The creation of this website and the associated Internet social networking activity over the last few days was precipitated during the brief process of spreading the word about the informal all-years gathering in Austin this coming Thursday night (see the calendar). There being no other well-connected and organized group of all Spring Woods alumni, the initial thought for this effort was that its initial purpose should be simply to serve to help alumni to connect with one another. With the hope of letting you understand that and where I’m coming from, I’ll give you some background here, by way of introduction to those of you whom I have not met. (more…)

I’m “Danny” Norton to my family and to fellow Spring Woods Class of 1976 classmates, many of whom started with me as Westwood Elementary kindergartners in 1963 and continued through Spring Oaks Junior High to Spring Woods. All five of my siblings are Spring Woods alumni (Nancy ’68, Joe ’70, Wesley ’72, Mary ’74 and Johnny ’78) and, as if that didn’t bind me enough, my niece (Nancy’s daughter) graduated with the Class of 2008. Although I transferred away from Spring Woods after my sophomore year, the eleven years I spent going to school with many of the same classmates that I met at Westwood sealed my affinity with (and affection for) Spring Woods and particularly to the Class of 1976.

I have been participating in, fostering and creating online communities since the mid-1980s and I helped the Class of 1976 to chat online and to share reunion photos and old class photos online before joining Facebook was an option (although not long before).

Although a computer product engineer by trade (specializing in embedded and kernel O/S software), the turn in the economy brought me to try to produce some income by making simple and low-cost websites for people. While developing a “model” website for the Class of 1976, I received news of this upcoming get-together in Austin (where I now reside) and was frustrated by not having a good way to be able to reach all alumni who might be interested. With a $10 pledge from ’72 Alum Ken Elmgren to help offset the cost of the purchase of the domain name, over the weekend I created this site, the corresponding Facebook fan page, email discussion group, and Twitter stream and started looking for contacts to help fill in the gaps.

You won’t ever be charged for this help from me or my fellow classmates who work with me here, provided the intent of the privacy policy I wrote remains. Through it, I hope to make it clear that we (whoever “we” might become from here) won’t use the information we receive through this site or related activities for personal gain. Unlike many other “alumni” and “classmate” websites, we’re not marketeers: we’re your real classmates, your neighbors and your friends.
 
Sincerely,
Daniel (“Danny”) Norton
Austin, Texas