Fifty Plus (50+) - Morbid thread for stats geeks: how many of your h.s. class is still alive?

I hope that since we're over 50 we can talk about this without offending anyone, but the data geek in me can't resist.

So - this year is my high school class's 35th reunion (class of '74). The organizer sends out an email of class names and addresses, along with a note listing deceased classmates (11 in all; unfortunately including some very close childhood friends of mine) and a brief message expressing regretful surprise that "so many" of our class are dead.

While pausing a bit to read the names, I couldn't resist thinking: is 11 really "so many" out of class of 206? How many people would be expected to die over a 35 year period?

So I google some information on mortality rates, and plug in the expected mortality rate for folks my age since the age of 18 (I found annual mortality rates per 100,000 people in the U.S. for age bands, like 20 to 24, 25 to 29, and so on). According to the data, if you add up the cumulative probability of death for someone who turned 18 in 1974, there would be a 6.4% chance of dying between your 18th birthday and your 54th.

With 11 dead, in fact, my class was actually two people *under* the expectation - the expected rate would be 13.1 deaths. That was 3 weeks ago. Then, last week, one of my classmates tragically died in a house fire. Now we're at 12.

The odds say one more to go this year...spooky.

Every day is a blessing: go ride your bike.

When my mother attended her 50th class reunion, more than a decade ago, close to 1/3rd of the class had died, with most of them being men. She just turned 80 today, so she is likely now amongst the roughly 1/3rd of the survivors.

This did impact her, as she still talks about it.

I remember when my dad went to his 50th reunion and only 1 class member had died. Though there were only about 25 in his graduating class. All the more amazing since all the men had served in WW II.

Now most of them are gone, including Dad.

We get a periodic listing of the deaths - just had my 50th (class of 1957)

My close friends:

Richard - (did everything together in college) dead of diabetes complications
Russ - (palled around in high school) dead of "general systems failure"
Bob - (friend in service clubs) cancer
Wayne (double dated senior prom) - cancer
Walt - Lou Gehrigs
Gary - Football 1/4 back - cancer

Of course, lots are still alive

Wayne - HS buddy
Dave - I guess, lost track

Most of the ladies still alive


it does get discouraging.

To answer the question posed as the title of this thread: I don't know, and I don't care. Didn't much care for many of them back then, and haven't spoken to any (but one) in all the years since. The other two I liked I can never find even on the internet.

To answer the question posed as the title of this thread: I don't know, and I don't care. Didn't much care for many of them back then, and haven't spoken to any (but one) in all the years since. The other two I liked I can never find even on the internet.
+1 Ditto.

To answer the question posed as the title of this thread: I don't know, and I don't care. Didn't much care for many of them back then, and haven't spoken to any (but one) in all the years since.

That's odd - they say such nice things about you! :D

I can only remember 2 people from my College class out of 23 in my option let alone my HS class. Of those two one died in a helicopter crash and the other is into tunnel boring machines, a good thing.

I've always felt like my HS class was unusual. Of 120, there were 26 of us gone after 40 years. At least, 26 that I'm aware of us. Two died in Vietnam. There was a group of seven of us guys who were close. Two of us have died within the last five years, and one lost his wife, who was from our class.

As a class, we keep pretty close tabs on each other and have a large email circular that goes around from time to time.

These numbers go against the probabilities, but are true numbers. It seems like lots of people from my small class are gone.

about 20% of my class have croaked and mainly due to diet, booze and drugs. None of them have died in car accidents unless you include two mates that never made it to the end of year 12 (last year in Oz). One bloke who was always called "the Pie" at school ended up dying from eating too many of 'em. Most of the rest had overdoses.

Why mortality stats should hold such fascination is beyond me. I don't know anything about my HS classmates except for the one I consider my best friend (no, not my wife) who lives in a nearby town. The others shared a high school with me and I would hope most are still around to enjoy life but I have no need to know whether that is the case or not. My fixations center on life, not death, and are focused upon a few family members and friends. And the bikes, of course.

To answer the question posed as the title of this thread: I don't know, and I don't care. Didn't much care for many of them back then, and haven't spoken to any (but one) in all the years since. The other two I liked I can never find even on the internet.

+1

The most miserable four years of my life.

One wandered into the library a year or two ago. Came back a few times until it I made it clear we wouldn't be dating in this decade either.

I only know of one person from my high school who died. Unfortunately, he was also my best man and one-time roommate. This is the bicycle that he traded to me in exchange for a load of lumber left over after a relationship of mine went upside down. I've had it for 30 years now and have ridden it further than any other of my bikes.

http://www.pointhappy.com/gcf/AmEagleNishikism.jpg

One of my best HS buddies died at age 21, a victim of his own drunken driving. So sad.

Many others have died in automobile accidents over the years. Some succumbed to cancer, heart disease, and all the other common causes. Suicide was fashionable for awhile as well. Damn.

