Is There Something In The Water?? (Toledo: high school, college, car)

[grmi66]

Grew up in Toledo, but all of our family hightailed it out of there in the mid-80's so I haven't been back in almost three decades. But I am an active participant on the various high school Facebook groups for my alma mater over at Start High School.

Just this week I saw another two obituaries for fellow classmates and I generally never go longer than a month without seeing another person who is roughly 55 (give or take a few years) who I knew from school that passed. Honestly, is there something in the water or another culprit around West Toledo that caused so many early deaths? One of my slightly older friends who I go hiking with that grew up in NW Ohio told me that by his 40th HS reunion almost 25% of his class was gone.

I contrast that to the cohort of college friends I have here in Arizona that are the same age and over the past few decades I've only lost half a dozen people. Two in the 90's because they were wannabe rock stars that moved to Seattle and OD'd, three to cancer, one got hit by a car while riding his bike and one heart attack so far.