The Class of 1967’s 50th reunion will take place from 5:00pm to midnight, September 30, 2017 at the Costa Mesa Marriott Hotel. The order of events will be cocktails (no host), dinner, live band, dancing and reminiscing.
Cost is $100.00 per person. Dress is casual.
Email us here for ticket order information and form.
We will update this article with comments, and we welcome yours (registration required). See also our Facebook group: temple city high school class of 1967: The Beginning (you’ll need to be a Facebook user and join the group to see all information).
UPDATE: The Class of '97's 20th year reunion will begin at 7:30 pm, September 23, 2017, at Villa Catrina, 251 N. Santa Anita, Arcadia, CA. 91006.
Price of $55.00 per person will include dinner, desert and one drink ticket plus a grab bag. Dress is semi-casual.
Free Parking!
** Please bring I.D. and please contact me via e-mail if you plan on attending but you will be paying at the door . Deadline September 10th.
Make payment via Paypal to: Harmony Plantenga (acct. ID Proudparentofptboyz@gmail.com); or email Harmony Plantenga for alternate payment options. Please pay by August 21 to avoid a higher fee.
This building nearing completion in Temple City has drawn considerable attention on Facebook, etc. Few if any of the comments are complimentary. If you were at this corner, what would you be seeing? Suggestions have included a prison, an office building... Weeping is an acceptable response.
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.)
(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
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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

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
TV station KTLA reports "Victoria Cecilia Castellanos, a senior at Temple City High School, will reign over the 128th Rose Parade. Castellanos, 17, is involved in musical theater, volunteers with animal groups and the American Legion and enjoys creative endeavors like writing short stories, reading and painting.
"Other 'princess' finalists include Maya Kawaguchi Khan, of Arcadia High School; Natalie Rose Petrosian, of La Cañada High School; Audrey Mariam Cameron, of Blair High School; Autumn Marie Lundy, of Polytechnic School; Lauren Emiko Powers, of Arcadia High School; and Shannon Tracy Larsuel, of Mayfield Senior School.
"Castellanos will preside over this year's parade, themed 'Echoes of Success,' and will attend the 103rd Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 2, 2017. The Rose Queen is also expected to make more than 100 other media and community appearances throughout the year," KTLA reported.
TCHS football will benefit from a series of fund-raising activities this fall. Please review the linked events and consider participating, whether or not you live in the area. We will display posters for the next event as they occur.
October 29: Flapjack and Fun
November 11: Deadline for contributing items for Football Yard Sale.
November 12: Football Yard Sale.
Tom Parrington '57 writes: I am writing to let classmates know of the death of my sister, Mary Chandler, nee Marylynne Parrington, who was a member of the class of 1963. She died July 27th in a small plane crash piloted by her son Daniel Kruetzfeldt who also died along with his wife Kristin, Mary's husband Claude Chandler at Columbia Airport near Sonora, California, where they all lived. An obituary was published Aug. 11th in the Union Democrat of Sonora.
We've added a new "reporter" feature to the Member system. We are seeking a class coordinator for every class. The class coordinator can post articles directly into the Alumni Newsletter.
For example, see my profile and its My News Reports feature. Recent articles will be automatically linked in the same part of your profile once published.
Adding an article is really quite easy. Using a simple, self-instructional form you will type or paste a title and a body of text. You can also include a link to additional information elsewhere on the Web, plus a photo. Of course, you can simply use the basic tools, but with a little more training you can also embed videos, more photos and other information, and you can use most of the HTML/CSS tools of ordinary web page layout to have fun with the contents of your article if you like.
Interested? Contact me via the "Write to..." link on my profile for more information.
Martin Moreno and Richard Curtis recently shared this article on Facebook. Author Aram Tolegian of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune has summarized the trials and triumphs since the last TCHS championship in 1986.
The website Backgroundchecks.org nas named Temple City the 48th safest place to live in California in 2016 in a list of 50 among the state's hundreds of communities, saying "Located in the west San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County, Temple City is a diverse community of 35,500 residents. Temple City is both an affordable place to live, by Southern California standards, and a safe place to call home. The violent crime rate is 105.1 (per 100,000 residents), and the chances of being involved in a property crime are under 1%."
IMHO the future of TC looks bright. I hope those of you in So Cal will go and support them. Note announced alumni activity in beer garden Saturday night (beer optional of course).
Here's a link to more activities at the Camellia Festival. Saturday night is the time to reconnect with classmates. This year's festival runs from Friday 2/26 through Sunday 2/28, 2016. Click the adjacent image to display or download the flyer describing a fundraiser event on Friday 2/26.
We have reserved the Santa Anita Room at the Embassy Suites Arcadia for Saturday evening, October 15, 2016 starting at 6:30 p.m. There will be two Happy Hours...one on Friday night from 5 to 7 p.m. (both complimentary to hotel guests) and again on Saturday night from 5 to 7 in the hotel Atrium. The Breakfast Buffet on Sunday morning is also complimentary to hotel guests in the Atrium. Dress is casual...just please come!
You may buy your ticket(s) online at Eventbrite.com (browse for Temple City High School Class of '66 50th Reunion). You may write and submit your autobiography now, even before you get your ticket(s). You will get the best buy on your hotel room at Embassy Suites if you reserve early...we are not reserving any blocks of rooms because we would be liable to pay for them if they went vacant. Remember to use your Senior Citizen discount and you don't have to pay until you arrive. Looking forward to a resounding turnout! You can also find our Classmates on Facebook...look for TCHS Class of '66 Reunion. "Everyone" is there!
Bob Anderson reports: "My sister Jean Anderson (TCHS-65) was born 68 years ago today. She lived in TC from 1949 - 1995 and passed away 1 and a half years ago. Happy Birthday Jean. WE all love you and miss you baby sister. Rest in peace."
Little League District 18 will be offering Batting Clinics for all players 4 thru 18 years of age, Baseball and Softball. The clinics will be held August 17-19 at Temple City National Little League – Millham Field - 6256 Oak Ave., Temple City, CA 91780 (Longden School, corner of Oak and Longden). The clinic will be led in part by former TCHS and professional baseballer Steve de Angelis.
Time is reserved for TC National from 4 to 5:30 PM each day and an open session will be held from 7:45 to 9:15 PM.
There will be 3 classes a day (9 total) with each class comprised of 40-50 kids. Leagues that have expressed an interest in participating have been assigned to a specific day and time. On all days walk-ins are welcome. This clinic differs from all others; parents, managers and coaches are invited to participate in or just watch the training and receive hands on training to the adults on how to teach hitting.
There is no charge to attend these classes.
A friend of TCHS writes, "Looking for my husband's sister. They lost touch after their mom passed a decade ago. Her maiden name is Kimberly Doerr. She married Doug Petersen and last he knew, she resided in Seal Beach, CA. She was a graduate of TCHS. She's 10 years older than my husband so that would put her class of 73 or 74. Would love to reunite them if anyone is in touch. Thanks!!!" -RC (You may reply via To The Editor.)
The TCHS baseball team’s postseason run didn’t quite pan out, as Hemet posted a 2-0 win in the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 championship June 5 at UC Riverside.
As Aram Tolegian reported in the SGV Tribune: "Temple City head coach Rob Nelson said 'I'm so proud of what they accomplished. We weren’t supposed to be here. There’s teams sitting at home tonight who were supposed to be here. This is why you play the game."
TC (18-10) was a wild-card team at the outset of the playoffs after its third-place Rio Hondo League finish. But the Rams managed post-season upsets to reach the finals.
Chris Frans Basham reported the May 30 induction of Steven Lindsey into the Hall of Fame on Facebook. Follow the link below for more information on TCHS' premier astronaut.
Chris says she missed the ceremony but is happy to be pictured next to Lindsey's banner.
According to NASA and Wikipedia, "Lindsey has flown five missions in space for NASA. He served as Pilot of STS-87 (1997) and STS-95 (1998) and Commander of STS-104 (2001), STS-121 (2006) and STS-133 (2011).
STS-87 (November 19 to December 5, 1997) was the fourth U.S Microgravity Payload flight and focused on experiments designed to study how the weightless environment of space affects various physical processes, and on observations of the Sun’s outer atmospheric layers. Two members of the crew performed an EVA (spacewalk) that featured the manual capture of a Spartan satellite, and tested EVA tools and procedures for future Space Station assembly. During the EVA, Lindsey piloted the first flight of the AERCam Sprint, a free-flying robotic camera. The mission was accomplished in 252 orbits of the Earth, traveling 6.5 million miles in 376 hours and 34 minutes.
STS-95 (October 29 to November 7, 1998) was a 9-day mission during which the crew supported a variety of research payloads including deployment and retrieval of the Spartan solar-observing spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test Platform, and investigations on space flight and the aging process. The mission was accomplished in 134 Earth orbits, traveling 3.6 million miles in 213 hours and 44 minutes.
STS-104 (July 12 to July 24, 2001), designated assembly mission 7A, was the 10th mission to the International Space Station (ISS). During the 13-day flight the crew conducted joint operations with the Expedition 2 crew and performed three spacewalks to install the ISS Joint Airlock Quest and to outfit it with four high-pressure gas tanks. In addition to installing and activating the Joint Airlock, the crew also performed the first spacewalk from Quest. The mission was accomplished in 200 Earth orbits.
STS-121 (July 4 to July 17, 2006) was an ISS visit and space shuttle checkout mission. It was the second flight after the Columbia disaster (STS-107) and was considered one of the two Return to Flight test missions before resumption of normal shuttle operations. Lindsey served as mission commander on the flight.
STS-133 (February 24 to March 9, 2011) was the last flight for Space Shuttle Discovery.
A veteran of five space flights, Lindsey has logged over 1500 hours in space."
Karen Hornback Goldsmith reports that Thomas Nelson Ross '56 has died. He passed away on May 22, 2013, at the age of 73. He was a resident of Dallas, TX for the last 30 years and lived a comfortable life with his long time love, Earlene and their two dogs.
Tom was born Oct 20, 1939 in Darby, PA, the oldest child of Thomas and Margaret Ross. Tom grew up in Temple City, CA and graduated from the local high school in 1956. He attended Pasadena City College and then earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic Engineering from Cal Poly College, Pomona.
Tom spent 40 plus years in the electronics and telecommunications industry, most notable as a sales rep for Larscom, Inc. He began his career at the age of 18 as an electronics technician at JPL, Pasadena working on the Explorer 1 satellite program.
After retiring in 1999, Tom spent much of his time traveling the world with Earlene. He also enjoyed spending the summer months in Newport Beach, CA and golfing with family and friends. Tom was an avid reader and had an encyclopedic knowledge of all things World War II.
Tom is preceded in death by his parents and brother, Douglas. He is survived by the love of his life, Earlene Horvath; his brother, Barry of Los Angeles; his sister, Pamela, of AZ and four nieces and four nephews. Tom will always be remembered for his quick wit, generosity towards others and his sincere compassion for all things living.
TCHSophiles will note that the class of 1956 was the first to graduate from the Lemon Avenue campus.
From our Dead Presidents file: After about an hour on Ancestry.com last fall, I confirmed that Temple City founder Walter Pablo Temple’s father, F.P.F. Temple, was the son of Jonathan Temple and Lucinda Parker (1779-1856), who was the daughter of Caleb Parker and Hannah Garfield (1750-1816), who was the daughter of Thomas Garfield 1713-1774.
That same Thomas Garfield was also the father of Solomon Garfield (1743-1807, cousin of Hannah), who was the father of Thomas Garfield (1773-1801, who was the father of Abram Garfield (1799-1833), who was the father of James Abram Garfield (1831-1881), who was the 20th and the last “log cabin” president of the United States.
Thus, if Ancestry.com and its members are to be believed, Walter P. Temple was Pres. Garfield’s third cousin. Of course, Garfield is better known to history as a target than a president (see Wikipedia). He died from complications of a gunshot wound in 1881 after serving less than a year.
Had anyone kept track, we might all have attended Garfield High School!
BTW, Pres. Garfield's wife Lucretia died in South Pasadena in 1918, so the SG Valley connection went beyond ancestry.
And BTW, the little leaves in the graphic are the same ones advertised on TV by Ancestry.com, so if any of our readers are Ancestry nerds, they might like to check my work and fill in the gaps, or, of course, refute and chastise me. :-)
(This item is revised from an earlier report elsewhere on the 'net.)
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.
TCHS Alumni Assn. will be recruiting registrants during the open reunion Feb 21 at Temple City Park (Las Tunas at Kaufmann). We'll be hanging out near the libary entrance from 7 to 10 PM (Mom insists we be home early). If the reunion organizers have a welcome booth, we'll try to piggy-back there.
Our registration list now includes about ten percent of all former students (even the HS administration does not know how many students have actually enrolled). We hope to achieve a major increment during the festival. If you wish to share the experience (shades of 1969), we will allow second-party registrations just this once, so bring your contact list.
You can also enroll via the Join link at the top of any page.
While you're thinking about TCHS, this is also probably a good time for registered members to update their contact data.
Building on seminal work at a related Facebook site, we are working on a new tool to enable reporting the deaths of alumni. Enrolled users may submit reports with name, class year and other information and may comment on notices. As new reports are received we will post them in interim status until confirmed. A hard copy of the list will be available later. Only enrolled members may post and retrieve this information.
Watch for this new feature in late February or March 2015.
A group of alumni have organized an all-class reunion to be held 7-10 PM, Saturday, February 21, at Temple City Park (Kaufmann at Las Tunas). If you're there 4:30 to 9 PM Friday you can also hit the Food Truck. Click the adjacent icons to enlarge the flyers with more information. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Your correspondent met with several old friends and acquaintances and met some new ones, too. All in all, the event seemed to be a success and bears repeating. -RC
Due to renewed interest, this is a re-post of an article from the original version of the TCHS site from July 9, 2002.
Ward Kimball, one of Temple City's most famous residents and an icon of the animated film industry, has died at age 88.
One of Walt Disney's core group of animators known as the "nine old men," Kimball participated in the development of both Walt Disney Productions and the Temple City Schools.
At Disney, he was credited with the transformation of Mickey Mouse into his modern rounder, jollier personna. He crafted the lovable Jimminy Cricket for Pinocchio and won academy awards in 1956 (Man in Space) and 1969 (It\'s Tough to be a Bird).
During the 1940s and 50s, he contributed to the life of TC as a participant in community theatrical and musical events. Despite his fame, he was not above being the target of on-stage humor. The Kimball home was best known locally for the full scale railroad that lies perpendicular to Ardendale St.
Kimball wrote and directed a trilogy for the "Disneyland" television series. The programs, "Man in Space," "Man and the Moon," and "Mars and Beyond" are often credited with popularizing the concept of the government's space program during the 1950s.
The Firehouse Five Plus Two dixieland jazz band with Kimball on trombone was considered "our own" by TC residents of the 1950s. The group performed at many local events over the years, while earning national recognition for its joyful style.
Kimball is survived by his wife of 66 years, Betty; three children, John Kimball, Kelly Kimball and Chloe Lord; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Kelly, John and Chloe are all TCHS graduates.
(You can add your own memory of Ward Kimball in the Comments below. --Ed.)
I will track down and re-post the original comments. (See also this post.)
Robins Nest Poultry was an early business in what became Temple City. Here is a summary biography of proprietor George Robins, who served on the South Santa Anita Schools board at the time the first South Santa Anita School (later Longden School) was built. Click the image to expand the biography, originally published in an LA County business history journal.
Appended is a copy of the original request for proposals for the construction of Longden. It calls for a smaller building than the one most readers of this site will recall. It is up to you, dear reader, to find out the ensuing sequence of construction and growth.
Notes: For those of tender years, "South Santa Anita" became Temple City in 1923, and "Sunset Boulevard" became Temple City Boulevard in the mid-1950s. (One might assume Gloria Swanson could not stand the competition, but in reality there was a countywide effort to eliminate duplicate street names.)
Pomona police SWAT officer Shaun Diamond, TCHS 1987, who was shot while serving a search warrant in San Gabriel has died of his injuries, authorities said, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times October 29.
"It is with a heavy heart that we must deliver the news that early this morning Pomona police SWAT Officer Shaun Diamond had succumbed to his injuries," the Pomona Police Department said in a statement Wednesday.
The mother of slain Pomona SWAT officer Shaun Diamond remembers him as a loving son who was "my hero."
Diamond, 45, was hospitalized early Tuesday October 28 at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena after authorities said he was shot ... during a predawn search warrant operation that was part of a investigation into a motorcycle gang.
In the predawn hours Wednesday, dozens of officers escorted Diamond's body from the hospital to the Los Angeles County coroner's office near downtown Los Angeles.
Diamond was a 16-year law enforcement veteran, having also served with the LAPD and Montebello police. He joined the Pomona police in 2006 and was a member of the SWAT team since 2008.
His mother, Joy Diamond, told KTLA that he was steady, reliable and kind-hearted despite cutting an imposing figure.
He also worked in police outreach efforts at Special Olympics events and participated in SWAT demonstrations for schoolchildren.
"He was supposed to fix my car today. I can’t imagine life, I can’t image Christmas or Thanksgiving...." she said. "We’re lucky to have him as long as we did, and I have to hang on to that, " his mother Joy Diamond said.
Diamond is the fourth law enforcement officer in California to be killed in the line of duty in less than a week.
A suspect arrested at the scene was due in court October 29.
The recent Michael Brown affair in St. Louis has reminded me of a similar earlier event. In 1977 a high school classmate of mine named Ron Burkholder was shot and killed by an LA police officer after being confronted for bizarre behavior, namely running naked through the street and playing Don Quixote at the mill, tilting in this case at a phone booth. At least one witness said he had his hands up when the cop fired.
Ron was the classic high school intellectual. Quiet, speaking mainly only to the other bright boys. I cannot remember his non-academic interests. He earned a scholarship to Johns Hopkins. He walked away from his high school graduation over some petty nonsense with a petty administrator, his scholarship having obviated the need for a diploma.
He later graduated in chemistry according to online sources (I never saw him after HS). He had various research interests, apparently including the wonderful world of recreational chemistry, which perhaps contributed to his tragic end, given the testimony of his behavior that night.
The affair led to considerable public outcry, and the city police and many other agencies were forced to change their use of force policies as a result.
One Richard Cohen produced a documentary of the event in 1980 (http://www.richardcohenfilms.com/deadly_force.htm). The excerpts are eerily evocative of the past month in MO; only the races are changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.
It’s interesting how the news media, who are of course now made up of people younger than the event, have not made the connection. I asked around among people I know who knew him, and even some classmates are unaware of it.
