Would you like to know what happened to some of your high school classmates? Karen Griffin Dean,  a 1974 graduate of Towers High School in Decatur, GA, is now a Snellville resident, and has found a creative way to keep in touch. Her alumni group has formed a network, including classmates of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, who keep in touch through Onelist, a message board internet group email site. The site has several moderators, who live in different parts of the U.S., anywhere from Washington D.C. to Tennessee.

The onelist is like an active message board, open 24 hours for anyone from Towers to post messages to each other. As a registered subscriber, each classmate has access to files to look through classmate photos, a kind of "online annual". They have a section of "Now and Then Photos" of landmarks near their school, and have a section of current photos with their families and children. Sometimes they even conduct polls on various issues, from the past to the present.

As of March 3, 2000, the Dekalb County Towers High School group is celebrating a 1 year anniversary on onelist. They now have over 140 members, many links to photos and personal web pages, and web pages of their graduating classes. How did this begin? Dan Turner ‘71, the brain child of onelist, and his friend Brent Gilroy ‘73, started the onelist in order to get everyone together again. They enlisted help of others, including, Matt Whitehair, Debbie Huey Pendergrass, and Karen Griffin Dean, who designed several of the class’s web pages. They have a regular Monday night chat session, which members can log onto and talk to one another from across the miles. It continues to grow in membership as other Towers graduates find them. Many now live in Snellville and the Gwinnett County areas.

Ms. Karen Griffin Dean, a local school teacher, and the group’s "Html Goddess", designed a host of web pages for several classes to complement the Onelist site for Towers High School.  The web sites include information on class reunions, photos, and other high school memorabilia. There is even music to give you a nostalgic feeling as you surf the pages.

One feature includes posting "Supper Club" information, which was formed by 3 other classmates, Mary Maduros Coulter,Vicki Ward, and Katrinka Fortmann Maddox. This is a Wednesday night event once every 3 months at a local Steak and Ale to keep the group actively meeting socially. Each time, different alumni from Towers may show up and surprise old friends, and make new ones, too. It is a great way to get to see your friends more often than just every 5 or 10 years at a reunion.

The Towers web sites even include a "Memorial Page",  to honor classmates and teachers who have passed away. What a wonderful tribute to their loved ones.

Both the onelist and Towers Web sites have given this group a sense of sharing throughout the years and miles between them. The messages range from silly to outrageous, to supporting each other in times of their lives now. New friends, old friends, new times, old times…..all shared by use of the internet. They have lived by the Towers slogan….THS..is the very best!

Some classmates shared their thoughts about the onelist and Towers web site:

"The best thing about the THS list, to quote Rick Nelson: A chance to share old memories, and play the songs again." Paul Henry, Class of ’74

" It has always been said that you can’t go home again, well…the person who said that is not a member of the Towers High School Onelist…We are home again with old friends and new friends, with one thing in common…THS graduate…It doesn’t get any better than this" Debbie Huey Pendergrass, Class of ’69

"While I’m not a Towers graduate, the onelist has been great…I feel like I met old friends I didn’t know I had" Jim Miller, Avondale High School, Class of ’69

"I have thoroughly enjoyed the Onelist…It has brought back so many memories…and a lot of laughs from fellow classmates, a lot of them I knew and a lot of them I have enjoyed getting to know" Lori Rylee, Class of ’72

"Our closest friendships are those we established in our youth. In those days, we weren't afraid to open up to others. We were innocent. Today, other than to our spouse or significant other, we never truly open ourselves as completely as we did back then. Our onelist group revisits the closeness of past relationships and establishes new ones based on a common bond and trust - our past. Are we trying to relive our past? Absolutely not - but having a common bond helps to form new friendships or rekindle old ones based on where we came from as we live life today. We reminiscence, laugh, love, and cry together as we share past memories and make new memories that we will, one day, look back on." Karen Griffin Dean, Class of ’74

"The TowersHigh@Onelist.com email list has been one of my best experiences with the WWW. It's a luxury to our classes of that era that so many others classmates before us were never able to utilize. We've
put homesick alumnus from around the world in contact with school chums and neighborhood friends from 30 years ago...and each of them have come back together as if they've only been away for Summer vacation." Dan Turner, Class of ’71, Founder and Head Moderator of THS Onelist

Wendy Waters Nelson

THS graduate 1973