Category Archives: Whassup?!

What have you been up to for the last 50 years?!

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. Cheryl-Brady-Chandler

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

 

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 weDahlias & MeVancouver Island 2014relocated 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

Marilyn Lamb Cooper writes:

“Hello Again” “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” and “I’m So Excited” it is almost time for “The Saints To Go Marching In”. Will we “Rock Around The Clock” or just “Yakety Yak” like “The Way It Was”? In ten years I have a “Ruby Tuesday” who is 6 and a “Rocketman” 3, almost “Born On The 4th Of July”. Sometimes they “Wipeout” their Nana. Marilyn-Lamb CooperI said ” Good Riddance” to work and retired in 2008. No “Rockin Chair” for me! I still love my “Old Time Rock And Roll” with a “Red
Solo Cup” which creates a few “Blurred Lines”. “Its Just A Matter Of Time” when “I’ll Be There” as “This Used To Be My Playground” from kindergarten to high school. We will be “Blown Away” with “Emotion” and we might visit “All Night Long” reflecting on “All Those Years”.
“That’s What Friends Are For”.

See you in August!

Sent from my
iPad. Mothers Day with daughter Heather.

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!
Took a semester off to travel around the world with Chapman College 7 Seas program (with Nanci Herron).
Came back to UCLA with a cowboy boyfriend (shipboard romance) I thought I would marry, but decided “no”.
Met the man I would eventually marry while working on a homecoming float . . . he was watching, I was working.
Graduated in 4 years with a Lifetime California Teaching Credential, a job in the Los Angeles School District and a husband.
Moved back to Orange County after 2 years and lived in my Grandmother’s Beach Cottage (rent free-we were extraordinarily poor).
Bought our 1st little house in Irvine ($29,500.00) and proceeded to produce 3 children moving into increasingly bigger houses as we could afford it.
Relocated to Denver in 1977 and have mostly stay here and loved it ever since.
Never worked as a teacher again, but stayed involved in education as a volunteer or aide for 20 years.
Children grew up and became quite extraordinary, capable adults and provided me with 7 fabulous grandchildren.
My focus has changed from education and youth to working with seniors though my church and the community.
New chapter in my life:
Became an unexpected widow in 2009.
“Sold” my big house to my youngest son (you all know how those sales work).California Veterans' Memorial
Bought a smaller fixer upper ranch.
Fixed it up (major remodel) and added a dog.
Have been working on our Class of ’65 High School Reunion for 2 years with a wonderful group of talented classmates.
Hope to see you there.
Cathy Alleman Packard

Tom Gibbons writes:

I am married and living in Tustin for the past 40 years.  I have 3 successful children (1 son and 2 daughters) and 5 grandchildren.  I retired a few years back as a local operations manager.
Questions (from Whassup?!):
  1. 5,441 miles (England)
  1. Balding grey
  1. Demo/rebuilding our home
  2. Europe/Asia during the Viet Nam War
10. SAHS football games
11. Bible
Tom Gibbons (courtesy of his wife, Janell)

Chuck Patrick writes:

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

Need Addresses!

We still need addresses, email and snail mail, for these 258 classmates.  If you can help, please send info to SAHSReunion@gmail.com.

