My fondest memories of Cairo and CAC specifically revolve not so much around the school itself (although I've seen private universities with worse campus settings) but more the people there--students, faculty and staff. It was (and I'm sure still is) such a vibrant atmosphere, one in which you exit a person changed for the better. I have the utmost respect and fondest memories of my CAC teachers--Mr. Rook, Ms. Hamblin, Mr. Sowle, Mr. Marshall (RIP) and many others--and I know and appreciate that their lessons were centered less on static curricula and more on how to think and interact with the world around me. While it was never easy, it was always worthwhile. Congratulations, CAC, on 60 years of excellence in education and engagement, and thanks for the memories.

I remember the frangipani (Plumeria) flowers on Road 15, the Flame trees that lined the road, the huge bo trees that lined the corniche (before they were all cut down)and the spicy scented orchid trees. I miss eating Bashmallah, apricots and mangos that grew in my back yard. I remember starting school in Egypt with my brother Mark Kirksey (Kirk) Kennedy when we were at the palace/villa in the gulf road area of Maadi. Our classroom there had a lavish bathroom of orange marble and brass fixtures but had no windows. During an air raid, I had the misfortune of being locked in it, in total darkness. Shortly after we started school that year, the mass evacuation of Americans state-side started, and our class size was reduced to a handful of students. I lived at the time at 26 road 12. It was at this time that part of our physical education courses was devoted to air-raid procedures. We moved to the new campus in Digla where the new classrooms presented a problem as they were made of glass. Mrs Radwan our 3rd grade teacher, had us block ourselves in with our desks during them, just in case the glass shattered. It never did. The new school was wonderful, bright, well lit. The first (tunnel domed) building had grades 1-6 with the center holding the Stage and the second (3 tunnel domed) held grades 7-12, with the library in the middle. The kindergarten class was in a different area behind the adminstrative building located to the left of the gate. The "haunted house" which hadn't gotten its reputation as "haunted" yet was located behind the school in very nice condition, protected by a very stern Bo-ab. In 1969, Kathleen Weiss, Anaheid Milward, and myself snuck into the house. It was filled with inches of dust. Furniture draped with sheets and statuary were still there. A safe was on the floor with loads of old photographs. We explored every inch of that house. It was the three of us that came up with the haunted house stories and spread them around. I wonder if any of them still exist today.........I would very much like to hear them. I remember Olga Boulos, our Arabic teacher who died of cancer as she tapped the desk with her long finger nails, and Madam Tadros with her French lessons;Mrs Bishay who I think always had a soft spot for me yelling "oi!" across the room to Douglas Wiley for throwing clay at the girls. I miss Sabri's big grinning face, Zaki's friendly helpful character, and all the wonderful friends and aquaintances I made through out the years I was in Egypt...Dina Cotton, Tatianna Loh, Steven Grey, Tabassum Khan, Hiromi Okada, Keyoko Toriama, Suzie C, Karen Bowen, Kathy Weiss, Anaheid Milward, Monte and Stan Yunker (who "borrowed" my doll and never gave it back), plus many many many more.

My father, a TWA navigator, moved our family to Maadi about 1947. I was in the French School in Maadi for several years when my brother, Bobby, and I changed to the Cairo American School/College in 1954. It was a large villa covered with ivy near the tracks. There were five other sutdents, all boys, one Egyptian. I just found out that one of them, Miles, became a rock star. I remember having to leave the story hour in my classroom for French lessons, which I resented at the time. Later, finding French ancestors (Paris, 1600s) I was grateful for the CAS languages classes. I remember the move to the palace, it was beautiful. The large domed entry hall that became the library is my ideal of Moslem architecture, which I continue to study. My brother played very good basketball in the side flower garden and went on to Coast Guard Academy for college. I smile at the memory of the accent of one the American teachers - I spelled "idea" as "idear" for several years until it was pointed out to me. Leaving Maadi during the Suez Crisis was a very sad experience, Maadi was my home. I visited Maadi in 1983 and saw the changes, the new CAC which was built across the street from the Mannion's house, then at the edge of the desert, where we played unaware of world history. I felt grateful for the people of Maadi who acccepted us and made us a part of their village. I took my husband and son for my second visit to Maadi in 1989; after all, they had heard me praise it for 20 some years. I do hope to return when I retire for a long visit. Memories of Cairo, Mena House, Luxor, and the Nile are still with me. Ellen Thorne Morris

