John Watters writes:

You are right that I was Student Body President. The way the system worked back in our high school days was the following. We elected a Student Body President and a Senior Class President at the end of 11^th grade. Those elected served in those roles the first semester of the Senior year. Then at the end of the first semester we elected a new Student Body President and a new Senior Class President. So I served as Student Body President the first semester and as Senior Class President the second semester. Being Senior Class President the second semester meant I had to speak at our graduation. The other class speaker was our valedictorian, who I believe was Susan Tamura. During that second semester when I was Senior Class President, Nick Sanden as Senior Class Vice-President and Kathie (Swanson) Watters was Senior Class Secretary.

I suppose most of our class is still in California although many no doubt are living elsewhere. We have been living in Duncanville, Texas, next to Dallas, for the past 15 years. However, we travel 40-50% of the time out of the country. We lived in Africa for 26 years (Cameroon, Kenya and now visits to Nigeria) plus a year in France before moving to the Dallas area. We have been working in the areas of Bible translation, linguistic/language analysis, and development of educational materials, all in African languages. Kathie got her B.S. in Nursing from University of California San Francisco (with two years at UCLA) before we got married in 1970 and then she got a Masters in African Languages and Linguistics at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, in the early 1990s. I got a B.A. at UC Berkeley in History (1969), had two years at Fuller Theological Seminary, and then a Masters and Ph.D. in Linguistics at UCLA around 1980. We have been involved in a variety of roles and responsibilities and living situations over the years in Africa, and that continues more recently out of Texas involving language, linguistic analysis, training Africans to do the same in their own languages, developing educational materials, and the translation and use of the Christian Scriptures in African languages by Protestants and Catholics alike.

P.S. We have two daughters, 41 and 39, who have given us two sons-in-law and three grandchildren each. That makes three  granddaughters and three grandsons. We also have a son, 35, who produces apps for iPads and iPhones for Bottle Rocket Studios, but no daughter- in-law and no grandchildren, at least not yet.

John Watters

Rosalynda Ortiz Harrison writes:

Retired from the motion picture industry 2009
Became bored play music as a karaoke/ DJ for all my golf girlfriends at their country clubs!

Have 2 beautiful daughters and 4 grandkids
A wonderful hubby and we live on the 14 fairway at Crystalaire country club. I became for 2014 club
Champion.
Life is good!

Ruth Ryland Miller writes:

Big, Big news.  I was thrilled to get into San Diego Watercolor Society’s International Show this fall…BUT even better, I just found out I won a prize!
It feels just as good as winning first prize at the Santiago Elementary School Art Show in 1958.  This is my first Prize in a National Show. It amounts to $250 cold cash, no new pencils or block of crumby paper, REAL MONEY.
This means I may just about break even on this enterprise.  It gets expensive shipping these paintings all over the place.  After appropriate amounts of form, cardboard and tape,
the box is the size of a pillow top queen size bed.  If I’d seen the writing on the wall early on, I should have gone with knitting when I quit smoking.
Pretty skeins of yarn, a few needles and a reasonably sized cute carry bag, AND possibly something to wear!

 Marcia Lemon Sanserino writes:

I quit working 2 years ago, final tally – 21 jobs.  I’ve gone from camp counselor, tour guide at Disneyland, airline stewardess (not flight attendant!), babe in the snack cart at the golf course, snack bar owner, and on to some more professional work in education.  I married Gary after UCLA in 1972, and between my erratic job history and his career in baseball, we have both gotten around a lot!  He played minor league ball so we traveled around the country and got to live in such desirable places as Omaha and Charleston, West Virginia. We actually moved 12 times in 3 years to give you an idea of our vagabond life. I guess as years go on, we have become boringly stable.  We ended up not so far from Santa Ana, we live in Laguna Beach.  At the moment we have 3 kids, 2 daughter-in-laws and 4.5 grandchildren.  These numbers might be different by the reunion! We still have some vagabond left in us however, we enjoy traveling and have spent a lot of time in Paris.  We went to Israel and Jordon in May and will be in Norway shortly before the reunion.

I look forward to seeing everyone and catching up on your journeys!

Marcia Lemon Sanserino

Barbara Thornton writes:

Summary:  50 years, 1 husband, 2 children, 2 grandchildren, 3 post high school degrees, 2 home addresses (post college), 13 email addresses, 42 pairs of shoes,  1 medicare card, 5 careers done, 3 more careers to go.

Current career: building a business: practice and expertise in technology for cities in the 21st century.  AssetStewardship.com.  And another business:  InterimExecutive.Solutions.  And another business:  a startup, a basket of technology and services to help elders live independently at home longer. That’s the current stuff.

Seems like a long jump from shoes (started an ecommerce company in 1997 selling women’s shoes) or human services (worked for the state, municipalities and as a private consultant to help develop stronger human services programs) but it’s not.  Love that geeky tech stuff!  I am passionate about Civic Tech, dream of writing open source code for a city digital platform and hang out at hackathons on weekends.  Asset Stewardship, http://www.AssetStewardship.com.  Follow me on Twitter @assetstewards.

Winding the clock backward, I left Santa Ana to go to grad school at Yale.  Bad choice, the school had “issues” and they offered to pay our tuition at MIT in City Planning.  I accepted.  Met Ron when he tried to pick me up in the Boston Commons.  Guess you could say he succeeded.  Worked, gave birth to two kids, tried to do independent consulting, got bored, applied again to a nearby grad school (still living in Boston).  Got accepted.  Graduated from Harvard Business School in 1995 (our reunions are always the same year) at the age of 47, about 20 years older than the other 989 people in the class.  Loved it!

Next career:  Writing.  A book on the history of Santa Ana, then one on some science fiction.  Or maybe that will combine to one book.  Hoping Tom McNeal will give me some advice!

I now have TWO GRANDCHILDREN!

Sol is 2 and Sylvia is 1.  Alas they are in Brooklyn with Byron & Victoria, 3 hours and 27 minutes away from where I sit.  I raised terrific kids.  Rucker will bring water to the parched world with city planning and Byron will make people healthy with MD and public health.  Their dad, Ron, looks forward to meeting my SAHS classmates because he forgot to go to his reunion.

Ron is an architect and does real estate development.  He is on his third year of talking about retirement.  He can’t do it until he cleans out our basement.  This is not imminent.  While we still talk of professional projects we might do together, I suspect travelling will be the next big joint venture.

Extracurricular:  Over 20 years serving on Arlington Capital Planning Committee.  Very proud that after 10 years of recommending, the Town finally let me design a new Maintenance Dept. which was approved this spring.  Going to theater whenever I can.  Small theater, like Company One in Boston.  Gym, Tai Chi and Aqua Aerobics are on the daily list with a 71% success rate.

But lately everything is diverted to the back burner while I have the incredible opportunity to be in touch with so many interesting classmates that I knew so very long ago.  How often in life do you get a chance like this!

Barbara Thornton

Tedi Christensen Gable writes:

DALE  DECKERT IS THE FATHER OF OUR 3 GIRLS AND YES, WE WERE MARRIED.   WE ARE BEST OF FRIENDS AND ENJOY OUR 7 GRANDCHILDREN.

OUR DAUGHTER, CHRISTINA IS A DOCTOR, OUR DAUGHTER KAREN IS A LAWYER AND OUR DAUGHTER JULIE HAS ALWAYS HAD A CAREER IN  THE FOOD SERVICE INDUSTRY.  WE RAISED OUR GIRLS TOGETHER.  DIVORCED, AND WE BOTH REMARRIED.    I AM A WIDOW AND DALE IS MARRIED.

I HAVE USED THE NAME OF “TEDI” FOR OVER 35 YEARS– MY GIVEN NAME IS THEODORA, BUT KNOWN AS ‘THEO’ DURING MY SCHOOL DAYS.

I AM SO GLAD TO HEAR FROM YOU AND LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING MORE ABOUT UPCOMING ‘SCHOOL’  EVENTS.  i HAVE ATTENDED THE “ALL CLASS” REUNIONS AT IRVINE PARK, HOWEVER THIS YEAR i WAS TRAVELING AND NOT ABLE TO GET BACK TO SO CAL IN TIME.

AS  TIME PASSES AND WE BECOME FEWER IN NUMBER, I FIND IT MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER TO TRY AND CONNECT WITH THOSE OF OUR PAST.

