Being born and raised at Clark AFB, I felt a great loss when they closed the base down because of Mt. Pinatubo. My greatest memories were at Wagner Middle and Wagner High where I met my very closest friends, including my future husband, Jerry Lewis. Both my parents were educators. My father was a guidance counselor at Grissom earlier in his career and at Wagner Middle until they were evacuated. My mother was an ESL teacher at Wagner Middle. My brother, Alan (Class of 86) and I were the few "teachers" kids who were born there and stayed until our graduation. So, we saw a lot of people come, go...and even come back.

The people that I keep in touch with all feel that we're all part of a family and constantly reminisce about the good ol' Wagner days. There's a special bond which hold us together - probably a result of being in a "little America" in a foreign country (on a tropical island even).

I remember all the road trips we took for volleyball, softball, and basketball..riding on the bus to Manila, Subic, or Baguio. Then, there were the great Far East trips. In the late 80's a new teen center was built, Images, which became a kind of a hangout. Then, of course, there was Fields Avenue where everybody went out (mostly illegally). So many things changed around the base....the Bamboo Bowl became "Challenger Field." A new high school was built (practically across the street from my house), which seemed so foreign to me when I went back for Christmas. The base was still beautiful and well maintained.It was such a shame that it was going to be closed.

When I went back for Christmas after the volcano erupted, it was so sad and depressing to see all the damage. The base looked like a ghost town, as well as the surrounding communities. The Philippine Air Force had moved into some of the housing and had their squadrons in some of the buildings. The only thing that seemed to be taken care of was the golf course. There were still guards everywhere and the only reason why we were probably allowed on base was because we are Filipinos (we didn't tell them that we were American citizens).

It was all that I had known for 18 years of my life. Now that it's gone, my memories of Clark hold an even deeper meaning since I'll never be able to see it again. But in an attempt to keep the memories alive, for those of you interested, a few alumni and I are trying to put together an address database together for a future reunion (hopefully in a year or so) for WHS alumni. Our main target classes were 84 and up, but anyone is welcome. You can send addresses to me at my email address: patrice.lewis@usa.net