If you're interested, a Google search on "ron burkholder lapd deadly force policy jerry brown william gates" will give you a good starting point.
Need a role model for your kids? Here's a little something TCHS graduates can do.
Steve Lindsey '78 was the commander of STS Mission 133 as the shuttle program wound down. Shuttle Discovery now resides at its new permanent home, the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington, DC.
For more on Discovery see Wikipedia. For more on Steve Lindsey's current activities go here.
A new album containing views of the TC school campuses has been added to the image gallery. It is intended as the nucleus of a history of the school district, which oddly is not part of the district's own web efforts.
You can contribute. Send scans of the schools to the editor, along with a concise description of the image, its source and any story you care to tell. We will post your contribution "in the fullness of time" for the enjoyment of fellow alumni. As the number of images grows we will break out the individual schools into their own albums.
Thanks for your continuing interest and participation.
The tenure and seniority system that has long protected California public school teachers, even ineffective ones, was struck down Tuesday in a court decision that could change hiring and firing policies nationwide. The 16-page decision ends the process of laying off teachers based solely on when they were hired, according to a recent article in the LA Times.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu (TCHS '66) said that the laws governing job security were unconstitutional because they harmed predominantly low-income, minority students by allowing incompetent instructors to remain in the classroom.
The protections "impose a real and appreciable impact on students' fundamental right to equality of education," he wrote. "The evidence is compelling. Indeed, it shocks the conscience."
Article continues in the LA Times.
Have you or one of your classmates made the news pages? If so, send details and a link to the editor.
Sue Sasse Peer '74 writes: "The reservation list is ever-growing! It looks like this beach party will be a smashing success!! There are still some reservations available. So, if you would like to join us on 6/21, please contact me, asap, so we can hold a spot for you.
"As many from the 60s classes have shown interest, and since the original deadline has passed, we will open the remaining reservations to all classes from 1960-1979. Please note, however, reservations are now very limited! So, if you are interested in coming please write me, so you can claim a spot! "
For those of you who were present at the creation, I found the following in the archive of The Santa Barbara News Press, dated June 13, 2012:
Former Santa Barbara resident, Arthur H. North, 97, died June 8, 2012, at his home in San Jose, California.
Mr. North was born September 8, 1914, in Moline, Illinois, to Clarence and Ila North. He attended Whittier College, as well as UCLA and USC, and earned his Masters Degree in Education Administration.
Mr. North married Alice Campbell in October of 1939. He worked throughout Los Angeles and Santa Barbara as a teacher, coach, vice-principal, principal and associate superintendent. Mr. North was respected and admired by all who knew him, especially the students who had the privilege of being coached or mentored by him. To this day, the football field of Temple City High School (North Field), is named in his honour. He retired in 1975 from the position of Associate Superintendent of the Santa Barbara City School District.
He is survived by his wife of 73 years, Alice; son, Scott, daughter, Shelley Smith; and, numerous grand-, great-grand-, and great-great-grandchildren.
Hail and farewell! I will dig out a photo asap. RC
Julie Byron reports: I just found out that my cousin, Doug Powell, 1968 graduate of TCHS, passed away last Tuesday (4/15/14) after surgery. Doug had been having some health issues the past few years... He had surgery last Friday and was released on the Saturday preceding his death. He and his wife were living in Magalia, CA. No further information is available at this time.
The TCHS marching band, "The Pride of TC," will be part of the 2015 Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena January 1. The band is seeking financial support for the event and for general development. If you wish to help, follow the link at the end of this article or click the adjacent image for a larger view.
The band has made several previous appearances in the Rose Parade, starting in the later 1950s under the direction of Ben Godfrey, its first director. This would be a good time to sign in and post your own stories by adding comments to this article.
The class of 1964 has scheduled a reunion for October 14. The venue is Santa Anita Golf Course, which in "the olden days" was along Huntington Drive in Arcadia. Of course, they may have moved it since we were last there. We look forward to updates on reunion details, but in the meantime, follow the link below.
Sue Sasse Peer and other Seventies Survivors are organizing a beach party to be held from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM June 21 at Doheny Beach Park in Orange County. CORRECTION: Note the correct date for the event is JUNE 21, not July as previously reported.
Cost $25/person non-refundable covers site rental, insurance and other expenses. Only 500 tickets will be sold. Parking $15/vehicle paid at venue.
Prepay via Paypal (seller = tchs70sbeachbash@gmail.com) or mail check payable to Susan Peer to TCHS 70s Beach Bash, 603 Seagaze Dr #244, Oceanside CA 92054. Please include mailing address, email, phone number, maiden name if applicable, and graduation year with payment.
We've been busy. We have tweaked the layout of the home page and made changes to personal journaling.
Our newly revised Journal feature now incorporates the former Updates; we are working on an expanded article creation form with image and miscellaneous uploads. You will be able to edit your updates and attach a news article complete with embedded graphics and hypertext links.
The home page reflects this increased emphasis on reporting by members. Additional links and home page content are in the planning and development process.
We welcome your comments and opinions (use To The Editor to send messages).
A so-called "History of TC" on the city's website contains several half truths that should be corrected. The document, which has circulated on many venues for years, has become an embarrassment, but it just won't go away. (See the link below.) I recently wrote to the City Clerk and Council including the following (slightly revised here).
Paragraph three: The route from Texas to Los Angeles does not lead through Cajon Pass but through San Gorgonio Pass via Palm Springs, Beaumont, Redlands, etc.
Paragraph four: By 1841, the year of the Temple and Workman arrivals, the government of California was Mexican, not Spanish, and had been so since the revolution of 1821. All church lands in Mexican territory were expropriated by the Mexican revolutionary government shortly after the revolution. The missions were closed and fell into disrepair until restoration efforts in the 20th Century. Most land titles in TC reference the 'ex-Mission San Gabriel Archangel.' As this expropriation was also true in Texas, Workman and Rowland may have come to California knowing of the opportunity to obtain former church lands.
The 'Spanish' references originate not in history but in past racism, which was refined for California in part by the publication of Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona in the 1880s, which romanticized local history in part out of her revulsion over mistreatment of minorities by the Anglo population of California. It was more acceptable among Anglos to be fair 'Spanish' than dark 'Mexican,' a type of bias that continues to the present day (choose your minority). Hollywood followed suit, despite which we can all be well assured that the wives of Workman, Rowland and Temple did not closely resemble Gene Tierney or Catherine Zeta-Jones.
I urge you to remove the old fantasy history, which has persisted for the decades since I was a child in TC, and replace it with writings more closely describing reality.
Rees Clark
Resident, 1947-65
TCHS graduate, 1960
City employee and school playground recreation leader, 1961-63
Founder & Editor, TCHS Alumni News (http://tchsalumni.org)
Fan of TC, lifelong"
The Class of 1963 has scheduled a reunion for the weekend of October 4-6. We received notice late; here is contact info: Duffy Brook, 52 Chapital, San Clemente, CA 92672; duffyb345@yahoo.com; (949) 218-6408. Summary information follows. Use the linked registration form to reconnect. (Note the deadline is September 16.)
Temple City High School
Class of 1963 • 50th Year Reunion
October 4-6, 2013
Agenda
Friday, October 4
Reception – 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm Shorecliffs Beach Club – If you are planning to join us, you will need a parking permit to avoid having your car towed away. You will receive a parking permit when you turn into the parking lot. Look for Green and Gold Balloons and a person holding a TCHS sign. Please indicate on the reservation form if you will be joining us for the reception. The Shorecliffs Beach Club has limited accessibility for handicapped individuals. The cost for the Reception is $5 per person which includes pizza and refreshments. Please contact Cheryl Powitzky at (949) 481-1410 (Skype available) or email her. See Map for directions to Shorecliffs Beach Club. Dress is beach casual.
If you choose to do Dinner on your own or group with others: See Trip Advisor for restaurants in Dana Point, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. Suggestion – group up and pick a local eatery (many to choose from at Dana Point Harbor, downtown San Clemente and San Clemente Pier area).
Saturday, October 5
Breakfast
Cheryl Hendrix Powitzky is offering Brunch at her home from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Her address is 2711 Via Bandita, San Clemente, CA 92672. Again, please RSVP to Cheryl to let her know how many to expect. (See contact information for Cheryl above.)
Other Breakfast options -
Dana Point Harbor offers many choices
In Dana Point – Harbor Café or Stack’s Pancake House on PCH.
In San Clemente – Antoine’s Café on Camino Real (PCH) downtown SC; Garden Cafe – at the Pier; Adele’s Café – at old Western White House (I-5 Calafia St. Off ramp)
During the Day
Dana Point Harbor is a local attraction.
Historic San Juan at the Train Depot
San Clemente Pier and Beach Walk (North Beach to Pier 1.2 mi)
For our 46th Reunion, we did not plan for activities on Sunday, getaway day. As a result, an impromptu breakfast came about and a number of couples ended up having breakfast at the municipal golf course. Everyone who participated said this was a great way to end the weekend.
This year, we are going to offer a Sunday Brunch at the Bella Collina Towne and Golf Club (10:00am-1:00pm). It will be a buffet style breakfast featuring scrambled eggs, cinnamon brioche French Toast, bacon, sausage, potatoes, sweet rolls and beverage for $16 per person (tax and gratuity included).. The breakfast is subject to a minimum participation, so we will need to have reservations in advance. Should the minimum participation (50) not be met, your deposit will be returned to you.
Hotels / Motels
Cheryl contacted three locals hotels and reserved a block of ten rooms/suites at
a discounted rate. Tell them you are with the Temple City High School Reunion group.
Marriott Residence Inn, 33711 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. This is a relatively new hotel built three years ago, and is located on a hill overlooking the Doheny Beach and harbor. The guaranteed rate per night is $156 for a studio suite (normal rate for a suite is $199 per night). Complimentary full hot breakfast, pool and spa. For reservations call Marriott (800) 331-3131 or (949) 443-3600 on or before 9/13/2013.
Holiday Inn Express, located at 35 Via Pico Plaza, San Clemente. The guaranted rate is $109 per night. Also offers complimentary hot breakfast, pool and spa.For reservations call (800) 874-0860 or (949) 498-8800 on or before 9/15/2013.
Hampton Inn, (owned by Hilton) located at 2481 S. El Camino Real San Clemente, CA 92672. Their normal seasonal rate for a standard room is $159. The guaranteed discounted rate is $129 per night. This includes wireless internet access, complimentary parking, complimentary “on the house full hot buffet breakfast, heated outdoor pool and spa. For reservations call (949) 366-1000 with ID = Temple City High School Reunion-50th.
San Clemente and Dana Point are popular summer resort areas offering many choices for lodging. (Links go to each city.) Your choices range from $300 per night (the Marriott Resort in Dana Point Harbor), St Regis Hotel, and Four Seasons Hotels down to the Best Western and Comfort Suites, etc. at $90 per night.
Remember – If you have a Camper or RV, Doheny State Beach has reasonable overnight rates.
Kathy Keithley and Brad Fagan have organized a Class of '78 reunion combined with all-class open celebration for September 21. Kathy writes...
"The event will take place from 2:00PM to 10:00PM at The Boat - 7215 N. Rosemead, San Gabriel, CA (SW corner of Huntington Drive). We have worked with Drew, the GM to have TCHS-specific drinks and special appetizer pricing. We also have a facebook link: (see below).
As of this writing, we have 670 invited, 105 maybe, and 86 going (as of 8/23) - so it should be a blast! Please let us know through fb if you will be joining us.
UPDATE: The 3rd 60s Party has been canceled, as no committee or chairperson stepped into the fray, according to Marianne Whyte. Now's your chance, fun fans, there might yet be hope if you're the one. RC
Earlier this month, Marianne Whyte '66 wrote,
Hello everyone, I hope that you are all well—
The 1st Annual TCHS 60s PARTY aboard the Hornblower in Newport Beach, and last year's TCHS 60s Party at The Landing Restaurant were so much FUN!!! And, it has been so great to reconnect with everyone! Thank you to all who attended for helping make the events such a success!
Due to work commitments with my Real Estate business I will be unable to organize the TCHS 60’s Party this August. (Yes, I know, initially last year I said the same thing—but this year it’s really true!). If someone else wants to step up and Chair the event this year, please let me know. We already have three volunteers to be on the committee—Dick Curtis '62, Linda Whyte Tindell '63, and April Phillips Lancaster '66—but none of them has the time to Chair the event. There must be one talented person who would be an excellent Committee Chairperson—someone who is computer savvy, organized, detail-oriented, and has the time to devote to being in charge of organizing the event!!! So—is anyone out there willing to step up? Help is available from the committee and from the alumni association news pages.
Unfortunately we have lost several of our classmates and/or spouses since we began our get-togethers two years ago, and it would be sad to let time go by without seeing our friends again. If we cannot find a chairperson promptly, hopefully we can have another event soon.
Please remember to go on to Facebook and type in “TCHS 60s Party” at the top and “Like” the page if you have not already done so. Feel free to make comments and or upload photos, so that we can keep the page ACTIVE until the next event!
We currently have approximately 800 email addresses for the Classes of '60 to '69. We are missing ’68 altogether. Approximately 4,000 people graduated in those classes. If you know of someone who may not know about this effort, please pass the word or send me their contact information. Or, anyone with more complete class email lists who would be willing to share them with us… we would be extremely grateful!!! Information can be found in the news at TCHS Alumni News, too.
All the best to you—stay in touch—and let's see if we can find the perfect person to chair the TCHS 60's Party event this year!!!
Warmly,
Marianne
(Marianne's monthly Real Estate eNewsletter, “The Whyte Report.” If you are not yet receiving the newsletter and would like to do so—please let her know. Contact Marianne through her alumni listing <a href="">here</a>
We've recently learned of the passing of Bob Bender '56. Well known in the community while a student, Bender became a physician and led an interesting life personally and professionally, according to several correspondents. A memorial service is planned for Saturday March 23, 2013 12:30 PM, at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, 4201 Eucalyptus, Chino, CA. The following obituary was provided by the family.
Robert I. Bender, born on September 20, 1938 in Downey, CA to Blaine and Helen Bender, passed away at his home in South Lake Tahoe, CA on Friday, March 8, 2013. Bob grew up in Temple City, CA with his siblings Darryl and Cheryl, attended Temple City schools, where he starred in football and basketball for the Temple City High School Rams.
He graduated from Whittier College with his Bachelor’s Degree and went on to receive his Medical Doctorate at the University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine. He served 4 years in the United States Air Force as a Captain, Flight Surgeon and practiced medicine in Whittier and La Habra, CA. In 2007, he left Diamond Bar and moved to his vacation home in South Lake Tahoe after retiring from medical practice. A former owner of Camp Richardson Marina, Bob has been a long time member of South Lake Tahoe community after purchasing a ‘get-away’ home there in 1973.
Dr. Bob is survived by his wife Robin, his daughter Samantha and son Robert Spencer, his son Randy and his wife Yolanda, daughter Tiffani Calvert and her husband Chris, daughter Kari Deol and her husband Steven, sister Cheryl Millham and her husband Tom and brother Darryl and his wife Beverly. Bob has 7 grandchildren, 4 nieces and 1 nephew. A loving husband, father, brother, uncle, grandpa, friend and physician, Bob will be truly missed by all who knew him.
A memorial service is planned in his honor Saturday March 23, 2013 12:30 PM, at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, 4201 Eucalyptus, Chino, CA.
An open house will be held in South Lake Tahoe in April. Details to follow.
In lieu of flowers, a special fund has been set up for the minor children, Samantha and Spencer: Dr. Bob Bender Memorial Fund c/o El Dorado Savings Bank, 942 Emerald Bay Road, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
Penny Thorndyke Egan '70 has informed us of the untimely death of her brother Phil Thorndyke of the Class of 1960, who passed away September 5 after a brief illness.
In 2004 in connection with the 50th anniversary of the TC Unified School District, Thorndyke was honored by a select committee as the outstanding graduate of the first 50 years. He was also an aeronautical engineer, working for Convair and others in San Diego. He resided in Encinitas.
Thorndyke is survived by four siblings, Judy, James, Earl and Penny, all of whom attended TCHS.
UPDATE: A memorial service for Phil will be held at 1:00 pm, Sunday, October 28, 2012, at Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park, 6200 Flying Leo Carrillo Lane, Carlsbad, CA 92009. More information: 760-476-1042.
Judy Million Pirrie '60 reports: Jean Million Leanos of the class of "64 passed away on August 12, 2012. Jean was born in Belleville, Illinois, but the family moved to Temple City in 1955 and Jean started 4th grade at Longden School. At Temple City High she was a member of the 4 Temple Bells plus concert choir and women's choir.
After graduating she went to beauty school and eventually opened her own shop. She mainly worked with wigs, and when a cancer patient would come in to try on wigs or have one styled, she would close her shop so they would have privacy.
She married Frank Leanos in 1992 and they lived in San Dimas. Jean and Frank loved to travel. They have cruised all over the world and have driven to almost all 50 states. In August she suffered a massive heart attack at home and was gone almost instantly.
Jean is survived by her Husband Frank Leanos, her mother Mary Million, her Sister Judy Million Pirrie class of '60, her niece Debbie Pirrie Silver class of '81 and niece Jennifer Pirrie Casy class of '91 plus her cousins and grand nieces and nephews. Jean was laid to rest at Rose Hills, Whittier.
We have suddenly received a bunch of messages to members, ostensibly from other members, that contain the old "Nigerian scam" in which a foreign "representative" suggests depositing a large sum of money into a US account in exchange for temporary deposit access. The goal is access to the account, which can then be stripped of funds and potentially used as the basis for further identity theft. Beware!
UPDATE 3/15: We've traced the bogus messages to someone who actually took the trouble to register falsely as an alumnus. They're coming from an Internet cafe in Africa. That only works when other members don't call them on it. Please notify the editor of specific messages.
Of course, we're working on the security issue. We will update this article when we have more information.
Sorry for offense to the 100 million honest Nigerians, but the thieves among them who send this garbage deserve their ignominy, and their government does little or nothing to stop it.
We can take some alumni pride in the accomplishments of the current generation and their teachers. TCHS has placed 209th among 1,100 schools in the USA in the 2011 edition of Newsweek's annual survey.
Check out (click) the graphic to find 98% graduating, 96% headed for college with SAT scores above 1600 on average (most colleges will kill to get such students.)
Each school’s score is comprised of six components: graduation rate (25%), college matriculation rate (25%), AP tests taken per graduate (25%), average SAT/ACT scores (10%), average AP/IB/AICE scores (10%), and AP courses offered (5%).
