Staples in 1970.  John had requested that before he died, his friends and relatives have a party and party we did, this past Saturday. After being on a liquid diet for weeks, he enjoyed, with gusto, a catered Italian feast from Mario's of Westport that was capped off with Cheesecake and Chocolate. Friends flew in from California, drove up from the Carolinas and down from New England to give John his last wish. At the lounge in the Hospice wing, with a backdrop of 60s and 70s music and a web cam hookup with those who couldn't attend,  the party went on for hours and the hospital staff joined in on the fun. We shared photos of John and memories of simpler times; of friendships, road trips, parties, long telephone and IM chats. Later that night he slipped into a coma and never regained consciousness.  He's survived by his mom and his brother David who lives in Oregon. He is also survived by fellow classmate, Jill Rayburn Schnake Roeder, who John told me was as close to him as any sister could ever be. Not only was John an integral part of our reunion committee, helping to plan and contacting classmates far and wide, he was a great, friendly, fun-loving man. Until recent years John was a security operations manager for a major securities firm. A memorial celebration of life will be held at St. Pauls Episcopal Church in Norwalk on February 23, 2008: 10:30 am.

I have known John since 1965.  He was one class behind me.  By the time we went to Staples we were close friends.  We had been through a lot together as kids who lived in homes with an alcoholic and/or abusive parent.  There was a group of us who shared the same pain that bonded us together as close friends who 'understood'.  We were a safety net for each other.  We rescued one other when things got really bad at home.  John was a gentle soul.  He was a good friend.  In high school we both became close friends with Timmy Mastrilillo - who was infamous around Staples and Westport as the guy dressed in black with dark shades.  Some kids feared him.  But, we knew him as a sweet, kind hearted guy who was a good friend - although he did not want that to get around.  We would all go out and race our cars on the CT Through Way, go to the Savaran Inns off the turnpike or International House of Pancakes to drink coffee and talk for hours.  I remember when John and I decided to see how many people we could cram into my Corvair and drive home after school.  It was hysterical with hands, feet and heads all over the place.  I think we got about 10 or 12 people in that little car.  I remember it was so overloaded it bottomed out as we left the driveway from Staples.  Good memories. We kept in touch once we found each other again in California.  we saw each other several times and he was at our wedding in 2001.  But, after he sold his home in San Diego and moved to North Carolina to live with Jill Rayburn and her husband until he got settled he did not write nor call so often.  Last time I heard from him he told me he had purchased a house in Florida and was all excited to move there.  He told me that he was going to have his mother come live with him so he could take care of her.  I knew he had a drinking problem for quite a long time, but I had no idea he was so sick.  I wish he had told me.  I guess he did not want me to know. I do not know how many of you knew John or even remember him, but I thought I would send this information on to share it with you.  We all went to the same schools, Weston Jr. High and Staples, for many years.  I will miss him.

– – Wendy Ahrensdorf Powers

Kay died in an automobile accident while she was working on the business side at Fairpress Newspaper, formerly in Westport.

Claudia Ridington 1952 – 1991

Claudia died on November 13, 1991 as the result of a car accident on the Post Road in Milford, Connecticut. - - Jill (Rayburn) Schnake-Roeder

Clayton Frederick Ruebensaal Jr., a retired Foreign Service officer, died Oct. 19 2005 of heart failure at his home in Bethesda.

He was 53 Born in New Haven, Conn., Mr. Ruebensaal -- known as Rick -- graduated from Staples High School in Westport, Conn., in 1970. He graduated from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1974 and completed two years of graduate work there.

After becoming a Foreign Service officer with the Department of State in 1975, Mr. Ruebensaal administered relief and resettlement operations on the border of Cambodia and Thailand that served more than 500,000 Indochinese displaced by the Vietnam War. In 1982, he was involved in negotiations with Israeli authorities on food shipment procedures needed to continue feeding programs for 100,000 Palestinians.

Mr. Ruebensaal played a lead role as senior economic adviser in designing and negotiating a 20-year economic support program for the Federated States of Micronesia and was actively involved in negotiations to resolve missing-in-action and prisoner-of-war issues with Iraq after the Persian Gulf War.

His career with the Department of State included assignments to Bermuda, Israel, Thailand and Switzerland.

After his retirement in 2000, Mr. Ruebensaal continued to work as a senior foreign affairs officer in the Department of State's Office of Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.

 Within the office, Mr. Ruebensaal had the lead in drafting and coordinating the interagency review of conventional arms-sanctions recommendations.

His family said Mr. Ruebensaal believed deeply in what he did and in the ability of individuals to make a difference in the world through their own actions.

Mr. Ruebensaal is survived by his wife, Blanca Alejandra Luisi Ruebensaal of Bethesda; a son, Clayton Frederick Ruebensaal III of New York City; two daughters, Virginia Alejandra Ruebensaal and Katherine Erika Ruebensaal of Bethesda; two sisters, Virginia Latrobe Humphreys of Lancaster, Pa., and Elizabeth Latrobe Place of Kent, Conn.; and his mother, Virginia Latrobe Ruebensaal of Greens Farms, Conn.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Red Cross, 36 Church Ave., Westport, Conn. 06880.

- - Washington Times

Kay Rovins died from falling off of a ladder in her home and she was survived by her son and her dad.

Notice sent by Edward Wynn Plaut - August 2005

One of our first classmates to die. She died at age 19 or 20 as the result of a motorcycle accident. She walked away from it but then died from a brain hemmorage shortly afterward. She was a very nice girl, so friendly and sweet. Everyone seemed to like her. She was also known as Chris and Tina… I think Christine was her middle name.