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Livorno
American
High
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Over the years the U.S. military presence at the base declined to the point that in 2005 the Camp Darby High School enrollment was down to only about 25 students, and because of that declining enrollment with no possibility of a U.S. military resurgence the school finally closed for good at the end of the 2006-07 school year.
LAHS All-School Reunion planned for Lake Tahoe around the end of July or August, 2010
Chris Rockey '78 will be the primary organizer for the 2010 All-Class Reunion at Lake Tahoe, NV. For more details as they develop check out the LAHS All-Class Facebook pages:
Livorno American High School
2010 All-Class Reunion, Lake Tahoe
LAHS Classes 1955-1965 'Gray Haired Teenager' Reunion held in Portland Oregon, October 2-4, 2009
The reunion was organized by John Sager and held at the Hotel Fifty is in Downtown Portland near the Willamette River with about 55 in attendance. As is its habit, the Portland weather was a little gray at times, but who noticed. A wonderful time was had by all.
For more information, check the Gray Haired Teenagers reunion page.LAHS All-School Reunion Held in Italy June 8-9, 2007
Our favorite little High School has finally closed for good, but a bunch of us (about 70 total) traveled to Camp Darby to attend the final graduation ceremony on June 8 and celebrate in Grand Style the more than 50 years of excellent education that the school has offered.
We all arrived at our own pace, some early in the week and some later, some staying on post. and some in Tirrenia. The Darby/Tirrenia mix was about 50/50.
Our
While one group was touring the Depot, the other group toured the High School, courtesy of Principal Cathy Magni. Our able tour guides were three students who were proud to show off their school, much different now from when my classmates and I were there in the early 60's. Computers? A video studio???? Wow. Then at about 1:45PM the groups swapped tours.
As in years past, this final LAHS/LUS Graduation was held at 4PM at the historic La Basilica di San Piero a Grado outside the East Gate. The church does not charge LUS for use of the basilica, and the hat was passed Saturday at Dinner and was raised as a donation to the church to express our appreciation for the use of the facility over the years. Sadly but interestingly, the local Carabinieri had a strong presence outside the Basilica to protect against any local protests during the graduation. None happened.
After the graduation we retired to the Community club for a reception with light snacks for all Alumni, Students, Faculty, Staff, and Parents. There was a great turnout, and afterwards many headed for their favorite pizzeria or restaurant in Tirrenia to continue the networking.
Saturday morning was sleeping in and beach time, and we discovered that the American Beach was....well, different. Lots of security, and you now have to pay for parking. The beach is covered with umbrellas that you must rent to sit -- no personal chairs allowed. Hummmmmmm This is progress??? But the sand was the same and the water was the same. Perfect.
Movie time at the Community Club began at 4PM, featuring some great aerial videos of Italy's scenic attractions, followed by a "Growing up Brat" video. Then at 6PM we turned off the TV and wandered over to the bar for some libations in preparation for the traditional alumni dinner. TheReunion Alumni Dinner at the Community Club featured a wonderful Italian buffet, door prizes, presentations, and other festivities. The highlight of the evening was Chris Rockey's (LAHS '78) PowerPoint memories slide show. Wow! See Chris' slide show at http://rcrc4x4.com/lahs/ You will need to download the files, and they are big, and then put them in the same directory and run PowerPoint. Or there is an Adobe version that should work fine, but no music. Thanks Chris!
As they say, all good things do end, and after the dinner we parted to go our own ways at our own paces, but happy that we had properly said good-by to our dear school and to Camp Darby.
LAHS
Closing Is Postponed One Year to June 2007!
On December
12, 2005, the Livorno
School Principal Cathy Magni let us know that DoDDS has reversed its
decision to close the Livorno School at Camp Darby and now the school
is planned to stay open at least through the
2006-2007 school year. The problem
of low attendance is not solved, so ultimately the school will probably
be closed, but we can always hope. Currently the plan is for students
grades 8-12 to attend either London Central or the International School
of Florence beginning in September of 2007.
Many of the
Livorno Students will attend the Florence
International School
LAHS CLOSING
See Where We Alumni Have Landed
Check out the Google Alumni Map to see where your classmates are living now. You can register and place your own pin in the map, add a photo, and leave a comment for all to read. You can easily see who lives near you.
I recommend the name format, " 62 Harry Heflin " (No apostrophe - for example don't use " '62 Harry Heflin " ) so the list will show classes together and you can easily see where just your classmates are located. High resolution pictures are OK. Remember, Frappr is still in Beta, so there may be bugs and inconveniences in use, but it looks pretty good overall and will just get better.
Livorno
American
High School 2005
Alumni REUNION IN LYNDHURST, NJ
But many, many thanks to Butch Ray ('61) who arranged a reunion location at the Courtyard by Marriott in Lyndhurst, New Jersey for the Gray Haired Teenagers '55-'65 reunion group, but then graciously opened it up to all years so no one would be left out of the LAHS Reunion this year because of the natural disaster on the Gulf Coast. And thanks also to Kathy, Richard ('61) Callihan's daughter, who manages the Marriott facility and gave us every hospitality and convenience imaginable during our stay there. And Oh, Wow, that Saturday night dinner at Claudette's wonderful little Italian restaurant!!!
Photos and Narrative From the 2005 GHT Reunion
Photos From The LAHS 2004 Reunion in Italia
LAHS Alumni Association Contributors
Data Base and Webmaster: Harry Heflin
'62 LAHSItaly @ earthlink.net
(626) 359-2203
Searchmaster: Sue Harris
Wright '61 Sue @ dubwright.com
Delete spaces before & after the @ to
create a valid
email
address.
This "smurging" is
done
to confound the web crawlers that harvest email addresses from web
pages
for SPAM and Phishing and Pharming attacks.
Military brats share a special enduring bond born of our common unique heritage (see the Wertsch excerpts), and we try to meet each year somewhere in the world to catch up with news in each others' lives and renew our friendships.
LAHS Site Contents
List of Past and Future Reunions
Send Us Your Info
Would you like to be listed in the LAHS Alumni Directory? Let us know your full name and your spouse or SO's name, your mailing address, your phone numbers, your graduation year, email address, and the years you were at Darby.
Email leads and info to LAHSItaly @ earthlink.net
LAHS LinksDon't see anything about your years and their reunions? Plan a reunion for your classmates and let us know.
Livorno
Unit
School
Official Website
(Be sure to read the student handbook - takes you back...)
The Gray-Haired Teenagers '55-65 Website
Dan Hallock's (LAHS '77) Website on his trips to Darby
The Outlook Community Newsletter for Livorno & Vicenza
AFN Europe's Livorno/Darby Website
Some Related Links