Diane Paulson

In early May of 2015 I had a dream in which Mike was showing me some manuscripts made of parchment and some writing on them with a quill pen... there were a lot of them and in the dream he was saying they were very important.  Then later I found on this site he had died later that month. I didn't really know him but do remember him  especially from Sylvester where he sat in front of me in Algebra until I got demoted as I could not do the classwork. He was also in the orchestra there and I tried to play the violin. I think he caught on to my faking it. I remember him giving me a look when I was trying to pretend to follow the conductor, moving my bow but not making a sound.

Frances was in my sixth grade class at Gregory Heights elementary taught by Mr. Kunkel. We had met in Bluebirds earlier. She enlisted me to help her with a boy/girl party at her house. I don't remember much about it except my mother gave me to wear, a cast-off dress of hers that was yellow and made of some prickly material, and was not too clean. The party I don't remember much of except that Jim Dhoore was the only boy brave enough to dance with me. I remember Frances had asthma but that didn't stop her from almost running from school to her house and she'd tell me stories about Robert the Bruce and his friendship with a spider. 

Pam and I would sit in the back of Warren Van Zee's class in 5th grade at Gregory Heights Elementary and ignore Van Zee while reading a copy of the biography of James Dean Pam had gotten from  her older brother. Van Zee already had started calling me the Displaced Person but this behavior consolidated his hatred. I will always be grateful to Pam for giving me the support to defy him.

I remember Don Weeks from 5th or 6th grade at Gregory Heights Elementary. He and a friend would be sitting at the side or back of the room doing complicated math or physics equations. I think they even had their own blackboard over there. I don't remember him from Highline really. 

But my Mother had saved my copy of the Pirate's Log Yearbook and when she needed to go into assisted living a couple years ago I went through her stored things and found it. I was amazed to find a note from Frances Weeks, '66, who I am afraid I don't remember either from  Highline, mentioning us being in Home Ec together and adding that 'you're the only girl my brother ever complimented even behind her back'... 

I can only say I wish I had known Don well enough to get some help with Math which I never did understand, Even though both of my parents were Math majors.

Posted on: Jan 01, 2022 at 9:24 PM

BJ was in my Bluebird troupe and went to Gregory Heights elementary and Sylvester, (I think) and of course Highline at the same time I did. I didn't see her at all at Highline but remember her inviting me to her house when we were both about 12 and she and I and Sally Raichle rode our bikes all around her house and up and down that road that went to Seahurst.

I am writing this because of a Dream I had about her in April of 2011. I can't find the entry with the exact description of the dream but it was of her in a sunny outdoor place, in a garden or lawn with trees and plants around. It seemed odd to me to dream about her since we were no longer friends, and had had no contact for about half a century.

Anyway so I looked up the Highline site here and found out she died that summer, in July.

Here's Alice with cheshire cat (Alex DuMauriee', formerly Bobbi Butz) I came across this photo recently looking through some of my Mom's photo albums. It struck me how even I seem to be enjoying the dance. Usually I felt very grim.

I first knew Pat in French class at Sylvester and we would sometimes compare homework. We admired the teacher who always wore attractive scarves. Through high school Pat was always a friend to me.

Thanks for posting the 3rd grade photo from Gregory Heights. I am number 23. Linda Alderson, Tommy Gustafson and Melissa Geffel were also in that class but I see they didn't get into the photo

 I didn't know her, didn't have classes with her. We only had one conversation and I didn't say much. I was eating my lunch in that little room off the main lunchroom that had benches all around. I was terrified alone in that room of chattering classmates. The only empty seat was next to me. That seat was wired with explosives. Donna came in and sat there. She was the bravest person on earth. She introduced herself and told me about her Native American background,how that was important to her. She talked to me like I was a regular person. I didn't say anything, was stunned, amazed.

I 'friended' her on Facebook a couple of years ago, when I started using it to keep up with lit journals and genealogical sites. Turns out she was a writer too and we seemed to agree on political ideas.

I didn't know him at all,  but he seemed like a guy who wouldn't make fun of someone just because they were different, or an outsider.