Blog by Candy

The book contains photos and inscriptions from ’67 and ’68 Bloomington HS yearbooks.  At first glance, Greg’s classmates look just like mine.  We shared the same music (THAT music!), clothing, hairstyles, first stirrings of hippiedom (from afar), racial unrest, the war in Vietnam...Quite the coming of age for the first round of baby boomers.

Even in my small island town of Fernandina Beach, Florida, I had a fantastic young teacher who broke the moldy mold.  Mrs. Phanstiel came to our 50th HS reunion in 2016.  She was the rock star of the gathering--a cherished influence on all of our lives.  Now we can call her Carolyn as I’m sure she always wanted--but “Mrs. Phanstiel” remains in our collective memories for now and forever.

Read about her at MY COMMIE TEACHER 1966

English teacher, “Mr.(Chuck) Walls” will not be at Greg’s Class of ’68 50th reunion next year, but our interviews show that he played an unforgettable role in the lives and psyche of his former students. 

This is the story of what went wrong culminating in A Tragedy in the Summer of ’68.