About 1,00 schools submitted data for consideration. There are somewhere between 15,000 and 19,000 high schools in the US, variously defined according to whether they offer 3, 4 or 6 years of study and other criteria.
Congrats to TCHS!
(It would have been nice if someone had called our attention to this. Time to compile this item: 15 minutes. If you have 15 minutes per month or less, you could be a TCHS Alumni reporter. Interested? Write to the editor.)
We're adding links to regional online news sources. Watch for a more comprehensive list, but for now click the following link to the LA Times. In the first item we found, (Kids' Riddles), Sebastian, 12, of Emperor Elementary asks, "What music did the Pilgrims like?" and answers, "Plymouth Rock!" (You saw it here first, friends!)
Ken Knollenberg, Bob Ridley and Kien Tiet were sworn in as members of the Board of Education for the Temple City Unified School District on Dec. 7. Bob Ridley, originally elected to the Board in 2007, begins his second term.
No doubt in theaters soon. The LA Times reported this week...
"Cities across the suburban San Gabriel Valley remained crippled Thursday night, with city officials warning that fallen trees and branches may not be cleared for up to four days.
Along Live Oak Avenue in Temple City, Brian Haworth, assistant to the city manager, said there were 14 downed power lines and split poles between Primrose and Baldwin avenues.
"We have power lines hanging in the middle of the street," Haworth said. Fallen trees still blocked access to roads.
The cities of Alhambra, South Pasadena, Pasadena, San Marino, San Gabriel, Temple City, Sierra Madre, Monrovia, Glendora and Arcadia have all declared states of emergency, along with Los Angeles County.
The problem with putting the power back on in Temple City is that Southern California Edison crews haven't yet been able to scour every single area to find downed lines, Haworth said. If the electric grid is turned on without a thorough search, it could risk someone getting electrocuted from a live wire.
Temple City's business district on Las Tunas was also without power, and Edison was preparing to erect portable lights on streets for illumination A Ralphs supermarket was hurriedly trying to sell ice and eggs early Thursday. About 30 homes were damaged in Temple City, and up to 200 trees toppled.
With so much tree debris, Haworth said, he hopes that roads and driveways would be cleared by Monday. The city is also asking for increased patrol by sheriff's deputies.
And with a section of the city without running water – possibly because water pumps require electricity -- Los Angeles County fire crews brought in mobile water tanks, just in case. Much of Los Angeles County is a red flag warning, conditions that could easily cause a wildfire."
A 50th Reunion of the Classes of 1961 and 1962 will be held on the weekend of September 15-16, 2012, according to Richard Curtis '62, committee chairman for the event.
Location
The main reunion event will be held at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, 1107 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach, California, 92660; 949-729-1234, from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM on Saturday September 15. It will feature a buffet dinner and the companionship of the friends of your youth. Dress will be "dressy casual."
Sunday Post-Reunion Picnic
Because we recognize that there is never enough time at the evening reunion event to talk to all the people from your past that you would like to catch up with, we are planning to hold a picnic/beach party on Sunday, September 16, probably between the hours of 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM at a public park near the hotel. The specific location will not be known until approximately March 15 due to the time frame for making reservations for park space in the City of Newport Beach. We are hoping to secure one of the two parks at the beach on the Balboa Peninsula. Watch this page for further information throughout the rest of 2011-2012 leading up to the reunion.
Those of you who will be traveling to the reunion from some distance, please make travel plans to allow you to attend the Sunday event as well as the Saturday reunion. The committee is looking for volunteers to help organize the Sunday event. Please use the e-mail address at the bottom of this page to reach the committee.
Staying in Touch
There are several options:
Register here at TCHS Alumni News (Join). Contact information will be held confidential generally but will be shared with the reunion committee. (More)
Fill out the information on the GR page, where you will also find a link to the Hyatt's site where you can register for rooms at a reduced rate. [Notice]
Send info to the committee organizers.
Help us find lost friends!
Use the Lost Members link on the reunion's Event Page. (More info on this after Thanksgiving 2011.)
You can also use the links on the reunion page to provide updated contact information for anyone else you know in either of the two classes. When you enter your own contact information or that of others, please send a copy of that information to the committee here.
Your Committee
1961: Linda Skelley Kerkow, Janice Yenglin Wolff, Anne Seeger Beveridge.
1962: Nancy Harp Broadhag, Sharyn Thompson Nelson, David Blakesley.
Committee Chair: Richard Curtis
* Members of TCHS Alumni News Assn. have e-mail contact with other TC alums without having to reveal your e-mail address. Once you are registered using your actual e-mail address it will not be revealed on the site but the site will forward to your e-mail address all messages left for you on the site. Please visit the alumni site at least once a year to keep your registration active. And by all means, whenever you change your primary e-mail address include the alumni site among those you notify of the change so that your messages can continue to reach you. (Privacy policies of the alumni site do not apply to third parties like the reunion planner or hotel.)
We've acquired the domain TCHSALUMNI.COM and made it a synonym for our usual .org domain. Now you can type either name into your browser and get the same result.
We're hopeful the change will make our site more discoverable. This would be a good time for you to invite missing friends to register. You can use the simple form linked at the left side of any news page.
We've now had 1,318,295 page views since we last initialized the counter in 2009. The tally then stood at a similar number, and even more have delved into the archive of the old original platform. Thank you!
(PS: If you came here looking for Tuscaloosa County High School Alumni Assn., our web hosts have a swell platform for alumni sites.)
The Class of 1966 is planning its 45th Reunion to be held on Saturday, October 22, 2011 at the Embassy Suites in Arcadia. Tickets are $75.00 per person. Dress is California Casual.
To attend please write to the organizers with the number of persons including yourself who will be attending. If you cannot come, please respond anyway to confirm your address for later events and activities.
Reservations may also be made here on the TCHS Alumni website. Just sign in and indicate that you will be attending and the number of guests you will invite. This site feature is still under construction, so if you find a problem, just write as in the prior paragraph.
More information will be forthcoming later on room reservations and/or deals.
Also, we are looking for a few good men and women who will help out with finding former classmates; a list of the Lost is linked from the event page.
Suggestion for members: Please sign in and update your personal profile. The organizers will use the information there to help plan activities.
The adjacent photo shows former choir teacher Roger Lockie and some of our classmates at a recent event.
We sent out a message earlier this week to alumni in MO, AR, and OK asking whether they were caught in the storm cycle that did so much damage in those states. I'm posting their replies. You can also comment below while signed in.
Judy Million Pirrie '60: "Hi! Boy last week was hard on the nerves,. Tues. we were told to sleep in the basement as twisters were expected during middle of night. Then Wed. in Independence we sat in the basement while the sirens went off. Weather dept. takes over TV and you watch the tornado travel and they tell you second by second where it is and where it will be unless it changes course. I'll take CA earthquakes before tornado, Hardly any one in Joplin had basements; dirt has lots of Ozark rock. But still those that did didn't all make it out alive."
The fourth annual TCHS Class of '62 Golf Tournament and poker weekend was celebrated the Weekend of April 29-30. This year the golf teams were divided up between The Rejects of SGV Car club vs. The Tahitians Car Club; the Rejects walked off with the "Ugly Trophy."
In the picture: front row, l-r: Tom Adams, Bill Gorisek, Corky Fontana, Mark Pocino, Rich Borger, Ron Fazzi. Back Row, l-r: Chuck Howarth, Dick Swan, Joe Terry, Roger Gould, John Laur, Gary Skelley.”
We've learned from Rocky Curtiss '61 that former TCHS track coach Grant Murray Gaunce Jr., 81 of La Costa, California, died Tuesday, November 23, 2010. Gaunce was track coach and taught other courses at TCHS in the 1950s and '60s.
Grant was born to the late Grant Murray Gaunce Sr. and LaRue Dunlap Gaunce on October 16, 1929 in Los Angeles, California. Grant grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Santa Barbara in 1953, where he also played football for the Gaucho's. He stayed on at UCSB while obtaining his teaching credential he coached football for the Gauchos before moving to Temple City.
A teacher for over 30 years, Gaunce taught and coached athletics and was a Head Football Coach and Athletic Director for the San Dieguito High School Mustangs after leaving TCHS. "Coach Gaunce" was known for his tough coaching style and ever-present keys and whistle hanging around his neck, pencil behind the ear, and clip board in hand as he patrolled the Mustangs' sidelines.
Retired in 1990, Grant loved to watch football, fish, play golf, and most of all spend time with family and friends. He also enjoyed watching his children and grandchildren in their various sports and activities. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made to your local high school athletic programs. You may also send emails and tributes to family members to (coachgaunce @ gmail.com). Also tributes, memories, stories, and pictures and may be posted for family and friends to view on a memorial website, www.encinitaschapel.com; select- Obituaries, select- Grant Gaunce.
Kathy Keithley '78 reports that Dennis Reynolds of that class passed away on February 1. A funeral is scheduled for February 11. We will add more details as we receive them.
Robert Sanderson sent a link regarding the funeral, "The Visitation Hours (Viewing) for Dennis (at Forest Lawn) have now been scheduled for 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. on Friday, 2/11. The service will then start at 2:00 P.M."
Robert also sent a copy of Dennis' resume, which we have added to Dennis' <a href="">profile</a> under Biography.
Sign in to read Roger Clemens' biography, which begins "Dr. Clemens, a TCHS graduate (1964) who completed his student teaching at the same school in '67, directed choral groups for several decades while studying at UCLA and beyond.
Dr. Clemens is now Associate Director of the Regulatory Science program and adjunct Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences within the USC School of Pharmacy, and is the Scientific Advisor for ETHorn. He was the Director of Analytical Research at USC for 5 years, and the Scientific Advisor for Nestlé USA for more than 21 years.
Dr. Clemens has published more than 50 original manuscripts in nutrition and food science, participated in more than 200 invited domestic and international lectures, and served as an expert panel member for the food industry, scientific organizations, trade associations and regulatory agencies in the United States and Canada. "
Due to a server crash 11/24 parts of this site and email to and from this domain, including elements of personal profiles, have been temporarily unavailable. This particularly affected new members and other content added after Oct. 4. We are working on the problem, restoring gradually.
UPDATE: As of Dec. 14, nearly all features have been restored. If you registerd on the site between Oct. 4 and Dec. 7, kindly contact the editor.
We have just posted our first full set of yearbook photos. Harmon Heed was good enough to scan and forward the pix for the Class of 1960. If you wish to do the same for your class, please write to the editor for a file specification and image recommendations.
We have modified the member messaging system to correct some issues that occurred when specific conditions applied to replies. It is believed that the system now correctly (a) accepts messages, (b) displays lists and individual messages and (c) manages replies. We appreciate notice of any issues encountered by users.
UPDATE DECEMBER 18 - The reunion was almost an unqualified success. The sole qualification is that many of our classmates couldn't make the dates work. Next time for sure, we hope. See the Gallery for images from the event.
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 19 - The reunion is proceeding according to plan. It's still not too late to reserve for October 16 or to attend companion events. General Information |
RSVP Today |
Expected attendance
ORIGINAL - The class of 1960 will convene October 16 in Pasadena for its fiftieth reunion. These approx. 300 alumni were first to spend four years on the Lemon Avenue campus. Reunion events will take place on Oct 15-17. For details, check your email and member message center, or click the adjacent image for a printable invitation. Not a member? Join today to receive reunion updates.
UPDATE September 6 - IT'S NOT TOO LATE! Reservations for our reunion events are still open, according to the Reunion Committee. In fact, reservations and payments can be taken until October 1 to allow a firm attendance estimate for our vendors. Football tickets will be available in advance or at the game, but only those with reserved seating will be guaranteed group seating. See the linked page below for reservation and payment forms, plus a list of nearly 100 expected to attend.
"It has been 50 years since high school graduation and have I been busy. My interests are travel and health. As for the travel, China has fascinated me since 7th grade when I read and reported on a book about Marco Polo," writes Karen Kramer of the Class of 1960.
"I would like to invite anyone with an interest to join me in traveling in China from Nov. 2 - 14, 2010," she adds. "The trip is delightfully special. We cruise up the Yangtze River for 4 days, sailing through the cultural heart of China on our way to interior cities before returning home via Beijing."
Visit Karen's personal journal article or her website for more information.
Gayle Shaffer of the TCHS Activities office informs us that this year's Homecoming will be October 15th vs. San Marino, adding that "Mike Mooney (Class of ’88) who was TCHS head football coach from 1999-2006 is the new coach at San Marino, so it should make for an interesting game."
Jacque Cohen, teacher and counselor at TCHS, died in February, 2008 of cancer. He served as counselor for the classes of 1960 and 1964. In 1962 he left TCHS to serve as vice-principal and then principal in South Pasadena.
A third generation Californian, he was born in San Francisco in 1924 and moved to the Central Valley in 1934. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Cadet Program, and earned his flight wings in 1944. He married his high-school sweetheart, Nelda Stratton, that same day. He served as a naval aviator through the remainder of World War II in the Ferry Command and on the island of Okinawa. He received his BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara (then Sta. Barbara State College).
In addition to his duties as teacher, counselor, and administrator, he served the State of California Department of Education as a mediator in the Special Education Program. He also remained active in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, retiring in 1972 as Colonel, USMC Reserve. Mr. Cohen was also active in the Rotary Club, and was an active volunteer at the Pacific Coast Air Museum and proud member of the California Pioneer Society. He is survived by four daughters, nine grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
(Adapted from Class of '64 website. Apologies for late notice. RC)
Tim Pirrie of the Class of 1961 passed away on Thanksgiving Day 2009. Tim was a tool and die maker by trade, and he and his wife Judy loved to travel.
Tim is survived by his wife Judy Million from the class of 1960 and two daughters, Debbie Silver and Jennifer Casey and three grandchildren, Randy, 25, Ashley, 20, and Ellis, 9 years old. Tim and Judy married in 1961 while he was in the Navy. After he was discharged they moved back to Temple City where they lived and raised their two daughters. In January, 1999, they moved to Independence, MO, to retire and be with their daughters and their grandchildren who had already moved to Independence.
He died from a heart attack that was caused by the Scleroderma with which he had just been diagnosed. He was in the hospital for testing of his lungs and was to have gone home the next day.
The editor has received notice of the finding of a ladies ring, Temple City HS, Class of 1964. Engraved on the inside of the band are 3 initials, the last name begins with a "G." The finder writes "I understand how some these items may be wonderful keepsakes of milestones in our lives. Would like to return it to the rightful owner." If this information plus a bit more can connect you to the ring, contact the editor for more information.
UPDATE 5/4 - An intrepid Class of '64 detective team is on the case. We'll leave this item active for progress reports.
Julie Grant writes: It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Class of 1979's Susan Nichols Johnson, March 26th 2010 of breast cancer. She was a very loving mother to her 5 children, loving wife to her husband Jeff and got to see her two adorable grandchildren born before leaving for home. She will be surely missed.
Reservation prices increase in 5 more days! Tell all your TCHS friends to reserve their spot by April 15th to get the low price of $15 per person.
Temple City High School “70s Reunion” Including Classes 1970-1979 will be held 10am – 10pm, Saturday, August 14, 2010.
Doheny State Beach (Site ‘A’)
25300 Dana Point Harbor Drive
Dana Point, CA 92629-2923
Payment can be made through PayPal.Com, by sending funds to: tchsreunionmail@gmail.com
You can also send payment in the form of a check to:
TCHS Reunion, c/o 2445 N. Euclid Ave., Upland, Ca., 91784
(Make check payable to: ‘Temple City High Reunion’)
Please include the following information in the ‘MEMO’ portion of your payment:
Name(s) of participants (including maiden name, if applicable)
Mailing Address
Phone Number
Email Address
Year Graduated
The passing of Susan (Wooster) Morris, class of 1961, has been reported by several members. She died May 4 of 2009. She is survived by her four children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Robert E. (Bob) Reseigne's death in January 2010 has been reported by Walt Strangman. Reseigne was a well known member of several athletic teams at TCHS and played college football at Citrus College and UCLA before embarking on a career in the insulation business. He is survived by a daughter and a son and two grandchildren.
After a single season, head football coach Anthony White is on his way to greener fields (didn't he notice the TC colors?). A running conversation - a bit circular to be sure - continues on various blogs. Here's an example.
Class of 1960 members will be sad to read this message I recently received from Joyce Roberts' son Sam Dolan.
"It has come to my attention that my mother, Joyce L. Roberts (Class 1960) is still listed as missing in your alumni directory for that class. I am afraid that I must report that my mother passed away on July 3, 1988 in Sedona, Arizona after a three year struggle with cancer.
She is survived by her second husband Jeffery Dolan of Sedona, Arizona, and all three of her children, Jeff Ponce (Los Angeles), Bradley Ponce (Elk Grove, Ca.), and Samuel Kilborn Dolan (Los Angeles). She also has two grandsons, Evan Ponce (born 1999) and John Kilborn Dolan (2009). She is also survived by her aunt and uncle, Dorothy and Robert Elder of Temple City."
Crack open the champagne; TCHS Alumni News has just surpassed ONE MILLION PAGE VIEWS since we started the current counter in Fall 2004. Thanks for your continuing interest and support.
(This would be a good time to subscribe. Your contribution helps us spread the word. We also need in-kind support, including class coordinators and reporters.)
NOTE: Judy Million Pirrie '60 points out that we've made a similar claim in the past. The total number of page views including the Archive 2002-04 is now 4,636,744. The numbers are not directly comparable; the new method excludes inline content that does not require a page reload, which tends to reduce page views compared to older browser technology.
The TC "Piazza" continues its controversial ways. Namely, no progress. Several recent reports indicate the proponents have not come to grips with community and city demands regarding design, parking and other issues.
Jerry Gillette '61 recently sent the attached photo (click for full size) showing the current reality. If you like dusty fields, you'll love TC Piazza.
Older alumni remember, of course, the original Temple Theater with its western motif - including wagon-wheel fences. That structure was demolished in the 1970s to make room for a small multiplex, now also gone.
The project has not been free of political and legal controversy, with civic officials and project developers accused of bad design and legal malfeasance.
This dominant location at Rosemead and Las Tunas deserves quality redevelopment by people who care. The corner helps to define the town, and in our opinion should not be given free rein do do less.
A group of brave alumni have undertaken the adventure of organizing a multi-class reunion of "Seventies People" to take place 10am to 10pm, Saturday, August 14, 2010, at Doheny State Beach. Leading the charge is Sue Sasse Peer (1974).
Space is limited to 500. Reservations are not guaranteed until registration fees are received. So be sure to sign up right away!
