DIXFIELD – Anyone who has wondered what happened to one of their classmates from Dixfield High School will soon have a way to find out.
Tom Rock, a member of the Class of 1954, is putting together a Web site exclusively devoted to the graduating classes of 1931-1962, ending with the year Dixfield and several surrounding towns merged into SAD 21.
He’s been poring through the yearbooks at Ludden Memorial Library and has already entered photographs of students from several of the graduating years.
“I want to make the yearbooks available to classmates living all over the country,” he said.
So far, photos of the classes of 1931, 1932, 1946, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1955 and 1957 are displayed on the Web site.
He started the long-term project about two months ago by setting up a domain – www.dixfieldhighschool.com – and began posting data about three weeks ago.
“This will take months to build,” he said of the Web site, and as is the nature of Web sites, he said it may never be completed because new information becomes available all the time.
But it’s something the retired systems analyst who now lives in Auburn is thoroughly enjoying. He’s built numerous other Web sites, but this is the first built around memories.
Eventually, each yearbook will have links to faculty members, student activities, underclassmen and other data from each class.
He said some of the older yearbooks are also getting pretty worn and he thought entering information on a Web site may help preserve them.
He’s not only entering information that appeared years ago, but looking for updated information on classmates today.
“I’m looking for photos or other information. I want people to contact me through the Web site,” he said, adding that soon he hopes to have a form on the site that people can use to submit data.
A message board is also in the works where those logging on can help find the location of lost classmates.
He also plans to have birth and death dates for classmates.
“When this is done, with all the links, there will be well over 1,000 pages on the Web site,” he said. “It’s still in its infancy, but it’s a start.”
Although Rock has lived out of the area for many years, he still considers Dixfield his hometown.
“This is fun for me, it’s very nostalgic,” he said.
Former Dixfield High School students can get information and learn how to send additional information and photos by logging onto www.dixfieldhighschool.com.
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