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SSA: Be Aware This Holiday Season
The US Social Security Administration has published the following warnings regarding scams that citizens may encounter during the holidays. We encourage you to share this information with friends and relatives.

Many of us spend the holidays relaxing and sharing in goodwill with friends and family. But some bad actors use the holidays to take advantage of people’s generous spirits. Scammers frequently target the older and other more vulnerable members of our communities. They pretend they are from Social Security or another government agency to steal your money or personal information.

Caller ID, texts, or documents sent by email may look official, but they are not. Fraudsters are calling to verify information about the 2023 cost-of-living adjustment for people who get benefits. Remember, this adjustment is automatic and a beneficiary does not need to verify anything. Social Security won’t ask you to provide information or money to get your benefit increase. Know that how we do business with you doesn’t change because it’s the holidays. We may email or text you about programs and services, but we will never ask for personal information via email or text.

Recognizing the signs of a scam can help you avoid falling victim to one.
  • Scammers primarily use the telephone to contact you but may also use email, text messages, social media, or U.S. mail.
  • Scammers pretend to be from an agency or organization you know to gain your trust.
  • Scammers say there is a problem with your Social Security number or account.
  • Scammers pressure you to act immediately.
  • Scammers tell you to pay in a specific way.


Know what to look for and be alert.
  • Scammers don’t take days off and neither should you… when it comes to making sure you identify suspicious communications and report it. If you receive a questionable call, text, or email, hang up or don’t respond and report it at oig.ssa.gov/report.
  • Scammers frequently change their methods with new tactics and messages to trick people. We encourage you to stay up to date on the latest news and advisories by following SSA’s Office of the Inspector General on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook or subscribing to receive email alerts.


Note that several links with very long URLs intended to let SSA measure or track linkage to their systems and others have been altered or suppressed herein to preserve readers' privacy. —Ed.

Learn More

Coronavirus Update - Please Share

World Coronavirus DashboardSafe Food Handling

UPDATE 30 MARCH 2020 - WA Post reports "President Trump on Sunday extended the social distancing guidance until the end of April. He agreed “right away” to the extension after his task force presented him with data that showed the coronavirus could cause between 100,000 and 200,000 U.S. deaths even with the current guidelines in place, according to Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert."
Spam and our Brothers and Sisters Around the World
We do not send spam, and we wish others would follow the same policy. Unfortunately that is not the case.

We've been bothered since 2010 by someone who sends spurious member registrations to our server, apparently in an attempt to gain some sort of benefit we cannot fathom. No harm is done, and they do not get any benefit, but they keep doing it. Sometimes you'll see their phony names in the New Member list. We delete them as we spot them, but we cannot watch the site 24/7.

Based on the spelling of the phony names, we infer the attacks are coming from Russia. The poor scoundrels are more to be pitied than scorned, as that is apparently their best shot at earning a living. (Russia is, of course, famous for inventing what others have already invented. A 1950s joke said that the most successful Russian inventor was Comrade Reguspatoff. Think about it.) So, Pоссийский Γовноед, иди в жопу!

(If you understand Russian and are not among the culprits, our apologies. Superior culturally aware insults are invited.) -RC
Torch Passed by TC Olympian
Simone Estelle Schaller Kirin (August 22, 1912 – October 20, 2016), who died last week at 104, was an American athlete who competed in two Olympic Games. After the Olympics she married a minor league baseball player and auto mechanic and worked as a food manager at Temple City High School. At the time of her death, she was considered the world's oldest living Olympian.

At the 1932 Summer Olympics, in Los Angeles, Simone Schaller finished 4th in the 80m hurdles event and in 1936, in Berlin, she was eliminated in the semi-finals in the same event. Originally from Connecticut, she moved to California at the age of seven because of her father's asthma. Although she was athletically active during her school days, she had only taken up hurdling three months prior to her 1932 appearance and both of her Olympic placings were disputed at the time.

Schaller tied Babe Didrikson Zaharias for the world record in the first round of the 80-meter hurdles at the 1932 Games. Schaller finished fourth in the final behind Didrikson, who set another record. The Olympic historian David Wallechinsky said that Schaller had taken up hurdling only three months earlier. At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Schaller made it to the semifinals. She had won the hurdles at the 1933 United States championships.

Schaller's son Robert J. Kirin was a member of the Class of 1957. Classmates and other friends may wish to comment below. (Click images for larger formats.)