Facilities will include: Two large BBQs; 3 Sinks and Counter Space for your use. (Utensils will not be provided – Please come prepared); Picnic Tables (you are welcome to bring lawn/beach chairs or blankets, if you wish).
Food and drink will not be provided. Please plan accordingly. If you intend to stay for the entire day be prepared with a lunch and dinner, as we will be on site until 10pm.
Reservation payments will be applied to park fees, insurance fees and alcohol permit. An oversight committee is in place to monitor all monies collected and disbursed.
Hotel and Motel accommodations are available throughout Orange County, as well as the San Diego County areas. Accommodations can be made via the Internet by contacting specific lodges or more information can be obtained by visiting city and county websites. Beach camping is also available. For camping reservations, please contact ReserveAmerica.
Cost is as follows:
$15 per person if postmarked January 20 – April 15, 2010
$20 per person if postmarked April 16 – June 15, 2010
$25 per person if postmarked June 16 – August 13, 2010
Upon receipt of payment your name(s) will be placed on our guest list. Names must appear on the guest list for you to gain access to the site. Check in at the main gate.
Payment can be made through PayPal.Com, by sending funds to: tchsreunionmail@gmail.com. Please include the following information in the ‘MEMO’ portion of your PayPal payment:
Name(s) of participants (including maiden name, if applicable)
Mailing Address
Phone Number
Email Address
Year Graduated.
You can also send payment in the form of a check payable to: ‘Temple City High Reunion’. Send to
TCHS Reunion, c/o 2445 N. Euclid Ave., Upland, Ca., 91784
If paying by check, please be sure to include contact information (See: MEMO instructions for PayPal).
Parking is limited and is available on a first-come / first-served basis. The parking fee is $15. Pay parking fees upon arrival. (Do not send parking fees with your reservation request). Carpools are encouraged.
An insurance policy and a liquor permit have been purchased for this event. Please note that only beer and wine will be permitted, and consumption of liquor will only be allowed in Site ‘A’. State beach rules & regulations will be provided upon receipt of reservation request and payment. Rules set forth by Doheny State Beach will be strictly enforced.
* Because liquor will be permitted on site, and since there is limited space for this event, we ask that minor children not attend.
* No animals (except ‘seeing eye dogs’) will be allowed at the venue.
* No refunds.
HELP!
Volunteers are needed! If you are interested in any of the following positions, please send your name, phone number, email address, mailing address and position you are interested in to: tchsreunionmail@gmail.com .
1. Liaison between coordinator and classmates for the following classes: 70, 71, 76, 77, 78, 79. Liaison will be responsible for posting information about reunion on TCHS Alumni News, Classmates.com, Facebook.com, Myspace.com, or other social networks available to alumni; must be available to answer questions; must publish updates as necessary.
2. Check-In Personnel at Main Gate. This will be done in shifts, so the impact on your day will be minimal.
3. Clean-up Committee. The park has requested that the site be cleaned before our group vacates the premises.
The TCHS Alumni Association asks that you take a minute to join the Temple City Alumni site: http://TCHSALUMNI.ORG.
If you are in contact with TCHS Alumni from the classes 1970-1979, please feel free to forward this information to them. We look forward to seeing you at the reunion!
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.
A new version of our Members system has been installed. There are many changes from the old roster. We hope that the new system will increase service to alumni and your enjoyment of the site. Suggestions and bug reports are welcome.
Login is now universal. If you sign in (from any page) you will have access to your personal profile and many other features. If you are an advertiser you will soon have fully integrated editing in the Sponsor Directory linked to your membership.
A Public Member List on the home page lets anyone list registered members but does not reveal any personal information or allow contact. Sign in to see comprehensive lists and additional information about members. (Thanks to Barbara S for this suggestion.)
The new Personal Profile, summarized with a general statement about yourself, has several extended features, with more coming soon:
Each member can submit Updates, brief statements of current activity. You can link your updates to any URL. Your updates may appear in the summary on the home page for members only, or elsewhere on the site. Your most recent update appears with your name in class and member lists.
Blog freely in your personal Journal. Use your journal as a biography, to tell us stories about your life in TC and elsewhere.
Use your Message Center to exchange messages with classmates and other friends without sharing your "real" contact data. The system will notify you whenever a new message is waiting.
You can embed links to display externally sourced Graphic Media (e.g., pictures from Flickr or movies from YouTube). Depending on the link you include, the external media may appear right in your profile. [Example (login required): Founder's Profile]
You can link your TCHS Alumni profile to other Social Media like Twitter, Facebook or instant messaging services.
Coming Soon: Friends, Favorites, Interest Groups (e.g., music, sports..., to complement your default class year group.
Why have we made this change? The old roster was developed on the foundation of a commercial directory and as such fell gradually out of phase with the needs of the association and with contemporary technology. We have retained the Directory for sponsors and local businesses as part of our fundraising effort in support of the site.
UPDATE: 9/17/09 - Deceased members have not been fully integrated into class lists yet. This should happen shortly.
Here’s the scoop! TCHS Class of '66 reunion cruise to Ensenada!! We haven't had a reunion since our 20th, so Gayle Whiteley Minjarez, Marianne Whyte and Diane Harris Kaplan decided enough is enough...let's just plan something!
Details:
Set it up with my girlfriend that’s in travel.
Carnival cruise three day cruise, all inclusive, all outside cabins category 6b
Friday October 22, 2010 returning Monday, October 25th
Cost: $330.10 per person
If we have enough people we can have a private cocktail reception. We can arrange for all of us to sit at tables that are all located in the same area. People will be assigned seats, but we can all switch around however we want.
Need to have full name of each passenger, date of birth, address, telephone number and credit card number (with address), expiration date. $25 deposit per person to hold your reservation due 12/1/09. Balance won’t be due till June of 2010. I know it’s quick but I think if everyone contacts everyone they know, we’ll be ok – I’ve had my friend reserve 50 cabins for us….if we don’t need 50, it’s ok price stays the same. If more people want to come after December, we can no doubt add them as space allows. Have everyone you know contact me with their info. 714-336-2875.
Randy Ulmer '78 reports that Kevin Crabill class of 1974 passed away in September 2008. He is survived by his wife Robin Crabill, son Daniel Crabill and daughter Stephanie Crabill.
We have discovered that a spammer managed to send about 200 messages to members yesterday 9/3. Today 9/4 we are working actively to add to our security. Although we have deleted the spam content, we cannot recall the notifications, so if you sign in in response you may be confused, as the system will show you have no such message. We regret any inconvenience.
The offender actually created a membership and sent the messages individually, apparently in reverse order of registrations. Bulk mailing to the member list is not possible.
Members may rest assured that their actual emails are unknown to the sender (unless, of course, you respond to the spam). Note that we have addressed the problem within a few minutes of receiving notice.
The welcome mat is still laid out (for FB Coach Randy White) on the footsteps at Temple City High, according to Miguel Melendez of the Pasadena Star-News. White's task at hand wasn't an easy one. He had to hire a new coaching staff, get his parents and players to believe in the new spread offense he's instilling this season all the while lurking behind the shadow of Randy Backus, who became extremely popular among players and staff during his 10-plus years at TC...With that (and more) in mind, I give you a crack at my predicted order of how teams will finish in the Rio Hondo League:
PS: TCHSAlumni News is looking for a volunteer sports editor, who may be an alumnus or a TCHS senior. The editor will write about school sports and maintain the sports calendar. If you're the one, use our To The Editor form and tell us what you'll bring to the position.
Temple City Councilwoman Judy Wong received six bribes from a local developer totaling $13,000 - taking half of some payments in cash and half in checks she gave to politicians she favored, according to newly released grand jury transcripts, according to a recent SGV Tribune article.
At Wong's suggestion, developer Randy Wang wrote checks to the election campaigns of state Board of Equalization President Judy Chu, now a congressional representative, as well as state Assemblymen Anthony Portantino and Mike Eng and state Sen. Carol Liu, Wang told the grand jury.
The proceedings led to the grand jury's 21-count indictment against Councilwoman Wong, former mayor Cathe Wilson, and former City Council candidate Scott Carwile. The three were charged with bribery, perjury and other crimes after the indictment was unsealed June 10.
Rocky Curtiss ('62) has sent us the following news flash:
3 Temple City figures indicted in corruption case
Mayor Judy Wong, former Mayor Cathe Wilson and Wilson's campaign treasurer, Scott Carwile, have pleaded not guilty to charges that include perjury and bribery.
The three were indicted Wednesday on charges of perjury and soliciting and receiving bribes from a developer in exchange for supporting his $75-million mall project.
For the second year in a row The Boys of May met for fun and friendship @ The Ranch at Moreno Valley Golf Club. The competition remained as a battle of Elementary Schools with one slight adjustment. To break up the Longden Elementary juggernaut (they had won every previous tournament-one), the teams were juggled as such:
Longemperly-John Laur, Mark Pocino, Dick Swan, Rich Borger
Clovongderor-Bill Beveridge, Roger Gould, Randy Laur, Joe Terry
Emperden-Ron Fazzi, Corky Fontana, Gary Skelley, Bill Gorisek
Longemperly and Clovongderor tied at -5 so the championship was decided by a putt-off won by Rich Borger of Longemperly.
Official observers and hecklers were Chuck Howarth, Tom Adams, Dick Adams, and Rocky Curtiss
It was another successful weekend capped with a poker party Saturday night.
If any are interested in joining this group next year contact Rocky Curtiss (class of 1962) through this website. (Ed. Look Rocky up in the member list; you must be signed in to send a message. BTW, it's up to you to match the names with the faces.)
Judy Hoyt reports "the class of 1959 is having a 50th Reunion on August 21, 2009 at the Santa Anita Golf Course Clubhouse, 6-midnight, $50/person. Contact Judy for more information.
The committee requests payment by May 15, 2009, by check payable to TCHS 1959 Reunion, Mike Mauro, 434 E. Rodell, Arcadia, 91006.
Temple City's Piazza mall project "could become a barometer for the local economy, a symbol that it may not accept willingly. There are signs, however, that Temple City could pull this off and maybe kick the Valley's retail economy in the behind," according to a report in the Pasadena Star-News.
The project has been stalled amid several restarts and redesigns.
(Ed. note: Are you in or near TC? If you would care to send us an original photo of the project we would appreciate it. Please indicate the date. All materials are attributed to the contributor.)
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.
Readers may enjoy a new feature that lets them change the size of fonts on the pages of TCHS Alumni News. At the bottom of the main Table of Contents at left find the Aa links of varying sizes. Clicking each will adjust the size of the font on the current page in many browsers. Optional sizes range from 90 to 150 percent of the default type size.
We chose our font and its size based on contemporary design standards. This does not always meet the needs of older or partially sighted users. So we have made this available to all. Some browsers allow you to override our settings and set your own standard typeface and font size. Please feel free to make such changes. We have tried to make the site sufficiently robust that imposing your own style sheet should not be a problem; if it is, let us know and we'll look at the problem.
(As always, if you're clinging desperately to your good old Netscape Navigator 4.7 or an old version of Internet Explorer or some ISP's proprietary browser, you may not experience the benefit. We currently test against Firefox 3, Safari 4 and MSIE 8.)
We're working on a major upgrade to the TCHS Alumni website. We need about six to ten people to test some features. Interested? (UPDATE: Don't all write at once, dear friends, but we still need more volunteers. If you can spare about ten hours during the next three weeks, you can help improve this site.)
Molly Bee, a country singer popular in the 1950s and 1960s who was a teenage star on television's "Hometown Jamboree" and "The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show," has died. She was 69. Born Mollie Beachboard, she was the sister of Bob Beachboard '57.
TC teens of the 1950s considered her a hometown girl, though she did not attend local schools. Her recordings included both country (inset) and pop music.
After moving to California from Tennesee, at age 10 she sang "Lovesick Blues" for country singer Rex Allen and soon debuted on his radio show. Within two years, she was a regular on "Hometown Jamboree," a Los Angeles-based show run by Cliffie Stone, who helped popularize country music in California. She later was a regular on the Tennessee Ernie Ford program and was a headliner in Las Vegas.
Thanks to Rocky Curtiss '62 for the heads-up news tip.
TCHS Alumni News is experimenting with Twitter, and an example follows. The plan is to integrate it into our own news system and also to integrate it into the forthcoming personal sites we'll be offering to users.
Twitter is a simple "news" system. Users merely type the answer to a single question: "What are you doing?" The answer is immediately available to readers, who may include "everyone" or be restricted to a membership.
For example, the following list of recent posts tracks your editor's recent experience with Twitter. (He has actually done some other things in the interim.)
(If no tweets appear above, contact with Twitter could not be made at this time.)
We've set the selection to show only the last five updates. If you return to this article in a few hours or days, you will see different updates. To see the whole history, just "follow" us at Twitter.
The plan is that all members who are also Twitter users will have a Twitter option on their personal pages. Here's the editor's page: Rees. Twitter users who "follow" TCHS Alumni News (Twitter ID = 'tchsalumni') will also get heads-up notice of new information, as we will update Twitter when we update the News. You can even follow the site on your mobile phone.
Watch the site for an announcement of availability. If you have a Twitter ID you will simply enter it on the member profile edit page (not yet available). Stay tuned!
(If you have a Twitter ID, are registered in our system, and would like to help with testing, please send me your username, real name, class year and Twitter ID via the To The Editor form. Your information will help us build the interface.)
UPDATE 3/25 - We're unimpressed with Twitter's ability to respond in timely fashion. We're mainly getting timeouts, and we cannot wait to display our pages if we're waiting for them. If you're a confirmed tweeter, perhaps you can help. If so, send a message to the editor.
See the Forums for a list of missing 1960 folk. The class is organizing a 50th reunion. Can you help find these people? Some are already listed in the directory but their email has changed and gone unreported. (Hard to imagine, but some people don't notify the alumni assn.; shocking!)
Philip S. Andrist, Steve H. Atherton.
Yolanda R. Banker Coates, Bearice A. Barrios, Dick Beckley, Frances M. Beesley Santos, Jim a. Berg, James Bernard, Ed Bradley, Karen E. Braun Irey, Nolene Bricken Showwalter, Clifton W. Brown, Robert V "Bob" Browning, Penny L. Bruce, Gino P. Brunengo, William C. "Bill" Bryant, Joseph A. Buccola, Ronald T. Burnstein.
Armida "Terry" Camacho, Ed Carlson, Erick G. Carlson, Robert B. Carlson, Don L. Carpenter, Barbara J. Carson Rumpf, Cheryl L. Cederdahl, Michael "Mike" A. Christensen, John Church, Jim Cole, Linda Collingwood, Robert W. "Bob" Collins, Linda D. Cook, Michael A. "Mike" Cornelius, Bonnie Crane, Carole S. Crosby Sysskind, Donna L. Currier, Carolyn J. Curtis, Janice Curtis (Same as Carolyn J. Curtis?).
Barry P. Davis, Meredith Davis, Marianne E. Dean, Jerry A. DelSignore, Louise Helen DeMartino, Harole L. Denning, Carole J. Dickason Call, Charles F. Dickens, Robert V. "Bob" Doddy, Gail F. Dolbee, Ronald Douglas, Virginia I. Dover Johnson, Susan J. Downing Thooft, Dave Dufel.
Charles M. Eastman, Linda Eastman, William F. "Bill" Elliot, Randy G. Emerson, Karen L. Engebretson, Ronald R. Evans, Robert J. Ewing.
Bruce Fischer, Linda Fitzgerald, Janet Flippin, Kathleen T. "Kathy" Foley Schilling, Sidney W. Ford, Gary A. Freeman , John Roger Frey, E. Jeannine Funk.
Michael D. Gail, Dieter J. Gerlack, Ronald e. Glass, Carole P. Goodman, Bob C. Graeser, Randi Granger, Sandi Grainger, John R. Grancich, Mary Ann Grande, Sharon L. "Sherrie" Gray, Radford Green, Gerda Grunwald, Gloria Guerra, Carl E. Gunderson.
Diana M. "Nina" Hall, Carole A. Hanson Schaller, Richard Harker, Barbara Hasset, Shelley A. Hawkins Couch,(William Steven Hendrix, Elizabeth Hermann, Lynda J. Holt White, Edmund Hooper, Donna L. Howard, Tom A. Hutcheson, Mary K. Jackson, Ralph Johanson, Craig Johnson, Norman Johnson, Bruce H. Jorgensen.
Suzann M. Kelleher, Harold J. Kellogg, Ilse S. Kiening, Pat Kirby, Edward Kirste, Cecilia C. Kolb, Ronald Koury, Donald Kramer.
Charles "Chuck" Lange, Deanna Langston, Lyle E. Larson, Norma Alvin Lauderdale, Michael Law, Vercille F. Layne (Cruz), John LeFave, Charles "Chas" Leonard, Judy K. Logan, Suzan Sue Longstreet, Steven N. "Steve" Love, Linda L. Luther.
Sandy G. Maloney (Maladez), David M. Mann, Delorres Manning, Margaret M. Marconi, Gary Martin, Reagan J. Martin, Karen R. Mau, Clifford H. McCreery, Susan H. "Suzi" McDonald Hallman, Bob C. McEntee, Pam P. Megahan Brunengo, Joyce J. Menconi, Angela Mercolino, Pricilla M. Merritt, Dennis W. Meyers, James H. "Jim" Miller, Carolyn P. Minsky, Carol Lynn Moffett Le'Ecluse, Sue J. Montague, Kathleen "Kathy" Moore, Leroy E. Morkre, John Mueller, Jackie J. Mulley.
Ronetta L. Nelsen, Diane S. Nelson.
Linda E. Olsen Menesez, Dennis V. Olson.
George W. Parrish, Rex G. Pecoraro, Wayne Perez, Judy O. Peroni, Sam S. Petrie, Jack R. Petralia, Gary Pierce, Dennis Pietromonaco, Jacqueline "Jacque Sue" Pluzynski, Frances Porco, Charles E. Porter, Bill Pursley.
Jackie A. Raef Rowland, Roy Ramey, Susan J. Rasmussen, Rick Reel, Catherine S. Katie Reese, Anthony J. "Tony" Rizzo, Joyce L. Roberts, Robert G. Roberts, Ann L. Roccapalumbo, Linda L. Rokes, Richard H. Rosenbohm, Gary D. Runyun.
Pat Schubert, Billy Ann Schuder (Edwardes), William "Bill" Schuelke, Judy Searle, Nancy A. Sedat, Joseph C. "Joe" Sepe, Toivo T. "Ted" Sepp, Marion Susan Serres, Elizabeth L. Shideler, Clyde R. Smith, Judy A. Smith Hill, Adelaide Sorensen Linford, Mike M. Souther, George Spencer, Richard A. Steck, Jackie G. Stephens, Carolyn L. Strand Zubris, Mary Strawn, Rebecca "Becky" Ann Swift.