HOPING ALL IS WELL WITH YOU AND YOURS.
HAPPY TRAILS,    TEDI

addendum from Tedi:

Wow, can’t believe 50 years have slipped past. Amazing!  Having read the “bios” posted already, we certainly cannot be turning 60 something !!
You all sound so full of ‘get up and go’ and have filled these years in so many different ways !!
O.k. then, I will fill in a few of my years since graduation:
Having worked at Deckert Surgical for my 6th period work experience class under the guidance of Mr. Riordon. — Moved to Texas for awhile and then came back and started working at “Deckert’s” again.  John Roquemore and Dennis Hill worked there as well at that time.  Dale and I married and have 3 great daughters.  Christina is a  Partner Dr. for Kaiser Orange County,  Karen is an attorney in Las Vegas and Julie works for Famous Daves BBQue.  We have  7 grandchildren.  I opened and ran a branch store of  “Deckert’s” in Diamond Bar, Ca. where the girls grew up. Somewhere along the way-we took a turn that led to seperate lives.  We are great friends and have always shared in parenting our girls.  I worked and help run a plastics reprocessing co. in Santa Ana learning all there was to know about thermoplastics and how it becomes plastic pipe–(a huge leap from medical supplies)–  Besides being a business partner I became Co-Owner and a new marriage was born  as well as a new company.  Allegis Pipe, Inc. was begun in 1994 and built it’s manufacturing plant in Las Vegas, Nv.  Allegis Pipe became the 3rd largest ABS DWV pipe manufacturing co. in the western United States.
We sold Allegis Pipe in 2000 and basically retired.  My next new love was found in Wild Mustang Horses.  I became involved with a wild horse group in Las Vegas that managed the Red Rock Canyon herd.  I adopted 2 wild mares–one with a 3 day old filly and the other foaling 1 month  later.  What an experience to train wild horses.  I was 55 then and thought all I would have to do was ‘love’ them.  Fooled me–since I had NEVER trained a horse, none the less, a WILD horse!   Mustangs are the greatest.  My 4 “girls”  all became gymkhana horses, which was quite a success story.  In 2007, we moved to Leona Valley, Ca. (No. Los Angeles Co.)  Bought a 10 acre horse breeding/boarding ranch and I still live there today.  It was here I  learned to raise chickens and sell organic brown and blue eggs. Besides the horses and chickens, the ranch had rabbits, goats, feral cats and a dog. I also made and sold apple butter, apricot and plum jam from the orchard trees.
Unexpectedly, I became a widow in 2009.   Always looking for new adventures, I became involved in Disaster Relief.  I am a member of ‘CSBDRM’/California Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Ministries: a non–profit group that voluntarily goes to help in any disaster for which they are called to deploy.  There is a call out right now for Napal and also upcoming to the Denver area. Last year I worked an “ash out” in Twisp, Wa.  Very rewarding work, mostly for folks who have no homeowners insurance and truly need this help. I became FEMA certified as well as CERT trained, and continue to take any trainings that are beneficial to deployments.
For FUN, I enjoy traveling ie: camping, hiking (recently was in Moab, Utah at Arches), wine tasting, western dancing and so on— If there are any of you who would like to participate in any of the above adventures–let me know!
Besides Dale (Dusty), I stay in contact with Wanda Mason Lopez and Robbie Edney Jefferson.
As the song goes, “all my bags are packed and I’m ready to go”.  Recently, I have had several SUPER phone conversations with our hard working reunion classmate Sandy Beatty!! What a delight.  With all the hard work and efforts on the part of the reunion team, this should be a fantastic 50th!!

Until then,   Happy Trails to you,

Tedi–(theo) Christensen
my email address is: sevenwildwomen@yahoo.com   ph# 661 270-9533 — I would warmly welcome hearing from you!
oh yes–sevenwildwomen –hmmm-I was going to tell you, but maybe I will just wait and see if anyone asks!

Michael Wilde writes:

We (wife Shaun and two daughters, Blythe & Fianna) are currently living in Los Osos, CA on Morro Bay.  My twin daughters just turned 16 and are thriving with a distance learning curriculum.  

I’ve been a full-time dad for the whole stretch and enjoying every moment.
Retired from UC Berkeley/Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory as manager of research communications for the Energy & Environment Division.   Shaun is a global marketing consultant to high tech clients.

Lived in Berkeley, Eugene, Oregon, Salt Spring Island, BC Canada, and now San Luis Obispo County. In between we’ve traveled the world. Education: MA Architecture & Urban Planning, UCLA;
BS Journalisim, University of Oregon.

Mike

Dan Fisher writes:

I’m not used to talking about myself but I’ll do my best.

#1-I did not marry anyone from SAHS
#2- what is the distance to Japan, I don’t know but i lived there for 2 years while stationed there with the US Navy, Hospital Corp.

#3- 4 children ( 2 boys 2 girls ) ; 6 grandchildren ; sometimes good decision sometimes not a good decision.
#4- I still have hair but Grey.
#5- I spent 41 years in law enforcement and retired with the Federal Protective Service, Department of Homeland Security. I retired November 30 2013. I did work all over he U.S.
#6- I spent a lot of time at the shooting range, mostly instructing firearms. I belong to a Cowboy Action Shooting group. We dress as if we just stepped into 1870, attempting to be as realistic as possible.
#7- Asia.
#8- I have not seen or spoke with anyone in the class other than at a reunion.
#9- Love many, Trust few but always paddle your own canoe. In other words Be your person.
#10- I have no favorite SAHS memories.
#11- Movies-a western called “lonesome Dove”, ; Huntington Beach where I live.

This is most I’ve talked about myself in a long time.

Dan Fisher

Rick Whitaker writes:

A month after graduating as a Saint (and what an odd choice of mascot that looks like now), I entered West Point and instantly understood Dorothy’s comment that “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”

After four rigorous years of education and training I graduated in 1969 with a basketful of value: a BS in Engineering, a commission as a second lieutenant, an appreciation for the Jersey Sound and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, and friendships which have lasted a lifetime.

Since that event I’ve been in combat in Vietnam and served on the Frontiers of Freedom in then-West Germany. I’ve been to Harvard Business School in the years between George Bush and Jeff Skilling. I’ve been married, and raised two wonderful sons, Max and Alexander, who are good people.

I’ve learned and then forgotten how to speak Czech, Japanese, German, Bahasa Indonesia, Russian, French, Spanish, and the language of love, which I most regret. I’ve visited 6 continents, and lived and worked in New Canaan, Singapore, Boston, Heidelberg, Tokyo, Menlo Park, Kabul, Houston, Monrovia, the Bay Area, Baghdad, and Dubai. I’ve been rocketed and ambushed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and thrown out of my own club in Washington DC.

I’ve had intestinal discomfort in almost every place I’ve visited.

I’ve introduced fuel cell power plants to the world, established Bain & Co.’s consulting business in Japan, survived the demise of Enron, and resurrected the Liberia Electricity Corporation.

I’ve lost my friend and brother-in-law, Steve Cohee, to heart attack on a High Sierra fishing trip. My sister Gail and I still visit the spot.

I’ve completed marathons (including New York in a tropical rainstorm) and triathlons, and several 1-mile open water swims, although I still don’t like dark water. I’ve fished tiny little streams in the New Jersey highlands, the ocean off West Africa, rivers in Montana, and mangrove shorelines in Florida. I’ve caught every type of trout except Golden; blue marlin, smallmouth bass, tuna, snook, redfish, and tarpon; and some unidentified sea creatures that made me nauseous just to look at.

I’ve converted to Catholicism, and been inside more churches and temples and shrines and sacred caves than I can name. I’ve been to the Vatican where I was blessed by the Pope, along with 5,500 other people. But he was looking right at me.

Incredibly enough, I’ve done all this with only one medical mishap, falling off my bike in Katy, TX, and breaking my collarbone.

So what have I learned from all these doings, these comings and goings, and activities and diversions? That you don’t have to use your frontal lobes all the time; often it is better to just let intuition and instincts flow.

Words to live by? “Seemed like a good idea at the time” pretty well sums it up.

Rick  Whitaker 

Dave Cearley writes:

‘m in awe reading what some of the other grads have done in the last 49 1/3 years! I guess we knew what we doing when we elected John Watters and Rick Whitacker our senior class officers.
Compared to their “Whassups”, mine reads like “The Road Less Traveled”. Yes, I did get a B.A. degree (in journalism of all things!) — and got 1/2 of a M.A. when I just got too busy to finish. Instead of going into the news biz, went into public relations (later advertising too).
Frankly, one of my goals in life was to get out of Orange County. And I accomplished that in 1972 and haven’t been back except to visit since. I’ve lived the last 32 years in Rancho Mirage (next door to Palm Desert and two cities down from Palm Springs). I say I’m retired, except I work a full-time job plus I’ve worked part-time for the Humana Challenge (formerly the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic) since 1989.
Now, here’s the Road Less Traveled part. I’ve never been married (almost two times) and have no kids (and never wanted them). I’ve been shamelessly cohabitating with the same person for nearly 15 years, however.
On the up side, to celebrate my 40th birthday, I played golf in England and Scotland for a whole month! I’ve visited Paris a couple of times and definitely want to go back. And in my later years, I’ve become a big fan of cruising — am planning next year’s cruise as I write.

Partner of 15 years but no kids or grand kids. Still play golf occasionally but love travel. Spent a whole week in a condo in downtown Vancouver last September — what a fantastic place to visit!

Warning: I’m going after the prize for the best male hair. I have a full head of silver hair — I’ve had strangers (both female and male, if you can believe it) want to run their fingers through it!

Dave Cearley

ps.  He contacted us to say he has just moved to Costa Rica on short notice.

Carl Mattson writes:

As for talking about the poor economy and sharing horror stories concerning our personal life, doesn’t work for me, as I’m an extremely private person.
We don’t participate in any social media whatsoever, so sitting down with complete strangers and talking about the crappie economy isn’t going to work with me.
If I can help in any other way please let me knows.
As for bio:
My present wife and I have been together for 28 years, 25 married and 3 preparing for a good relationship, we have 0 children together, but I have 3 sons with my first wife, Michael is 48, working with Intel as a supervisor, Steven is 45, working in construction and Bill is 43, working as a supervisor in wholesale cable Internet services.
I have 7 grandchildren that I know of, 2 of which I’ve never met, and probably won’t meet due to circumstances I have no control over.
I own my own construction company, I’m a remodel specialist but have built many homes from the ground up.
I do EVERYTHING in construction, that is when I do a project, I perform all trade work, I don’t need to bring in sub contractors for the most part.
My hobbies include building hot rods, gardening in our greenhouse, and radio controlled cars.
I have attached a relatively recent picture of myself and my bride.
I’m not certain what else to say, so I’ll end this here,

if you need further information don’t hesitate to ask.

