Reflecting on my senior year at South Portland High School, I remember a history class where I came to the defense of my neighborhood. There had been an article in the newspaper regarding problems with escaped persons who would sometimes run through our neighborhood. The newspapers did not just call the neighborhood Redbank. As a matter of fact the word Redbank was usually sandwiched between a few other words, such as low income neighborhood on the western part of the city. Maybe we came to believe that as we were usually reminded by outsiders and the media. I do not have any more to say on that matter except it left many of us feeling we had to defend our neighborhood to those who lived elsewhere. This seems like a huge waste of energy, but regardless many of us have done it.
 This particular day, the teacher made a comment that the neighborhood must be a rough place to live and also commented on the Boys Training Center [Reformatory].  I had great respect for this teacher and looked around the room to see if I had any fellow Redbankers with me. I did not. I was alone and if I had been silent, that would have been my own fault. I raised my hand and requested I be allowed to comment. The teacher allowed me to talk, so I stood up. I said that I lived in this neighborhood and it was a good place to live, never had any troubles there, and the newspapers blow a lot out of proportion. I also said there were many misconceptions about our village. I have always admired this teacher, even more so, when his sincerity was reflected in his apology. What he said was not that terrible but I felt I should say something at that time, in hopes that other may not be so quick to judge. I think we all do that from time to time.
 Upon reading through my High School list of graduates of 1978, I wondered how many were from my original group of Redbankers. There were maybe five kids who had lived in Redbank briefly during my grammar school years, but the group who had been with me from beginning to end was a good number. There were three boys in particular who had been there from the beginning that were just short of graduating for one reason or other, but they will always be considered part of our original group. The ones who graduated from Redbank on that day were: Tish Alonzo, Debbie Angel, Cathy Bixler, Shawn Briggs, Roxanne Carrier, Carlene Estes, David Laurence, Todd Lewis, Sharon Matthews, Cathy Nelson, Ann Ricci and Ann Woodbury. All of us were together from kindergarten until high school. How many from your classes were with you from beginning to end?