Don't know the numbers, I've lost touch and have not pursued contact even though I live less than a mile from the school.

I know of a few high school classmates ('67) that have died from accidents and war (Vietnam). However, I have not been in contact with most of my classmates through the years. What I have noticed is that many coworkers and acquaintances have died in their 50s due to preventable conditions. Several have died from heart disease because they played denial and didn't practice what the doctor preached. One coworker died from melanoma because he refused to believe that the growing dark splotch on his back amounted to anything.

Let's take care or ourselves, peeps. Symptoms and conditions do mean something.

While I enjoyed HS and had many friends, I've lost touch with nearly all of them. So I don't know how they are doing. Have checked it with a few over the years. It would be disappointing to learn if some of my "closer" friends have died. Hard to keep track of them when I'm 700 miles away.

When I left the South Bronx I never looked back.

Being 'the older' generation (76 and 73) we have more 'old friends' that are dead than are alive.
Just had another old cyclist friend die this week; saw another one this week and he is now walking with a cane.
Seems we are still doing OK in spite of being great-grandparents . . . are we really that old?!?
Pedal on TWOgether!
RUdy and Kay/zonatandem

38 years since HS for me. One self-inflicted less than a year after graduation. At least three from cancers of one kind or another (one brain, one breast, one unknown by me). Not sure about any of the others out of our class of slightly more than 400. I think the class of '71 pretty much just missed out on the Nam.

Have no interest in my old School and My Forces mates are out of contact.

But 19 years ago- I started cycling. I joined a group of 4 others and they were a bit fitter than me but they quickly got me up to standard. We were all within a year or so of each other so there was a social side to us aswell. I am the only one left. Two of heart problems- one of Cancer of the liver and one died in a car accident.

To answer the question posed as the title of this thread: I don't know, and I don't care. Didn't much care for many of them back then, and haven't spoken to any (but one) in all the years since. The other two I liked I can never find even on the internet.

That's too bad. As are experiences some others had. My three best friends from HS (1969) in Ohio and I still get together. I actually live next to one of them here in NJ. One guy lives in VA, one in DE, and we all get together 1-2x per year. Of the 4 wives, three also graduated from the same small'ish HS, but different years.

We track some of the other graduates, and are aware that several have passed away over the years.

I'm not yet 50, still got a few years to go. Everyone in my class is alive and kicking, as far as I know. There are only 49 people in the class to begin with, and my school is pretty tight. I don't see anyone from there anymore, except by accident in the grocery store when I go back home, but I'm on their email list (they keep hitting me up for money).

One guy in the class above mine was killed by a drunk driver the summer after his freshman year in college. He was walking home from work. That sucked.

I guess in the next decade, and certainly two, these stats will change. I hope I'm not one of them, at least not for a long time.

I keep in touch with a couple of my school mates. After having attended my 25 year class reunion, I really don't care a bit about the others, whether they are dead or alive. Phoniest bunch of braggarts I ever met in my life.

I keep in touch with a couple of my school mates. After having attended my 25 year class reunion, I really don't care a bit about the others, whether they are dead or alive. Phoniest bunch of braggarts I ever met in my life.

My 10th was that way, but my 50th was not. Folks were generally just glad to still be alive and kicking.

I make it a practice not to dwell on the dead.

I make it a practice not to dwell on the dead.

Then you probably should not build a home on a cemetery!

BTW, the social secutiry actuarial tables show that of 100,000 folks born 70 years ago, 71,000 are still alive.

Five out of 102, pass away from the class of 73. One cancer, one drugs, two car accidents and one in the line of duty (fireman).

I came back to add one more thought. When I was in high school and a freshman in college, seven of my peers and classmates died, from things like auto accidents, drowning, being hit by a car while walking along the street, and one from illness. Seven. At that time, I didn't know anyone who was "old" (by high school standards) who had died. Not one relative, not one neighbor, none. Just seven kids my age, in seven unrelated incidents.

Depending on the size of your class it may or may not be statistically out of line.

I only know of one person from my high school who died. Unfortunately, he was also my best man and one-time roommate. This is the bicycle that he traded to me in exchange for a load of lumber left over after a relationship of mine went upside down. I've had it for 30 years now and have ridden it further than any other of my bikes.

http://www.pointhappy.com/gcf/AmEagleNishikism.jpg

What a wonderful story. I'm so glad you have kept the memory of your friend alive.

My 10th HS re-union: folks showed up in rented limos and were full of themselves!
My 20th: folks talked about their divorces and were a bit more down to earth.
My 50th: skipped it to go to a tandem bike rally . . . more fun than any HS re-union!

To answer the question posed as the title of this thread: I don't know, and I don't care. Didn't much care for many of them back then, and haven't spoken to any (but one) in all the years since. The other two I liked I can never find even on the internet.Don't register yourself on Facebook.