Carl

David Ruch writes:

Retired world history and band/orchestra teacher.  Still playing violin in church every other Sunday, guitar in BIBLE Study.  Took up woodworking when I retired and especially like Intarsia and fretwork.  Remarried after my first wife of 36 years passed away to Barbara, whose husband passed away a couple of months after my wife.  We met at church a couple of years later.  I have a 36 year old son Joshua.

David

Linda Filson Woodbury writes:

From successfully dealing with total blindness in a sighted world to adapting to life after an accident in 2002, that left her nearly speechless and immobile for a year, and now, 18 months following a diagnosis of a fast-moving Parkinson’s, Linda Woodbury continues to spend her lifetime adapting to change and offering that incredible challenge to others.

 After receiving her Masters Degree in Speech Communication at California State University Fullerton, Ms Woodbury worked as a Speech Consultant to the President of Yamaha and as a University Instructor with California and Texas higher education facilities.  Later, as a consultant to Fortune 500 companies, Linda Woodbury improved the morale and productivity of their personnel.  She also helped recently disabled people and those who had experienced the stress of a corporate merger or downsizing re-enter the workforce with renewed purpose and vigor. While working for three other businesses, she set sales records and surpassed all expectations.  Later she opened “dining in the Dark” Restaurant in Scottsdale.

Linda became a nationally recognized keynote speaker throughout the U. S. for companies such as Coca Cola, IBM, 3M, Abbott Labs, Unum Provident Insurance, the American Bar Association and the Industry Labor Counsel.

With compelling commentary, humorous stories, and fast paced video clips, Linda shares with audiences how she renewed every part of her being by swimming with dolphins and winning sailing regattas as a totally blind sailor.  She often shows her sky diving or Air Combat USA videos to drive home the point that “anyone can stand on their own two feet no matter what the game”.

She says her most prized activity has been as a mother and now grandmother to her family in TX.  She resides In San Diego and spends time writing her book “Just Because I’m Blind, Why’d They Take Away My Drivers’ License?” as well as catching up on a lifetime of spiritual quest with God as her partner in fully living each day.

Open your eyes to all your senses, options for meeting challenges and to the contributions of others.  The result is an enhanced ability to listen, focus, trust, plan, innovate, and ‘See Farther’ than ever before”!  And, never trade a happy day for an unhappy one.

Keynotes, General or Concurrent Sessions National or International:  Contact Linda Woodbury at 858-229-1921 or email lwoodbury@san.rr.com

Joyce Lister Brown writes:

I am pretty  sure no one would remember me , Joyce Lister Brown.  My Husband & I own 20 acres outside of Bozeman going towards Big Sky Ski resort. We don’t ski.

Jennifer McClanahan Dicks writes:

Ed Velasquez

Greetings from the Quileute Reservation, La Push, WA.

Doesn’t seem like (50) years since graduation. Anyway, after SAHS, I went to the senior, senior high, Santa Ana College, though I spent more time surfing and motorcycling than in class.

Uncle Sam took notice of my adventuresome spirit and offered me an all expense paid vacation to that garden spot, Vietnam.

So, while you stateside college students were dodging bullets on campuses like Kent State, I was sipping Mai Ti’s in that tropical paradise, Cambodia.

When Uncle Sam tired of financing my play, he sent me back to school on the GI Bill. (4) years later, 1975, I graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in engineering. Armed with my degree, I became “Oilfield Trash” and spent the next (39) years chasing “Black Gold.”

If you’re “Oilfield Trash,” sooner or later you end up in Houston, which I did in 1979, and met my beautiful “Aggie” wife of (31) years, Suzanne Coody (I’m pretty sure she married me so she could change her last name. Her friends still call her “Cooty Bug,” remember the game?)

We raised (3) Texans in various Texas towns, (2) sons, Sean and  Scott, and our “surprise” beautiful daughter, Stephanie.  Sean, like mom, is an “Aggie.” A sound engineer, he’s traveled with several groups like Randy Rogers Band, Flyleaf, and Eli Young Band. Scott graduated from Sam Houston State and is an Orchestra Director in a Texas school district. Stephanie is our Razorback, graduating from University of Arkansas, having spent a semester studying in Japan.

Suz and I have our separate hobbies, she’s a Physical Anthropologist and still loves to dig in the dirt. We just spent (2) months in Silver City NM, where she helped curate the Indian artifacts she helped excavate (30) years ago.

I like to punch holes in paper at (200) yards with high powered rifles. I made my goal last year of competing in the (4) CMP National Events, Oklahoma City, Butner NC, Camp Perry OH, and Phoenix AZ. Wish I could say I’d won something.

Suz and I enjoy one activity together, Ballroom Dancing, watch out Dancing with the Stars, haha.

(3) years ago we started planning for retirement and bought our Retirement Castle in the Ozark Mountains, south of Branson, MO. Then, March 2014, we pulled the plug. I retired from Schlumberger and Suz retired as Adjunct Professor of Anthropology (a fancy title meaning low pay, no benefits) from Lone Star College. We bought a small travel trailer and hit the road. Been traveling for (15) months. After Washington, our next stop is Alaska.

We’ll make it back in time for the reunion.

Hope to see y’all then, if not, hope to meet you on the road sometime in the next (50) years!

Chuck Patrick

Mark Angell writes:

From 1965:  Harold Lumley (deceased), Chuck Patrick, Dale Tilton and me (Mark Angell)

At recent SAHS open house:  Back row, Doug King and Dennis Hill.  Front row, me and Steve Rios,  Mark Angell

Mark Angell

Cathy Alleman Packard writes:

From 1965 SAHS Graduation straight to UCLA.  

Worked summers in a Hot Dog Stand or my Dad’s Insurance Agency until I graduated to “Disneyland Tour Guide”, a job that I loved!

“Sold” my big house to my youngest son (you all know how those sales work).

Marilyn Lamb Cooper writes:

Nanci Herron Rowe writes:

Sailing around the world aboard the Seven Seas was a highlight on my freshman year in college.  It was a floating campus sponsored by Chapman College. Cathy Alleman was also on the trip. It was four months of eye-opening and life-changing experiences.  From there I transferred to USC where I earned my B.S. in Dental Hygiene.  I practiced for 30 years and retired in 2000.

In 1975 I married Tom Rowe.  His career in the lumber business took us to Atlanta, GA, Saginaw, MI, Portland, OR and back to Orange County.  We lived in Laguna Hills for 30 years and in 2008 we relocated to Olympia, WA.  We moved there to be near our three grandkids who are now 11, 12 and 13!   What fun!

We danced on an exhibition clogging team for 11 years.  We were opening acts for Sammy Davis Jr., Bill Monroe and Freddy Fender.  Entertaining was exciting!  We are now avid square dancers and have enjoyed that leisure pursuit for 22 years.

Traveling to Alaska in our RV was the trip of a lifetime. We have also traveled all the way across Canada arriving in Nova Scotia. On that trip we even stopped in Boston where our own Barbara Thornton gave us a deluxe tour of her city.  Our RV travels have taken us to over 40 states and we aren’t done yet!

Nanci Herron Rowe

Cheryl Brady Chandler writes:

Well left SAHS and never slowed down, what a great ride it has been.  I lived and worked in Orange County first house in Lake Forest when it was El Toro and it cost $42K,  good laugh.  From there moved to Anaheim Hills and still worked at the beach. 

One day while putting the clutch in and letting it out I said to myself I am pretty tired of this.  Sold the house, sold the Porsche and bought a pickup truck and took what I needed and left for Colorado.

No I did not know anyone but drove until it was pretty and ended up in Breckenridge in 1978, I did not ski I had no idea it was a ski area but I did learn about both.  While living there and have a really great time a blue eyed cowboy walked through the wrong door and I was behind that door.

Cut to the chase I stalked him until 3 years later he finally broke down and married me, the proposal was if you want to get married we are living on the Western Slope.  We have had more darn fun, I have learned to brand, castrate, vaccinate cattle.  Ride in the hills and gather them up and to ship them off to auction.  And while we were doing that I worked for Union Oil Company in Purchasing then when the oil shale project shut down I stayed on and liquidated the project.

I had a Real Estate license from 1981 and they had some land to sell and asked me to update my license and then it started I worked for some independent companies and when they would franchise I moved on.  As life rolled on a listing I had seemed to fit the bill for a Real Estate office so we purchased the building and started our own company made it easy Cheryl&Co. then we added  property management and just purchased another property management company.

This is called retirement.

We do travel quite a bit and try to spend a part of each winter in Hawaii, the time changes makes it hard for people to call me.  Look forward to seeing everyone am going to miss some of the friends that are not with us, but we can celebrate them.

Cheryl Brady Chandler

Robert Currie writes:

After graduating SAHS, I attended Santa Ana College and Long Beach State, majoring in Microbiology. I have worked in sewage my whole life – first at the Orange County Sanitation District (Mike Mendez, who some of you may know, worked there as well), then the City of Lompoc, CA, and finally at SKF CSD in Kingsburg, CA, where I retired as Lab Director in 2008.

