The Proviso West Class of 1973 reunion organizing committee is pleased to announce that tickets for our 50th reunion celebration are now on sale! All attendees must be preregistered due to space constraints. No tickets will be available at the door.
We have less than 140 days to go to our 50th reunion and the countdown continues!
The committee planning the events are looking forward to seeing everyone and we hope you will join us for the fun.
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According to the Internet it is about 160 days until our weekend of celebration!
We have broken through 200 classmates registered for more information. We are getting pretty close to that 25% goal. Woo Hoo!!!
A subset of the working committee met out at Reserve22 in early April, discussed numerous aspects of the event with our contact there, tasted a number of different appetizers, and are getting pretty close to having most of the details ironed out. We are waiting for final confirmation from Reserve22 on food pricing and hope to be ready to price and sell tickets on or about July 1st, maybe a little earlier.
We continue to seek sponsors and contributions and have raised about $1,000 so far to defray the cost of ticket prices. We have about 8 weeks to wrap up this activity and you can participate two different ways. We know we sound like a broken record but if you compare us to the class of 1972, we aren’t even in the same league when it comes to fund raising and as we have shared before, anything we don’t use to subsidize the event will be contributed to the Holiday Classic Tournament.
There is a dedicated section in the Panther Pawprints for you to share memorials, remembrances, thank specific individuals, or what ever you would like. Please visit: https://pw7350.com/donations-tributes/ to contribute. It’s easy, fast and for a good cause.
We are also seeking sponsors for the event from the community. For more information visit: https://pw7350.com/so-you-want-to-be-a-sponsor-great-heres-how/
We are still looking for your “treasures” to be included in our Pather Pawprints memory book. Guy is seeking any memorabilia you can find and are willing to share. Feel free to contact him at pwyearbook@pw7350.com.
Pat Duprey has taken on the challenging task of finding our Fallen Panthers. If you have a contribution, please go to Online Community at our website and share (note you must be registered to use).
We also encourage you to book your room when you are ready. The hotel is about a mile from the event venue and as we have said before, the price is very attractive compared to similar class hotels in the area and once we reach enough room nights they will provide a shuttle. Visit https://pw7350.com/book-your-room-now/ for instructions on how to book your room.
Thanks for your patience as we sort out all the details and get things finalized.
According to the Internet, it is about 160 days until our weekend of celebration!
We have broken through 200 classmates registered for more information. We are getting pretty close to that 25% goal. Woo Hoo!!!
A subset of the working committee met out at Reserve22 in early April, discussed numerous aspects of the event with our contact there, and tasted a number of different appetizers, and we are getting pretty close to having most of the details ironed out. We are waiting for final confirmation from Reserve22 on food pricing and hope to be ready to price and sell tickets on or about July 1st, maybe a little earlier.
We continue to seek sponsors and contributions and have raised about $1,000 so far to defray the cost of ticket prices. We have about 8 weeks to wrap up this activity and you can participate two different ways. We know we sound like a broken record but if you compare us to the class of 1972, we aren’t even in the same league when it comes to fund raising and as we have shared before, anything we don’t use to subsidize the event will be contributed to the Holiday Classic Tournament.
There is a dedicated section in the Panther Pawprints for you to share memorials, remembrances, thank specific individuals, or what ever you would like. Please visit: https://pw7350.com/donations-tributes/ to contribute. It’s easy, fast and for a good cause.
We are also seeking sponsors for the event from the community. For more information visit: https://pw7350.com/so-you-want-to-be-a-sponsor-great-heres-how/
We are still looking for your “treasures” to be included in our Pather Pawprints memory book. Guy is seeking any memorabilia you can find and are willing to share. Feel free to contact him at pwyearbook@pw7350.com.
Pat Duprey has taken on the challenging task of finding our Fallen Panthers. If you have a contribution, please go to Online Community at our website and share (note you must be registered to use).
We also encourage you to book your room when you are ready. The hotel is about a mile from the event venue and as we have said before, the price is very attractive compared to similar class hotels in the area and once we reach enough room nights they will provide a shuttle. Visit https://pw7350.com/book-your-room-now/ for instructions on how to book your room.
Thanks for your patience as we sort out all the details and get things finalized.
So we’ve arranged for a block of rooms at the Crowne Plaza – Glen Ellyn for $119 for the night of 9/29/2023 and/or 9/30/2023. When we get to 10 bookings, they’re throwing in a free shuttle from the hotel to the reunion… So let’s get this done!
Ok. To start you’ll need a link to get to the right page to get this discount. Here’s that link:
Proviso Class of 1973 <— CLICK THIS LINK
Once you get to the hotel page, you’re going to want to select the correct dates:
CHECK IN: 9/30/2023 — CHECK OUT: 10/01/2023
You can also select the number of people you want in your room here.
Click on the BOOK NOW button on this page. You’ll go to the page where you select the type of room you want. Make your choice (hey, they allow pets!). Here’s what that screen will look like:
The next screen you will go to will summarize the charges, collect your personal information for billing, and take your credit card information. You can cancel anytime until 6 PM the night of the reunion.
That’s it! Easy-peasy, right? Here’s that last screen:
Woo-hoo, you did it! Mrs. Peller would be so proud! Okay, I’ll see you in the bar…
In case you forgot to click it earlier, here’s another button to let you go to the website and book your room. See you in September:
Well, that was the fastest Christmas ever! Between end of year parties, getting together with friends, and traveling to visit and be with family, Decembers always seem to fly by. And now we find ourselves in 2023. How did that happen?
