A couple weeks later, more or less…Hello Everyone,
The 40th reunion (aack! the 40th!!) has come and gone. After listening for three and a half hours to all of us provide updates, I think the one word that describes our lives in one way or another is “still” – still married to the same person or still working at the same kind of job for xx years or still living in the same town or still pursuing the same hobbies, etc. But let me back up a little…
This may be the usual description, but since I’ve only been to three of these events, here goes. Alumni day was a beautiful spring day, sunny but cool. Many of us met on the church walkway before church. Thinking we needed to be there early for Sabbath School, Marilyn Sanders and I (we carpooled from Sacramento) showed up at 9:30 a.m. and we were the first from our class, I believe, to show up. Next time we’ll know better. Church happened, but not until 10:30. When the class rolls were called, our class had the most people present (in church, at least). Then there was more meeting and talking after church. Lunch happened. Then we got to the good stuff.
We met in the band room, which was a good thing. Counting all 34 of us (out of 104 to graduate – my count was off last time), plus some spouses and/or family members, plus some of our favorite people from other classes, there were probably 50 people present most of the time. We all pitched in to figure out where the other 65 of you are. I know, that doesn’t totally add up. The list provided by the alumni association shows that 5 of us are deceased, alas. Nevertheless, here’s what we know about some of you who weren’t there…
Kathe Stout & Dave Alves are in the real wilds of Papua New Guinea, setting up a medical clinic and couldn’t be here in body although they were in spirit. Barbara Estey was waiting for some grandbabies to show up – they chose the 5th as their due date, wouldn’t you know. Wonona Schmidt saw Joe Tigner at a concert about a year and half ago. Tom Buller is still teaching at…is it Blue Mountain Academy? Ken Landis was present on behalf of his brother Tim Landis who had a schedule conflict and was off in Holland, taking pictures of tulips in snow. Dan Hurst couldn’t be present but sent a letter with pictures (pictures are good). The last Laura Judy knew, Jean Cordis lives in…Washington State. I don’t remember now exactly which city, but it seems to me to be around Wenatchee, or somewhere on the middle east side of the Cascades. The last we knew about Larry Nelson, he had an antique business somewhere there in the area – but that was 10 years ago. It wasn’t Easter, so we hoped Bob Jones would be present as he wouldn’t be playing the organ for a church service. No such luck. Rose Marie Walter lives in Walla Walla, Washington, and I believe I overheard something about a new job taking up time and attention. And before the evening was over some of us actually talked to Wally Sumner in Maine.
So…here are the disclaimers:
·I really was taking notes for this letter, but I can’t say it helped much. I couldn’t get it all written down while listening and laughing at the same time, so my notes are pretty cryptic and totally useless in some cases. My apologies for short-changing some of you. This, however, gives you, any and all of you, a good reason to sign onto our class website (http://rio68.homestead.com , thanks to Lee Carter), check out our pictures and update whatever I’ve said, or correct it, or add to it, and connect with us all again.
I really was taking notes for this letter, but I can’t say it helped much. I couldn’t get it all written down while listening and laughing at the same time, so my notes are pretty cryptic and totally useless in some cases. My apologies for short-changing some of you. This, however, gives you, any and all of you, a good reason to sign onto our class website (http://rio68.homestead.com , thanks to Lee Carter), check out our pictures and update whatever I’ve said, or correct it, or add to it, and connect with us all again.·I can’t remember all the married names of the women so I hope you don’t mind that it’s the name I remember you by that is used.
I can’t remember all the married names of the women so I hope you don’t mind that it’s the name I remember you by that is used.Lee Carter was master of ceremonies and asked us to say a little bit about our lives and also mention any teacher who had been a significant influence on us. He then started things off by reminding us that he still lives and works as an emergency physician in Kentucky, where they don’t like change. This can be a good thing, as he likes to remind his wife. Marilyn Sanders, after a couple stints as a teacher and/or girls’ dean, has been in nursing for the last 25 years and works at Loma Linda Medical Center. In her spare time, she is transforming a house with her own skill and labor. Rae Lynne Ward still lives in Magalia, CA, but is now working for the state’s department of education. Karen Tucker started her own business as an interior decorator five years ago.
Verline Zimchek gave up nursing and now works as a bookkeeper at her family-owned nursing home. She had pictures of children and grandchildren to share. Margaret Oliver still lives in the greater Seattle area, working as the administrative assistant for a warehouse company. Julie Trout still lives in Yuba City and works for the school district. She does, however, have 4 new grandchildren. Glenda Mellor teaches at Redland Adventist and has been married to the same man for 28 years. However, she is now married to her step-brother! It turns out that after her mother and his father lived with them for a while, they ended up moving out together and getting married to each other, making Glenda and her husband step-siblings. Instead of working for Geoff Calkins, Darlene Jantzen now works for a recycling company that sells cardboard, paper and such to China. Who knew our toss-aways could be so valuable?