In the early 70s I started what became a lifelong passion passion for air sports, including skydiving, hang gliding, and eventually owning and flying my own aerobatic airplane. Now, in my old age, I just putter around the Central Valley in my ultralight. I also ski at China Peak (whenever there’s snow!), and go for long walks and ride my bike around town. I was a dedicated backpacker until just a few years ago, and did a solo John Muir Trail trip in 1990. I also standup paddle board regularly in Morro Bay (where I hope to live before too long), and may even try surfing, but I really think I’m too old for that.
I married fairly late in life, and my wife and I now live in Clovis, CA. She is a supervising nurse at St. Agnes Medical Center, and I enjoy my favorite job ever – retiree.

I haven’t kept in touch with anybody from SAHS. The last time I remember seeing anybody from SAHS was when I talked to Bob Francis shortly after John Hunt was killed in Vietnam. Bob and I were neighbors and we saw each other regularly while wresting at Santa Ana College. I was drafted shortly after, in 1969, but got out early with a medical discharge.
Some of you may remember my (step)sister, Judy Currie, who also graduated in ’65. Sadly, she passed away in 2003 from cancer. She was always strong and positive until the end, despite many tough times in life.

I guess my main memories from SAHS were the Kennedy assassination (I’m sure we’ll all remember that day), and also Mr. Bouchard constantly picking on Claudia Cohrt in French class (maybe my memories are flawed, but that’s what I remember, and I could never figure out why).

That’s about it. I hope the rest of you graduates from ’65 are happy and doing well.

Bob Currie

WANDA MASON LOPEZ writes:

We didn’t actually make a home together or start our family for almost 3 years, as he was sent overseas and I was a married 18 year old and alone. But here were are 50 years later, after so many wonderful times and great family losses we are blessed with our 3 beautiful children and 4 amazing grandchildren.  

Dave Ault writes:

Melvin C. Welch & Michele Smith Welch write:

Married 7/1/67 Santa Ana, California

After graduation and enrolling at Santa Ana Junior College, I started working at Disneyland in 1965.  Like most of the guys in our class, I was drafted in 1968, not once, but twice.  The first time my orders were postponed “until further notice” and the second time, it was found that I had some serious damage to my knee and that caused me to flunk my physical.  It was determined that my basketball and baseball playing in high school was probably the cause, but it did keep me in the good old USA.

I was transferred with Disney to Florida to help open Walt Disney World in 1971.  That move kept me with the company for 12 years before I resigned and started my own consulting business, Total Design Consortium, in 1980.  My expertise after working with Disney for so many years seemed to fall into the food service design aspect for restaurants, schools, theme parks and hotels.  I now have a contract with the military to help redesign the school cafeterias on military bases throughout the world.  I’ve continued to be a one man operation which definitely has its ups and downs, but overall, the company has been around for quite a while and is letting us do a lot of the things we want to do.  Michele has been a great source of encouragement with all her expertise in the business as well.  Although she had a full time job at Disney, she has worked with the business over the past 35 years and has been my support.

Michele and I have been fortunate to spend some time in Puerto Rico, Italy and Germany because of my work with the military.  Looks like within the next 6-12 months we’ll be spending a little time in the UK and Ireland as well.  I just refuse to retire.

I spent twelve years as chairman of the Osceola County Planning Commission and sat on the boards of the Chamber of Commerce, Education Foundation, Boys & Girls Club and the Business Advisory Board for the School District.   All in all, I stay very busy.

Michele is the level headed one in the family.  After graduation she worked for a local law firm as a legal secretary until 1971 when we moved to Florida.  She also went to work at Walt Disney World and ended up staying for 43 years.  She started out working because she was bored staying at home and found a new home at Disney.  She told me that she had to keep working there so that we had the benefits package since my leaving Disney was done on the spur of the moment without too much thought being given to insurance and a regular paycheck. Michele retired from Disney on 12/31/13 and deserves and has enjoyed her retirement completely.  While Michele says that her years at Disney weren’t anything super special, she loved all the different jobs she held while she was there.

California still holds a little piece of our hearts even though we’ve been gone so long.  Michele has family there, so we visit often.  We even spent a little time walking around SAHS a couple years ago when we were there.  Some things don’t change much, do they?

Melvin Welch (with Michelle Smith Welch)

John Terry writes:

Life’s been good. After graduation I attended Santa Ana College for a 1½ years. At that time, still not knowing what I wanted to do in life, I enlisted in the Army.  After returning from Vietnam, life took me on what became a 40+ year career in the insurance industry.

That career started with the Hartford Insurance Group and my moving to Dallas, TX in an accelerated operational management position. Next, a transfer to their office in San Francisco and then to the home office in Hartford, CT. Being a Southern California boy and interested in American History, I was amazed by the history that was there. My office was across the street from Mark Twain’s home, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s home was just a couple of blocks away and numerous other well-known Colonial landmarks were but a short distance from where I lived and worked.

Looking to return to Southern California, I accepted a position with a regional office of an international insurance brokerage firm. Part of my responsibilities included management of offices in Hawaii. Just imagine, in your 30’s, single, a very  generous expense account and having to commute to Hawaii.

I married Jean, a single mother with a daughter, Lori; instant family. We divorced after 4-years. Since the divorce, daughter Lori has elected to maintain a relationship and calls my current wife and me her “bonus” parents. Lori has two children, Ava and Colin, who call us grandpa and grandma.

Leaving the management side of insurance, I got my brokers license and started the last phase of my career on the commercial-retail side of the industry.

In 1988 I married Karen. Although it took some time, she finally asked me. We had previously worked together at an insurance agency in Glendale, CA. As she likes to say – having our incomes from the same industry “made for boring pillow talk and strong computer passwords”.   

We spent approximately 25-years living in Redlands, CA where we were both active within the community. I was a founding board member and officer of the Redlands Conservancy and was on the board of the Family Service Association of Redlands. Then on July 4, 2012, to my surprise, I decided to retire; went cold turkey without any plans other than to see what life would bring next. What it brought was our returning to Orange County and purchasing a home in San Clemente.

During our marriage we have had numerous opportunities to travel starting with a honeymoon in Greece and the Geek Isles, we watched Boris Yeltsin demonstrate in the old USSR, we have been to England, Italy, Germany, Austria and other European Countries plus have taken photography excursions to the Galapagos and Sea of Cortez with National Geographic, not to mention extensive travel throughout the US.

As hobbyists, we have trained protection dogs (German Sheppard’s and Belgian Malinois’s). I have traced my family’s genealogy to the early 1500’s in England and in the colonies; I found some great stories (and “black sheep”) in the old family line. I have taken up photography and now have a camera wherever we go.

Currently, we are both enjoying retirement with family and friends. We are planning on additional travel, sampling the many restaurants found in Orange County and I continue to take photos.  Life’s is indeed good!

John & Karen Terry
catymarko@cox.net

Robbie Edney Jefferson writes:

After reading what many of you have written, my life sounds boring although I didn’t think so while living it.

Jeri Brandt Welty writes:

David Palomino writes:

My graduation gift was a one way ticket to Hawaii. Bummed around there for six months.

Came back to Santa Ana and joined the Navy to see the world.  Right out of boot camp got orders to Danang Vietnam. Prior to that went to survival  school Coronado then counter insurgency training Whidbey Island Wa. In Danang I was assigned to the Naval support Activity aboard a small water craft. After 13 months in country got orders to Oklahoma City CLG-5 Light Guided Missile cruiser. Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Cruised the South China Sea. Crossed the equator twice. Am a Shellback.

In 1968 met my future wife Nancy in Portland Or. During Rose Festival. Honorable discharge from the Navy in 1970. Married Nancy in 1972. Moved to Portland Or. Hired on to the Portland Fire Bureau in 1974. Have two sons David and Tony. Two grandkids

Felix & Lola and another girl on the way. Grandkids are the best…

Retired from Fire Dept. in 2004 after 30 years. I still sing and enjoy music playing ukulele. I enjoy drawing mainly charcoal.

Looking forward to seeing all the old people  at the reunion. I’ll fill in the blanks when I see you.

David Palomino

Kathy Flynn Tsakas writes:

Hi Friends!  How nice it is to hear about you and what has happened in the last 50 years!  It’s been quite a ride!  I finished nursing school via Hawaii and LA County-USC Medical Center and enjoyed years as a Registered Nurse.  Always loved to travel and being a Stewardess was fun.  Then I took an advanced course in Psychiatric Nursing of Adolescents in Edinburgh, Scotland. While there, I met my husband, a Professor of Genetics at the University of Athens, and we lived in Greece for 17 years.

The marriage lasted a long time, but not forever, and I am now divorced and living near Boston working in health care.   I’m very happy to have my two children and their families living near me.

I will always be thankful to our teachers at Santa Ana High who made all the difference in the world to me then and whose kindness gave me resilience in my life , Mr. Anderson, Mr. Leecing, and Mr. Ashbaugh .  And to the friends I’ve lost touch with,  we had fun especially in The Miracle Worker and Debs & Esq, we helped each other out, and I wish you all the best.

