Thoughts on Those Who Have Passed

Denny Grobsmith, 01/19/2017

by Tom Barnes

by Sue Mascette Brandt

I had the pleasure of talking to Denny alone for about an hour in late Dec.. As everyone knows it was sometimes hard to get him to sit still for long. He was always on the move. We talked of our service days together and all of our old friends. He talked of doing some hunting on our land and getting together more this spring. I'll treasure that special time I had with my first " East Solvay" friend that I hung out with 68 years ago . Tom Barnes

Folks might get a kick out of why Denny had to stop moving for awhile. It seem Denny had 3 boats. Number one boat [small] is still stored in my old barn lot. [that's another story] Number two boat [medium] was docked below us on Otisco Lake at the Jody Honis camp. Denny and Fritz [Kulak] would fish on the lake. Well, as things sometimes go, the boat broke away from the dock and was missing for quite some time. My son Tommy read a local story on facebook of a boat found on shore at the lake. Denny and Fritz came out to see if they could spot it from my highest deck. Not satisfied , Fritz decided to walk down to the shore on the ice covered road and look some more. That was my chance to talk to my old friend of many years that I shall cherish for the rest of my days. We covered a lot of topics . Well, Fritz came back over an hour later with no more info. I suggested they call the police, and they found the boat, and That was the last time I saw Denny. As anyone who knows Denny and Fritz, that was somewhat of a normal thing for them. The many fishing stories that we had over the years would fill a good size book. Just in case anyone wonders about boat number three [large] the last I knew it was on Onondaga lake at the Marina. Goodby, my good friend!!!! Tom Barnes

Bob Teets 05/23/2016

I got an email from Bob about 15 years ago. He had found me through Google. He was living and working in Russia, and was very committed to the public interest legal work he was doing relating to environmental matters and alleviating worldwide hunger. I tried to get him to come to the next Reunion, but he said that he rarely got back to the States. He was indeed brilliant. He did the flip from physics to law, not an easy transition. He got into Hastings Law School (Berkeley), and later was hired by them for their faculty, a real accomplishment followed by an even bigger one. It looks like he did a lot for the world, out of conviction and generosity. One of our own. And imagine -- people look down their noses at Solvay High School.