Christine McLaughlin:  

THE WILDEST THING I EVER DID IN SCHOOL? I was a willing accomplice on a Halloween night (with Donnie W. Curtis W. and CCulp) when we stole an outhouse, from an orchard on Pumpkin Ridge, and dropped it in off a couple feet from the front doors of the high school. I'll never forget Mrs. Croghan side-stepping around it as she entered the next morning. AND that John Tucker (our lookout) took full credit for the stunt; everyone was slapping him on the back and there was NO WAY any of us were going to argue about that and get ourselves in trouble. I LIKE TO: Creating and working in flower beds. Take tours of restored wetlands (where I hope to canoe/kayak some day) and set-aside green spaces. Read exposes on crooked politicians and their war-mongering rich friends. Listening and singing along to music with George, who says rythmn and blues runs in my blood. I know it does stir my soul. WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FIRST CRUSH? Jerry Coe and I held hands in the back pew of the Nazarene church, every summer when he came to visit his grandparents. He stopped by the Opera House to say 'Hi', and the strangest thing happened one day at work. I answered my phone, "Hello, this is Christine." and Jerry asked, "Is this the Christine who grew up in Elgin?" He said he was trying to call someone back who had left a phone number on his answering machine; not understanding one of the numbers the caller left, he tried one through zero ten times and one was me! Do you think he was pulling my leg? 50 YEARS IN ELGIN: Where first husband Dick McLaughlin and I raised our daughters; Angela (class of '82) a single-mom (of 23 yr old Lamar (with a 7 month old daughter) and 22 yr old Maranne) is now at Microsoft near Seattle, as a Technical Engineer recruiter and Barbara (class of '86) manages their business back in Minnesota via phone and internet, from their home in Florida, where they are raising 16 yr old Tyler, 12 yr old Tiara and 7 yr old Drew. After helping plan the first two Class of 64 reunions, I went back to high school (in the classroom) for a year and got my diploma in 1975. My oldest was in 5th grade and the youngest in 1st grade (who would ask if I had homework, and then volunteer to do the dishes with Dad, so I could study). Just as I might have been suffering from empty-nest syndrome, I stepped inside the old Rex Theater in 1985, to see what I could do to help; I e...Expand for more