# Organizing a Reunion in 2007 is still hard. Any advice on finding people?! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 10, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organizing-a-reunion-in-2007-is-still-hard-any-advice-on-finding-people/433031 "2008-01-10T21:33:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organizing-a-reunion-in-2007-is-still-hard-any-advice-on-finding-people/433031/1 "2008-01-10T21:33:17Z")
Okay. I am looking to re-unite my 1983 high school ice hockey team, the coaches and some fans (our ‘rink rats’), and I’m coming up way short to make this 25 year reunion work. Most of the ‘groupies’ (fans) are women and most have different last names. I found maybe 2 of 15. Even when it comes to the guys, I am well below 50% success, and most I did ‘find’ I already knew. I got some leads on the guys, but I am completely stumped on how to track down the girls. Any advice? 😕 [Classmates.com](http://Classmates.com) and Facebook are little help. I’ve already ‘been there, done that’. Help! ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organizing-a-reunion-in-2007-is-still-hard-any-advice-on-finding-people/433031/2 "2008-01-11T00:56:45Z")
…Pssst. It’s 2008. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organizing-a-reunion-in-2007-is-still-hard-any-advice-on-finding-people/433031/3 "2008-01-11T01:21:57Z")
if you (or your children, assuming such exist) have a MySpace account, you can do a search on MySpace, for folks from specific school, based on graduation years. This my help. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organizing-a-reunion-in-2007-is-still-hard-any-advice-on-finding-people/433031/4 "2008-01-11T01:25:11Z")
Have you checked to see if any of the parents still live in the same town? When my high school reunion committee was trying to find some “missing” classmates, I put my mother on the case and she was surprisingly successful. Many parents remained in the area. I even armed her with index cards with my phone number and email address, so that she could ask the parent to pass along the info to their kid. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organizing-a-reunion-in-2007-is-still-hard-any-advice-on-finding-people/433031/5 "2008-01-11T05:53:08Z")
I second **delphica** ’s advice. My parents still have the same phone number as when I graduated high school in 1977. Another approach is just to follow the leads: can you find people who weren’t on the team that might know where to find the teammates/groupies? Does the hometown newspaper have a searchable archive? Sometimes parents insert wedding or engagement announcements for their kids even if they’ve moved away. Or you could just hire a private detective 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tool_of_the_Conspiracy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organizing-a-reunion-in-2007-is-still-hard-any-advice-on-finding-people/433031/6 "2008-01-11T19:01:33Z")
Have you tried [www.zabasearch.com](http://www.zabasearch.com)? A lot of their data is old and/or wrong, but it could give you a starting point. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organizing-a-reunion-in-2007-is-still-hard-any-advice-on-finding-people/433031/7 "2008-01-12T00:20:06Z")
Has anyone mentioned it’s 2008 yet? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organizing-a-reunion-in-2007-is-still-hard-any-advice-on-finding-people/433031/8 "2008-01-12T00:24:59Z")
[No. No they haven’t.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9355376&postcount=2) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organizing-a-reunion-in-2007-is-still-hard-any-advice-on-finding-people/433031/9 "2008-01-12T03:54:48Z")
It’s obvious, but you’ve probably Googled the names? Also, it’s morbid, but I found one long-lost classmate through the obituary search in the local papers. His father (or maybe it was his grandfather) had died, and the obit listed survivors’ names and home towns. Can your school help? 25 years is a long time, but former students will have written for transcripts, maybe even references. How about sending the people you’ve found a list of the people you’re looking for?