Kathleen Flynn Tsakas
Best e-mail address: kftsakas@yahoo.com

Karen Bachmann Crogan writes:

1.  Did you marry an SAHS’r? – No, first husband was from Costa Mesa HS
   2.  What is the furthest distance from SAHS that you have lived? after graduation – I currently live about 1300 miles away in Helena, Montana – as a kid I lived in Machias, Maine, almost to New Brunswick, Canada
   3.  Kids?  Grandkids?  Good decision?  Why? None of either – great decision …  I’m not good parent material
   4.  What happened to your hair? Long and still blonde although a bit darker, and turning silver
   5.  What did you do, are you doing to earn a living? I’ve been a fitness instructor, waitress, bar tender, merchant seaman, technical writer/editor, computer programmer, software analyst, system tester, golf shop staff, data analyst, NOW Retired
   6.  What did you/ do you do to have fun? Hiking, biking, walking, XC skiing, snowshoeing, golf, reading, cooking/eating
   7.  What other continents have you been to and why? Europe in 1965 – got to stay in Athens with Julie Theoharidou 1964 foreign exchange student.. with the USGS, I did get to Midway Island, but that’s not a continent.
   8.  What other Class of 1965’rs do you stay in touch with and why? F2F – Gwen Hollowell Ferguson and Pati Butler Clark .. email – Charlie Ferris (class of ’64), Sharon Kinney, Leslie Carl Coleman … don’t need reason to stay in touch
   9.  We’ve all made many mistakes but what is the best lesson you’ve learned and will you share it? One big one was to ditch my “Generators” but I had to reduce my belongings to one suitcase.
   10.  Favorite SAHS memory? Being hallway monitor and getting to try chocolate covered ants (French class) and listening to the
   11.  Favorite book, movie, place, person, sport, color, astrological sign?  Why? I’ve read too many for a favorite, don’t see too many movies, the Dalai Lama is an inspiration, I watch and play golf, USA!!! Women’s Soccer Team!!!, Scorpio – of course … two or more in one place is a ‘power enclave’….  WHY ask WHY?  Just ‘cuz.

karen
ps   If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.

Kathy Mobley Deford writes:

Tom McNeal writes:

            This is what I remember: Walking toward school along Flower Street in the early morning with a bunch of books under my arm hoping that Phil Lynch would pass by and let me hop in the back of his MG Midget.  This seems a long, long time ago.  It also seems testament to my own stupidity—I had a perfectly good Schwinn Continental at home and I’m pretty sure somebody had invented backpacks by then.

I still have that Continental, by the way, and our older son, Sam, 17, rides it to high school.  We live now near San Diego in Coronado, a city we chose both because of the good public schools and the fact that you can walk or ride your Schwinn to school, the library, the baseball field, the grocery store, or the beach.

My life has been a pretty quiet one, which is the way I like it.  After high school, I graduated from Berkeley; dropped out of Boalt School of Law; got a teaching credential; taught junior high school in Orange; married Cathy Van Riper, whom I’d met in journalism class at SAHS; moved to Nebraska; was awarded a Stegner Fellowship and then hired as a Jones Lecturer in creative writing at Stanford; and helped start a general contracting and property management business with my brother, Fred, and brother-in-law, Jack Duckworth (the little brother of Willard’s Mr. Duckworth).

But, mid-life, there were still a few big things I wanted to do before cashing it all in, namely:

1. Have kids;
2. build my own house; and
3. finish and publish a novel.

By age 45, I was still 0 for 3, and divorced. In 1993, I married a tall, funny, writerly type named Laura,

and we began building a house overlooking an orange grove in Fallbrook (my brother, Fred, was the job superintendent).

We had two sons, first Sam, then Hank (and Cathy and her new husband became their godparents).  And at long last, I finished a novel, Goodnight, Nebraska, which Random House brought out.

 

Since then, things have gone as smoothly as real life can (which is to say, semi-smoothly).  Our boys are both in high school, work hard at their studies, and are doubles partners on the varsity tennis team (which means they like each other after wins and otherwise say withering things to each other that are mostly inaudible to spectators).  Laura and I have collaborated on four books for young adults, all published by Knopf (the first of these, Crooked, borrows liberally from life at Willard Jr. High).  She published one on her own—Dark Water, nominated for the National Book Award in 2010—and has another coming out this year.  I’ve published a couple more books on my own, one for adults, To Be Sung Underwater, and one for younger (and, I hope, older) readers, Far Far Away, which was nominated for the National Book Award in 2013.  (If you’d like a copy of this or any of our books, just let me know at themcneals@san.rr.com and I’ll bring one gratis to the reunion.)  And we built one more house, the one we’re in now in Coronado.

One last thing.  Our older son, Sam, is coming along with Laura and me to the reunion.  Not sure what his perverse reasons are, but he won’t be talked out of it.  Probably he just wants a glimpse of what it’s like to be in a big room full of curmudgeons who used to look and feel just like he does now—young, grinsome, and on the runway ready for takeoff.  Like us, in other words, fifty years ago.

Tom McNeal

Carl Cullings writes:

After graduation from SAHS in 1965 I spent a week in Hawaii, on Oahu, and a month in Japan traveling with a former junior high school teacher.

We were in Tokyo for one week and then traveled to a number of other places including Kyoto, Nara, Mt. Fuji, and Hiroshima.  I was amazed at how friendly the Japanese people were to Americans.  The exchange rate was 400 yen to the dollar. Today it is about 123 yen to the dollar.    

College:
I entered a journalism scholarship contest sponsored by the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.  They offered me a 4-year scholarship to Pepperdine University to pursue a major in Journalism (with the expectation that I would work for them after graduation).  However, I exceled at math and science and wanted to follow a different career path so I declined their generous offer.

I enrolled at and attended UC Irvine in the Charter Class.  I took classes in Math, Social Science, French, and Physics.  My major was in Physics.  UC Irvine used the quarter system (3 quarters per school year instead of two semesters).  As a junior I enrolled in a 5-quarter physics class taught by Dr. Forrester.  During an important final exam 70% of the class got very low grades and hence, many of the 100 plus students in this class ended up changing their majors, including me.  I changed my major to Electrical Engineering.  It turns out that I liked that field and graduated in 1969 with a BS in Electrical Engineering.  I subsequently enrolled at USC and attended night classes working towards an MSEE.

Work:
After graduating from UCI in 1969 I was hired at Aeronutronic in Newport Beach (just over the hill from UCI).  Aeronutronic was a defense and space related division of Ford Motor Company.

In 1961 Ford purchased Philco and merged the two companies in 1963 and called the company Philco-Ford and later Ford Aerospace.  Some employees called the company Ford Aeroneurotic.  I worked on the Chaparral Missile system, which was a missile, launched from a tracked vehicle with 4 missile rails.  These missiles used an IR (infra red) seeker in the nose and were very effective in downing enemy planes and helicopters. After two years with Aeronutronic, massive layoffs occurred, and I interviewed at many companies over a 3-month period and received an attractive job offer from Hughes Aircraft Company in Fullerton, CA where I started working in 1971.  I worked in the Receiver/Exciter Department for about 6 years, spending the first 6 months working graveyard shift on the SLQ-17 electronic countermeasure system. This system was deployed on all of our aircraft carriers to protect them against enemy missile attacks.  I then transferred to the Signal Processing Department, in the Beam Steering Group, where I spent another 6 years.  I did design work on a number of ground based radars, including the TPQ-37 Artillery Locating Radar System (which could back plot an enemy’s mortar or artillery round and direct our artillery to fire back before the enemy shell hit the ground).   This radar used electronic scanning to sweep the sky in azimuth and elevation and could track many targets simultaneously.  The radar was large and expensive but very effective and is still being built today.  I then transferred to the Antenna Department where I spent another 6 years working on a number of radar projects including a few classified radars.  Then I transferred to the Component Engineering Department where I spent another 6 years working with many RF and microwave components used in a number of different systems.

General Motors purchased Hughes in 1985 and merged Hughes Aircraft with its Delco Electronics unit to form Hughes Electronics Corporation.  Then GM sold their assets to Raytheon in 1997.   Most of the buildings in Fullerton were sold for commercial development and the majority of employees, including myself, had to transfer to El Segundo.  The commute from Orange to El Segundo was a lengthy one taking about 3 hours of round trip travel time per day.  Raytheon has a number of buildings in the El Segundo area (near LAX), as does Boeing.  I worked at the El Segundo South site in Building E1.  I worked on a variety of different programs involving radars (for Army, Navy, & Air Force), electronic countermeasures, communications systems, and satellite systems.  At one point Boeing Defense Systems needed additional help so my department agreed to loan them about 8 people (myself included).  We spent 20 hours a week working for Raytheon and 20 hours a week working for Boeing.  Raytheon acquired a number of other companies across the US and they created technology teams to try to integrate the various companies.  I was chosen as the leader for the RF/Microwave Tech Team which was comprised of about a dozen people from locations in El Segundo, Santa Barbara, Tucson, Dallas, Sudbury, MA, Tewksbury, MA, Fort Wayne, IN, St. Petersburg, FL, and several other sites.  I did a lot of traveling around country to visit other Raytheon facilities and visiting with suppliers, and potential suppliers.  I worked on generating a list of Raytheon standard suppliers and a list of Raytheon standard parts (to be used by all the sites).  I helped generate an RF/Microwave Handbook for design engineers to use.  I retired from Raytheon at the end of 2006 as a Principal Electrical Engineer.