Rocky P. Talley, Dennis J. Taylor, Richard Thibault, Jane A. Trummel, Shirley A. Tschan, Bob D. Turner.
Linda Van Dusen, David "Dave" R. Vanatta.
Steve G. Walker, Penelope A. "Penny" Weisz, Kay Welch, Patricia D. "Patty" Wetmore Rice, Bruce Whittier.
Thanks to Lynn Davis Mortensen for helping check the list. RC
Temple City Unified School District would get about 2.8 million in stimulus funding under one version of the current economic recovery stimulus package now making its way through Congress, according to US Rep. Adam Schiff (D). California is projected to receive more than $32 billion under the proposal. Of that, 5.45 billion is slated for public schools, Schiff said.
The official court of this year's camellia parade was announced in early January. The "future alumni" include Emily Beyelia, Natalie Castro-Figueroa, Torrie Paulino and rear from rear left: Matthew Lopez, Noah Granger, and Adam Besaw. Photo credit SGV Tribune.
This year's parade is Feb. 21, and the festival runs from Feb. 20 through Feb. 22. The Calendar has more information.
FLASH! The visual experience, not the video technology, though the latter is also involved in Tom Petty's video Learning to Fly now on YouTube (link). Tom Ford, a seasoned pyrotechnician and an even more seasoned member of the Class of 1960, contributed the symbolic, explosive epiphanies that are part of the production.
Watch for Ford's work about 40 seconds into the four-minute production and again near the end. There may be others, but we got caught up in the views of an airplane graveyard and more than one lady we'd like to meet. Very cool; very hot.
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.
The entire message is generic. There is no mention of TCHS or a class or a person. (Note that if you get more than one of these, "Russell Slaughter" will be replaced by another name.)
Classmates.com and other legitimate outfits like banks and governments don't send generic mailings. In fact, most banks and governments and schools don't use email to deliver important news.
Any legitimate mail from a subscription should have your full name or user ID in the TO: line.
Read this sentence: "Please join us for a night of Glamour and Elegance as we celebrate our 2009 Year Class Reunion." Was it written by a native speaker of English?" We don't think so; "our 2009 Class Year Reunion?" Come on!
Look at the URL. Don't be fooled by the word "classmates" in it. The sending server is always the last part of the first segment, following the double slash and preceding the first single slash. In this email the sender is startininstallations.com, not classmates.com.
There are other clues one can follow with a terminal and full Internet connection.
Most people don't know how to follow the trail further; we do. Here's the registered owner of startininstallations.com: Registrant: Name: Godwin Holgado; Address: 310 LUNN RD; City: FORT MEADE; Province/state: FL; Country: US; Postal Code: 33841. It's probably fake, but if you wish to write Godwin a letter or turn him in to the US or FL Atty Generals, feel free.
Following the registration further, one finds that the domain name server (DNS) in the registration (weekandhool.net) is in Portugal. Meaningless names are a good indicator of conspiratorial intent anywhere you find them (can you say "Enron?"). If you care to write to the head of the Judicial Police (Policia Judiciaria) in Lisbon, you can follow this link: Wikipedia.
If you click the URL you will bet little sympathy from us for the results. There is no Jan. 25 gala. There is only spyware, malware or a come-on to lose your identity or your savings. A little common sense says this is garbage.
Additional comments by registered users are welcome in the forums.
Class of 1960 please note: A group of classmates is brewing a reunion to celebrate 50 years of life after TCHS. And after all, who could know more about brews than that class.
A forum topic has been created to act as a virtual meeting place. The group will also make use of the Chat system whenever someone wants to organize a meeting.
The Grizzly Flats Railroad is no more. The Kimball family (including Kelly '57, John '59 and Chloe '64) have distributed the components of the No. San Gabriel landmark built by Ward Kimball between 1937 and his death in 2002 to various museums and collectors during the spring of 2008.
We suspect this story is more important to TC folk than to the L.A. Times, so we're preserving it in our archive, too. For those of you who cling to print media, here is a PDF version. Below the article is a video interview with Ward Kimball.
LA Times, Archive for Saturday, May 12, 2007
Railroad hits end of the line
By Bob Pool
May 12, 2007 in print edition B-1
It was short in length – but long in its reach.
The Grizzly Flats Railroad’s steam engines traveled for 70 years along a 500-foot-long stretch of rails next to the San Gabriel home of Betty and Ward Kimball.
Along the way, the Kimballs’ picturesque narrow-gauge line helped inspire Walt Disney to build the famous passenger train system that circles Disneyland.
Now, though, its locomotives, vintage cars and caboose have been hauled away, and workers have finished pulling out the steel rails and wooden ties. Soon, the antique-looking Grizzly Flats train depot will be dismantled. The old train barn and firehouse will be demolished.
“It’s an emotional thing. But it has to be done,” said John Kimball, the couple’s 66-year-old son.
“We grew up here. When I was a little kid I didn’t know until I was in the sixth grade that it was unusual to have a railroad in your backyard. When I went to Temple City High School, I used to have parties in the caboose.”
Ward Kimball, an animator who worked on Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Dumbo,” “Fantasia,” “Pinocchio” and “The Three Caballeros,” died in 2002 at age 88. By then, he had already started downsizing his beloved Grizzly Flats Railroad.
In the beginning, Kimball’s backyard railroad sprouted its tracks almost by accident.
Kimball was a lifelong train fan. On his first date with Betty, he had taken her to a rail yard to measure a box car. He and his new wife purchased 2 1/2 acres of a San Gabriel orange grove and were preparing to build a home in 1937 when he decided to buy a surplus train car to house his growing model train layout. For $50 he bought an abandoned narrow-gauge passenger coach (used on 3-foot-wide track instead of the standard 4-feet, 8 1/2 -inches) that Southern Pacific had operated in the Owens Valley.
A year later, he bought a similar-sized 1881 steam engine that was being scrapped by the Nevada Central Railroad. Later, he would also acquire a 1906 box car and caboose, a 1917 gondola and a 1915 stock car, along with a small 1907 switch engine used at a Hawaiian sugar plantation.
The weekend “steam-ups,” as the Kimballs called them, attracted crowds. Workers and executives from Hollywood film studios often wrangled invitations, as did neighbors.
“You’d pull in the driveway and see all of this train stuff,” said Bob Kredel, who was 9 and living in Arcadia when his next-door neighbor – a friend of the Kimballs – invited him to tag along for a steam-up.
Young Kredel ended up helping toss wood into the huffing steam engine’s firebox, and a lifelong appreciation of trains and an eventual career was set in gear. “I never was exposed to electric trains as a boy. When I wanted to play with trains, I’d go to the Kimballs,” said Kredel, who supplies vintage trains for movie productions.
Barbara Andrews, a retired office manager living in San Marcos, remembers riding on Kimball’s train in the mid-1960s. “I lived right around the corner. The train didn’t go far, but it was so much fun. Ward would also give kids a ride on his antique firetruck. It was like having your own amusement park in the neighborhood,” she said. Neighbor Rick Griffith said he won numerous bets from golfing buddies who didn’t believe him when he told them he lived down the road “from that little train station up by Temple City” – the Grizzly Flats depot. “Ward Kimball was a character from the get-go,” said Griffith, a movie studio millwright.
For decades the Kimballs regularly hosted friends and other train lovers who delighted in riding the rails next to Ardendale Avenue. One frequent visitor was Disney, who had hired Kimball in 1934.
Train historian and writer John Smatlak recalled how Disney was impressed that Kimball ran a real steam engine while other train enthusiasts operated model railroads or miniature “live steamers.”
At a backyard party in 1945, Kimball gave Disney a chance to take the throttle and operate the 1881 locomotive that Kimball had dubbed the “Emma Nevada.” That’s when the Disneyland Railroad was born, according to Smatlak, a Woodland Hills resident who serves as vice president of collections for the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Riverside County.
Disney’s eyes – and his grin – got big as he nudged the locomotive to life. “It was at that moment that he decided that the trains in the park he was planning someday had to be real steam trains,” Smatlak recalled Kimball telling him.
In 1949 Disney gave Kimball the train depot set that Disney Studio workers had constructed for the film “So Dear to My Heart” starring Burl Ives, Beulah Bondi, Bobby Driscoll and Harry Carey. Kimball reassembled it, added a back wall to the three-sided structure and turned it into a small museum.
Kimball quit running the coal-burning Emma Nevada in 1967 as the orange groves around him gave way to homes. The backyard train excursions were powered instead by the cleaner, wood-burning Hawaiian switch engine he called “Chloe,” after his youngest daughter.
As he grew older and maintenance of the rolling stock became harder, Kimball donated most of it to the Orange Empire museum, along with money to build an engine house to store them. “It was close enough that I could still have a little fun with it,” he said as the Emma Nevada was hauled away in late 1992.
John Kimball and sisters Kelly, of Altadena, and Chloe, of Tujunga, at first were disappointed.
“We were shocked. At the time we thought of the Grizzly Flats Railroad as a family thing. I ran that sugar plantation locomotive for 50 years,” said Kimball, himself a retired animation director who lives in Pasadena.
“I’d always dreamed that maybe the state would take it over as a museum. But now we know it was the right thing to do. We could see it was deteriorating and none of us could really take care of it.”
The caboose, with its wood-burning, pot-bellied stove that John Kimball partied around as a teenager, was donated to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. The Chloe locomotive and the last of its cars were turned over to the Orange Empire museum several months ago. The Grizzly Flats Railroad’s track was pulled up two weeks ago.
The old depot was offered to the Orange Empire museum but was rejected because of the cost required to convert it from a flimsily built movie prop into a structure open to the public, Kimball said. Instead, it is being given to collector John Lasseter, a Sonoma resident who is chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios.
The antique wooden water tower will also be offered to Lasseter when his representatives come in a week or so for the depot, Kimball said.
“My mom will live out her life here. She said she will live to be 100. She’s 94 now, going on 95,” Kimball said.
Grinning, he paused one more time outside the Grizzly Flats Station, the one with the old-time railroad sign: “Elev. 492 – Pop. 5.”
For Old Time's Sake
Here is a Tom Snyder 'Tomorrow' interview in which Tom Snyder spoke with the mayor, stationmaster, engineer, conductor..., all in the person of Ward Kimball. (The video is from YouTube; we are not responsible for YouTube content.) The video is in 15 parts; to watch the entire event keep cllcking on the next segment below the player.
We hear that SoCal is getting unusual winter weather, at least at higher elevations. Same in Nevada, as the accompanying pix of Boulder City from Kathy (Springer) Hendricks show. (Click for larger view.)
(Yes, we know it's 2008; apparently the camera does not.)
Jeff Handley '67 writes... "A group including Mike Hayes '66 and Tom Weibel '67 tried to ID the people in this photo, and couldn't agree on anything. Is this Cloverly? Who are these kids?"
What's your guess? Registered users must be signed in to comment. Click pic for larger view.
(We have moved the Who Are We feature from the gallery to the News Log to make it easier for registered users to submit "Who Are We" pix using the To The Editor form.)
Our Chat Room system has been somewhat revamped and made easier to access. You can access Chat from the home page or the Chat page (which doubles as the instructions).
The editors suggest that you invite a group of friends to join you at pre-arranged times, or just jump in when you see that other alumni are already chatting. Don't be bashful; find new friends.
For those of you in the alumni protection program, there's a way to create a private room. Read the instructions carefully.
Long time TCHS music teacher Bill Jacoby passed away November 25, 2008, at his home in Medford, Oregon. He was 83.
Jacoby, whose full name was Hugh William Jacoby, joined TCHS at its founding and remained for many years (perhaps one of you will be kind enough to do the homework).
Jacoby was one of a series of outstanding music teachers who were (can't resist) instrumental in making Temple City Schools stand out in extending music instruction to all. TCHS' many bands, choral groups and soloists were the centerpiece of community life in the school's early years.
Thanks to Jim Ells, '57, for reporting this news.
Registered users can sign in to tell their own "Mr. Jacoby" story.
According to the LA Times, former ASB president Terry Christensen has been fined and sentenced to a prison term for violations of wiretap laws. The Times reported:
--------------------
Terry Christensen sentenced to three years in Pellicano case
By Joanna Lin
November 25 2008
A prominent Los Angeles attorney was sentenced Monday to three years in federal prison and fined $250,000 for conspiring with Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano to wiretap billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's former wife.
Linda Walfield reports that Gary R. Walfield of the Class of 1960 passed away on November 13, 2008, after an 8 year battle with cancer. He was living in Burlington, VT at the time.
Your editor recalls Gary as a serious kid most of the time. As a "spear carrier" on the track team I learned to recognize him from ten or twenty yards back. I last spoke with Gary in about 2005 when he inquired about friends registered in our directory. He did not mention his illness, which in retrospect seems characteristic. I imagine he was looking up and forward, not down and back. Hail and farewell! -RC
This past October I took a drive in my vintage Alfa Romeo from our home in Sarasota, FL up through the south midwest to visit fellow 1960 chums, Bill Halverson, Dave Parker and Russ Smith. I hadn't seen Bill for forty years, Dave for fifteen and Russ for eighteen.
First stop was Bill in Nashville, TN where he showed me the Grand Ole Opry's Ryman Auditorium, the music rows where the songwriters like Kris and Willie used to hang out and where the publishers of today make deals. After playing trombone in the orchestra, band and dance band in high school, Bill immediately went pro, swinging with big bands like Tex Beneke. When he tired of being on the road he got into engineering and eventually producing records; he was a major producer of Crosby, Stills and Nash. His impressive discography can be seen if you Google his name. He is now retired and lives quietly with his lovely Elizabeth but he does make trips up to Ohio each year to give college seminars on music. (Ed.: There are other Bill Halversons so unrelated links show up, too.)
Then I rolled down to Memphis, across the Mississippi and Arkansas to the little town of Dardanelle to see Dave. After high school Dave enlisted in the Marines and, after ten years, two tours in Vietnam and a belly full of shrapnel, he was medically discharged. He then went on to two successful careers in manufacturing and construction and is now fully retired. I spent his and merry Mary's first wedding anniversary with them in the house they just had built, down a gravel road, beside a lake. They promised me they would drive their restored Model A down to Sarasota for a visit next March.
I had both a blast driving over the Ozarks and a drive blasting over the Ozarks to get to Russ's. 'Cept when I got me behine an ol' pickin-up truck. I couldn't foller him close enuff to pass cause ever time he hit a bump rust would fall off'n his truck an might scratch Alfa's new paint job. Whut I wus really fraid of wus him lobbing a big goober of tobbacy juice out whut would paint Alfa a gooey, dark brown.
About a hundred miles south of KC I turned off another county road down another gravel road to Russ and doting Donna's , new, bed and breakfast home where they live alone amid seventy-seven acres of trees and pasture. We gathered eggs from the hen house and fed catfish from a dock on his pond across the road, next to the pasture where his miniature donkeys graze. "Why do you have four, miniature donkeys ?" I asked.
"Because all you have to do is look at them and laugh," he replied with a smile.
Russ is a retired pilot, 747 jumbos. He and Donna have settled there because his daughters and grandchildren live vic KC and so do her kids and grand kids. They promised to drive down to Sarasota soon in a '57 Chevy Impala convertible.
Bill, Dave, Russ and I all retired at the age of sixty and I soon moved down to the Sun Coast of west Florida. Jo and I would love to have any high school friends drive down for a visit. But not in the Summer, at least not in a covertible !
Harmon Heed, Class of 1960
(Click pic for larger view. If you have a story to share, contact us. --Ed.)
The Class of 1969 will hold a reunion from 5:00 pm to 11:30 pm August 15, 2009 at Elks Club, 27 W. Huntington Blvd., Arcadia. Cost $45.00 per person payable in advance. Contact Georgia Taylor 1969TempleCityReunion (at) cox.net. More information as it becomes available. Watch the calendar for due dates, etc.
Terry Christensen, prominent LA and Hollywood attorney, has been convicted of wiretapping and conspiracy in a trial involving former MGM magnate Kirk Kerkorian. He faces up to ten years in prison.
Christensen, 67, head of a large LA law firm, was convicted of wiretapping a former wife of Kerkorian in a paternity case. Also convicted was private investigator Anthony Pelicano, who allegedly conducted the wiretap on orders from Christensen, who had been an attorney for Kerkorian in past years. For the benefit of non-SoCal residents, one understands that the trial has led the local news in recent months with abundant sex, lies and videotape.
What's the TCHS connection? Christensen also served as president of the Class of 1958, played on the varsity basketball squad and was named to the All Rio Hondo league basketball team.
Say it ain't so, Terry!
This news was called to our attention by Frank Schlesinger '58.
Eric Vossbrink '85 reports that his classmate Tracy Newland passed away this summer. An excerpt from the Pasadena Star-News obituary follows.
Tracy Diane Newland Kleckner July 11, 1967 - July 17, 2008 passed away suddenly July 17, 2008 in Henderson, Nevada. She is survived by her husband, Gary Scott Kleckner, son Kody & daughter Haylee. She is also survived by her mother, Nancy (Terry) Donahue; Grandmother, Lois Taylor; Aunt & Uncle Sally & Doug Sears; Cousin, Shelby (Scott) Crawford, their children Lauren, Taylor & Samantha and cousin Steven Sears, all of Temple City, California. Tracy also leaves her half sister and brother, Kim Foster of Phoenix & Ryan Newland of CA; along with many other relatives & friends. She is preceded in death by a brother Kent, father Gary Newland, grandfather Leonard Taylor and grandparents Olive & Max Barton. Tracy attended Temple City schools and graduated from TCHS in 1985. While in school Tracy was active in choreo and the high school musicals. During her early years she was an active member of the Las Flores Ward, LDS Church. and participated in many youth activities. A celebration of her life was held on Sunday, July 20 at the family home in Henderson.
Rocky Curtiss '61 passes along news of the passing of Bill Stulla at age 97. As Engineer Bill, Stulla's 1950s TV show kept LA children drinking their milk for over a decade and earned him two Emmy awards. For the "mourners" and those too young to recall, the LA Times obituary is linked below.
Founding alumni will be sad to know that Edith V. (Sherwood) Ackerman, a retired teacher of Temple City High School in Temple City, CA, passed away on July 29, 2008, in Glendora, CA.
