Community Corner
Facebook, YouTube Pages Memorialize Deceased Local Alumni
Several graduating classes from Milpitas schools have created a mass of Facebook pages and YouTube videos bidding farewell to classmates who have died.
Social media has delved into all areas of our lives, connecting us with family and friends or reconnecting us with those we have lost contact with along the way.
Some recent Facebook pages and YouTube channels are taking the reconnecting a step farther - by attempting to reconnect former classmates in tribute to those who are no longer with us.
When SSgt. Stephen J. Dunning earlier this year, he was memorialized on Milpitas Patch, in media accounts around the country, and in another place that may come as a surprise - on Facebook.
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Dunning joined a list that continues to grow of alumni from the current Milpitas and the former Samuel Ayer high schools, now listed on a special memorial page.
The Facebook page has a wall that allows anyone to post comments. Readers have left short and sweet comments such as “hurts the heart,” and “it brought many tears to my eyes.”
Find out what's happening in Milpitaswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Watching a video linked to the page prompted a poignant post from one that read, "To see my 'estranged' brother on this video opened up the flood gates. Very well arranged and a most wonderful tribute to those we knew. Thank you for the time and effort for an awesome job."
The administrators of the page request that new names be added on the notes page, but most post info about additional classmates on the page's Wall as the information becomes known. The admins also frown upon posting information about how a person dies; however, links are frequently added to online obituaries, giving readers the opportunity to learn more about a
person’s life and death.
In addition to the wall, albums have been created for individual graduating classes, which allow some to see their classmates at a glance - classmates some are devastated to learn have been lost to disease, accidents, suicide, and in the case of Dunning and those like him, military service to our country.
Links are provided on the wall to a YouTube page with memorial videos. Unlike the Facebook page, several graduating classes are often grouped together in the videos.
If you’re looking for news on old classmates who are still living, try the local Facebook Alumni page.
