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Marion B Bastle

Oh Geeze Robert!  Lets get back to basics and  stop worrying about everyone being offended by everything . Thats whats wrong with the world nowadays, Why not honor our past and enjoy an en Indian dance??? 

Robert Cole

Michelle Milkovic (Weiner)

Moot point.

It will not be permitted by CPS or the school adminstration.

Per C Pearson

Without a doubt it is a different time with different social restrictions than our years. As Bob and Michelle said, the school/CPS does not wish to be connected to Indians. It would have been cool without the cancel culture era mentality. I was relieved that the higher ups did not yank the bronze Indian statue from the Memorial garden. It must mean something to others. There is always a line to get your picture taken with it anytime the garden is visited by groups. I like it, just my opinion.    

As far as being easily offended, I had a young unqualified individual on his own merit decide to cycle a machine and severely damaged a $250,000 tool. When I blew my top he looked at me blankly and said, “You can’t yell at me”.  

If I had done it I would be sick to my stomach with remorse.

Frank Powers

I can vividly remenber, painstakingly carving the Indian Head in woodshop.  It hangs in my home office and often reminds me of good times at Lane. 

Similarly, the Indian Chief bookends we made in Foundry hold up some of my faorite books.  Memories of the foundry teacher, and pouring the hot metal into the sand molds, etc. (Mr. Dix if I remeber correctly, most of us were kind of afraid of him, in a good way)

I've always thought of of the Indians mascot designation as purely an Honoring gesture to Native Americans and Chiefs in particular.  Through the years I've always been proud of it.

My grandkids think my class ring (which I wear everyday) is pretty cool.  Me too.  

Edward Mc Carthy

Thanks Frank..... you hit a heartstring with me....a nice flashback

Hello everyone from the great white north; Alaska. Well, not so white, the snow has melted except there is plenty high up in elevations and of course on the glaciers.  No shortage of native and  indigenous folks up here. 

Agreed, Mr. Dix was an incredible man.   And yes, one could easily be intimidated by his size, stature and look....that look he would give when he felt you were acting up!  Can't forget that rough and gruff deep voice.  And his hands were ginormous.   His son also taught at Lane.  I took two years of foundry, four semesters with Dix because he was such a powerful teacher and demonstrated charactor traits we all would be proud to have.   And I worked at a forge and foundry shop junior year summer because I enjoyed foundry and metalurgy so much.  It partly influenced my decision to major in engineering at U of I.   I also respected Dix for his service to our country as a Marine.  Same for woodshop teachers Lindley and Kovacs, both Marines 

I have so many poured indian bookends, bells, chief profile heads and even a 3D stautue of a native warrior..  Not so easy to cast.  All of these in copper, bronze, brass and aluminum.  Even have some lead castings he allowed the advanced foundry group to cast.  And they are diplayed in my home office along with Chief Illiniwek memorabilia.  Yes, my wife and I are both U of I Champaign alums.  Our oldest daughter graduated from Florida State University....so proud past Chief Osceola of the Seminoles and his steed Renegade are also prominant in the house.  And the coup de gras.....my lake home is on the Menominee Nation Reservation, NE Wisconsin.   And I would be remiss if I did not mention my wifes maternal grandfather was an elder in the Potowatamie Nation.   

Oh, almost forgot, you may recall, the class of 76,  we honored Fred Dix at our graduation with a special award recognizing his decades of service to Lane.

Have a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend everyone.  Take a moment to remember why it is special and who we honor on that day.  .    

Michelle Milkovic (Weiner)

Hey Cole and all the rest of you gearheads...

Now here's an Indy race I can wrap my head around!

xoxoxomichellewieneroopsweiner

Robert Cole

I livestreamed the Wienermobile 500 Friday afternoon from work and everyone wondered why I was laughing so loudly! It was hilarious and I shouldn't repeat here most of the "wiener" jokes they kept making!

Peter Ingraffia

Although it's over a year away, excitement for our 50th Reunion is growing. An enthusiastic group of classmates have been working together to ensure our reunion will be a memorable event. 

Before we begin to delve into details in the coming weeks, it's important that classmates understand that we will be using our existing Class Creator platform (i.e. our Lane Tech Class of 1976 Bicentennial web site), and the LTAA communication network to plan and promote the official event just like we did in 2016, and that the event will respond to the preferences you expressed in your survey answers, focusing on celebration and camaraderie. 

We are using our Class of 76 Bicentennial website and the LTAA, so everyone can rest assured your private information will not be used for solicitations and will be safeguarded just as it has been for the last nine years. Your information will not be shared except for what is available in the public domain, and you have control over that information. (In Class Creator, you can check your preferences on your profile page under "profile visibility".)