Mrs. Ackerman was born February 14, 1916 in Long Beach, CA, and spent 19 years in the Temple City Unified School district before retiring in 1977. She graduated Magna cum Laude with a degree in Journalism and Liberal Studies from the University of Southern California in 1936. She received two Master's degrees: Master of Education from USC in 1955 and a Master of Arts in English from Cal State University Los Angeles in 1968.
She was selected as Teacher of the Year in 1971 by the Industry Education Council of San Gabriel Valley and as an Outstanding Secondary Teacher of America in 1973. During her tenure at Temple City High School, she taught English, humanities, and literature courses. She also taught journalism and yearbook classes, acting as the advisor for both the newspaper and the yearbook. Upon her retirement, she joined the Serrano Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. As a member of the chapter, she held many chapter chairmanships, was the chapter treasurer for six years and served as Chapter Regent from 1984-1986.
Mrs. Ackerman was preceded in death by her husband, Allen Ackerman, her high school sweetheart and husband of 45 years. She is survived by her daughters, Anne Battle, and June Malone and grandchildren Steven Stankovic, John Stankovic (Aida), Allison Battle (Ryan Toms), and Gregory Battle, as well as great-grandchildren Steven Stankovic II, John Stankovic II, and Caitlyn Stankovic.
A formal sea service will be held Friday, August 15, 2008, in San Pedro, CA, to scatter her ashes. At the family's request, donations may be made to the Edith Ackerman Scholarship Fund, Serrano Chapter DAR, in care of Phyllis Sain, 209 E. Haltern Ave., Glendora, CA 91740-4492.
(Our thanks to Janice Helmer '68 for this notice. -Ed.)
Joanie (Roig) Rardin writes: " I am looking for a Time Capsule that was created somewhere between Sept. 1987 and Dec. 1987 in memory of Steve Taru. He died tragically on our 1st day of school, our senior year, Sept., 1987. Please contact me if you have any information regarding this capsule."
Rocky Curtiss '62 reports: The class of '62 held its inaugural golf tournament on May 16, 2008, at The Ranch at Moreno Valley Golf Club. The "boys" divided into three teams representing Emperor, Cloverly, and Longden schools.
The Longden team of John and Randy Laur, Mark Pocino, and Bill Gorisek were the victors. Other participants were Rich Borger, Ron Fazzi, Joe Terry, Gary Langdale, Roger Gould, Gary Skelley, Corky Fontana, Dick Swan, and Rocky Curtiss. We hope more will join us next year.
We will leave it to your discerning eyes to match the names with the faces after 46 years. (Click the image for a larger version.) After we've had our way with you we hope to reveal the truth. We've opened a topic in the Forums for your guesses.
Your news is welcome. Just post your story and optional graphic in the To The Editor form. -Ed.
Tina Moderow Young reports that a 20 year high school reunion for the class of 1988 is planned for August 16th at the Claremont Doubletree. Registration is open and tickets are available on the Great Reunions website. Classmates can also go onto Classmates.com and Facebook.com to catch up with classmates.
In preparation for a general upgrade this summer we have modified the registration login procedures. The sign-in link has been moved below the main title and search box at the right of the page and integrated with a sign-out link.
One small step. The giant leap is still a-borning.
Mary Theresa (Guida) Crosby advises that Phillip O Keller, class of '71, passed away in 1977. As always, we've added his name to our In Memoriam section and flagged his name in the class list.
If you have news of the passing of a classmate, please let us know. We're also happy to publish a brief biography and photo of the person.
Kathy Keithley '78 writes: Hi All! Just a quick note to tell you that tomorrow is the last day to purchase your reunion tickets on line. As you probably already know, our 30 year reunion for the class of '78 is scheduled for July 19, 2008 at the Marina Del Ray Hotel. It is sure to be a great time, and we hope many of you will be able to attend. Please go to www.greatreunions.com. Fill out your autobiography(which gets you a free bio book at the reunion) and purchase your ticket. Along with the reunion committee look I forward to seeing all of you! Kathy Archer Keithley, 1978.
Strokes are never good, but here's a way to mitigate damage by seeking help fast. Victims often know something is wrong but have trouble communicating verbally. Or you might see someone acting oddly or clumsily. Doing nothing or making a cute comment rarely helps; instead...
Click the adjacent image; when the larger version appears, right-click it and save to disk. Now print it, fold it (glue it together) and put it in the topmost plastic insert of your wallet or the wallet of a loved one. Train them and yourself that in the event communication is difficult a stroke is possibly the reason. You/they should show the message to ANY passerby (pride, vanity and embarrassment will not save your life; action might).
Due to increasing spam received in the editor's account, we have closed the mailbox we've been using for several years. To contact Alumni News, please use the contact form linked below. Thanks for understanding.
Here's a general tip for email users:
1. When sending email to multiple users, DO NOT put long lists of recipients into the TO: or CC: fields. This causes the entire list to be revealed to all the recipients, and if they forward the message to others, the chain of exposure of your friends' addresses is pyramided, which benefits only spammers.
2. Instead, send the message to yourself and put your other addresses into the BCC: field of the email header. (Some email programs require that you activate the BCC field.) That way, (a) you will automatically get confirmation that the message was sent, and (b) each recipient will see only his own address and think you sent the message individually.
By following these simple steps, you will be helping reduce the benefits of sending spam, and all those poor fools will starve. Do not, we emphasize, hunt them down and kill them. As Richard Nixon said, "that would be wrong."
List pages in our Directory now have additional information and one functional change, installed today, April 18. Each listing now shows a document icon linked to the listings brochure or personal page. The envelope icon now takes the user to the brochure page and is no longer linked to the email form. Finally, a small red question mark indicates that contact data are missing.
The removal of the email link was occasioned by the increasing problem of spam to listing owners. By moving the email function to the brochure page additional "tunneling" is required, which increases the burden on would-be spammers. We found that when a similar change was made to the new-listings feature the amount of spam went down.
The TCHS Class of 68 40th Reunion Boomers Blow-Out will be a three-day party starting with a casual “after dinner” ice breaker on Friday, continuing through a dinner event Saturday evening and finishing with a Sunday morning breakfast in the hotel restaurant to say au revoir to our friends until next time.
When: August 29, 30 and 31, 2008 - Labor Day weekend
Where: Pasadena Hilton, 168 South Los Robles Avenue
Costs:
• $20 Reservation fee per classmate for the entire weekend ($25 after June 1)
• Friday night will be “No Host”
• $75 per person for Saturday night dinner
• Sunday Breakfast will be ordered off the menu at your own expense.
Who: Reply to Janice Helmer at JMHelmer at earthlink.net.
How: Registration forms can be printed from tchs68.com.
Jo Ann (Rodgers) Olsen, Class of 1960, passed away April 13, 2007. The news was reported to TCHS Alumni News this week by her former daughter-in-law, Loraine Olvera.
Jo Ann was instrumental in early class reunions in 1970 and 1980 and will be missed by her friends and classmates. C/60 leads in registrations on our site, no doubt in large part due to such efforts by a few key people.
Beth Orellana writes "i wanted to let you know that Timothy Mancuso class of 1970 died october 24th, 2007.
"For the last seven years he was assistant coach at Pasadena High School for the JV and Varsity Baseball teams under Robert Barens. He loved "his" kids and loved baseball to the ends of the earth."
After many years teaching in Temple City, Dr. Bill Schmidt moved to Lone Pine, CA, where he became Superintendent of Schools. In the 1950s and 60s, being a blind teacher made one an instant celebrity, but most students came away understanding Schmidt's star qualities transcended his disability.
Ray Watters '62 notes: "Bill Schmidt was my 8th grade teacher at Oak Avenue School from '57 to '58.
"The accompanying photo of (us) was taken in 1995 when I roasted him at his retirement in Lone Pine, CA. At that time, he was Superintendent of Schools in Lone Pine and I lived in Ridgecrest, which is just a bit south.
"I had the speech all planned, but had to intervene when I said, 'Bill...you haven't changed a bit!' There was going to be some reference to Grecian Formula, but he spoke up and said, "Geez Ray, I thought I was blind!" That brought the biggest laugh of the evening."
(The editors invite registered users to submit their Bill Schmidt stories. While you are signed in a comment form appears below this article. We suggest you write your story off line and paste it to the form, lest all those good grammar teachers from TC schools arise and castigate you for your spelling.)
Our new Forums tool, which has been in final live testing, is now active. Registered users can ask questions, post ideas and get feedback. We've salted the mine with some initial topics in three forums: general, classes, and looking-for; registered users can add topics to each and answer questions and comments posed by others. We hope you use and enjoy this feature. Comments To The Editor, please.
Tira (Moderow) Young and Myrriah (Pfister) Diebold have started the ball rolling for a later summer '08 reunion of the class of '88. They ask that classmates contact either of them to help with planning, or go to GreatReunions.com after Christmas '07 to purchase tickets and fill out an online biography.
Several alumni have asked about postcards purportedly from TCHS "urgently" requesting contact and other personal information from alumni (image; click for larger view). We do not know whether these are legitimate, and we urge caution in responding. We will be checking with TCHS after the holidays to see if there is any connection to the school.
(Since TCHS is not in Chesapeake, VA, perhaps this should be a tip-off. We also wonder how "urgent" an alumni address update could be. Our skeptical antennas are up, and we anticipate more junk mail with something other than glee. We'll keep you posted. Ed.)
UPDATE - JANUARY 31 - It's a commercial directory service ("Harris Connect") that's actually a direct mailing operation. It works something like this. They seduce the school into asking alumni into providing all their contact info and they cross-relate that info with publicly available databases. They also start with whatever info the school already has (many schools unlike TCHS have extensive contact lists). Then they send them spam and junk mail until the end of time. You can also buy a book listing all the (correct and false) information for about $100.
They give the school a tiny piece of the action. That's the seduction.
I checked with TCHS, and they are indeed "sponsors" of the project. They did something similar about ten years ago, but of course all that information is wildly out of date and wasn't very accurate to begin with. The one I saw from back then had me listed two or three times under variations of my name (I was Alex, Alex Rees, A. Rees and/or Rees), all under Class of 1960, as I recall. Very few are actually sold, as I understood it from the former principal; the real deal is the mailing list.
Harris is apparently very successful. To paraphrase Barnum, "there's a high school administrator with budget problems born every minute." No offense intended; this is hard to spot when well presented, and they present it well. They are not without their detractors, as a simple web search like "harris connect alumni complaint" will demonstrate.
As you might imagine, we are not amused by all this. If 2/3 of all alumni were to send us $100 (total = about $1,000,000) we could endow TCHS Alumni News, hire and pay a part-time professional editor essentially forever and use the surplus to give away about $50,000 in scholarships annually, also essentially forever. But then, why would we want to do that when we can send money to Chesapeake, Virginia?
It continues to amaze me that alumni would rather pay commercial entities who couldn't find TC on a map to save their lives instead of getting behind a community project by and for actual alumni. Perhaps Wm. J. Lederer had it right back in 1961. -RC
YouTube makes it easy to embed videos in other sites. We've found some examples featuring the TCHS marching band at a 2006 event on North Field and a teaser for Eric Bauer's 50 year retrospective from 2004. We'll add more over time, and we encourage you to send suggestions - family-friendly, please - to the editor.
Here's an update from Carol Poole '60: "I retired from working full time as a nurse in 2001, and after a year I was really bored. A friend asked if I would like to go on a Alliance for Smiles (AS) mission to China. The reason they needed me is that I'm an experienced recovery room nurse.
"So I said 'yes' not knowing how I would feel/like this. I found it's the most rewarding thing I have ever done; it makes me feel needed and useful; I guess I'm giving back.
"AS was founded by 5 members of Rotary Club of San Francisco. It's a non-profit corporation that partners with Rotary Clubs and sends teams of medical and non-medical volunteers to China. The teams are from all over the world, not just the USA. They set up multidisciplinary cleft palate and lip treatment centers where they provide free surgery.
'We go on two-week missions. A surgical team is about 20 volunteer plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, nurses, and dentists, plus 10 non-medical Rotary volunteers. The team works side by side with the local Chinese medical teams.
'I have been to Shenyang (click the map) twice in 2006, Huangshi in 2007 and I plan to return to China twice in 2008.
'We work about a 12 hour day, but I don't really get tired. I hope I can keep this up for several more years. Guess that's it; Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!
"Carol"
It all makes sense to yours truly; a smile from Carol was worth having 50 years ago, too. -RC
Since our "bottom line" revolves around people and not numbers, we failed to note a milestone earlier this fall, when we transmitted our two-millionth page. The count since 2002 now stands at 2,300,885 pages, of which 10,953 were transmitted during the past seven days to 790 readers. An estimated 82,840 readers have visited the site.
Thanks for your interest and support to date. We invite you to consider subscribing at our low donation of $12 per year. Your 3.3 cents per day can allow us to build an infrastructure that will survive the founders, whose gray hair and eventual desire to sit and rock will someday be more truth than poetry. -RC
Abridged commentary from Pasadena Star-News: In Tuesday's local elections, many incumbents were returned as usual. Though we're always glad to see long-timers challenged - it's never good for democracy to have to cancel an election - on balance we often agreed with the voters' decision. Change for change's sake is not a pure good unless one candidate or slate has simply been there too long...
When it came to the contested three seats on the Temple City Unified School District board, a slate of populist challengers swept the election.
Bob Ridley - who ran alongside candidates Rachel LaSota and Janet Rhee - was the frontrunner with 1,332 votes, or 22 percent of the votes cast. Rhee came in next with 1,221 votes, or 20 percent. LaSota was next, with 1,057 votes or 18 percent. School board incumbent Robert McKendrick was not re-elected.
According to a commentary in the Pasadena Star-News, voters clearly said that they were looking for some fresh faces. It was by no means a matter of expressing overall dissatisfaction with the schools - Temple City remains a school district to which homebuyers specifically move in order to enroll their children.
It was more a separate list of issues. These three talked about a superintendent whose authoritative style rubbed staff the wrong way. They also spoke of bringing together the district with City Hall and trying to get more parents involved. Ridley in particular spoke out against the long delays in addressing the repairs to Emperor School from an arson fire two years ago. All three said a proposed facilities bond should be aired out more thoroughly in the community before placed on the ballot.
Ed.: We've posted this in part as a stimulus to action by alumni, whose numbers include many who continue to be interested in local affairs. Amazingly, the Emperor School fire escaped our attention, as have many other community events.
Your Alumni News only works if you participate. It needn't be fancy; just sign in and post a note in the Forums; or comment on something in the News or a forum topic. It's easy, and we need you.
It's official! The class of 1978 will be holding its 30 year reunion on Saturday, July 19, 2008, at the Marina Del Ray Hotel. The classes of 1977, 1979, and 1980 are invited too. Please go to www.greatreunions.com to complete your bio/profile, and purchase tickets. Be sure to register also here at TCHS Alumni News, so you don't miss any updates.
For any questions, please contact Kathy Keithley at Kathy.keithley [at] hotmail.com or Chris Dorman Shoptaw at cshoptaw [at] adelphia.net ([at]='@' of course). Add your ideas and suggestions for the reunion below. See you in 2008!
(Ed.: Please open a topic in the Forums for your planning discussion.)
The Alumni Forums have returned. Using a new integrated forum tool we have reinstituted our member bulletin-message board. Follow the link for more info and a link to the Alumni Forums.
Marilynn provides a wealth of local detail in her letter. The link below opens a map of the area to help with the place names. You can zoom in and out for more details; turn on the satellite view for a sense of the terrain. -RC
Dear Rees,
It's really been scary. When it first happened I grabbed the craziest things to put in my car and every day added more things. It's amazing what you do when you get panicky. I live in Lakeside, but closer to downtown Lakeside. North Lakeside was really in trouble. I thought for sure if we weren't hit, it would at least be very close. Thankfully my mobile park up on the hill was completely safe. La Mesa, where my daughter, sister and brother live was safe. Most of San Diego, meaning the original San Diego, Lemon Grove was safe. Northern San Diego lost a lot of homes. There were almost 1500 homes burned to the ground and still counting. I think there were only 4 or 5 actual fire deaths. 5 others not contributed to the fire itself. I personally, physically am not affected, but since my livelihood is from my business since 1988, a house cleaning business, I have had several clients have to call off my duties. Meaning less money. Oh well. It's only money. Then, of course, my coolant and power steering fluid were leaking, so I had to get my car fixed, borrow my daughters car to go to the one job I had that next day.
My neighbor went to Spring Valley to her daughters to be safe. Then we were the safe ones and her daughter was evacuated. The fire seemed to go all around us. The Harris fire was really bad. Starting way south and going all the way to Spring Valley. My neighbors friend lived in Pauma Valley, I think, and her house burned to the ground. That's the only one I know of personally. This is suppose to be the worse fire in this area since the 1600's. They are finally letting people into Ramona, but they cannot use their water, at all. They can just sleep in their own beds. I have a rich client who was in Omaha when this happened. He lives in the Country Estates, a part of Ramona. I told him to stay there, but he came home. I haven't talked to him yet, but I'm sure he got there. To go to his place, I have to go up Wildcat Canyon Rd. That's the road where most of the people died in the fire 4 years ago. It's a very dangerous road in the best circumstances. Barona Casino is on Wildcat Canyon Rd. No one can go up it yet and I sure am not going to try. He may have to wait to get his wash done. That fire was called the Witch Creek fire.
All in all, this was much more organized than the last fire 4 years ago. But, the helicopters still took awhile getting here. Something stupid about being certified. The helicopters have private arrangements with companies and have to get their permission first. In the old days, everyone would just grab a bucket and start putting out the fire. No one needed to be certified. If the helicopters could've been here an hour after the fire started, a lot of homes could've been saved.
I also heard of some crazy people starting fires just for fun. A friend said she heard that 50 illegals got caught up in the fire and surrendered themselves to be sent back to Mexico. Before these fires, we have had several smaller ones started by the illegals starting small fires to cook with in the back brush. They 'live' behind the expensive homes in North County and actually all over the place here. They leave a lot of garbage and junk all over. This doesn't help us with our fire prevention.
Gov. Arnold, Pres Bush, Duncan Hunter, Darrel Issa, Brian Bilbray, Diane Finestien, Susan Davis and others all came here. They were amazed how smoothly the evacuations were. No one whined and begged for help. The people who went to Qualcomm and all the other places just started organizing the food, entertainment for the kids, places to find people, etc, etc. It was nothing like the craziness in New Orleans with Kratrina. San Diegans get right in there and help themselves and everyone else. The air is getting better and they are in hopes of having the fires gone by Oct 31st. They said the last embers should be by Nov. 5th. Our radio and some TV has been 24/7 fire info. It's really been a nightmare, but thankfully it's almost over now.
