WOW,, It’s been 8 months since the last newsletter. Life has been very busy. The Bash went off with great weather. Everyone had a great time. See the pictures at www.churchillalumni.com/bash/2006bash/2006bash.htm

The Don Nicholson Charity Car show and the 3rd Annual Churchill Alumni Summer Bash were able to donate almost $5,000.00 to the Western Wayne Skill Center. The weather for the Car Show wasn’t as nice as the Bash weather. But we were able to get the show off without rain at the show. www.DonNicholson.net/carshow.html

The 4th Annual Churchill Alumni Summer Bash will be moving this year. We will be at The Nankin Mills Pavilion Located on Hines Drive east of Ann Arbor Trial. This way we will be closer to the areas were we grew up. The 2007 event will be June 16, 2007 Mark your calendars. Don’t forget this is a free event and open to all Alumni no matter what year you graduated. We have people from almost every year show up. What a great way to stay in touch with classmates between reunions. Watch for updates at www.ChurchillAlumni.com

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I was going to write a story about a 1973 Alumni’s daughter who ran the Detroit – Windsor International Marathon. I asked Vicky Cisak MacDonald to get me some information because I wanted to pass the word about how great our Alumni are. Yes I know her daughter attended another school. But her roots come from Churchill. What she wrote was better than I could put together. But then mothers are better at bragging then friends are, especially when they have ever right to brag. The following is Vicky’s story about a very special daughter:

29th Free Press International Marathon

North Farmington class of 2006 Bridie MacDonald, 18, now attending Alma College.

Runners came from all over the United States, Canada, Russia, Africa, Poland, Netherlands, Germany, and beyond to run the 26.2 miles starting in Detroit and running through Canada and back.

The race started in the dark with a cold 39 degree morning lined up on Washington Blvd. In Downtown Detroit. Mayors from Detroit and Windsor and Gov. Granholm gave opening speeches. At 7:15 a.m. the race started.

This marathon is the only race to feature an ‘underwater mile’ and to enter and exit a foreign country. Runners went over the Ambassador Bridge into Canada and through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel back into the United States, around Belle Isle and around Detroit winding up at Ford Field to a packed crowd awaiting their return.

On Wednesday, Bridie called me saying she wanted to run the Marathon on Sunday, but could she go to the doctor first since she was fighting bronchitis and also hadn’t trained for the long run in a year. This is a goal she wanted to do by the time she was 18 and now was the time.

The race was very demanding as you had to make a certain time at each of the designated miles or you were pulled out of the race and taken back and your race was over. After several miles of running, Bridie realized this was too much for her with the bronchitis, and now her heels were bleeding so badly from blisters that they pulled her out to tape them up thereby making her double up on time to make the next marker if she was to continue with the next several miles.

Running by yourself is very difficult, but running with a friend makes it easier. Over the last few miles, Bridie grouped with 2 other women.

Bridie came in at 5 hours and 33 minutes to finish the race arm in arm with her running friends from the last leg of the race. She was piggybacked back to the car after receiving a very heavy & large medal for running 2006 Detroit Marathon.

Talking to her afterwards, this may never happen again as she can’t move her legs and heard the worst is still yet to come as far as the pain. But will she do this again? I don’t know. But I do know we all need to take a lesson from her….set a goal for ourselves and stick to it. Don’t let anyone take a dream away from us no matter how much someone may say we’re crazy, because we can never go back. What a wonderful dream she fulfilled!

This just shows that when we want something bad enough that there is little that can get in our way. Bridie will have some great stories to tell in later years and should feel the greatest sense of accomplishment for a job well done. Way to Go Bridie!

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Cathy Good - Welker (Class of 74) and Jenny Gotshall–Clark (Class of 81) are organizing the Christmas gathering this year at the Box Bar in Plymouth, Friday December 1st @ 7:00 pm This is a lot of fun, great food and conversation, and a great way to start the weekend and the Holiday. The Box bar is located just east of Main street in downtown Plymouth. We are also asking for donations that will go towards helping a Churchill Family at Christmas. So please bring some Canned goods, a new gift (Unwrapped) or a check made out to Churchill High School. We also have two drop off points:

1. Master Photo, 936 N. Telegraph, Dearborn.
2. The Historic Wayne Theatre, 35164 W. Michigan Ave., Wayne: this Saturday and Sunday at 11am only

For more information, contact Chris@ChurchillAlumni.com, or drop in with us at Churchillians.

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If you have any pictures from any reunions please forward them to us so we can post them on the Alumni Website. We have lots of space to post these and it’s all free. Also if you would like to post pictures of the kids, the grandkids or even the family pet send those along also.

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We are looking for people to help paint at the Historic Wayne Theatre. We are building a Christmas display for the front of the building. If you can donate some time, join us Saturday November 11th, and Sunday November 12th at 11:00am both mornings.

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If you would like to send us something for the next newsletter, please e-mail Chris@ChurchillAlumni.com.

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I would also like to announce that this newsletter is going out to just over 800 Churchill Graduates for the first time. In just under 3 short years we have really grown. We still have a long way to grow.

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Last but not least, I would like to remind everyone if you change your e-mail address to please let us know. Also if you are on AOL or PeoplePC or any other e-mail server who has spam filters please remember to put Alumni@ChurchillAlumni.com in your address book. We get a lot of newsletters returned from AOL especially. And please feel free to pass this newsletter on to friends.

‘Till next time! Keep those cards and letters coming! And Go Chargers!

Sincerely,

Chris "Don" Nicholson
Class of 73