Keep an eye on our web page and the LTAA digital bulletins for updates on our reunion, and if you keep in contact with classmates who may not be on our Bicentennial site, please let them know we'd love to include them if they would like to be included. 

This is a milestone celebration. Let's appreciate the community we've built, grow it, and have fun in 2026!

Michelle Milkovic (Weiner)

Today it was announced that 23 Lane students earned a perfect score of 36 on their ACT. I won't share my sad result, but did anyone from our class score a 36? Maybe some of these smarty-pants classmates????

Raise your hand if you had a perfect score 50 years ago!

Grace Tanaka (Danziger)

Robert Cole

Hey Bicentennials... looking forward to a great party in 2026!

Let's all take a good look at the list of "lost graduates" on Classcreator and find as many of them as we can!
I notice that I can't add someone else to Classcreator. All I can do is send them an email asking them to add themseves. Good for individual privacy. But it's easy to say "Sure, I'm interested!" then never get around to adding yourself to Classcreator. Hey... we're all busy folks.

So, as we find the "lost alumni", be sure to push them to add themselves to Classcreator. That's going to be our source of getting information out. So, everyone needs to be there if they're interested.

I loved the pictures from the 30th reunion to the 40th reunion. The class may have gotten a little smaller... but we definitely got better lookin'!!!

Robert Cole

That list of top GPA's is embarassing! I used to think I was smart. Not compared to THAT list!

And all this time I've spent telling my kids how smart and cool I was in high school. 
Shhhhh..... don't tell them the truth!

Anthony Buttitta

Hello Grace,
It's good to hear from you.  I don't know if you remember me.  The high score for the ACT is 36.  I know because I was a tutor for some years for ACT test prep.  I had several students who scored 36.

Tony Buttitta

Gregory Calvimontes

Michelle Milkovic (Weiner)

The school doesn't hold on to records from 50 years ago. You have to contact the "Old Records Dept" at CPS and we're still waiting for a request we made back in 2021 for the Women's 50th Anniversary. So...

Grace Tanaka (Danziger)

Hi Tony Buttita, yes I remember you! Thanks for confirming that it was always a high score of 36. Also thanks to Ed McCarthy who emailed the same info to me. I sure wish I could remember what I scored. Oh well! I guess better to not know than to be disappointed in how I did, ha ha.

Michelle Milkovic (Weiner)

I was digging around the LTAA Archives for something today and came across this gem from Homecoming 1974! Photo credit goes to Kevin O Mooney... of course.

Grace Tanaka (Danziger)

Great photo, Michelle! OK, am I blind or something? Photos of the 30th and 40th reunions were mentioned - where are they posted? I see the gallery of 60th Bicentennial Birthday photos mostly posted by Per. But I can't find where the reunion photos are.

Robert Cole

Grace,

I saw the reunion photos on our reunion announcement post. There were the two group shots... one from 30th and one from 40th.

Lett's get LOTS of people out to the 50th so it doesn't look like the group keeps getting smaller and smaller!

Donna M. (Aka "Ria") Majeske

Please don't post or look for photo of the girls swim team, though I have fond memories of Coach Pretzel! Workouts must have been post 10th period b/c I was in band / orchestra 9th & 10th. We had no locker room so had to change in a first floor girls restroom and then walk down the hall in swimsuits. I still cringe at the memory. 

Ken Ortiz

Hello all,

I saw the discussion about the ACT test and I thought I still had a copy of mine. I did not get a perfect 36, but my scores in math and science were good. So, while I was looking through some old stuff to see if I could find it, I saw a sheet of another thing I did while I was at Lane. It was in my junior year (1975) and it was called the USMC-YPFP (U.S.Marine Corps - Youth Physical Fitness Program - gotta love those acronyms) and here is my scoring chart for it. Anyone else remember this and have theirs?

Also, I am looking forward to our 50th reunion in 2026. Do you remember what made our 40th reunion so cool? Most of us had our beddian birthdays and the Cubs won the World Series. So, I will go out on a limb here and even though we won't have any beddian birthdays in 2026, I will predict that the Cubs will win the World Series in 2026! They are doing well this year so maybe the odds are good for that to happen. Wouldn't that make for a fantastic 50th year reunion?

Peter Ingraffia

Earlier today, a message was posted on this site that violates our promise to maintain privacy for all classmate’s  information in which they have not agreed to be made public. That post has since been removed. The admins of this site will continue to monitor and take appropriate steps to maintain our classmate’s privacy, whether  enrolled on this site, or not. 

Georgette Mihalko (Rath)

Peter, Thank you so much. Our personal data is private. In this day and age, it's hard enough to maintain control over one's personal data. Thanks again, Georgette

Gregory Calvimontes