Started subsituting in 1980. The phones didn't work well then. If a need was anticipated, then a bicycle messenger was sent out a day in advance and a note was left at the door of the sub. Most of the time, people just showed up and hoped that subs were needed. Some days five people showed up and five were needed. Other days needs and available subs varied. The pay was 15LE a day. Things were very cheap in those days and my wallet always bulged with cash. Also in those days, dogs were allowed to come in mornings on leashes and walk the track with their owners.

Those years were probably the best years of my life, in that I became friends with so many different people from so many countries. In those two years, I don't remember any discord of any kind (other than girlfriends!) and often reminisce with my family about the friends from "all over". Time has passed too swiftly and some of my classmates are gone. I was able to manage to visit CAC about 10 years ago, but the school was on vacation so didn't meet anyone. I was impressed with the new campus and facilities.... It sure beats the basketball court next to the railroad. and putting Coach Mignoni's car up on the 2nd floor. I still look at our pic's of our trips to Hurgada, and remember our lunch-picnic's on top of the pyramids. A special hello to all who remember, scotty

Congratulations CAC on your 60th Anniversary! I attended Cairo School for American Children (CSAC) from its beginning in 1945 through the first semester ending January 26, 1951. My mother, two sisters and I arrived at Alexandria in the fall of 1945, crossing the Atlantic from New York to Naples on the Swedish liner Gripsholm and continuing on aboard the WWII troopship USS Gen. Meigs. My father had preceded us earlier immediately following VE-day. We resided initially at Road 9, Villa 67 in Maadi and I was enrolled in the 4th grade at CSAC in September 1945. My father worked for an American oil company, which along with other companies largely financed the school. Most of the teachers were American with exception of the language teachers - Arabic language teachers were Egyptian. We had Egyptian students as well as American. CSAC had an outdoor basketball court on hard-packed sand where we played other schools from the area. On the same field we had a softball diamond where both the boys and girls played intramural sports. I have a copy of the CSAC 1947-48 yearbook, called the Cairoglyph, which was produced on a mimeograph stencil machine. The class pictures were glossy b&w photographs pasted in each copy. My 6th grade classmates were Madeline, Cap, Patty, Natalie, Bob, Ethel, Leslie and Annemieke. In 1948 CSAC was renamed Cairo American School (CAS). Most of my “leisure” time was spent bicycle riding around Maadi with my friends or swimming at the Maadi Sporting Club. At the club we took tennis lesson on clay courts and “played” golf on the desert sand course. We watched movies at night on the club lawn or in the table tennis house. I remember enjoying a “hot dog” and a cold Vimto (sp.) after a long swim at the pool. The American oil companies and the American embassy personnel played competitive softball games on the club’s cricket field. My friend Dan and I were honored to play with the grownups during some of those games. Usually, the embassy Marine guards were too much for the oil company employees. When my friends and I felt adventurous we’d hike out to Wadi Digla and look for seashells and spent cartridge shells. We would also ride the steam train to Cairo to the cinema or to shop in the Muski market. We went on class trips to the Egyptian museum in Cairo and to the opera at the Cairo Opera House. I remember “tea time” on the front veranda of the Shepards Hotel and at the Mena House, and ice cream at Groppi’s with my parents. We went on weekend trips to Suez or Port Said for swimming and sunbathing. On Road 9 in Maadi, I remember Ayyad’s bicycle shop, Mr. Dimos grocery store and the pastry shop, where I spent most of my allowance after school. Sadly, my family left Egypt in early 1951, shortly after I had enrolled in the 9th grade at Cairo American School (CAS).