Obituaries, sources:
Pasadena Star-News
New York Times
The Guardian

(Ed.: This deserves some research to determine the dates Mrs. Kirin worked at TCHS, apparently starting around 1967. Volunteers, please contact the editor. An extended life story appears in Wikipedia. Thanks to Joe Walker for calling this to our attention via Facebook. RC)




FACEBOOK EXCHANGES

Schaller 2



‎Joe Walker‎
to
 You Know You're From Old School Temple City When....
October 26 at 2:25pm ·

I've been reading that Simone Schaller, an Arcadia resident who competed in the 1932 and 1936 Olympics, died at 104 years old at her home. Her Wikipedia page says she worked at a high school in TC. Does her name ring a bell?

Simone Schaller - Wikipedia
Simone Estelle Schaller Kirin (August 22, 1912 – October 20, 2016) was an American athlete who competed in two Olympic Games. At the 1932 Summer Olympics, in Los Angeles, she finished 4th in the 80m hurdles event and in 1936, in Berlin, she was eliminated in the semi-finals in the same event.[1] Ori...
EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG


Diane Markland Tanner I looked her up in the 1964 Templar Annual (on line at Classmates) and there she is with the rest of the Cafeteria Ladies. I never heard about this. It would have been so nice for her to speak at an Assembly sometime about her Olympic experience. I wonder if anyone at TCHS knew.
October 26 at 4:04pm


Rees Clark She's not in the 1960 yearbook cafeteria photo. Keep it up; we can home in on the dates. Since TCHS has no official, comprehensive list of former students, they probably don't have one for staff, either. I agree it was a loss for all that she was not m react-text: 248 ... /react-text See More
October 26 at 5:08pm


Janice Helmer She is listed with 1968 kitchen staff. Says she had two sons, they must have attended TCHS.
October 26 at 5:30pm


Jerry Jambazian She belonged to the Temple City Tennis Club and was an active member until I stopped playing about 8 years ago. I knew her as Simone Kirin at 9636 Ancourt.
October 26 at 4:26pm


Joe Walker Great factoid. You are the first person to say they actually knew her. She was playing tennis until she was in her mid-90's! I sure hope you let her win a few sets... : )
October 26 at 6:59pm


Jerry Jambazian I really feed bad now. Out of sight, out of mind. I always knew she was an Olympian and bragged on her often. Only if I could go back in time I would have encouraged the city to do a story in their Connect Magazine on her accomplishments. One of my favorite sayings is "If you live long enough, life will destroy your trophies".
October 26 at 8:07pm


Kim Sheldon Hurtado I remember her and Im pretty sure I worked with her at The Broadway in Arcadia back in 1974 or 75...very nice lady..
October 26 at 4:38pm


Duffy Brook I just read an interesting interview between her and George Hodak from August, 1988. She went to Monrovia High. She said she had worked in food services at TCHS for 25 years so that means she probably started in 1963. If you want to read it go to Simone Schaller Kirin LA84 Foundation.
October 26 at 5:24pm


Joe Walker Such a shame that the historical society isn't online and doesn't write or publicize this stuff. Her funeral was yesterday. Her neighbors who said she was a great lady didn't even know she died and they are really sad to have missed her funeral.
October 26 at 6:59pm


Jerry Jambazian I am a member of the Historical Society and it is everything they can do to remain a viable organization. They are graying just like our Kiwanis Club. I wish I had the time to help them be a presence in social media and on the internet but I am busy w react-text: 584 ...
October 26 at 7:44pm ·


Elisa Simpson Alcon Yes I remember her she was in charge of the cafeteria. She was react-text: 629 Sherri Reichard M /react-text grandmother neighbor. So sad.
October 26 at 10:19pm


Sherri Reichard M Hi there, you have a great memory!
Yesterday (10/27) at 2:37am


Elisa Simpson Alcon Sherri Reichard remember working at lunch with her and hanging at your gma's. Also remember our hunted house we did
21 hrs


Rees Clark I've done a bit of homework. Son Robert Kirin was TCHS C/57. For you sports fan-historians, she tied Babe Didrikson Zaharias to set an 80m hurdles world record in 1932 prelims; no small feat! More
October 26 at 11:52pm


Rhondie Fernandez Campbell http://www.nytimes.com/.../simone-schaller-hurdler-who...


Simone Schaller, Hurdler Who Competed in 1932 Olympics, Dies at 104
NYTIMES.COM|BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Sherri Reichard M WoW. Good for her. Simone was lovely, AND FIT person.
She was my grandmothers neighbor.Elisa Elisa Simpson Alcon is right. She lived on Ancourt St. She was a tennis player almost daily, she walked across the street to the high school to play an walked react-text: 868 ... /react-text See More
Yesterday at 2:26am


Michael Amodei Unbelievable story. So the real world class athlete at TCHS during that era was not the teenage football player but the humble cafeteria lady who was a world-class Olympian.
Yesterday at 12:20pm


Jan Wolff I grew up as her neighbor, from 1952 when my parents bought a house on Anouurt
22 hrs


Martin Moreno why not somebody keep track of (or shoot a photocopy) of ThisVery set of posts..They just may be the most extensive commemoration this extraordinary lady gets in TC- world outside her family & frinds

Bill Schmidt Remembered
From Peggy Marie, daughter of well respected TC educator Bill Schmidt, comes this item, copied at her suggestion from the Facebook page "You know you're from ... Temple City when..."