FIRST LASTNAME/ MAIDEN NAME MARRIED NAME
JEAN ABANG
GILBERT ACUNA
TERESA ALARCON
CHARLES ALDRIDGE
PAUL ALVAREZ
SHIRLEY ANGERMILLER WHITE
KATHRYN ANGLEY
CHERYL ARDUINO
LINDA ARGAO
STEVEN ASHBURN
DANNY BAIER
GERALD BAILEY
RICHARD BALTY
STEVEN BASCO
DIANNE BLACKWELL
JEANNE BORDEAUX
KATHLEEN BRANDT
CHRISTINE BRIDGE CHARLTON
CHRISTI ANN BROWN
DORIS BROWN
LAUREL BRUNNER
LINDA BURCHAK
LINDA BURKHALTER
CHRISTINE BURNS PERKINS
LEROY CABRERA
MARY CALKINS BICKNELL
GEORGE CAPERON
DONNA CARLISLE CORDON
THOMAS CARMAN
CHRISTINE CARR
TIMOTHY CATTRON
LAURA CHEFFER HUNT
SHERELYN CLARK WILSON
STEVEN COLE
CAROL COLLINS
WILLIAM COON
OWEN CORWIN
GEORGE COSTA
RONALD COX
SUSAN CRAIG
MARILYN CUFF
LINDA CURRAN PRATT
JUDITH CURRIE
ROBERT CURRIE
PATRICIA DAVIS
BRUCE DAWSON
STANLEY DEAN
ERNEST DEL RIO
RAUL DIAZ
KATHLEEN DOLAN
LELA DOVER
DEANNA DOWN
SUSAN EAGLOSKI
SUSAN EITZER
VERA ESPINOSA
DALE FAWCETT
TAMASONE FILIPO
GEORGE FISHER
EDWARD FLOHRA
RAY FORD
JOYCE FORTUNE
DONALD FOX
RONALD FRIEDMAN
ROBERT FULLMER
KATHLEEN GADE KLATT
DANNY GARCIA
ELEANOR GARCIA
OLGA GARCIA
LAMOND GARDNER
RONALD GATES
PAM GEARY
MADELEINE GIBSON
MIKE GLASS
ELOISA GOMEZ
ELEANOR GONZALES
NORMA JEAN GONZALES
CARLOS GONZALEZ
LYNN GOODOIEN
BARBARA GOODWIN
RICHARD GRIFFIF
ALFRED GRIJALVA
DENNIS GRINDLE
RONALD GRUBBS
SALLY GUERIN SCHRADER
JANE HAGUE
LES HAGUE
SUSIE HANNEMAN
RICK HANSAN HANSEN?
PATRICIA HASTINGS
JOHN HAYNES
JAMES HAZEN
NEVIN HEAN
MICHAEL HENRY
DENNIS HIBLER
DARRELL HICKMAN
SHERON HIGGINS ELLIS
KATHLEEN HILLIGASS MOORE
LYNDA HOFHEINS BROWN
BETTY HOLGUIN
JOHN HOLGUIN
RONALD HOLLOWAY
NELDON HOYUM
CARLTON HUGHES
DIANE HUGHES COUGHENOUR
RUTH IBARRA
DAVID JENKINS
VERNON JENKINS
DAVID JOHNSON
LARRY JOHNSTON
GWENDOLYN JONES FLICKINGER
MICHAEL JONES
SANDY JORDAN
MARGARET JUAREZ
RICHARD JUDD
CRAIG JURATSCH
DANIEL KAMINISKI
COLLEEN KENNEDY
PATRICIA KENT
EARL KILLINGSWORTH
TERRENCE KLINGENBERG
PAMELA KOSTE
CHARLES KRUEGER
HELEN KUCHERA
DOUG KUTYLOWSKI
TIM LAIRSON
BARRY LANDER
KEEN LANE
WILMA LANE
GLORIA LARA
SUSANNE LAVERS MC QUISTON
NICOLE LEBLANC
SUSANNE LEBLANC
DENNIS LIEN
MATEO LOPEZ
GRACE MADRID NAVARRETTE
DAVID MANN
VIRGINIA MARR SHAFER
DENNIS L MARSHALL
PARTICIA MARTIN
MAURO MAURI
RICHARD MCBRIDE
SUZANNE MCCARTY
MICHAEL MCCORD
BARRY MCKENNA
DANIEL MCMICHAEL
TOM MEDINA
STEPHEN MEIER
HARVEY MENDEZ
CHARLES MERRILEES
PAULETTE MICHEL
RAY MILITELLO
EDWARD MILLER
CANDY MILLINGS WRENSCH
GILDA MIRANDA NEWHOUSE
HARRY MOORE
ADRIENE MORRIS DEBNER
SANDRA MORRISON
PATRICIA MURRAY
RONALD NEIBLAS
MARVIN NICHOLS
KARON NIMMO THELEMIER
DELBERT NOBLE
MICHAEL NOLAN
JANE OLDENBURG
MARIE ORTIZ
STEPHEN OTTO
PATRICIA PALM SCIOTTI
GAIL PARKE
EDWARD PATINO
PHIL PEARLMAN
EDMUNDO PERALES
LUPE PEREZ GOMEZ
ROSA PEREZ
DANNY PEREZ
PIXY PERKINS GROSSMAN
PAUYLINE PINEDO
TIMOTHY PODELL
LUTHER POINTER
ALYCE POTTER JOHNSON
JOHN POUK JR
GORDON PRICE
MELREE PRITCHETT BROCK
CHRISTINE PUGH
KAREN PYKOR
JOE RAMIREZ
JEANNE RAYMOND
EDDIE REYES
MARY RHYNE
RONALD RIMKE
LINDA ROBERTS MARCELLUS
WILHEMINIA ROBINSON
RANDEE ROBISON TAYLOR
JOHN ROCKWELL
HELEN RODRIGUEZ
WILLIAM ROGERS
DARBY ROGERS
SHIRLEY ROLES
ELEANOR ROMERO GALECIA
PETER ROMERO
ANNA ROSENCRANS ROBARGE
DANIEL ROSS
VERA RUIZ
CLIFF RYONO
WILLIAM SALDANA
DEBBIE SAMPSON
EMILY SANCHEZ
JAMES SANNES
ROSIE SARIANA
WILLIE SCANLAN
DAVID SCHERER
LORNA SCHISLER
DONALD SCHMIDT
MARGUERITE SCHUMACHER
LINDA SCHWARTZ HARRINGTON
RICHARD SEEBER
JOHN SEPULVEDA
KATHERINE SEXTON
ROLLIN SHEELLY
JOHN SHERICK
MARIA SINIAKIEWICZ
JAMES SKEITH
PAMELA SMITH
JOHN SNYDER
DAVID SOLIS
KATHY SOOP
REGGIE SOTO
FLOYD SPANGLER JR
BEVERLEY SPARKS
SHARON STEPHENSON
MARY TATUM GLASSMACHER
NANCY TEMPLETON
LINDA TERRY ALDINGER
ELIZABETH THIGPEN
KATHRYN THOMPSON FOX
CATHI TOELLE PATTERSON
DAVID TRUJILLO
AUSTON TYLER
JOHN TYLER
RUDY URESTI
JAMES VALENCIA
VIRGINIA VALENCIA
BRENDA VAN KIRK
DIRK VAN TATENHOVE
DANIEL VIELE
FRANCIS VIGIL
VEONA VOSIKA
LARRY WARD
HUGH WELCEL
JANET WEST
PATSY WILSON
WOODROW WILSON
ROBERT WITH
JUNE WOLF GETCHELL
JAMES WOLFE
CAROL WOODRUFF JENSEN
KAREN WRIGHT
CAROLE YATES
ELOISE YORBA