Remember the song 1984 by David Bowie? This one.
I remember that it seemed when it came out in 1974 it seemed like a year so far into the future. 1984 was 48 years ago.
Or how about when Prince urged us to party like it was the end of the world, like 1999?
That came out in 1982. Over 40 years ago. Prince has been gone for almost 7 years.
How about when the world held its breath as we moved into Y2K?
The only thing I remember failing were some ancient digital clocks. That was 23 years ago!
Or how about Michael J. Fox in the 1985 movie “Back To The Future”? The “future” they travel to is 2015, complete with hover skateboards.
That was eight years ago.
How about something further into the future? The original “Blade Runner” movie is set in the far distant future of 2019. Almost everything in it felt alien when it came out in 1982.
Today, it still seems like a distant future, mostly.
So who knows what 2023 will be like? Adam Sandler, apparently – at least he imagined it in 2006 in the movie “Click”…
I admit I’m not a huge Adam Sandler fan, but I have to say, I’m hoping the 2023 we actually get is a lot more fun than this movie…
If you haven’t already, please signup on the Proviso West Class of 1973 50th Reunion website so you can learn more about the various activities being planned between now and our main reunion date of September 30, 2023.
It’s all on the website — https://pw7350.com
Stay safe, be well — see you soon!
PW Class of 73 Reunion Committee
A great article from David McGrath of the Chicago Tribune…
After reading the invitation to my Evergreen Park High School reunion, I forwarded it to my wife for laughs, just before deleting it. The prospect of attending a gathering of senior citizens whose faces evoke only unpleasant flashbacks from the 1960s seemed like torture to me.
David McGrath – “What changed my mind about going to school reunions”; Chicago Tribune
Read more here: https://digitaledition.chicagotribune.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=e212daa6-4051-411a-bbfb-0f6f1e561687
If you look at our Class of 73 classmate Kevin Summers’ social media posts, you’d think he was the last guy to sing the blues. Adorable grandkids, beautiful wife, great kids, out fishing in his favorite spot at every chance, living the dream. But it turns out he is a bluesman – legit! He’s played with some of the hottest blues bands and icons in the Chicago area for years. And he loves every minute.
Kevin is currently playing with The Plant Band, they just performed at Naperville’s Ribfest, and their back out on tour this summer. I’ll let Kevin tell you how this all came about:
I joined the band 10 years ago. We started as a 5 piece and added 3 horns. We play rocking soul Music 
from our early youth, Van Morrison Chicago BST and a scattering of everything. I am NOW a Full Time Musician…All I had to do was quit my job. Great guys to play with at this late stage of my sojourn.
Catch Kevin and the rest of these great guys this summer here –
Do you know a story about one of our classmates we should all hear about? Do YOU have a story to tell? Contact Steve Gibson at info@pw7350.com and let’s share it!
Have you registered yet?
For a class of more than a thousand, the Class of 73 is a little sparse on famous people. So far, I’ve found no rock stars, no famous artists, no Pulitzer winners. In fact, it wasn’t until today that I found out we had probably one of the most famous people to ever graduate from Proviso West. And this famous person has been right in front of our eyes all along. That person is Jim Novak, creator of everyone’s favorite eggman – “Freddy”. Freddy was a hit in 1973 when graced the pages of the Mural, and he’s a hit today, where I reenlisted him as our 50th Reunion icon.
Right about now you’re saying, Jim Novak? Famous? I hadn’t heard a peep out of him since graduation. Personally, I remember Jim being the go-to guy for signs and lettering on your car in high school. How do you get famous doing that?
Well, if you’re thinking that, you are not a comic book reader. And definitely not a Marvel comic book fan. Because it turns out Jim, almost straight out of high school, took his drawing pens and headed off to work at Marvel comics in 1975. His fellow workers call him the “perfect letterer,” and in the world of comic book artists, that’s a very lofty compliment. Jim wasn’t just one of the letterers at Marvel, he was THE letterer. His work appears in over 1,000 Marvel comic books!
Jim’s claim to fame is even greater than that. Within 2 years of arriving at Marvel, Jim was asked to take a look at the logo for the new Star Wars movie, in 1977. They were going to do a comic book version of the movie and Stan Lee didn’t like the look the studio was using. Jim fiddled with it a little and came up with a new version. It turns out, the new version was so good, it quickly became the de facto standard that we see today. (Joe Johnston gets credit for the exact version used in the Star Wars movies though)
Besides the Star Wars logo, Jim also is “famous” for designing the lettering and logo for MacRay Moving. What’s so famous about that? It was Ralph Macchio’s dad’s company – he’s the “Mac” in Mac-Ray.
There’s a lot more to the Jim Novak bio we could go into here, but through the wonder of the internet, I’ll let you do the heavy lifting and click through to a few more stories about our classmate Jim.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Jim_Novak
https://starlogged.blogspot.com/2014/08/1983-jim-novak-and-origins-of-marvel.html
http://www.multiversitycomics.com/news/jim-novak-rip/
Sadly, Jim passed away in April of 2018. I don’t have a lot of details on that yet, but if I get any more information, I’ll post it here and in his Forum post under Fallen Panthers.
RIP Jim and thanks for all the great artwork!