January 7 · Edited - For those of you who remember my dad, William (Bill) Schmidt, who was a teacher and principal at Oak Avenue Jr. High and went on to become HR Director for Temple City USD, he passed away December 28, 2014 as a result of complications from a stroke. My brother, Mark Schmidt, passed away about 6 years ago, so it's just my mom and me now. If any of you would like further information, they can ask here or send me a private message.

He did go on as an educator in Lone Pine, Californiia and also Victor Valley, California, but his heart was always in Temple City.
Haiti Earthquake: You can help!
The January 12 earthquake in Haiti has created a humanitarian crisis that may well exceed any such event in the history of the western hemisphere. Even the low estimates of death and suffering are staggering.

Your TCHS Alumni Assn. encourages you to contribute to relief efforts. There are several easy ways to do this:

  • contribute generally to the International Red Cross via the link below; on the RC donation page there is a general fund and a Haiti-specific fund.
  • contribute to the foundation representing the new Haiti Fund established by former presidents Bill Clinton and G.W. Bush.
  • from your mobile phone, send a text message to 90999 with the single word "HAITI" in the message body; your account will be charged $10, which will be included in your next bill; NOTE: this may result in text messages from cell phone advertisers; if this is a concern use another method.
For those able to do so, there is no limit on the number of text messages ($10 bills) you can send or monetary donations you can make.

The alumni assn. will donate half of subscription revenue for the month of January. If every registered member subscribes for $12, we could be able to donate about $10,000.

Caution: Numerous scams have already appeared. Don't compound the tragedy by replying or responding to email or telephone solicitations. Don't click "Donate Now" links in email messages. If you want to donate to an organization, type its website address directly into your Web browser and press Return. Or make a donation by telephone. We vouch for the websites linked from this article.

RC

New Football Coach Recruits Assistants, Schedules Spring Practice
Temple City High School has announced that Anthony White will be the next football coach.

Some 82 prospects have expressed interest in playing next season, not including incoming freshmen. Around 40 players participated recently in weight lifting and an hour of running in an early spring practice.

White has also been busy with building a coaching staff including varsity assistants Addison Hawthorne and Randy Horton. Michael Cable was retained from Randy Backus' staff. Horton will be the strength and conditioning coach at Temple City. Previously, he was an assistant strength and conditioning coach at UCLA.

White also recruited assistants Danny Marquez and David Villareal. They will serve as assistant lineman coaches. They previously played, respectively, at Pasadena City College and West Virginia State.

White hopes to finalize his staff by April 20. Spring practices are slated for May 18.

Read more at Pasadena Star-News

SPAM: Fake Classmates.com mailings
Over the past few days we've received numerous emails purporting to be from Classmates.com. They are spam, but they provide a good lesson in how to spot phony mailings. Usually we wonder why TCHS alumni pay c.com to look at their ads when instead they could help us build a better resource for TC folk. However, here is an example of the recent mailings; there have been other formats.
We are pleased to announce our Class Reunion on January 25, 2009.

Please join us for a night of Glamour and Elegance as we celebrate our 2009 Year Class Reunion.

We don't want to let another year go by without the opportunity for all of us to get together, reminisce about old times and learn about what our old friends have been up to.

Proceed to view Your inbox video messages - 1 message: http://classmates.profile.InterstitialControl.user-c4mbh8c2z. startininstallations.com/ login_video737.htm?/content/LOGIN=m7nffh8cindkqrt

With best regards, Russell Slaughter. Customer Service Department. Copyright 1995-2008 Classmates Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

(Link wraps to accommodate browsers.)

There are several giveaways.

Continues...

Are you OK? San Diego Fires Affect TC Friends
We project that about 350 of our friends and relations plus their families live in the area affected by the current Southern California fires. If you have news affecting TCHS folk, please share it to ease all our minds. (UPDATED 11/4: Also see the Wildfires 2007 album in the Gallery.)

To send news (a) sign in and write a brief news log entry or simply comment on this article; (b) send news via the To The Editor form, designated as a news tip. News stories will be attributed by name and class year, but as always your contact data will be confidential.

We queried the members with SD County zip codes, and a few replies have already come in. We will post any stories we receive.

If you have been affected personally, write and tell us what you need. We will try to hook you up with services. If you can help, tell us that, too.

RC (Updated 10/27; see comments below.)

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