By Catherine Buday

GateHouse News Service

Posted Nov 29, 2007 @ 04:19 AM

 

The year 1975 brought convictions in the Watergate cover-up, an attempt on former President Gerald Ford’s life, and the ascendancy of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Pittsburgh played Minnesota in the Superbowl, and the Red Sox lost to Cincinnati in the World Series. Saturday Night Live premiered on television, and “Jaws” forged a new genre in blockbuster movies. And in early June, a group of earnest young adults from Hudson High School graduated and faced their futures.The Class of 1975 reunited last weekend at Hudson’s Riverview Gun Club to reminisce about the past and to celebrate their 50th birthdays. And about a dozen agreed to share their thoughts via email about how they’ve changed and how the world has changed.

 

Some say they haven’t changed much. Valedictorian Nancy Plante (now Toll), who was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” at Hudson High, has gone on to other achievements. “I live in lovely area of the country with an honest and loving husband with whom I have raised three healthy, intelligent, compassionate, attractive, and engaging children and whom I am currently supporting as he launches his own private equity fund,” wrote Toll, now in Connecticut. Besides being very involved in her children’s lives, Toll rows crew three days a week from March to November, captains a platform tennis league during the winter months, and works with her church's Habitat for Humanity effort and soup kitchen Sundays.Turning 50, for Toll, has been a signal to accomplish more. “If I want to continue to make a positive impact on the world, I should focus on what I can most productively accomplish with my increasingly achy “old” bones!” she said. 

 

Like Toll Tom Jacobs continued to live up to everyone’s expectations. Voted “most athletic” and “most popular,” Jacobs played hockey and baseball at the University of Lowell and won the top athletic award twice. Now happily married with four children, Jacobs lives in Hudson and said his only changes over the years are “just 20 pounds and some wrinkles.”Yet when asked about how he feels about turning 50, he answered, “sick.”Others in the class say they’ve gained new strengths as they’ve aged. “I've learned to use my voice,” said Kathi (Lampinen) McNamara. “I was very quiet back then; I'm more talkative now. I don't worry as much about things. I don't worry about what people think. I don't have to prove myself to anyone…I'm very comfortable in my skin.

 

”Diana (Poole) Peterson said “I have taken more time to embrace the moment.”Others say they are more careful. “I don't think I've changed very much,” said Steve Phaneuf, who was voted “best natured” at Hudson High. “A few extra pounds of course, but classmates still recognize me when they see me. I'm not as trusting, and much more aware of where I am and those around me, but I think that just comes with the times more than anything else.”Jon Ross, now a widower raising his three sons in Franklin, said that 50 is comfortable yet challenging.“Job, kids, finances all are much better than at 30,” said Ross, who tinkered with cars as a high schooler but ended up successful in the high-tech world. Unfortunately, he adds, “dating at 50 isn't like it was at 25. At 50 we are kind of set in our ways and trying to start new relationships is very difficult. “When we were younger we had all the time in the world, but no money to enjoy it,” said Ross. “Now at 50 I have the money, but no time to do it.” Kathy (Shaughnessy) Villanueva, who also settled in Hudson, also laments the swiftness of time. “I'd love to say 50 is just a number, but truth be told ... it's not,” said Villanueva, a former cheerleader who helped organize last weekend’s reunion. “When I think about how fast these 50 years have flown, I'm afraid to blink! It's not really about getting ‘old,’it's about getting ‘over.’ I don't want to go backwards, or be younger, I just want to slow down the next 50 years.

 

”Paula (Kittredge) Brazier, of Hudson, NH, also wants to slow down the clock. “Most of us couldn't wait to grow up',” she said. “Now most of us prefer to slow it down and have our children stay younger and smaller for a while longer. I cherish every day with family and friends. Life is too fleeting.”While the class has gained faith in themselves, they still worry about changes in the world.

 

“It’s become a very dangerous and materialistic world since we graduated,” Phaneuf said. “I don't know how we would have adjusted to some of the things our kids have had to adjust to, and I have many fears for their kids as they enter the world.”Others worry that the younger generation lacks resilience. “Younger people do not have the standards or discipline that we were raised with,” said Janet (Lamacchia) Cassidy. “Many do not have any respect for older people and they are lazy. We stand at check outs waiting while the cashier and bag person are having a conversation about what they did last night. We were always told to hustle and not to waste time.

 

“I’m not sure times have changed for the better,” said Jayne (Adams) Bassett, of Lowell. “The world was much less complicated 32 years ago. There have been times when I wish my son could have lived in that world instead of the one we have to deal with today. I think it was much easier to live in the moment back then.”

 

“I think we have become a throw-away society,” said Donna (Comeau) Wenners, who now lives in Franklin. “We expect instant gratification and when something breaks, we're too quick to just throw it out and buy a new one. We don't give a whole lot of thought to our resources.”

 

While Deb (Gentili) Dando said she hasn’t changed much – she still is a nature-lover and lives on a farm -- she too worries about the future. “I just hope Social Security is there when I need it,” said Dando, who turned 50 last summer and has two grandchildren.Others take a more cautiously optimistic view. Said Toll: “I believe that history is cyclic and that human nature does not truly change. What we are experiencing in the world today is not new, but simply magnified by the immediacy of global communications and the power of modern weaponry.”