Sorry I didn't answer sooner, but last night (Wed) was when my car 'broke', so I had to spend the night at my daughters and got home late tonight (Wed night) It's almost 5 am now and I have to be at work at 9 am, so I better get some sleep. It's so strange when this kind of thing happens, even though my place was out of danger, just having it all around you is really exhausting. And really so sad for all the people who were directly effected.
Hope this helps you a little. I'm sure I rambled on and hopefully came up with the right information for you.
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.
"Mr.K" - George Koumachian, educator and resident in Temple City for over 30 years died on September 30th, 2007 from a short battle with cancer, as reported by his daughter, Nina Koumachian Ehlig '69.
Koumachian taught for the Alhambra, Arcadia, Pasadena, Rosemead and Temple City School Districts in a variety of subjects and grade levels, but high school Graphic Arts and Spanish were his specialties.
He volunteered as the Spanish translator for the Temple City Sister City Organization and the City of Temple City for over 30 years.
Gail (Gunderson) Downs '56 reminds us: TCHS school colors, green and gold and the mascot ram, were chosen in 1950, when the school initially opened, was a junior high and part of the Pasadena School District. That is the true history.
(Ed. note: If memory serves, a new HS on the west side of Pasadena adopted the same colors after the TC district was formed. Cannot remember that school's name, but when they played one another in sports, it was a challenge to watch.)
Kitt (Ryland) Brown reports that William Ryland, Class of 1985, passed away on January 12, 2007 from complications related to surgery. Will was a beloved son, brother, and uncle, and a loyal friend.
At the risk of seeming to use this venue for my own purposes, and since I've received precious little news recently, I'll take this opportunity to introduce my new grandson, Robin Alexander Koshiro Clark, born August 16, 2007, in Tokyo. Click the pic. Larger version of photo available on mugs, t-shirts and handsome wall plaques, soon; watch this space.
BTW, we're happy to announce all manner of life events. Registered users can add News easily while signed in; just go to the News Log and find the New Post link. We ask only a modicum of decorum and NO advertising content, which will be removed as soon as discovered.
Hi, all! I'd rather not spend the summer posting obituaries, so if you're getting married, having a baby, changing jobs or climbing a particularly interesting mountain, send along news of your exploits! -RC
Steven Aminoff '71 writes, "My wife, Patricia J. Polagi Aminoff and her sister Pamela Polagi, both from the class of 1971, lost their brother, John Polagi (of) the class of 1963, due to a heart attack on June 12, 2007."
Sherry McClure Severson writes: "These names should be added to your In Memoriam section and are all from the 1968 class.
Larry Johnson just passed away a few days ago.
Over the years we have also lost Angelina Burza, Tom Callas, Susan Carrell, Beverly Doran, Greg Gamm, Phil Kuhn, Blaine Malinowski, Lynn Mallory, Diane Romano, Dayle Okazaki (killed by Night Stalker), Michele Shust, John Lamb, Julie Lobby, Chuck Strand, Mark Hammer, Phil Deushane, Michele Plumley, Christina Tonarely, and Ted Schreiner."
If you are a registered member you can add a message of remembrance. We also invite biographies of up to 5,000 words and a single photograph. If you have a copy of a school photo and another from later in life, please plan to include them; write to the editor for instructions.
Donna White writes "In Memoriam should include Anthony Franco, class of 1967 (date of death unknown - approximately 10 years ago)." We've added Anthony's name to the class list.
Comedian George Carlin wishes the 'net would " Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them!? Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days--mowing my lawn."
There's another reason: The real info about TCHS alumni is at tchsalumni.org. This would be a good time to register, or if you are already registered, to update your contact information. We will be adding some new features this summer, and we don't want you to miss out.
Wendy and Rick (1960) Harp sent a picture of the recent wildfire that threatened Avalon. The fire was turned back but not before damaging some buildings on the island and forcing evacuation of many residents.
A member wrote recently asking about confidentiality of member information in this age of stalkers and identity thieves. The following was our partial reply.
First, listings in the TCHS Alumni News directory are self-produced; that is, the member has signed up personally.
Second, no contact data are published, unless the member does it by typing an address in plain text in his / her profile or in a news item. The contact form that appears with each name for which we have an email address is a database link that looks up the address and sends the message. The sender does not see the address, and the return address is TCHSAlumni.org, so if the message bounces the server exchange comes here, not to the sender.
Third, a "Maintain Privacy" setting appears in the member editing form; even if other addresses are displayed circumstantially this one will not be so.
Fourth, bulk mailings to classes or groups always use BCC addressing, so the recipients do not see one another's addresses.
Fifth, lists contributed by classes (e.g., 1971) are subject to the same rules. The names appear, but there is no contact method until the alumnus contacts us to supply an email address. The names themselves are a public domain record at TCHS anyway, so we add no information pathway.
We do not even share lists with reunions; if a reunion organizer wants a mailing they must submit to us and we do it.
And finally, any member can request personal handling of changes or to be listed under a pseudonym to keep getting bulk mail.
Later this year, we will be switching to a new system of internal messaging. The contact form will store the message and notify the member. The member will sign in to read the message, which will not be sent as email but displayed as a web page.
It's pretty tight.
FYI, for persons with stalking problems, etc., there are organizations that will provide a double-blind mail drop. And if someone wishes, we can redirect mail to a third party.
Another solution is to subscribe to TCHS Alumni News for $12 per year and have an address with us, e.g., yourname@tchsalumni.org; we then forward the mail to the member. Naturally if the member should reply with ordinary email, then all bets are off.
We invite your questions and appreciate your continuing support.
Complex signal processing algorithms are the expertise of physicist Kent Cullers, TCHS 1967, Director of SETI Research and Development at the SETI Institute. (Article adapted for TCHS Alumni News from the SETI site.)
"My sensory connection to the wider universe is not vision but radio waves," says Cullers, who has been blind since birth. "Surely, among the billions of hospitable stars in our galaxy, technologies like ours exist. Because Braille can now represent mathematics and diagrams," he observes, "not only the world but also the universe is open to blind people."
Cullers' algorithms search for artificial signals that stand out from the cosmic static unlike any natural sources, providing a "fingerprint of technology in the radio spectrum," as he explains in a BBC radio program. As one of the editors of SETI 2020: A Roadmap for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Cullers helps guide the direction of future research at the SETI Institute.
Cullers' innovative approach to signal processing is already evident in the design of the Allen Telescope Array. He also leads the Institute's early research on an alternative strategy to look at the entire sky all the time, rather than searching star by star. As technology improves in the coming decade, the intensive computing demands of this alternate omnidirectional search will become increasingly economical. Cullers' pilot work on the omnidirectional strategy will ensure that the SETI Institute is prepared to make use of advanced computing capabilities as they become available.
Kent Cullers was born in El Reno, Oklahoma. He was premature and, consequently, immersed in pure oxygen. This saved his life but left him totally blind. He was nevertheless physically active as a child and was encouraged by his parents to be a part of the educational mainstream. He was a straight-A student, a national merit scholar and class valedictorian at Temple City High School in California. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1980 (the first totally blind physicist in the world).
Kent worked for NASA's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence program upon graduating from Berkeley. From 1985 to 1990 he was the Targeted Search Signal Detection Team Leader with the SETI Institute. He developed, evaluated, and implemented optimized detection algorithms for continuous and pulsed signals originating from distant Earth-like planets. He created algorithms for both advanced special purpose and general-purpose computers.
From 1990 to March 1994 he was the Signal Detection Subsystem Manager for the High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS) Project at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. He supervised the development of hardware and software for signal detection for HRMS.
From 1993 to March 1994 Kent led the SETI Research & Technology effort and managed the upgrading and replication of all the digital data processing equipment for HRMS. NASA's HRMS Project was cancelled by Congress in October 1993, but Kent is still participating in Project Phoenix, the SETI Institute's continuation of the Targeted Search portion of HRMS. He resigned from NASA in October 1995, and rejoined the SETI Institute as a Senior Scientist and Project Manager for Project Phoenix. Since 2000 he has served as Director for SETI Research and Development.
Kent has been the recipient of many honors and awards, including NASA's Exceptional Engineering Achievement medal in 1993 and Federal Employee of the Year in 1994. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society, and a board member for the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Sensory Access Foundation, and the Peninsula Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired.
Kent travels extensively to give talks and present papers at international science meetings. Kent has had a ham radio license since 1961, is an avid chess player, and plays both piano and guitar. He is married and has two children.
Kathleen Pearson Reynolds '79 reports: Melissa Pearson Munson, class of 1977, passed away on May 6, 2007, just two days after finding out she had liver cancer. My sister Melissa was a remarkable person, loved and respected by all who knew her.
She served with the Los Angeles Police Dept. for over 17 years, rising to the rank of sergeant.
She is surived by her husband Dean, Children Kris, Erica, Carl, Sigrid, 3 sisters, and 2 brothers. Melissa will be missed so much.
Steve Moran '66 reports: "Lee Hamman, class of l965, was killed in the Da Nang area of Viet Nam, March 19, 1969, while serving as a Navy hospital corpsman with Delta Co., 1st Bn., 5th Marine Div. While on patrol, a marine had been wounded, Lee went to his aid and was killed by an enemy soldier. It's my understanding that Lee had served his time in the bush (field) but volunteered to return (6months in the field and 6 months in a field hospital was generally a corpsman's tour). I can believe this of Lee, I'm proud to have known him since we were small children, I spent many hours at the Temple City Church of Christ with Lee and our other friends."
We have added Lee Hamman to the Honor Roll. If you have a report of a deceased alumnus, please write to the editor. We acknowledge passings in the News and we honor those who die in public service on the In Memoriam page.
Hello, Washington State! There are 34 registered TC alumni in the state, and we suspect there are more. If you would like to organize a low-key, regional TC Day in the Puget Sound area during Summer 2007, write to me. (Registered users may comment below; others can look me up in the Roster and send a message.)
It has heretofore been our policy to suppress all contact data. It has been proposed by many users that the state and country of residence be displayed on the personal profile page. The editors feel that since all users are adults this will not compromise anyone's security or privacy. If there is no strong opposition to doing so, we will begin displaying that information on June 1, 2007. You may write to the editor if this causes you concern, or registered users may post a comment below.
Hi everyone! I hope this posting finds you happy and healthy. Believe it or not, we are starting to look forward to our 30 year reunion! The committee will be meeting in June, with announcements to come soon there after.
For the moment, please e-mail your contact information to me, as I am building a distribution e-mail to make correspondence efficient. Thanks everyone, I look forward to hearing from all of you!
Janice Helmer '68 writes "The Historical Society of Temple City has yearbooks for every class through 1989 and a few from the 1990's, however we do not have the ability to scan them. I can be contacted for use of the Historical Society's copy of the yearbooks."
Here's what Alumni News proposes:
1. If you live in the TC area, Janice will work with you to borrow a yearbook (no doubt the Hist. Soc. willl want to keep your first born child while you have the book; seems fair to us*). You can take it away, scan it and send the scans to the editor (we'll help you with specifications; we regret that all scans are not equally useful).
2. Same deal, but take the yearbook to Kinko's or another office services location, where you will pay about $1.50 per page for high-quality scans. Assuming 300 students and 20 per page; the 15 scans will cost you under $30, including a little something for Aahnold and the legislature.
Of course, if you have your own yearbook you can do the same thing. (See previous article.)
Finally, if you are feeling particularly magnanimous, contact the editor about underwriting all or part of the project. We'd be happy to credit you, or not, as you prefer, or to give your business some complimentary advertising.
The adjacent image is the first yearbook from 1957. Click it for a larger view.
We need some help to create a senior album for each class. Each person who scans a yearbook will receive a FREE lifetime subscription to TCHS Alumni News.
Each album will contain all the senior class headshots. An example from the Class of 1977 appears with this item; click the image for a larger view.
Scans must be to our specification and will be pages, not individual persons. We will help you with tips and suggestions to achieve quality scans. Because the layouts of yearbook pages vary widely we cannot be more specific here.
If you are able to scan your yearbook, please contact the editor.
We have added a live chat feature. While we're testing, access Chat from the link at the top of the home page.
The link will send you to a page with instructions and a sign-in (chat) link. Signing in to chat is not synchronized with sign-in for the rest of the site at this time. You do NOT need to use a password to chat at this time.
If the system passes muster we will add a permanent link in the Contents and synchronize the login. Your feedback is requested; comment on this post (you must be registered and signed in to comment) or write to the editor with ideas and issues.
A C/87 reunion is in the planning stage: WHEN: August 18, 2007; WHERE: Embassy Suites, Arcadia, CA; DETAILS: More to come, we hope.
Please register in the Alumni Roster before leaving this site if you have not already. Our master list is designed to survive the reunion and make your class easier to collect for the next event.
A couple of searches on 'tchs' over the past few years have netted more TCHS sites than one might expect or - with respect - want. For example: Tuscaloosa County HS (AL), Tuba City HS (AZ), Trego Community HS, Tippecanoe County Humane Society, Timothy Christian HS (IL), Trigg County HS (SC), Teurlings Catholic HS (LA), Tyler County HS (WV), Towns County HS (GA), Trenton Central HS (NJ), Tates Creek HS (KY), The Colony HS (TX), Texas City HS (TX), Temescal Canyon High School, Timber Creek High School (FL), Timber Creek Regional High School (NJ), Tampa Catholic High School (FL), Taylor County High School (KY), Tift County (GA) High School, and maybe more.
We'll keep adding them to the TCHS Links page as we find them. Let the editors know if we've omitted your school.
Interestingly, the same guys that provided the brick for our TCHS seem to have been travelin' men. Check out the links.
Shameless pitch for our hosts: Some of them don't have Alumni Sites.
Why is TCHS Alumni News not linked from the TCHS site? They have a page labeled Alumni News that merely contains links to commercial organizations that just want your money. (One even offers a "bulleting board" - whatever that is.) In contrast, we only want your news and to keep you in contact with your friends.
The school district and the high school have been linked from our site since its founding. In 2004 we provided about 200 hours of service to the school district's anniversary celebration, supporting a web site for the event that delivered nearly 100,000 page views and found many disconnected alumni. The idea that 15,000 alumni, most of whom have positive memories of the TCHS days, might render professional services and educational support to the district seems to be going right over their heads.
To quote a Broadway play popular around the time of the District's founding, "'Tis a puzzlement."
As of today, the number of alumni in the Roster is 1,948, of whom 1,368 are active with valid contacts. Temple City is still home to only 130 active alumni which rises to 282 if we include San Gabriel, Arcadia, El Monte and Rosemead; a total of 1,010 (about half of registered addresses) live in Southern California.
Perhaps not great news for the TC Chamber of Commerce.
What drew you to the place you live now? (You must be registed and sign in to comment.)
Various search engines have sent people to TCHS Alumni News looking for these subjects. Some make immediate sense. We wonder why certain former students made the list and not others. Your thoughts? (You must be registered and signed in to comment.)
TCHS Alumni News needs an associate editor to keep us up to date on TC happenings. Our team is spread across the country, but none of us is currently a TC or nearby resident. If you are, and if you would like to help, please write to the editor. Your main tasks will be to update the calendar and post notes in the alumni blog on what's happening in the old home town. If your talents run to the photographic or literary, we would welcome longer articles about local businesses and community organizations.
If you have an offline class list in electronic format we can probably merge it into the alumni database. There are several benefits:
(1) members can maintain their own data
(2) accuracy is improved
(3) you don't have to hunt them down for reunions
(4) and the list goes on.
We recently merged the class of 1971 from an Excel file, adding nearly 300 TC friends to the system. We are happy to do the data processing work and return a cleaned up copy to you. All contact data are confidential and are used only for alumni-related information.
Because much of older lists predates the era of email, many people are not accessible by that method. If this includes you, please share your email data with your class coordinator, and we will coordinate with her/him. This procedure keeps us from accepting contact data from other people than your classmates. Once your email is registered you can maintain your own data, No class coordinator? This could open a whole new career for you! :-)
Did you know you can easily update your contact data and personal comment? Tell friends your news, and help us stay in touch. Just sign in from the control bar above any page of the Roster. If you have misplaced your login ID and password, the system will give it to you by email, unless you have changed your email without telling us - very bad. If necessary (if the process fails for any reason), write TO THE EDITOR, and we will be in touch with new access codes after asking a couple of security questions. RC
Flash - The Class of 1997 will hold its tenth year reunion September 22. Watch the Alumni News for details as we get them.
PLEASE REGISTER IN THE ALUMNI DIRECTORY too, if you have not already done so. Your alumni registration will survive the reunion and become the basis for continued contact with your classmates.
Additional details and event registration are at the link below.
This would be a good time to find yourself in the Roster, sign in and verify your contact data; let's start the new year with 100% accuracy, which only you can do.
If you haven't signed in lately, see the procedure under Update Contacts. We will send your password to your registered email address.
If you have changed ISPs and do not know your password and/or registered email address, please write To The Editor. We will reply with a question to verify your identity and then send you a new password.
We've recently fixed a bug in the Roster that incorrectly sorted persons with alternate (maiden) surnames. It's helpful when members bring such things to our attention, but we found this one internally.
Jacque Cohen, who counseled TCHS students from the first years of the school, has re-materialized in the alumni roster. After many years in the San Gabriel Valley, Mr. Cohen now resides in Northern California, whence he has expressed his wish to hear from past students.
Editor's Note: We welcome faculty members to join the Roster and to participate in the community dialog. Write to the editor to join, as the regular Join link in the Roster is for alumni only.
The Temple City Marching Band and Pagentry Corps announces its 3rd Annual Poinsettia Fundraiser. Plants will be delivered to recipient's home or business on Monday, December 4 from 11am - 7:30pm. in ZIP 91780 ONLY.
Beautiful, 6-inch, foil potted, direct from grower plants are $9 each. Chose from red, white, pink, and jingle bell varieties. Plants can be ordered by phone or mail from now through November 17th. We would love alumni to help deliver plants and welcome all orders!
Contact KellyAnn Romanych, Co-Chairperson Poinsettia Fundraising Commitee, TCHS Band and Aux Boosters @ 626-237-0851 or kromanych626 @ charter.net
President George W. Bush met with crew members of the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-121), Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-115), and International Space Station Expeditions 11, 12, and 13 in the East Room of The White House. Monday, Oct. 23, 2006. The two teams completed missions during Summer 2006 that were generally described as successful and in many ways beyond expectations.
Pictured in the accompanying photo (click to enlarge): Bottom row, from left: STS-121 Commander Steve Lindsey (TCHS '78!), STS-121 Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson, President Bush, STS-121 Mission Specialist Lisa Nowak, STS-121 Pilot Mark Kelly.
