It's a common fantasy to go back in time
and revisit high school.
Do you ever wonder what happened to your closest friend
from high school? Or the girl you were too shy to ask to
the senior prom? There’s a Web site that can help.
It’s called Classmates.com, and it was set up to put old
friends back in touch. People are using it to plan
reunions. It’s helping rekindle past romances, and it
even lets old rivals check out how they measure up now.
But, as 60 Minutes II first told you this
spring, it turns out there's a lot more to it than that.
Some people are finding out there are wild twists and
turns you can take on a ride through your past.
The girls from Chicago’s Alvernia High
School recently held their reunion.
Part of the credit for bringing them all together goes
to Classmates.com. The Web site helps find folks, plan
events and reunions, and even post the keepsake photos
afterwards.
But for two people at this reunion, the Web site has
done so much more - it helped one save the other's life.
Sonja Gordon and Mary Morrison, Alvernia Class of '78,
hadn't seen each other in almost 25 years - until last
fall, when Sonja was undergoing dialysis.
“Literally, this machine that I was hooking up to was
what was sustaining my life,” says Sonja. “It wasn't
good. I mean, I wasn't going to get any better. I
definitely needed a kidney transplant.”
By last October, her health was so bad that her husband
sent out a group email that ended up going to everyone
on the Classmates.com reunion list.
“He said, ‘Sonja's been on dialysis for over two years.
And she needs a kidney transplant. And we're looking for
the gift of life. If you're blood type O, we'd like to
hear from you,’" remembers Sonja.
The next day, she received many emails from former
classmates. One person she heard from was Mary Morrison.
She and Sonja had been classmates, but not really
friends. First thing Mary did after receiving the email
was check her yearbook.
“I wanted to make sure that the person I thought was
Sonja was her,” says Mary.
Even though she could barely remember her, she did
something remarkable. She decided to donate her kidney.
“I wanted to make sure my family was comfortable with
it, too,” says Mary, who hadn’t seen Sonja since high
school. “It was the right thing to do. And I – somebody
– had to do it. Why not me?”
Sonja remembers telling Mary, “'I can’t believe you’re
doing this.' She said, ‘Sonja, I have children, just
like you do. And I would hope to God that someone would
come and help me.’ To her, it was that simple.”
Three months later, this past January, the girl voted
funniest in their class donated her kidney to the girl
with the best laugh.
Now, Sonja Gordon and Mary Morrison were together again
at their high school reunion.
“One thing Mary did say is, ‘I am not going to listen to
you for the rest of your life thanking me over and over
again. Get it out of your system now,’” says Sonja. “She
just wants us to have our friendship together. And just
not let it be based on our kidneys, you know?”
“We never dreamed that that's the way people would use
classmates when we started out,” says Classmates founder
Randy Conrads.
Conrads says when he started the company back 1995, he
just thought the Web site would help people get back in
touch with their youth.
And there’s something about signing onto Classmates.com
that makes you feel 16 again. You can read about your
old friends' lives once you’ve answered questions about
yourself.
Classmates.com has more than 35 million members, from
over 200,000 schools --kindergarten to college.
But Conrads says high school is the “sweet spot” that
classmates tapped into.
“High school happens to be a place where people have
some pretty intense relationships," says Conrads. "After
that, some go on to college, some go get a job, some go
in the military. Some take a trip around the world and
we lose track of each other after that."
Russell Kees did almost every one of
those things. And for 50 years, his sister, Sylvia
Matson, didn't know where he was.
As children, they were inseparable. But Russell left
home in the mid ‘40s. He fought in Korea and settled in
the Marshall Islands. Along the way, he lost touch with
his family, especially his sister, who had married and
changed her name.
But the family finally found him again through
Classmates.com, by emailing his school friends.
“I was quite surprised to get it, of course. When I
responded, ‘Yeah, that’s me, what’s happening,’"
remembers Russell. "And wow! Let's get together."
Last September, after half a century, Russell and Sylvia
finally were reunited.
How did they bridge 50 years?
“Just that fast,” says Sylvia. “That’s all it took. Just
that fast.”
Perhaps the more typical tale they hear
at Classmates is the simple love story, but even some of
the love stories have a twist.
Mark Nunez investigates insurance fraud and has used
Classmates to nab a couple of bad guys.