Richard Peralta writes:

My name is Richard Peralta Class of 65.  Went to the 10 Year but have not kept in contact.  Married, live in Prescott Valley, Arizona going on ten years now. Retired after 35 years with the Southern California Gas Company worked mostly in Central CA. (Santa Barbara & San Luis Obispo).  In 1967 went to Vietnam and lost my mind and many good buddies. Many of our Class mates lost their lives there. I have four children (47, 45, 39 & 36) and 9 grandchildren. 50 years is a long time.  Would like all the info possible.  Would like to get a hold of Ed Velasquez.
Hope to see you all soon.

Richard Peralta

Ed Velasquez writes:

I put together project teams for public or private sector entities. This type work is in part, an outgrowth of what we learned while playing football and other sports. I was a starter on a US Navy Championship football team at NAS Miramar, of  “Top Gun,” movie fame. This was my primary base from which we deployed to Vietnam more than once.   See if you can find me in the attached photo. (VFP-63). All the guys on the team deployed to Vietnam in 1968 and again later.Team_Flag Football -EdV

Antonov-P2550 June  11 2005 062
Antonov-P2550 June  11 2005 076breda2 rail car on test track Antonov-P2550 June  11 2005 019Fast forward to recent time, I have attached a few of photos of the success that one of my Integrated Project Teams pulled off on an international public transportation project for Los Angeles County Metro. First ever delivery of a commuter rail vehicle to from Pisa, Italy to Los Angeles, CA by a jumbo Russian heavy lift airplane.