IF

 

Family:
I have one 5 year older brother, John, who along with his wife Diane has been living in Laguna Beach for 45 years.  John also attended and graduated from Santa Ana High School.  I met my wife, Cathy, in 1972 while roller-skating at the Skate Ranch in north Santa Ana (now known as the Discovery Science Center).  She was a graduate from Orange High School.  We got married a few months later and lived briefly in an apartment in Yorba Linda, then moved to an older home in North Orange where we have been for the last 43 years.  We have three children, ages 42, 39, & 28 and 6 grandchildren ranging in age from 13 to 19.

Travels:
Cathy and I have gone on a number of one and two week train trips led by an excellent tour director (Roland Graham) from Irvine whose travel agency is called Mountain-Outin.   He specializes in train/motor coach tours with about 50 people per tour.  We have traveled around the US and across Canada with some of his tour groups.  We also make periodic trips to Las Vegas, Phoenix, Prescott, and Alabama.

Pets:
We have one dog (Siberian Husky) and one cat (long haired calico).  They are both getting up in years but then so are we.  

Hobbies:
Photography, computers, travels, people watching.

 

Memories from High School:

1. Riding my Honda 55cc trail bike to school on a rainy day, leaving home wearing white corduroy pants and arriving at school with black corduroy pants.

2. I loved the school cafeteria where you could request a larger helping and many times receive it. The spaghetti was my favorite.  But then in a cost cutting measure they eliminated the cafeteria and replaced it with vending machines with food put in paper containers with plastic wrap on top.  The spaghetti was slimy and awful.  Someone probably got a raise for this cost cutting measure.

3. I remember having to say the Pledge of Allegiance in French in Mr. Bouchard’s French class. I can still recite it, in French, today.

4. During open house, some students, taking chemistry class from Mr. Ashbaugh, would make a pasty mixture of potassium tri-iodide and spread it on spots on the sidewalk. When someone walked over the spots they would feel little explosions under their shoes.

5. I took lots of pictures for the school newspaper. Digital cameras didn’t exist yet so we were using film cameras.  My father helped me build a darkroom in our garage at home so I could develop the film, and make prints with an enlarger.  This was a very time consuming task and required working with three different chemical baths.

6. I had Mr. Petri for Physics class. I learned a lot from his class, which led me to pursuing a major in Physics at college later on.  There were no scientific calculators yet so we did many math computations on a slide rule.

7. I enjoyed being on the Track team and competed in the 100-yard, 220-yard, 440-yard dashes as well as many relay races and I competed in the high jump. Some of the relay teams I was on made it to the state finals.

8. During Easter break thousands of students would travel to Newport Beach (for Bal Week) and enjoy the surf and sand and cruising up and down the Balboa Peninsula. It was a lot of fun until the police started setting up check points to discourage the out-of-towners.

I am looking forward to meeting my SAHS classmates at the reunion.

Carl Cullings

Sandy Beatty Brummett writes:

I had a wonderful time at Santa Ana High School.  I met Earl in my Junior year.   He was in the Army and went to Vietnam in 1966. I got a job at Disneyland and had a great summer with my friends.  In  1967 we  married we  went to Germany for a year.  It was a wonderful year, we traveled, shopped, lived in our own apt near the Army base. Great experience!!

I Worked for Bank of America for 26 years. I  went out on LTD in 1989 with major bladder problems.

We started our family in 1972, with a beautiful  little girl.  We had a lot of good years.  Then divorced in 1981.

I was single for 5 years then found Gary Brummett, from Orange.  He went to Orange High School  and graduated in 1960.  We have done lots of traveling in the 29 years we have been married. We love to cruise.  He is a wonderful person.

I do a lot of volunteer work  for Hospice and Dialysis work for at St Elizabeth St Joseph in Orange.

I also belong to Orange Emblem Club in Orange.  We are affiliated with Orange Elk’s Lodge. Our Club supports 19 Charities every year.  I’ve been a member for 16 years.  I’ve been Treasurer for 7 years for the club.

UPDATE:
I went to a concert at GG Elks Lodge recently and I ran into the Chantay’s.  Bob Welch was sitting watching the show 4 Chantays band members were upstage playing R & R songs from high school days “pipeline”  It was fantastic.  I got up my nerve and asked Bob’s wife if she’d take my picture with Bob.

She did, I explained I knew Bob from High school he was class of 63, I was from class of 65.  I told Bob we were having our 50th class reunion next month and I wanted a picture of him to show my classmates.  So my daughter posted it for me on facebook.  I was on cloud nine all day!!

Then they had the new version of Beach Boys that played a lot of songs, my friends and I sung our hearts out.  I got some pic of the Chantay’s playing and Beach Boys singing. 

They were great!!

I’ll send the one by phone you can post on my bio page.

Sandy Beatty Brummett

Arliine Radillo Greene writes:

In 1965 I vowed I would never marry or have children.  Today, I’m thrilled to report that we have 5 children, 4 daughter-in-laws, 1 son-in-law and 12 grandchildren and I have been married for 38 years.  Okay, so I only bore two of these children, but I consider them all mine.

(Since this photo was taken we’ve added a daughter-in-law and 2 more grandchildren

After graduating from Cal State Long Beach, I returned to Santa Ana and taught 2^nd grade at John Adams elementary.  I was one of the few bilingual teachers in the district.  After two years I convinced the school district to take a chance on a bilingual educational television program.  Educational T.V. was in its infancy.  They agreed and “The Number Shop” or “El Mercado de los Numeros” was born.  I wrote and hosted this math program.  We sold the program to KCET, the Los Angeles PBS station, where the program was distributed throughout Southern California.  Then I accepted a job with another station working on two programs: a live entertainment series following summer happenings in Orange County, and as a segment reporter on a biweekly news program.  Lots of fun.  I rode an elephant from the train station to the convention center, covered the surfing competition (while trying to learn to surf), covered the national offshore powerboat competition, the square dance convention, and was hypnotized on-air.  I looked like an idiot the entire time.

I then married a divorced man with four children.  Many were not happy with my decision, and when we returned from our honeymoon he was fired from his job. That meant I was now supporting his four children.  I was advised (unsolicited) to annul the marriage, which I refused to do.  He went on to start the biotech industry in San Diego which included pioneering the first PSA tests.  Later he started a company to develop a new hormone for controlling diabetes.  Life with Ted has not been boring.

We have put all our children through college.  They are all married and have children that love sailing, chicken and noodles, and popcorn.  A must if you’re going to live in this family.

We’ve been to 6 continents with Antarctica as our next destination in February.  We’ve crossed the equator:  I was read my list of felony charges by King Neptune when I successfully converted from a pollywog to a shellback.

I’ve been served monkey brain soup in China, something “unrecognizable” in Kenya (it was still wiggling), and Grasshoppers in Thailand.  None of which I could eat.

We still have our home in San Diego, but have retired to Northern Michigan with the deer, wild turkeys and abundance of birds that hover at the kitchen window when the bird feeders are empty.  In the summer all our kids arrive.  They wouldn’t want to miss our annual watermelon seed spitting contest.

In 2001 I started a scholarship fund at Santa Ana College in honor of my father.  These scholarships are awarded to Hispanic kids majoring in Engineering, Biology, or Chemistry and who are transferring to a 4-year college.

Help is given for tuition and books.  Do this day I still interview all candidates.
Looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up.  Bring pictures!

Arline Radillo Greene

Dale Tilton writes:

Carolyn Cronin writes:

 

Gayle Neiman Inbody writes:

Hello Saints,

It is hard to believe that I am old enough to have graduated 50 years ago. I have lived in Orange County for most of the past 50 years. As far as I know I have not run into anyone from high school. Currently I live in Lake Forest on the lake. I have been here about 3 years and love it.

So here is my update, will try to keep it brief.

After graduation I went off to Cal State Northridge. Got married and I had 2 daughters. Was a stay at home Mom for a few years and then my parents bought Ashly Jewelers that was on 4th Street in Santa Ana. As that business grew and had more location I started working in the business and I became the human resource manager for the stores.

After 20 years of marriage got a divorce and a few years later got remarried to a wonderful man. He owned an engineering company and I ended up running his office. We traveled all over the world going to places that I had never imagined that I would ever get to see. Sadly after spending 21 years together he died this past year.

I have lots of family close by, wonderful friends, 5 grandchildren and one on the way.

So I am happy to say I keep very busy. Recently I took up lawn bowling so I am an official member of the Newport Harbor Lawn Bowling Club in Newport Beach. It is a lot of fun and if I have any extra time I spend it bowling.

The enclosed picture is me with one of my granddaughter Marissa.

Happy 50th!

Gayle Neiman Inbody

Jane Lindley Ransford writes:

Hello Classmates!

Gabe and I moved around a bit and have finally settled in San Luis Obispo.

Doug Nalle writes:

He is in the middle of the wine bottling the 2014 crop and that’s pretty much 24/7.  

He will finish Friday, Aug. 21, get in his car with wife Lee and drive like a maniac to make it to the Reunion!  We will be so glad to see him!  In the meantime, his website http://www.nallewinery.com/ and years of marketing have yielded some text and photos, as follows:

Nalle Winery is about as “family” as it gets. Son Andrew runs the joint,   while father and mother Doug and Lee Nalle give wisdom from 31 years of winery experience. Younger son Sam, a scientist in San Francisco, gives encouragement and support. Then there’s our bevy of friends who magically appear at the right moment to lend a hand. Steve Edgar, from Arizona, still shows up for crush, and has, since 1991.