To answer the question posed as the title of this thread: I don't know, and I don't care. Didn't much care for many of them back then, and haven't spoken to any (but one) in all the years since. The other two I liked I can never find even on the internet.


+1

The most miserable four years of my life.



Wow...I thought I was one of the few who felt that way...I bumped into a classmate a few years ago who wanted me to join him at a reunion.

"Those were the best years of our lives...I wish we were back there NOW"

How sad, how very sad.

I graduated HS back in 56...

All of the neighborhood young ladies I spent some time with have passed away...
All of the neighborhood guys are still kicking...

Jerry

This requires my sharing.
(and naming names)
I graduated from South Park (Buffalo NY) High School 1961.
71 rolled around and I never heard about a reunion.
81 rolled around...ditto (albeit I was out on the road field service)
91..same thing
01..and I'm at the wake of one of my homeroom classmates.
I catch these gals staring at me and doing the huddle gossip number and finally one of them comes over and asks: Are you Rich McCarthy?!
I confirm that I am and she gasps: We thought you were dead! "Someone said you died over in Nam in 66"
Which answered the question 'why' I never heard from anyone about a reunion. (up till 84 the notice could have gone to my mom who was still living at the same address)
Now..The ask me to join the South Park Reunion thing and I do..Week later I get the membership in the mail along with..a razor knife as a gift!

To the best of my knowledge (South Buffalonians were heavy smokers who lived in the shadows of two huge steel plants)one third of my class was no longer among the living as of 2001.
I gotta figure (especially if the reunion committee kept sending razor knives as gifts..lol)that has expanded in the ensuing 8 years.

You all went to high school? Seriously, isn't it amazing that in a relatively short period of history completion of high school has come to be taken for granted? In terms of the original question, I don't have a clue. Those years were painful, non-productive, and best left behind. I do have one life long friend from third grade. We've ridden several centuries together, drank more wine than was reasonable, and played more golf courses than I can count. He's still kicking, but is lovely wife died from cancer just this year. That death has changed him in ways I would never have thought possible. Perhaps the grief and sadness will pass, but right now it is very hard to be with him and watch him going through this stretch of life.

I never went to a class reunion ('68), but I always got the little books telling who was doing what where, so that was fun. In the front of said books there was always a list of who had died, not that I knew more than one or two of them (class had 600+ students).

Viet Nam and car accidents were the big killers as I remember.

Rick / OCRR

Some interesting responses -- I know folks who are *very* in touch with their HS friends, and then others (like many who responded above) who want nothing to do with their HS friends.

I've been thinking about what it will be like for our kids -- who, thanks to Facebook, email, LinkedIn or whatever comes next, will *always* be able to keep an address book of anyone they've ever known, the rest of their lives. Both of my teenagers have practically their entire high school on their FaceBook pages -- imagine what it will be like knowing what (at least some) of your HS class is up for the rest of their lives?



This week, Time Magazine published an article called "Why Facebook is for Old Fogies." Interesting list of reasons why 50+'ers are taking to FaceBook.

Reason Number 2:


". We're no longer bitter about high school. You're probably still hung up on any number of petty slights, but when that person who used to call us that thing we're not going to mention here, because it really stuck, asks us to be friends on Facebook, we happily friend that person. Because we're all grown up now. We're bigger than that. Or some of us are, anyway. We're in therapy, and it's going really well. These are just broad generalizations. Next reason. "

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1879169,00.html

Growing up outside of Philly in the 70's my high school years were as toxic as they
were horrifying. People died from tragic situations at an insane rate. Years/eras later,
I went to one of the largest AA groups in that area. That was my high school reunion :lol:
The few that were left were all there :beer:

How many are still alive? Don't have a clue. I graduated in 1962 from Olympia High School in Olympia, Washington. Moved away from there a few months later and haven't been back since.

Darn!

I'm out of sync.

I LOVED high school - had a great time, was involved in all sorts of interesting things, had great friends.

Maybe it was the 50's? - 54-57, before Vietnam and all of that??

No (well, just a little) drugs, little alcohol, teen pregnancy was a rare occasion.

We mostly had a lot of fun.

The High School years were a mixed bag. I hated the school and many of the people there though I had my share of freinds, male and female. On the other hand it was a blessing to get out of the house.

One close freind and neighbor drowned the week before graduation, another hung himself after his drunk driving killed his fiance on their wedding rehearsal night and yet another got shot and killed by his stoned brother the year after graduation. Two got killed on-the-job by the kids they were trying to help in the inner-city. There are many other tragic stories from our class of 350 kids, probably many more than I'm aware of as I've lost track of the remaining freinds I had (courtesy of my being a drunk for 15 years or so).

I've never gone to a reunion and don't think there is a 40th planned for this year. Funny thing though, I transferred to my current position within the company eight years ago and found myself working with two of my classmates from the class of '69. I still don't socialize with them, they think riding a bike to work is stupid.