Dear Classmates & Milne Alumni,

This is the fifth anniversary reunion year for the nine active Milne graduating classes that end in either "1" or "6":

1931 (75th), 1936 (70th), 1941 (55th), 1946 (60th), 1951 (55th), 1956 (50th), 1961 (45th), 1966 (40th), 1971 (35th), and 1976 (30th).

I am aware of the Classes of 1946, 1956, and 1971's reunions, which are scheduled for this September ('46), July ('71), and June ('56).

I do not know if there is a reunion for the years '31, '36, '41, '51, '66, or '76. If you do, please let me know.

Here is a chart that explains how old you might be if you are from one of these classes and what year you might have been born in:

If your class is not planning a reunion this year, or you would like to meet up with your classmates and see other Milne alumni, you are invited to come to the 1971's reunion picnic on Saturday, July 29, 2006, at Thacher Park, 12 Noon to 4 PM. Please contact me for details.

I am working on finding missing Milne alumni through various free search websites. Here are my three favorites when I know only the name of a person.

I have found Intelius.com good for finding people in the U.S. or a particular state. I like this website because you can add in a middle initial and more narrowly define the search. What I find here is often the age of people with the same name. The website asks for a fee for further detail, but I then leave the website and go on to the next one:

Intelius.com gives only a town and a state with the name, but Verizon's Superpages.com people-search webpage gives addresses and telephone number. Often the results are a mixed bag of information, with multiple listings, but sometimes the exact name I am looking for is there, with even a better result if there is a known middle initial. If I see a match for whom I am looking, I have then made a phone call to the number given. The conversation with a long-lost person, has usually been very satisfying. In my experience, Milne alumni like to be found.

The third search website I use is called ssdi.rootsweb.com, which brings up the Social Security Death Index. This is a listing of when a person of a specific name has died and the person's death is verified. Sometimes it is easy to tell which person is the one being searched for because the birthdates and the state in which the SS# was issued match up. Milne classmates mostly have NY listed for their SS# issue. Unfortunately, this SSDI index is not complete, not everyone is listed, so finding people here is often just luck.

I am always looking for even better no-cost search websites, so if you have a suggestion, please let me know.

I hope all is well with you.

Best wishes,

Mary Welch, '71

For contact information, see the Milne Alumni homepage: www.albany.edu/~milne/