Wantagh High School Virtual Memorial
Dedicated to the students and faculty of Wantagh High School who are no longer with us.
The “Virtual Memorial” began on Feb. 24, 2000 as a discussion title on a message board on a site called Classmates.com. Mindye Kahn Brunner Class of 1975 posted the original message naming a few classmates she knew of who had passed away and I hoped others would follow by adding names of other classmates. It was a way to keep people informed. It was also a way of keeping them with us.
We laughed with you, we cried with you
We spent our days growing up with you
Now and forever, we remember you
The Motivation
When Mindye became a member of Classmates in 1999 there were only 390 total alumni listed. As time went on more and more people began to join. Everyday there were new people joining and the message board was very active with people becoming reacquainted with each other along with new friendships beginning. But the most famous question that was always asked is “Whatever happened to…?”
The Purpose
Each time Mindye went into the site to check if any new people were listed, she would think of the people who were gone and who would never be listed there. The reality of the people who would never have the opportunity to add their names and be remembered by the people they grew up with became clearer. Mindye decided to start a discussion area on the message board specifically for the purpose of listing anyone who was gone.
That was the beginning of the “Virtual Memorial” The memorial began with only 10 names listed. Within the 1st year there were 238 discussions posted and at present there are 275 postings. As time went on the alumni joining classmates.com grew and each graduating year had more and more names every day. People were continually posting messages on the message board, and scattered throughout the different discussion areas would be a name posted here and there of someone who had died; but for Mindye, when she thought of those people, it just wasn’t enough.
The Website
In Jan. 2001, classmates.com decided to allow only paying members the privilege of posting messages on their message board. Non-paying members could read the posts but only paying members could add a post. As time went on less people were visiting the message board and after several months, the activity on the board came to almost a complete stop.
Mindye decided at that point to put the “Virtual Memorial” on a website. The “Virtual Memorial” is a tribute for the people who we grew up with and are no longer with us. It is a place where their names and the memories of them will last for eternity. It is their place in time.
Thank You
We would like to sincerely thank everyone who has taken the time to visit this site and a special thanks to those who have signed the guestbook. We would also like to thank everyone for their kind and supportive words regarding this site.
The Original Post Taken From The Classmates Message Board
If you would like to add a name to our list please send us an email.