William Smith:
CLASS OF 1971
Groveton High SchoolClass of 1971
Alexandria, VA
William's Story
If youth is wasted on the young, nostalgia is wasted on those who are losing their memory.
When reading the list of names from Groveton¿s Class of ¿71, I was amazed at the number of people I recognized, and was even more astounded by the volume of miniscule incidents that were brought to mind that I hadn¿t thought about in 40 years, probably for good reason.
Even though I left Alexandria and Groveton at the end of our sophomore year (in June of ¿69), for good or bad, I¿ve always considered ¿G¿71¿ as my adolescent primordial social stew. Through Bucknell Elementary and then Bryant Jr High, there was a core group of kids who, although I didn¿t see them all as close friends, seemed to accept my geekiness, inappropriate humor and social ineptitude. For me, finding that niche was what adolescence was all about.
Where do I go from here? Autobiographical fiction?
Moved to the Boston suburbs, hated the high school. Started SMOLPH (the Student Movement Organized to Liberalize Peabody High). Got involved with drugs, the SDS and the Harvard Center for Law and Education when I was threatened with expulsion.
Things got crazy, and left town on the spur of the moment and ran into Wally Anderson on my wa...Expand for more
y to Charlottesville, where I went to nursing school after working as an orderly at the hospital for a year. Became head nurse of the medical ICU in 3 years. Ran into Nancy Perkins doing her med school rotation through my unit.
My father got sick and I soon after moved back to Boston with a group of friends from C¿ville. Got married, went to photography school, ran an architectural photo business for 8 years. Had 3 kids and went back to nursing for the steady paycheck. Been working in ¿clinical trial event and data analysis¿ for a contract research organization for the past 10 years.
In 1995, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and had first stem cell transplant. I got 14 years out of it and had a second a year ago. Still dealing with some complications from the second one, but back to 90%.
Three years ago, I lost my eldest son, Eric, to suicide. He was in the Army, became bipolar and quickly crashed and burned. The Army stood by and did nothing to intervene or help him in any way. I'm still more than a little bitter. It was absolutely the worst experience I've had to endure.
But enough of all this lightness and cheer....
Would be great to hear your stories.
Be Well. Take care.
Bill Smith
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