But while he was at it one day, he used it to look up
the cute girl with braces he was always afraid to ask
out.
Mark plugged in the name his secret crush had back when
she was 15. Classmates lists women by their maiden names
so they’re easier to find. He was taken aback for a
minute when he saw that her name was listed. He decided
to send her an email.
“Right at that moment, all of a sudden, I’m 14, 15 years
old again,” remembers Mark, laughing. “You have to
understand.”
And suddenly, Robin Perry, now Robin Matthews, married
and since divorced, got an email from a virtual
stranger.
“I'm thinking, I don't know who this is. I had no idea,”
says Robin, after receiving his email. “So, I had to run
home that night and look in the yearbook. I instantly
recognized his smile.”
A few days later, they had lunch. This was the first
time they’d seen each other in 22 years.
Was Robin everything that Mark remembered?
“Actually better than I remembered,” says Mark,
laughing. “Time was good to her.”
And to him. They're now engaged.
“It’s like going back and slaying old dragons. It's
like, "Hey, I have all this experience. I'm a confident
person. I'm an accomplished person.' And it's like,
getting that second shot,” says Mark, laughing.
This is what many classmates hope for
when their high school days are long past - another
chance, as adults, to go back and get it right this
time.
John Roberts never knew he needed a second chance, until
one day two years ago, he checked his email from
Classmates.com.
“There was a message that asked if I was the John
Roberts from Las Vegas, New Mexico,” recalls John. “Had
I been in Pueblo, Colo., in 1969?”
Back in 1969, John was a high school football star
spending the summer working on the Colorado Railroad,
and romancing the local young ladies. But this message
was from a mystery woman.
The email asked John if he remembered dating a lady
named Didi in Pueblo. “I did, and started to get an idea
of what this letter was about,” says John. “And I
started to feel tingles all over.”
John now keeps this email framed above his desk: “In
1995, I petitioned the courts to have my adoption
records opened so I could locate my birth mother. I
asked if she knew who my father was and she gave me your
name back in 1995.”
“My chin hit the desk,” says John. “I was in shock. I
had no idea.”
“How do you tell somebody that doesn't know you exist
that you’re their daughter,” asks Kirsten Miller.
When Kirsten set out to track down her father, all she
knew was a name, hometown, and the fact that he had
never known about the pregnancy. After six fruitless
years, Kirsten had just about given up.
“Through the years, I would get online and, you know, go
to a search engine and look for a John Roberts. And
there are thousand and thousands and I just thought,
‘I'm not going to start emailing these poor men,’" says
Kirsten.
Oddly enough, she happened to be on Classmates.com that
day just to look up former classmates. But the little
she knew about her father was tailor made for a
Classmates search. When she typed in "John Roberts" and
his hometown, suddenly she was the one in shock.
“Growing up, I've never looked like anyone in my family
because obviously I was adopted,” says Kirsten. "And so
it was very strange to look at someone and see maybe
some resemblance. But I wasn't sure.”
Kirsten knew she was risking a lot when she finally sent
that email: “You see the stories all the time where the
parents say, ‘I don't want you in my life. Just leave.
I've got a new life now.’ And so I tried to prepare
myself for that.”
But instead, she received a wonderful email from John.
His response, she says, was, “I feel like I’ve won the
Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes.' ”
“So what do we do from here,” reads John from his email.
“A phone call? A visit? Guest spot on the Montel
Williams show? I hope I can say this properly. I love
you.”
“I love my family,” adds John. “And to find out I had a
family member that I had never met yet was just exciting
to me.”
Suddenly, Kirsten became the eldest of seven girls. And
Roberts, 30 years after the fact, sent out birth
announcements.
“I’d say for at least three months, I had a big, silly
grin on my face. I'd wake up happy, I’d go to sleep
happy. It was a wonderful feeling,” says John.
“I was just very happy with the results. Besides finding
a lot of friends, I found a daughter.”
Move over John Roberts, because the day
after our original broadcast aired last May, we heard
about another family reunion credited to Classmates.com
and 60 Minutes II.
Greg Fletcher, 39, adopted at birth, had been searching
for his biological mother with the help of a friend for
several years, with no success. But as the friend
watched our story last May, she plugged the mother's
maiden name into Classmates.com. Minutes later, Greg
spoke with his mother for the first time - and they met
that Mother's Day weekend.
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