Our winery and home rest on land that has been in Lee’s family, the Henderlongs, since 1927. Her cousins, the Saini family, run the vineyard. In addition to the estate Zinfandel, Carignane, Cabernet and Merlot vineyard, two other local growers, Bernier Farms and Hopkins River Ranch, provide Zinfandel, Carignane, Petite Sirah, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with a smile and a handshake.

Doug Nalle

Sharon Condon Curry writes:

After I graduated, I worked at The Paulo Drive in, State Farm Ins when it was on 17th St. in Santa Ana. Also attended Orange Coast JC.  During this time I met my future husband.  He was in Marines.  We relocated to Petaluma for a couple of years while he attended Santa Rosa JC.  I worked part time for Petaluma Realty handling rentals.  The other part of the day I had short, temp jobs.  One was as a “chicken sexer” at on hatchery.  Yes.  It’s a job.  Someone has to determine the male from the female just after they are a few hours old.

In 1972, we moved on to Humboldt County.  In particular Arcata CA and Humboldt State University.  He continued school and I worked for ten years at HSU in the Theatre and Film Department as the Department Secretary. I got involved in plays and was a major.   Somewhere in there we divorced.

I decided to take a leave of absence for a year to see what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.  I travelled for two months across Europe with a girlfriend.

Upon my return I met up with my brother at the Houston Astrodome as he was Marvin Gaye’s Tour Manager for awhile.  That experience was the change in my career direction.  I knew I wanted to work in the entertainment business somehow.

I quit HSU.  I worked for the Marvin Gaye production company for awhile.  Then I found a job on a television game show that was just starting:  Face The Music with Ron Ely (one of the Tarzans!).   Within that production company, I was  a production assistant, script supervisor then Assistant Director supervising post production with the Director.  I met tons of people and it is all about who you know and if you are good they refer you.  I was referred to work the 1983 US Festival in Devore CA, there I met an HBO Tech Manager who hired me to work in his company- NEP.  I moved to Pittsburg and worked for a television mobile unit (TV trucks that do sports, concerts, etc).   I was loaned out to MTV to work on their 1st Annual MTV VMA’s at Radio City.  This because of my experience with the US Festival…. lots of cameras, editing, etc.  I worked the 2nd and 3rd MTV Video Music Awards as well.

I was referred to the NBC Olympic unit to be a Broadcast Manager in Seoul 1988 Summer Games.  I handled the broadcast studio in Olympic Park working with Bryant Gumbel and Bob Costas.

After that experience I went on to do four more Olympics: Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and one Winter Olympics: 1992 Salt Lake City.  In between the Olympics, I worked at a corporate travel company, Maritz.  I was the Director of Production Operations for 10 years.  I took leaves of absence to do the Olympics.

My boss finally told me I had to choose because it was a hardship for him to lose me for two months. So I became a corporate manager.  I loved my job.  And the Olympics has me on the substitute list to be called if someone gets sick or has to bail for whatever reason.  I chose the corporate career doing business meetings, events, videos, car launches for clients like Nissan, Toyota, and other automotive companys.  Also Taco Bell, Oracle, Apple, etc.  Supervising about 150 production and creative people on tons of projects.

In 2008, the financial crash brought the demise of my production business unit at Maritz.  150 of us were let go.  I now am a freelance contractor still producing events, meetings, training for mostly automotive clients.   I work a little less because I want more down time…semi-retired?!   I now work golf tournaments.  Such a life!!   As I write this summary of my career which I’ve not done before, I realize how lucky I have been to have had these jobs.  I am very thankful.

I never remarried nor did I have children.   Pets have come and gone.  I have a cat right now.  I live in downtown Fullerton and love it.  I owned a home in Anaheim for 12 years.  Sold it 2 years ago, made lots of $$ and downsized.  I am enjoying “less stuff.”

I loved my time at SAHS.  I hung out with Patty Davis and Susan Eagloski.  We have lost touch.  I am hoping they might go to the reunion.

I look forward to seeing the other 1965ers that I know and, of course, who may remember me.

Sharon Condon Curry

Steven Johnson writes:

Steven Johnson in Motor Pool, Vietnam US Air Force 1970-71

I do have some pics from military service could try to scan or bring to meetup?? 

hearing issue is kind of holding me back.

Sharon Bartosh Kinney writes:

Geesh….50 years…I can hardly remember that far back!!

I taught school for 34 years and now have my dream job working as a vet tech for my vet of 30 years. Our son was born in 1980 and married a wonderful Ohio girl just three years ago. I’m definitely anxious to be a grandmother.

In ’99, I defeated breast cancer. I’m pleased to see every birthday.

For 43 years, I have raised, bred, shown, hunted and judged champion salukis (hounds).

I’ve judged hounds throughout the USA and Europe (England, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Australia) in the past 25 years. My pinnacle assignment was in ’03 judging 257 salukis in Lexington, Kentucky. I’m loving training my Aussie in agility.

I married in 1970 and still retain the original model.  Jim is an architect and built our dream home in east Orange.

My USMC Dad lived until 91 and we are blessed to still have both Moms kicking @ 92 and 96. I play duplicate bridge to keep my mind active and working. We are inaugural season ticket holders for the Anaheim DUCKS (hockey) and love to follow the boys throughout the playoffs.

Traveling is my biggest passion (must be ingrained from my Dad) and East Africa and Israel were our finest trips. I doubt that I will ever stop teaching and presently teach 4 year olds in Sunday school for my LDS church. I am blessed every day of my life!!

See you on the 22nd!!

Sharon Bartosh Kinney

Phyllis Aldrich Hallstrom writes:

Wow I can’t believe it’s been 50 years! Seems like yesterday! So happy I can still remember those fun and carefree days of skipping lunch and driving to the original In’N’Out on Cubbon & Main, sneaking a smoke in the girl’s bathroom and waiting for Mr. Rollo Beck to round us all up from our cars before school started.  So many fond memories of good friends and fun times.

I married my high school sweetheart right after graduation on July 3, 1965.

We had two boys Joel and Jason. We were married nearly 40 years until Duane lost his battle with cancer in April of 2004.  I worked for the Orange Unified School District and retired in 1989 to stay home and spoil the first grandson, who is now 25 years old and in the Navy, stationed at Coronado San Diego, not a bad place to be!

One more grandson and two lovely granddaughters followed.

Duane and I stayed in the neighborhood purchasing a home in Park Santiago on Poinsettia Street. Our neighbors included many SAINTS the likes of Dennis Hill, David Scott and Kathy Mobley DeFord were just a few.

I am looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and making new memories see you all soon!

Phyllis Aldrich Hallstrom

Lou Baron writes:

Start the conversation … I like that theme!  I’ll start with a little about my journey from 1965 Orange County (I now recognize what a sheltered, halcyon time it was to grow up) to 2015 Sacramento, and conclude with what I’m about today.

Graduated with a BS in biochem and a BA in psych from Cal State Fullerton in 1975 … on and off it took me seven schools and 10 years.  During that period my father died and I, as the eldest, suddenly became responsible for handling his business interests.

After college I got my start in the corporate world working at Beckman Instruments in a science based job that I loved; during that time I shared an apartment with Bob Fainbarg in nearby Park Newport on the Back Bay – if I remember our theme back then was work hard and play hard.

Eventually, work took me to Sacramento, where I later married and settled down to raise two girls and a boy. My oldest, Michelle, is a professor at Hobart and William Smith in New York; the next, Pamela graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and is an up-and-coming illustrator living in Oakland (pamelabaron.com); and my youngest, Matt, is still at Sac State studying nutrition.  This past May my granddaughter, Ellie, was born in New York and suddenly I’m holding babies again … they are great.

After 17 years of marriage I divorced.  Committed to mitigating the effect on the children, I focused on their best interests and today my ex and I are good friends and occasionally even go on vacation with the children and their companions.  For the past eight years I’ve been dating a woman I met online. She is an attorney with a penchant for travel, adventure, knitting, and me.

I still live in Sacramento; my home is across the street from the American River and almost daily I enjoy a run or a bike ride on the beautiful, tree lined river bike trail.

My business life had been somewhat diverse; after Beckman I worked in loan underwriting, real estate appraisal, retail sales (I owned a One Hour MotoPhoto store), and stock and futures trading (unfortunately a disaster).  The last 20 years, though, I’ve been a full time real estate investor (primarily in small commercial and multi-family properties) in partnership with my younger brother, Mike.

Over the years I’ve had the good fortune to travel to some interesting places, for instance the Pyramids, Machu Pichu, Paris, Tel Aviv, and Istanbul.  I continue to travel and I’m planning a trip to Costa Rica later this year and to Cuba in early 2016.

Aside from children, the most gratifying investment I have ever made, in terms of time and effort, has been learning to swing dance.  The Lindy Hop community is worldwide and I can usually find a place to dance no matter where I travel.  I’ve danced in Chicago, New York, San Diego, and Orange County (at the Atomic Ballroom).  If you’re a follow and like swing dancing, find me; I’d love to dance with you at the reunion!

My other passions today revolve around real estate and finance, exercise, nutrition, longevity research, and giving back to society (wonderful to see various classmates who have done so in a significant way, kudos to you).