Arlene Jeffreys was present on behalf of her sister, Linda Jeffreys. At least that’s what I think I heard. If it was really you, Linda, my apologies. Arlene worked in Washington DC for the Republican National Committee for 30 years before retiring and moving back to the West. Sherry Hinkle has the best job of her life as a nursing supervisor. She is also dealing with stage 4 colorectal cancer and asks for our prayers on her behalf. I’ll bet she was feeling totally lousy, but she was bound and determined to be at the reunion. More power to you, Sherry! Anne Edwards & Mark Duckett still live in Weaverville where Mark works in physical therapy at an outpatient clinic. They are part of a small church where Mark ends up preaching more often than the assigned minister, who has another church or two to take care of.
Laura Judy is still a long-distance truck driver with her husband and they now have a house that stays in one place in one city in Goldendale, WA. Laura had brought one of her dad’s batons with her, which she gave to Glenda, who is carrying on the tradition of teaching music in Adventist schools. Roger Whitman also still lives in Weaverville, building medical equipment. However, he is now married to Anne, who let him keep his name. Roger Tooker has been living in Portland, Oregon, for 34 years. He works for several companies as a contract floor installer. Jaimy Oettel still lives in Tillamook where she has playdates with her grandchildren and manages a low frequency Christian radio station.
Frank Whitney still lives in Sonora with his family and still works there as a physician. Frank Clayton has been living in North Carolina, but in May will be moving to Denmark. Evidently Denmark needs doctors and that will give him a chance to live near his two children. He’s still bird-watching and still folk-dancing. Bob Karr married into a family 10 or so years ago, and, thanks to his step-children, is already a grandfather. However, he still works as a general contractor. After living in many places, Taiwan and Egypt being just two of them over the past 30 years, and having a different kind of job in each location, Lana Franklin has finally settled in Grass Valley.
Gerry Thorpe still works as a business consultant, and he, too, has moved many (16!) times over the years, spending at least eight years in Saudi Arabia during that time. Currently, he and Linda live in the Philadelphia area. Peggy Battin comes to a reunion every 20 years or so. She has been working as an occupational therapist for at least 36 years, and it sounds like she still loves her work. Ron Power is a dentist in Benicia, working for the county. Sounds like work is OK, but his passion is growing fruit trees. He has more than 100 on his property and they’re all different kinds. I guess this is the moving paragraph – Lou Anne Cummings has also done a lot of moving over the years. She has finally settled in Redding after coming back to the US in 1995 and living in several other places. She’s looking forward to getting her stuff out of storage and back into the house. Kathie Gregory is still a nurse who has lived in other countries as well. Last summer she moved from Valencia to settle in Santa Rosa.
Terry Griswold is the example of our taxpayer dollars at play up on the Idaho/Utah border where he specializes in studying wild bees and how they help pollinate things. Mary Ann Petersen is also still in the nursing profession and has been for 30 or more years, either full- or part-time. She and her family have lived in Oregon, California, and now Arizona. Robert Brajinikoff is a personal fitness trainer who has lived in Southern California, San Francisco, the Virgin Islands, and now in San Pedro. After leaving dentistry to try something else for a couple years, Wayne Mathe is back in dentistry, but in a much better situation than before – he gets to choose when and for how long he will work. He lives in Sonora and works for a dental clinic there.
Geoff Calkins still lives in Napa and still works with the hearing impaired. Debbie Brown says that “life is good.” I didn’t get a whole lot more details written down about Debbie’s current life, but that sounds like a really great summation. Malcolm Dillon has worked as a dentist in Clearlake Highlands for the last 25 years. In his free time he enjoys off-road motorcycling with his three sons. Royal Aaby was present for most of our time together and is included in our class picture, but he had to leave before he had a chance to give us his thumbnail report. I can tell you, however, that he drove from his home that morning on a motorcycle, so it’s “nearby.”
We also had visitors from other classes: Cheri Hull and Peggy Judy from the class of ’71, Mary Anne Stearns class of ’70, Vennita Whitman, Nancy Stephens, Wonona Schmidt, and Dan Fischer, class of ’69, Allan Abbott, class of ’67 and Ken Landis, class of ’66. In addition there were spouses and children present who contributed to the stories and laughter that burst out from time to time. And we did remember some of our teachers out loud, some with a lot more detail than others, so they were present in spirit, whether they are bodily in this world or not.
That was the formal part of our gathering. We adjourned at 6:30 so that we could refresh ourselves and meet again for a wonderful pizza and salad dinner that Debbie Brown had organized at the Healdsburg city (village?) church. The pizza was from a place called “Divine’s” and it was…divine, with plenty of garlic and other good things on it. Debbie had also supplied an old Coke Cola horizontal refrigerator (you can see it at http://rio68homestead.com website) and stocked it with Coke Cola in properly shaped bottles (!), root beer and other soft drinks. Rae Lynne had brought along the kind of bubble gum we remember and Tootsie pops as well. This is also when someone called Wally Sumner on the phone, and probably woke him up from a sound sleep back in Maine, so that several of us got to at least talk to him.
The only problem with the day was that there were only 34 of us present out of the 99 that could have been there. For whatever reason you couldn’t make it…mark your calendar now for the first weekend in April 2013 and let’s do this again. It was fun!
Margaret Oliver
