Russell Grigaitis:
CLASS OF 1988
Leduc Composite High SchoolClass of 1988
Leduc, AB
Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Class of 1993
Edmonton, AB
Leduc Junior High SchoolClass of 1985
Leduc, AB
Russell's Story
Yeah, I changed the spelling of my last name to the original Lithuanian. My family changed it when they came to Canada, so I thought I should change it back.
***
This is what I wrote for the 1998 Reunion:
I was well on the road to fulfilling the ambitions I described in our graduating year book; fortunately, I had a major shift of priorities and my ambitions now bare no resemblance to the former. Shortly after leaving high school, I abandoned my pursuit of musical artistry in favour of financially supporting a family. This resulted in a career as a software developer; a certified geek much like Dilbert. The family I opted to support consists of my wonderful wife, and currently two daughters. Our family also includes a cat, a budgerigar, and a fig tree; unfortunately the gold fish died. As for interests and hobbies, I've developed an interest in weightlifting in the last year and I still occasionally play drums and guitar. Lately I've been jamming with my two daughters; one plays keyboards and the other plays a pretty wild tambourine. I'm quite content with my life right now, so I suspect that my biography ten years from now, for our twentieth class reunion, will imitate this one with the inclusion of a few more jamming partners.
***
This is what I wrote for the 2008 Reunion:
All was not as well with Russell as it may have appeared at our ten year reunion. He was actually ve...Expand for more
ry ill. Six months after the reunion, Russell suffered a complete psychotic break and was hospitalized. A couple of months later, he was hospitalized again and received the diagnoses of schizoaffective disorder, which is basically schizophrenia and either clinical depression or bipolar disorder (in Russell's case it's clinical depression). Through the miracle of modern medicine, Russell's health has improved considerably; although, he hasn't been able to work since his first hospitalization.
Despite his poor health, Russell has not been idle, as his website demonstrates (the domain name is "grigaitis.net"). He also has a couple of books published, one of which is about his illness.
Russell has also joined the Secular Franciscan Order, also known as the Third Order of St. Francis. The First and Second Orders are for celibate men and women living in religious communities, whereas the Third Order is for single and married men and women living in secular society.
Speaking of marriage, Russell is engaged again, but to be a little different, he's engaged to his ex-wife.
It's been a rough ten years for Russell, but the future looks very bright.
***
As of February of 2010:
Russell is still too ill to go back to work, and his fiancée is too ill to go to a wedding, so they're waiting. Their kids are doing well. Their oldest is in a BMus program, and their youngest is in high school.
Register for Free to view all details!
Reunions
Photos