As a freshman in the very small classes of 1957-58, one of the most memorable images I have are those of 'Freshman Initiation" or 'Hazing'. The 3 boys in the class, Dennis, Don & myself, had to attend class wearing lipstick and beads. The girls had to wear their black dancing outfits to class. Variations of this went on for a whole week which seemed like a year. I loved the inner court yard of the Palace and I remember the wonderful architecture and decoration of the library. I will never forget the 1957 Halloween afternoon and evening spent at the temple of the pyramids with horse rides, food, bonfires and ghost stories - IT WAS GREAT. My sister Mary Ann Sandes-Kestyus would walk to school from the East side of the tracks - we lived in a villa across from the army camp. We would head north, pass the Marconi radio tower, cross the railroad tracks, pass the Egyptian boys school and the camel patrol station to enter CAC thru the back gate. We bought our bikes from Ayad's Bike Shop in Maadi - ate Ice Cream at Groppi's in Cairo - shopped the bazaar for souvenirs - watched movies at 'the club'. I still have photos of the 4th of July at the US Embassy. I would caddy for Dennis as he played golf in the desert. I remember the party thrown by Susan and Maureen Letzkus on Zamalek. I particularly remember the party thrown by Mohammed, son of the Moroccan Ambassador - they had a secret passage in the Embassy which led from the basement to under the stairs or in a wall in the lobby/foyer. I am occassionally in touch with members of CAC Class of 1958 including Patty Carr, a law professor in England. Like most 'BRATS', I attended three High Schools - CAC my freshman year, one in California which I refer to as my American Graffiti days, and Community High School in Tehran, Iran as a Junior and Senior. I must confess, of all my life experiences, I maintain the fondest memories of Maadi in 1957-58. Even with mid-east wars and nationalization, it was a warm and gentle time for teenagers to grow up and come of age.

I think I'm one of the few that attended CAC from Kindergarten in the villa that they started at, and graduated with the best class ever at the Sphinx. I remember my bellydancing with Mrs. Afia, our folklore festivals, out ski trip to Switzerland, our eighth grade trip to Luxor, our Model United Nations trips to the Hague with the Steins, 24 hour marathon, Homecoming floats, PROM, and so much more. CAC will always be in my blood, giving me the best of friends, best of memories, and the best of everything in life.

When I came to CAC, I was just a shy southern girl from New Orleans. CAC allowed me to succeed at many things while attending. There will always be a special place in my heart for CAC and its family.

Probably my most lasting gift from CAC was learning how to appreciate and live for the moment, to see and feel and taste and smell and hear the present. My years in the old high school in Maadi were politically turbulent (whose aren't?!) and one never knew upon arriving at the gate which entire nationality might have been whisked home during the night, or which whole family might have moved to destination unknown between breakfast and lunch, or whether a hurried call might send all the dependents of one nation or another home under guard. I learned to treasure my friendships more deeply and to savor my experiences more expansively, because I might suddenly find them gone. This may be why so many alumni find themselves surfing the net for CAC links, googling for names that still hold deep meaning in their hearts, googling for news of Sports Day, the Club, and wondering what ever happened to their villa. In my heart's eye is a former palace with an alabaster bathroom, a courtyard of sand, fenetres on the windows, the camel court, cahiers, ink pens and eradicator, home leaves, pistachios from Rhodes, Cleos in a deep pocket, a couple of piasters enough to get a loaf of bread with thick salt, Beps (pepsi), riding on the desert, falukas, jasmine on the breeze along with other odiferous delights, kabobs in the Mooski, trams to Heliopolis, all-night parties at the Disco and every other suburb, the Marine Ball, the commissary, the trips to the embassy for shots (immunizations), listening to Charleton Heston at the Library opening, snake handlers, piaster candy bags, Wed. opera, brocade, the best cotton in the world, the sweetest oranges, taheena, the explosion of Beatles-Motown-Beach Boys right after the heyday of Elvis, 007, Lawrence of Arabia and The Great Escape, seeing the "oil people" come and go, seeing true poverty and hunger and disease, embassy receptions, hacking around with sons and daughters of ambassadors and princes and never thinking twice about it until decades later, and missing it all so very, very much that a sigh oftentimes escapes the lips. A few years after I graduated there was a song that grabbed: "those were the days my friend, I thought they'd never end ..." always, m3

