The Clan at Citifield

Don't know why this didn't upload to the main message, but here it is.

A Great Day at Citfield!

Hi All,

Just reporting that 9 Buono Clanspersons all had a great time at the Mets-Cardinals game at Citifield in New York last Thursday. In attendance were Joni, Rick, their son Peter, Lorraine, Roy, Sandy, Mark, Steve and I. We'd planned to take Mom (Louise) until she had to cancel her trip. George seems to be doing better lately....all our best to him and Louise.

We took in all the sights: the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, the Pepsi Porch, the old & new Home Run Apples, and had a nice get-together after the game in the Caesar's Club Lounge....which is right in the park and where you have a panoramic view of the NY City skyline as well as the World's Fairgrounds.

Oh, yes....the Amazins won, 3-2.

Truly Strange

One of the strangest things I've ever seen happened today. When I graduated from Union in 1967 I bought a class ring--a handsome, military-style job--and wore it for about five years. In the early 1970's I played basketball with a bunch of guys from work. We played at an elementary school near Albany. As the ring was pretty bulky, I always took it off before playing and left it in a locker. One night I finished playing, dressed and went home and....no ring. I went back to the school either that night or the next day and looked everywhere in the locker room, but the ring was nowhere in sight. So I figured it had to have been stolen.

I checked with the school's lost & found, and over the next few weeks I may have looked in a couple of pawn shops, but with no luck. So....careless stupidity, I figured, but the ring was lost forever.

Fast forward to June 17, 2009 (today). I came home from work and Sandy said that a spooky thing had happened and I should look in the front hall. There on the desk was my ring, with a note from a fellow named Frank, who said that he used to play basketball at the same school (though not with my group....he was only about 14 at the time) and that he had found my ring there one evening. He didn't know it was mine, only that it was a Union College ring from 1967 with the initials HJW on it. For years he had kept the ring, despite pleas from his eventual wife to find its owner.

Finally he checked with the folks at Union and discovered that I was the only one in the Class of '67 with those initials. And guess what? My name and address are in the local phone book. So he stopped over while I was at work and surprised the heck out of Sandy with his story (though Sandy vaguely remembered hearing me talk about losing the ring in a locker room--it may have happened before I even met her). The guy left me a note apologizing for his delay in returning my ring!

I don't know whether to laugh or go bowling. He's honest enough to rescue my ring, but then he keeps it for 37 years without making an effort to find me. Then, at his wife's urging, he looks me up and delivers it.

I haven't called him yet....I'll do that tomorrow. Yes--as a true Buono, I'll be very grateful for his (and his wife's) act.

I guess stranger things have happened.

Cheers All,
Harry W

P.S. Now, if only someone would find my high school ring that I lost in Great South Bay.

Me and Lorraine

Hey all -

Sandy and I are on a history-nerd vacation in Washington, D.C. this week. We've been up and down the National Mall, visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History, got a behind the scenes tour of the Senate, and drove up to Frederick to meet Lorraine for dinner. Awesome trip so far, not the least of which was seeing Lorraine again after 50 odd years. Needless to say, we didn't scratch the surface, catching-up-wise.

Cheers,

Don