Personal:
My beautiful wife Kerry and I are in our 37th year of marriage. EdV Kerry and daughter RebeccaTogether we have two children, both whom are professionals. They each have their own
families and we are blessed with two lovely grand babies. We are fortunate that they live close by and we get together regularly.

Ed Velasquez, son Chris, USS Midway

Kerry and I have lasting memories of our lovely Caribbean cruises and our interesting cruise to the Mexican Rivera. I have circumnavigated the globe twice on board military vessels, but it’s truly more fun when your at sea voyage is blessed by being in the company of a beautiful woman.

Jennifer McClanahan Dicks writes:

Wow!  What a bunch.  Howdy Saints!
I will attempt to fill you in on the last 50 years, but I doubt that too many are interested because not too many of you knew me personally.  I was not involved in many school activities and certainly not in the “in crowd” but I hope to reaquaint with many of you at the reunion.  I did make the Honor Roll.  My brother, Tom McClanahan (1966 grad) was more involved and some of you probably remember him.  My Dad was a Marine officer/pilot stationed at El Toro where we (all 8 of us) transfered to in my Sophomore year when I joined the Santa Ana Saints. Late comer.

MOST MEMORABLE EVENT AT  SAHA: Had to be the announcement of the assasination of President Kennedy a few months after we started school at SAHS in 1963.  It was the day my brother was to get his driver’s license, Nov 20, his 16th birthday. We had just moved from Springfield, VA where DC was our backyard playground.  Everything was free.  I visisted Jackie Kennedy’s whitehouse  and all the monuments and museums  on a regular basis. What a shock and loss it was for our nation that day when the announcement came over the loud speaker.

About me:  After graduation I attended SA College and then married a Valley High grad, Ron King, in 1967 – 1985.  We raised 3 boys and attended many soccer and baseball games in the Tustin area.  Today the boys are very successful, still in Southern California, and have given us 9 grandchildren.  Family was always and is still my prioity but education ranked second. When the boys were  old enough I returned to school and completed a BA in Liberal Studies and an MA in American Studies at Cal State Fullerton.

As is the case with many in our age group, we divorced.  I later married  Dennis Dicks, a native LA guy who added a son and daughter to our family.  They have since given us 5 more grandsons.  Dennis and I relocated to the Sacramento area for several years where I did some teaching.  Coming from a family of educators I felt compelled to fall in line but did not enjoy the gig.  I returned to school and became a hairdresser (FYI – 1600 hrs + licensing) and then opened a small salon in El Dorado.  Sideline:  It was next to an infamous bar in the gold country on the 49er trail called Poor Red’s where they invented a drink called The Gold Cadilac which made them the largest consumer of Galliano in the world.  Some of you may be familiar with it.  Now closed but fun while it lasted.

As I stated, family is my strongest pull.  Besides a wonderful 3 week tour of  Europe in 1969 when the Iron Curtin still stood tall,  I have travel Route 66 (now I-40) over and over to visit parents in Indiana and 3 sisters and a brother in Charlotte, NC, where my folks recently moved and celebrated their 70th Wedding Anniversay.  We are blessed. I still have places to go and people to meet.

When the grandkids started arriving, we relocated closer to OC and stared a moving business in the Fresno area.  I hit the road south about once a month to hold those babies, watch more baseball games, soccer games and dance competitions (finally – some girls)! I have put the pedal to the medal since the first grandchild arrived -15 years ago.  Hot-rod  Grammy.  Ha!

Today Dennis and I are settled in Oakhurst (16mi from Yosemite) and have been married 26 years with 5 kids between us and 14 grandchildren (10 boys and 4 girls – including one set of twins).  Can anyone beat that record? Maybe. Please contact us if you head this way to beautiful Yosemite.  We’ve got space.
Jenny

ADVICE:  It is always more helpful to see the glass half full!
And how about some more baseball!