Second row, from left: STS-115 Mission Specialist Steve MacLean, STS-115 Pilot Chris Ferguson, Expedition 13 Flight Engineer Jeff Williams, STS-121 Mission Specialist Mike Fossum.
Third row, from left: STS-115 Mission Specialist Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, STS-115 Mission Specialist Dan Burbank, STS-121 Mission Specialist Piers Sellers.
Top row, from left: STS-115 Commander Brent Jett, Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, Expedition 11 Flight Engineer John Phillips, STS-115 Mission Specialist Joe Tanner.
Due to lack of participation and abuse by spammers, the Forums feature has been discontinued pending the replacement of the software subsystem by another product. User suggestions on interactive features are as always invited. Registered users can comment here; anyone can write To The Editor using the link in the Contents.
Kimberly Barnhart of TC reports: I live in Temple City but (am) attending Rosemead High School. They recently tore down the Edwards Temple Cinema (formerly the Temple Theater) on the corner of Rosemead Bl and Las Tunas. They will be building a Piazza there - to resemble Venice, with small water canals, shops, and condos.
See our earlier item on the project. Registered users may comment after logging in.
We are starting to look for people to be on the committee for the 30 year reunion for the class of 1978. If you are interested in being on the committee, or if you just want to be kept informed of developments, please contact Kathy (Archer) Keithley (click below) or Chris (Dorman) Shoptaw at cshoptaw@adelphia.net. If you are registered and signed in, you can also leave a comment on this post.
Thanks, and we look forward to hearing from you! KK
We've made a change to the Recent Registrations box on the home page. Each new member's comment is now echoed along with the name and class year. The comment is limited to 255 characters. When you register, be sure to add a brief comment to tell your friends and classmates about your family, career, or other news.
We need a coordinator to keep us distant alumni abreast of local TC happenings. If you live in Temple City and harbor a secret wish to be a "world famous" journalist, please write To The Editor.
With bated breath we await word of the Class of '86 reunion that was schedule for Sept. 16. If you attended, now's the time to send a report. The organizers are encouraged to submit photographic evidence for posterity.
We have made changes to the registration and sign-in procedures. These changes are part of a gradual transition to a new registration and service platform that we hope to complete by the end of 2006. They will also enable some new services for registrants and subscribers, including personal blogs, albums and messaging. We are excited about the improvements and hope you will participate and tell your friends.
...which means that if you're a member of the Class of '96 and have not yet made your reunion reservations for September 30, you have only days to act.
Here is a review of the details: The class will gather 7:00-11:30pm on Saturday, September 30, 2006 at Mijares Restaurant, Pasadena.
Enjoy a fajita buffet dinner, sodas, no-host bar, photographer, DJ, memory book and good times with good friends.
A bargain at $65 if you act by Sept. 15. The cost increases to $75 after September 15!
Follow the link below for details and to buy tickets. (Comments on this post are open; announce your plans! Tell us how it goes.)
On August 3 we and our Web hosts installed a new version of our directory system. The procedures for creating and maintaining directory listings have changed substantially. This would be a good time for all registrants to sign in and verify data.
You will soon receive an email containing a new user identifier and password. Save that message for future reference. For details of the new procedures follow the link below.
UPDATE! The Class of 76 Reunion has been postponed. Help is needed with locating classmates and planning. Contact Susan Hanft Huls at 626-292-7787. A committee will be organizing at the end of September. Tell your friends!
WAS: The Class of 76 30 year Reunion will be on Sunday, September 3, 2006 at the Santa Anita Inn. Tickets are $60. E-mail Susan Hanft Huls or call 626-292-7787 for details. Please send Susan any mailing addresses or e-mail of classmates to help her get the word out!!
Note: To protect Susan from spam, please look her up in the Class of '76 and use the email link to send a message. We try to avoid posting live email addresses on this site. -Ed.
TCHS' own Steve Lindsey '78 was at the controls as Space Shuttle Discovery touched down at Kennedy Space Cener on July 18. The successful mission commanded by the veteran Air Force and NASA pilot opens the gate for at least 15 future orbiter missions to complete the construction of the International Space Station, where the crew of six spent nearly 13 days after their July 4 launch.
The spacecraft’s Earth return surpassed all expectations, NASA officials said, despite some thick clouds, a finicky air data probe, and a nicked heat-resistant tile near Discovery’s nose landing gear door.
“I would give Steve a perfect 10 today,” NASA reentry flight director Steve Stitch said of STS-121 commander Steven Lindsey’s landing. “He did a superb job putting Discovery right down exactly where we thought with our analysis that he would land. It was a perfect landing.”
For NASA launch director Michael Leinbach, Discovery’s smooth landing provided a closure of sorts. The touchdown marked the first successful KSC shuttle landing since the loss of Columbia, which was heading towards the Shuttle Landing Facility here when it broke apart over Texas.
After the crew's return to Houston, Lindsay observed that "when we launched, really we as a NASA family, and we as a crew — we had two major objectives."
"The first one was to complete the Return to Flight test objectives that we set out to do and do everything in combination with what STS-114 had done a year earlier; prove the tank hopefully, or at least get a good flight on the tank; develop inspection and repair techniques and do all of that work," said Lindsey of the post-Columbia work intended to safe the shuttle from another accident.
"And our second objective was to get up to space station, get it prepared for assembly, fix some things that were broken, bring the crew back up to three and deliver critical supplies so that we could go to assembly. So with those two objectives, that's what we launched with, and that's what we were all hoping for and praying for. And I think I can safely say, that we accomplished those objectives," he added.
Due to a rise in spurious posts for products to renew body parts that half of us don't have, the Forums have been locked from unregistered users. At this time separate registration is required to use the Forums due to certain incompatibilities between that software and the magazine and directory system. Later this year we hope to achieve the integration of the forums under the same member procedure as the rest of the site. Feel free to join the Forums and tell your fellow alumni what you are up to. Comments are welcome.
We just received word of a C/96 reunion September 30. Details are in the Calendar. Please contact the organizers and encourage them to update TCHS Alumni News; none of the organizers is registered with us.
This poignant reminder appeared at another web site that charges users to post news we carry free:
Hi Class of 1996, In order to get you all in the spirit of our upcoming reunion, let's take a look back at the year 1996.
1996 YEAR IN REVIEW
- SuperBowl XXX - Dallas Cowboys 27 - Pittsburgh Steelers 17
- Major League Baseball World Series - New York Yankees v Atlanta Braves (4-2).
- An estimated 150 million people watched as O.J. Simpson was found not guilty for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend.
- At the start of the year, there were only 100,000 websites, with 45 million internet users
- This year's holiday gift craze is the Tickle Me Elmo Doll.
- Disney buys the ABC television network.
- Janet Jackson signs what may be the last big music/record deal, when she has an $80,000,000 agreement with Virgin Records.
- The 28.8k modem is the new household standard for internet access.
- Microsoft releases Explorer 3.0 Web browser.
- The Oakland, California School board elects to recognize black english, termed Ebonics as a separate language.
(Presumably Janet Jackson's outfit held together long enough to sign. RC)
After some false starts last weekend the "Temple City Shuttle Mission" under command of Steve Lindsey '78 is under way and has initially been pronounced successful by NASA.
Recent testing by a TCHS alumnus confirms that hanging upside down from your seat belt is preferable to the alternatives, except, of course, for not rolling your truck in the first place. Be safe this summer, buckle up!
UPDATES: Weather today forced the postponement of the "Temple City" space shuttle. The new date is Sunday, July 2.
And again: 2 July 06: Bad weather at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has delayed the launch of Discovery. The next launch attempt is on Tuesday, July 4, at 2:38 p.m. EDT.
On the bright side, all the astronauts can now don their spacesuits really fast.
Your editor recalls that in the 1950s there was a debate over whether to launch manned rockets from Vandenberg AFB, which had its last thunderstorm in the Pliocene era. As usual with our eastward-tilting national government, hotter heads prevailed. One wonders what they will do when global warming causes the whole Kennedy Space Center to sink beneath the waves (click the map). ;-)
Due to the increasing number of spam posts in the forums, we have blocked the URL field in the user profiles and suppressed all use of HTML and BBcode. If you would like to be a moderator and help us monitor the forums for spam, please write to the editor. RC
If your ISP (e.g., Earthlink) has some swell (opt-in) procedure for protecting you from the horror that is spam, please add our address below as an approved sender. We cannot respond to all the unique email approval requests. If we receive them we trash them. Thanks for understanding.
RC
We have reactivated the Forums after resolving an software incompatibility. Alumni are welcome to post messages for the alumni community and to respond to others. The third-party message board software we are using is a widely used system, but it is not fully integrated with the alumni roster. Thus it is necessary to register separately in the Forums. However, for the short term we are not requiring registration or login to participate. This will change when (a) we have integrated the registration system and/or (b) the Forums get spammed by commercial sites (your staff cannot be bothered deleting all the junk. We will appreciate the participation of volunteer moderators, who will be empowered to delete spurious posts. Enjoy!
As always, your financial support of this site is appreciated. Your $12 annual donation lets us operate the site and creates a basis of support of alumni projects. RC
UPDATE: We're getting a lot of spam in the forums. An executive decision may be necessary pending the final integration of all our signup procedures. The perils of open source software, I guess. It seems the geeks at phpBB, which is purportedly the largest open source bulletin board system, never thought of this problem. RC
Class of 1965 plans its 5th Annual Gathering at the AVI Resort & Casino in Laughlin, Nevada, September 28, 2006.
The Event: The weekend is planned to be relaxing and unstructured, allowing everyone to enjoy their favorite activities. Our Hospitality Suite will allow classmates and friends to enjoy refreshments and visit with each other. A communication board in the suite will provide a method for everyone to learn who is present and where they may be. During the day, we will have a group of canopies and umbrellas set up on the beach for classmates to enjoy the warmth of the sun, view of the river, refreshing coolness of the water and good conversation while others enjoy water sports, the swimming pool, golfing, dining or conversation at the Hospitality Suite.
The Info: Call or e-mail:
Charlotte Johnson Franks (973) 895-4609 charjohnfranks-@-hotmail.com
Sue Harp Rounds (949) 588-7183 sdrounds-@-cox.net
Would that it were so. Actually, the news is that our statistics machine reports: 1,009,244 Requests for pages since we initiated the counter in mid-2002. Thank you!
If you are finding this site useful, please consider subscribing. We're revising the registration procedure to make it easier; please check back around July 1. For only a buck a month you can help us to solidify our finances and keep alumni connected far into the future. We'll be adding even more services this year. Subscribers can post news in the Update and enjoy an email box at tchsalumni.org
If you are a casual visitor and an alumnus, please register even if you cannot subscribe. There is no charge to join the roster. Please encourage your classmates to register, too.
From an old admirer (of TCHS, no doubt): I am not an alumnus but looking for an old friend who I believe transferred to TCHS and graduated in the class of 1979. Her name is Viree Marr and we attended Newbury Park High School before her family moved. I believe her last name is now Allen. I was just wondering if she did in fact graduate from TCHS and if anyone knows how to contact her. -J.Haller (jhaller-@-gia.edu; you know the email drill)
Sharon Olsen, formerly of San Marino HS writes the following message.
I wonder if you might have news of a long lost dancing school classmate of mine. I've written about his dancing ability in my book of poetry, The Long Night of Flying, which was just published by Sixteen Rivers Press (sixteenrivers.org). I would love for him to have a copy of my book if I could find him! We were friends in 5th-6th grade, but I went to San Marino High School. His name is Bill Fite and I believe he played on the football team for TCHS. I met another football player, Paul Lineback, who knew him, when I was travelling in Europe in 1972. Bill Fite was probably my same class, the class of '65.
(Your editor marvels at the amity that has grown in recent decades between TC and SM folk. In the 1950s, 'twas not so, trust me. I guess this is better, but... RC)
The message board (Forum) is out of commission. In the interim, we'll try using the Editor's Desk as a substitute. Recently we've had some play on the Who Are We topic. If you're a member or friend of the Class of 1967, can you ID any of these future Rams from their sixth grade photo?
A classmate pointed out a bug in the Forums (message board) that is proving hard to stomp on. While we work on it, we've removed it from the table of contents. We hope to have it working again - and even better - soon. Thanks for understanding. In the meantime, you can send messages directly to users via the Send Mail link on their personal pages. RC
We cannot confirm or deny a rumor of a plan for a '76 reunion. The rumor mentions Susan (Hanft) Huls. Classmates may use the following comment form to exchange info. Please register in the alumni roster if you have not done so.
Kellie (Coward) Dustman '77 is building a class site within the TCHSAA network. She is scanning class photos from the '77 yearbook and posting them to the site's photo gallery.
Any class with 20 subscribed (not merely registered) members can have a similar capability. Class coordinators also get advanced posting privileges in the main site's news pages. Write to the editor for details.
Julie Wood reports that Tiffany Yaeger class of 88 passed away March 18, 2006. She was fatally injured falling down the stairs. She was living in Dallas raising her two small children.
Gail Gunderson Downs '56 reports: The first graduating class from Temple City High School, The Class of 1956, is pleased to announce our reunion date for our 50th reunion. The reunion dinner will be celebrated on Sunday, October 1st, 2006, followed on Monday, October 2nd, with a four day cruise to Ensenada, returning on Friday, October 5th.
Our graduating class numbered 140 students, of which we have 85 mailing addresses, 27 deceased and 28 missing addresses. Lot's of Memories from "Happy Days" and where did the last 50 years go?
Editor's Note: If you are a '56 classmate and you spot this message, please register in the Roster. We will share addresses with the reunion organizers.
Seems the Class of '86 is gathering September 16. For now, all the info we have is in the Calendar (September). Perhaps someone from the organizing committee will supply more info soon. Sigh.
We've been getting lots of inquiries about reunions for the classes in the title of this item. If you're involved with planning a reunion, please be in touch. We want to help you with publicity and contact support.
The old Temple Theater property (recently Edwards, et al.) is due for redevelopment; the plan is a subject of some local controversy. If you have a comment weigh in in the Alumni Forum.
The editor saw King Kong (the Ray Harryhousen original) and many other classics in the old, that is, the really old, Temple Theater (photo) in the early 1950s. The original theater, with its wagon wheel fence, had a single large auditorium that seated hundreds. The Saturday matinee cost twelve cents, or for a quarter you got a candy bar - not to mention the exciting western, two or three serials like a Superman or a Captain Somebody AND about a zillion cartoons. Needless to say, by the 1960s the floor was just a bit sticky; perhaps that's why it was torn down for the quadriplex. 'Twas never the same.
I visited the developer's site; couldn't help noticing the first feature they promote is security. When I was seven or eight, my mother would drop me and George Domogalla at the curb among the 600 other boisterous kids and drive "down town" to do her shopping at the Market Basket (where Ralph's is now). George's mother would pick us up three hours later. Security lay in knowing half of the 600 and them knowing you. 'Twas never the same.
RC
More for you nostalgia buffs:
I found this site: Cinema Treasures, with commentaries and histories of lots of movie houses alive and alive in memory.
Anyone have a photo of the old and rebuilt T. Theater(s). Email me.
The annual raid on camellia plants is no doubt well under way in TC and environs. The 62nd Camellia Parade starts at 10am Feb. 25, and festival events will take place starting the previous evening.
Hmmm. 10am. Seems a bit later than in The Olden Days. If memory serves, we got up at the crack of dawn, walked the route uphill through the drifting snow, and arrived at the PE (that's Pacific Electric) barn, exhausted, after marching the full 30 miles. Wooden floats and iron children. :-)
Arson damaged four Emperor classrooms January 11. REWARD $25,000! TC School Dist. will move four State-owned mobile classrooms to Emperor to serve about 80 students displaced by the fire.
One of TCHS Alumni News' goals for this year is to recruit and train one or two associate editors. (Pursuant to a couple of aches and pains - we have checked the calendar, and indeed we are not getting any younger.)
Our preference is to find at least one TC-based associate who can keep us better posted on happenings in and around TC, including maintaining liaison with TCHS academics, sports, groups... From a distance of a thousand miles we are rarely "scooping" the world with hot news.
No technical or Web background is required; we will train. It's about news, not technology. We need only reasonably good English and word processing skills. Basic experience with making and editing digital photos would be helpful, but is not essential; we would like you to be able to take pictures locally and upload them; familiarity with the software that typically comes with a new digital camera is quite sufficient.
(Actually, little fame or fortune await, but it did get you to click the link.)
I would be interested personally in supporting translations of the content of TCHS Alumni News into other languages of local interest. If you share this interest and have the requisite skills, please write to me.
I think that the diversification of Temple City's culture can only help the community in the long run to be a point of reference on the Web, which could create Information Age jobs, which could improve the school district's finances, which could improve the experience of children moving through the schools, which could help to sustain the good feelings older alumni have about their time at TCHS. These things don't just happen; they are made to happen.
This evening we're switching the alumni site to its new production environment. No trumpets, no drums, no fireworks, but much greater ease of use for the editors and more flexibility to add future features.
The Forums are temporarily linked via the Archive here.
New features include automatic summary views of internal content on the front page, an active list of recent registrants. Coming soon: A front page calendar overview and a peek into the Gallery to see recently posted photos. (Ask how to send yours.)
As always, questions and concerns are welcome as we try to keep moving forward. Your support of all types is welcome. In particular, we're looking for a TC-based reporter or seven to pump to us the news we can't collect from a distance. -RC
We have a plan to publish graduation photos for every year, and we need your help.
Most yearbooks have several pages with individual photos of graduates. Our plan is to scan each of those pages and post them in one album for each class. Typically each page has 12-20 pictures.
If you have a scanner and a yearbook for your class (and/or other classes), please contact the editor for specifications and instructions. (Use the To The Editor form.)
UPDATE: Kellie Dustman Coward has volunteered to scan the classes of 1974-77; we'll start with 1977 as a test. Stay tuned. RC 3/5.
Hi! This is the beginning of an editor's log. The editor(s) will soon be using this space to point readers to highlights in the site and to call attention to upcoming events.
Subscribed members will be able to comment, too, helping us to keep the site in line with users' expectations and needs.
FYI: Individual alumni can have their own personal logs, as can classes. Ask the editors for details.
ASSOC. EDITOR NEEDED. Prefer a TC or other local resident to keep us abreast of happenings there. Please write to the editor if you are interested.
We plan to expand the site in 2017. One option is to add features such as convenience links and summary information that would recur throughout the site. We encourage your participation; use the contact form to suggest content.
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