It wasn�t enough for the members of the Clarence Class of 1973 to merely attend their 30th reunion in August.  They had to undergo the third degree as well.

Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire.  In one of the last acts by the outgoing reunion chairman, Julie Porter threw the pile of responses at me and said something to the effect of, �See what you can do with this.�

OK, boss.

I�ll assume, for the sake of argument, that we can skip the questions about children, spouses, occupation, etc.  It�s the last two questions that prompted the most interesting responses.  So, let�s start with �What is the most dangerous or daring thing you have ever done?�  We had a few �raising my children� or �getting married,� which certainly qualifies.  However, I�m happy to report that we have some serious thrill-seekers in the group:

• Cathy (Lofgren) Goodykoontz - �Marching in the 2003 Clarence Memorial Day Parade with the Class of �73.� (The threat of hurled tomatoes was ever-present, apparently.)
• Coni Gilmour � �Bicycled across the USA in 1973.�
• Jeff Chudy � �Entered a body-building contest.�
• Don Smith � �Drove 123 mph down County Road (when it was smooth).� (Let�s hope he keeps it to double digits now.)
• Greg Weston � �Parachuting.�
• Fred Barron � �Rode to California on a �64 Honda.�
• Cheryl (Suess) Hallman � �Whitewater rafting on the Colorado River.�
• Steve Deal � �The Outward Bound rope walk.�
• Marsha (Metz) Jacobs � �Got my nose pierced!�
• Michelle (Mangano) Hosier � �Going cross-country in a van and pop-up trailer with my family.�
• Kevin Waldorf � �Hanging out with Tim Oviatte.�
• Barbara Werdein � �Learned to ride a motorcycle.�
• Sally (Murto) McCloe � �Went along with my husband and we had our own construction company for seven years. Tough to do for a non-risk taker.�
• Craig Tierney � �Skydiving.� (Joanne Bosard Dziak too)
• Janis (Hofner) Cashmore � �Parasailing over the Caribbean.�
• Kathy (Ernst) Hirschler � �Survived being kidnapped at gunpoint.�
• Julie (Kreher) Porter � �Going on vacation to Yellowstone Park with Budd and Jody Bailey.� (I didn�t know my driving was that poor.)
• Budd Bailey � �Trying to retrieve Tim Porter�s sunglasses at Yellowstone.� (You see, they fell into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and it was a rather long drop to get them�)

The other question was, �What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?�  We probably should have said something about excluding family here, since that dominated the list.  (Special mention goes to Robin Hammer, for having seven kids.)  But we had some other answers:

• Coni Gilmour � �Still working on it.�
• Jeff Chudy � �Owning my own business for 25 years.�
• Scott Roth � �Knowing my parents.�
• Fred Barron � �Living this long.� (Also Barbara Werdein, Craig Tierney and Kim Merrihew)
• Cheryl (Suess) Hallman � �Going back to school after 40 for a masters� degree.�
• Marsha (Metz) Jacobs � �I don�t think that has happened yet.�
• Julie (Kreher) Porter � �Went back to college at 44 years old! And graduated.�
• Jeff Deal � �Refraining from maiming my children.� (He added a smile afterwards.)
• Steve Kick � �Putting my faith and trust in Jesus Christ as my savior.�
• Budd Bailey � �My conversation-starters in this area are that I was on �Jeopardy� and wrote a book on the Sabres. But I�d like to think I�m still waiting for it.�
• Kathy (Ernst) Hirschler � �Finally getting invited to a reunion.� (Gee, Kathy, we�re touched � and happy you could make it.