 

Ginny Null Morgan writes:

Running a organization:  Maui Harp Music (http://www.mauiharpmusic.com/) she provides romantic music for Maui weddings.  The website says: A graduate of the Chapman School of Music in Orange Coutny, CA, she has played in over a dozen orchestras worldwide . Ginny is the artistic director of Early Music Maui and the Producer of the  celebrated Maui Festival of Harps. Harp, Cello, and Viola da Gamba are favorites among the many  instruments Ginny plays.  In “Pluck: The Tales of a Wedding Harpist in Maui, Hawaii,” she dishes on the good, the bad and the truly embarrassing culled from nearly twenty-years of resort-side ceremonies. From Butterfly releases gone horribly wrong to vow-forgetting husbands to libidinous ministers, Morgan observes it all in amid endless repeats of Pachelbel’s “Canon” as she rises from an under-appreciated wedding vendor to a successful and in-demand businesswoman.

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.
We have Horses. Cutting Horses.  We are down to 3 horses now which making it easier to enjoy our place.
Bozeman is growing fast. Lots of California people here.
If you are ever in the area call & come by.
Joyce Lister Brown

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

 

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

Carl Mattson writes:

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.Carl Mattson & wife

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.”

Rick-Whitaker-Copenhagen-1000x

 

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.

Rick Whitaker (second from right) with West Point classmates in Vietnam, 25th Infantry Division, March 1971Rick Whitaker (second from right) with West Point classmates in Vietnam, 25th Infantry Division, March 1971

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

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

Update on Veteran’s status:

I spent 4.5 yrs in the navy. I was stationed in California,  Texas  and Japan.  I was a hospital  Corpsman and took care of wounded Marines.
After I was discharged I worked for Continental Airlines  then as a police officer with the city of Anaheim. I spent my remaining yrs with the Federal Government  as a police officer and retired from Homeland Security in 2013.
I now work for a national guard company as a corporate trainer.
Married with four children and six grandchildren.
I live in Huntington Beach, walking distance to beach.

Dan

Tedi Christensen 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

Michael Wilde writes:

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

Marcia Lemon Sanserino writes:

 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!

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. Odds are not.
 
Paris 2 (1) Ruth Miller, House WhiteRuth Miller, Up Powell 13_x18_ Va di Vi

J & I are going to the reception on Oct. 3, 6-9 at SDWS Gallery at 2825 Dewey Rd, #105, San Diego.
If you’re in the area, please join us.  I’ll buy you a drink.

The Valley Art Gallery in Walnut Creek selected 4 of my paintings for their new fall show.  Drop by.  Its a tiny Gallery with those slide out walls small galleries use to accommodate lots of work.
Its fun working the walls even if you’re not needing art.

Walnut Creek is turning 100 and Celebrating through Art at the Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts.  September 21- November 16.
Should be an interesting show because it includes ALL mediums and they are going to hang it Salon Style.  Lots to look at!   My watercolor is called Va di Vi

I’m knee deep in CWA National Exhibition.  For all this work, I hope I get in this year.  Missed it last year.

I have a few new things on my website.  ruthmillerwatercolors.com

see more:  https://www.sahsreunion.org/?page_id=79

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.20150603_042429

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 Alex 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!

Barbara's-favorite-son-&-daughter
Barbara’s favorite son & daughter, Byron & Rucker

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!

Barbara's favorite grand-daughter, Sylvia.
Barbara’s favorite grand-daughter, Sylvia.
Barbara's favorite grand-son, Sol.
Barbara’s favorite grand-son, Sol.

I now have TWO GRANDCHILDREN!

Barbara's favorite daughter-in-law, Victoria
Barbara’s favorite daughter-in-law, Victoria

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.

Barbara Thornton, hello from Russia.
Barbara Thornton, hello from Russia.

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

 

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 11th 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

see more:  https://www.sahsreunion.org/?page_id=79