I remained friends with Craig Juratsch, Bob Fainbarg, and Mike McCord and we see each other periodically.  I’ve also visited with Don Baker, who I had for chemistry.  I couldn’t resist including the following “then” photo; you should recognize three of us from our class.
But there were so many more classmates who provided tons of entertainment, encouragement, and competition in the classroom, at lunch time, in sports teams, and outside of school; and I really look forward to seeing many of them again.

If the varied and interesting “Here’s Wassup!!” bios are any indication, it should be an interesting, memorable, and fun reunion. 50 years! Wow!  See you soon!

Lou Baron

Dan McMichael writes:

I worked summers throughout SAHS teaching children and adults tennis for Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Dept.  After high school I studied at Monmouth College (Illinois), Santa Ana Junior College (AA degree) and the University of Utah (BS degree) playing competitive tennis at each stop.

I came back to Santa Ana after my studying days were over but job opportunities were slim in So. California.  With two friends we drove to Dallas, Texas to vacation and look for employment.  With my tennis experience, I caught a job with Dallas Parks & Recreation where I learned there were 500 tennis courts and 45 recreation centers.  It was the perfect marriage for my tennis and sports experience.  Twenty eight and a half years later, I retired and moved to Forest Grove, Oregon to be close to family members.

I enjoy sports of all kinds, movies, and going to concerts.

In 1997 my father and I went to Germany where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge earning a bronze star.  He was hoping to find his foxhole.  We enjoyed a trip up the Rhine River and Octoberfest in Munich.  Dad passed away in 2003 but I have many fond memories of that trip.

Favorite SAHS memory:  Co-captain of varsity tennis team that went undefeated in Sunset League play.  This team reached the finals of CIF State Tournament losing only to Santa Monica High School.

Present:  Single, no children, RATS!

Retired after 28 1/2 years with City of Dallas (Texas) Park & Recreation Department.  Now living in Forest Grove, Oregon close to family members.

Look forward to seeing classmates of SAHS class of ’65 at reunion!

See you at reunion later this month!

Florinda (Louanne) Islas Bailey writes:

After high school I worked for the Postal Service for 44 years (only suppose to be for the summer while i went to school).  I had an office in San Bruno, Washington DC and Santa Ana while working as the Director of Marketing.

I have two grown children and 2 grandchildren.  My husband and I just celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary. We raised our family in Huntington Beach and I’m fortunate to have my children close by.

Since I’ve been retired I’ve spent time traveling throughout the world. Love it!  Just returned from Machu Picchu and Galapagos.  Never was one for physical activity in High School but now enjoy many outdoor sports/activities.

I have kept in touch with Gale Grall Moore and Rosalynda Ortiz Harrison, Ronnie Cardiel and until he passed away Bobby Bunch. One of my dear friends in HS who I would like to see is Pam Crozier.

While I don’t like to share my personal life on social media I am on Facebook and have been fortunate to connect with several of our classmates.  I’m Blessed to have had such a wonderful healthy life and look forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks!

Susan Frederickson Gibson Heins writes:

Just sent Sandy my check. My email address is susan@heins.com. I was Susan Frederickson.  I married Chris Gibson from our class. We divorced but had two amazing sons and 6 grandchildren . He moved to Oregon and had twin boys at 50 with his present wife.  He had back surgery yesterday so don’t look for him.

My husband Ed of 18 years will be attending.  We live in Huntington Beach. I still do hair in northern SA on Fridays and volunteer for the Assistance League in HB. I haven’t kept in touch with anyone from high school so will be looking over the Ariel to refresh my memory.

I plan to drop by SAHS Friday after work for the tour. Please send me any new info.

Susan Heins

Barbara Welty Nelson writes:

Following graduation, I attended Santa Ana College and in Spring ’67, the Semester at Sea. I then went to UCLA, where Sharon Storm and I were roommates on pledge porch of the Kappa Alpha Theta house!

I received my teaching credential in Elementary Education and taught 3rd and 4th grade in Oakland, CA.  After 4 years, I decided to take a 2-year leave from teaching. I wanted to  experience living in Norway, as my Grandma Welty had immigrated from there.  I worked as a secretary and became active in the American Lutheran Church,  where I met my husband, Dean, from Decorah, Iowa. When he heard I was from Santa Ana, California, Dean asked if I knew Bryn Henderson, a Luther College classmate and friend!!! Small world!!! Dean and I became engaged in Oslo, and when we were deciding where to begin our married life, Dean said he had always wanted to live in California and I was his ticket!

Rather than returning to my teaching job in Oakland, Dean and I chose Santa Barbara, and I taught at the Christian School of Santa Barbara until our son Tobin was born in 1980, when I became a stay-at-home mom. With job changes for Dean, we continued to move south. Our daughter Megan was born in Huntington Beach in 1983, and in 1997, we did something we said we would never do … we moved from San Diego to Decorah, population 8500, and home of Luther College, where Dean worked until retiring. With our kids being 14 and 17 at the time, we did pray about this move, and they said let’s do it. Decorah has definitely become home for me, although I no longer want to be here during the winter months!

In 1988 I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer, and although it isn’t something I would have chosen, there have been many blessings from it. I am now 28 years cancer-free.

I am very thankful that I am finally a grandma to 2 precious grandkids, 3 and 2 ½ years. Because they live a distance away – Istanbul, Turkey and North Carolina – I am always happy when we get to travel to spend some extended time with them. (As our son is with the State Department, they relocate every few years.

We do love to travel … but I wish we lived closer to our kids/grandkids.) Our family photo was taken in July 2014.

I love to quilt, which I have been doing since 1970, and I am very involved in our church, Bible study, and Moms in Prayer.

It will be wonderful to reconnect with our classmates! Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Barbara Welty Nelson
nelsondb47@gmail.com

 Sara Meeker writes:

Gale Grall Moore writes:

I was so surprised to see so much info about so many people.  I had no idea.  Now I’m a bit late but will add my two cents.

I married in 1972 to a great guy I met at Western Airlines in Los Angeles.  We moved to Seattle and had two wonderful girls.  Our lives revolved around our girls and 4H.  Their dad and I would take our vacations to coincide with the King County Fair and all the 4H activities.  It was a great way to raise kids.

But, alas the marriage didn’t last.  Western Airlines became Delta Airlines and in 1993 closed the Seattle office.  The oldest girl headed off to college and mom and youngest daughter headed for Salt Lake City to follow the paycheck.  I’d thought I’d gone to the ends of the earth. Little did I know what a beautiful place this is.  I live 13 miles from Snowbird and Alta, 5 minutes from wonderful hiking canyons.  I have turned into a National Park junkie.   Between international travel with Delta and living here… I’ve had a wonderful life.

Florinda Islas Bailey is my tether to Orange County.  Louann (old habits die hard) and I are very different people now, but we can pick up our silliness and camaraderie in just a few minutes of being together.  I’m also very close to my brother who lives in Orange.  Between visiting both of them I have been able to keep up with the changes of our childhood stomping ground… and what changes !!!

And I see Jefferson has been mentioned.  I’m anxious to see Jane, Mary, and Wanda.. and everyone else.  I used to play football with the boys at Willard… Tommy McNeal, Doug Nalle, Dave Ault..and ??  I think we were 8 or 9.  I was a ruff and tumble girl !

I retired from Delta in 2005 but got restless.  I went to work at an in-house travel department for locum tenens.  I’m now down to 3 days a week and with a big house… am kept busy.  When not working I’m playing pickleball, or in the mountains.

Well, time to lose 10 pounds in the next 4 days !..haha ..Can’t wait to see everyone.

Gale Grall Moore

Denis Velarde writes:

My life was almost ideal until 2014 when we lost our beautiful and talented daughter Danielle to Cancer.  I still am dealing with it and most likely always will.
My son Darin and his wife and 2 1/2 kids( another soon)  now live in San Diego where he is CTO at Sony.

Carolyn Cronin writes:

I have moved to Spokane, Washington and will be helping Dave raise his 3 grandsons.  Ed Robinson, a fellow classmate of ours, and my first husband, have a 35 year old daughter who is going to be teaching third grade this year in Portland, OR.  She graduated in 2013 from Columbia University and just recently moved to Portland.  No grandchildren from her yet, but who knows, perhaps next year.

Life has been great and it just keeps getting better.  Dave and I will not be attending the reunion, as we had already rented a lake front home on Diamond Lake in the Spokane area during the time of the reunion.  But I will be thinking of you all and wishing you a wonderful visit.  I could say a lot more, but it would be boring anyway.

Jill Shuler Taylor writes:

Patti Davis-Addimando writes:

Graduated and started working at the FARM remember State Farm on 17th street! Worked for them off and on 40 years. Did a little Kelly Girl and homemaker.

Moved to Texas for a year while my husband was in service, then to back to Santa Ana and then Garden Grove till 1995.

3 Kids 2 boys 1 girl and #8 grandchild due this March 2016. 4 grandsons and will be 4 granddaughters.

Retired now in Bakersfield on 2 1/2 acres with 6 horses, 1 pimy goat, 2 roosters, 3 dogs 3 cats. Married 48 years and going strong. Ever in or near Bakersfield stop by 3933 Renfro Rd.

Email me, GiddyupGranny7@gmail.com. Still alot of fond memories from high school, can’t believe its been 50 years! WOW

Patti Davis-Addimando