CAC...what a great place! I was just checking the address of a job form and found this...I LOVED being a part of the CAC staff...there is nothing that compares to the quality and devotion of the Faculty and Parents who make CAC AWESOME!!!

We lived across the street from CAC in Maadi after we returned from being evacuated to Rome with other embassy families during the Suez Crisis. I began the second grade at CAC in a room in the old garage, and took ballet there also. I remember looking out the window some evenings to watch the teenagers socializing to rock and roll on campus. In the third and fourth grades my classes were in the main building, in what must have been elegant bedrooms, as we had bathrooms with very fancy fixtures. I loved the library, which was the heart of the building. We also had a gazebo in the playground, where the girls gathered to play. We came from all over the world, but my best friends were Americans from the embassy and the Navy. We loved to ride horses at a nearby stable and hang out at the pool at the club. We rode our bikes all over Maadi with no fear. There was a camel station for desert patroling a couple of blocks away and the neighborhood was filled with the sound of donkeys braying as they delivered things to the homes. Some days units of the Egyptian army marched past the school. I wonder what happened to the old campus when the new was built?

I loved CAC; I can't imagine having gone to high school any where else. The teachers were excellent, the students were friendly, and the community was wonderful. I can only hope that my children will have as great a high school experience as I did.

For 3 years I attended the school that I still remember it till now. I lived the inauguration of the high school building and the swimming pool. I remember the old prefab classes and how greatly different the new classes were. I keep remembering the sports activities and especially the 24-hour Marathon.

Dear 60th Anniversary Committee, The moment I saw the CAC campus nine years ago, I knew that my children would love the school. After we met the faculty and administration, we were duly impressed by their enthusiasm and forthcoming spirit. They alleviated our concerns about living in Egypt and helped with our growing fondness of our host country. I can honestly say that if the CAC hadn't existed, we probably wouldn't have accepted this posting. We hope that, in the coming years, CAC will continue to be the great school that it is now.

I remember Kids Day. All the elementary students would would come out and play games, get their faces painted, and we would have a parade around the tracks. My favorite game was the one when everyone got wet -- we threw wet sponges at each other! I miss CAC a lot and I wish I could come back! I love it! Thank you for all the great memories!

I only spent 2 years at CAC,my junior and senior years. I graduated in 1985 and although I was there for only 2 years, I have wonderful memories. CAC had no gates then, we walked in and out as we pleased and anyone from the community could come in as well. It was really a great place to be where education, fun and freedom came together. CAC will always be a great place to be.

Even though I was only at CAC for barely 5 months, I will always remember the things I learned and the people I met. It was definitely an experience.

CAC played a significant part in my life. Coming from a very small town on the coast of Maine, it truly opened my mind and expanded my world view. I'm grateful every day for the experiences I had and the friendships I made at CAC! My mom started the gifted and talented program in the elementary school and then went on to be the reading/resource teacher. One of my greatest memories was the graduation ceremony at the Pyramids - when I share that with people today, they are amazed! It truly has to be one of the most unique among high school graduation ceremonies. My only regret is that I didn't get involved in more activities such as the model UN group. I hope someday to bring my kids to Egypt and share the rich history with them. Thank you to all the excellent teachers and hello to all the people in the class of 1984!