October 22, 2021

The October Alumni Newsletter, featuring a 50-year old Sav-On ad, is in the mail.  Thank you to all who support the free emails by subscribing to the newsletter.  I'm still not sure if someone who shall remain nameless was joking when he inquired about a Senior Discount.  I'm pretty sure that would include every single subscriber.  Click HERE if you'd like more information about the subscribing to the newsletter.

The Golden Anniversary October 22, 1971 Pacer was a six-pager.  Click HERE to check it out.

Click HERE to see a larger photo of Rudy's Garage, circa 1960.  Supposedly this is San Diego, but I'm not so sure.  Dave Gelinas has a stunning collection of Kodachrome slides that document vintage America.  Click HERE to check it out.

OBITUARIES

Julia “Judy” Bayles Schumann ’62 died June 18, 2021.  Born and raised in Maryland, Judy moved to San Diego her Senior Year to help with the poor health of her father.  She loved music and dancing even though she lost most of her hearing in her teens. She won a dance contest with brother Ernest Bayles Jr. in high school.  After high school, she was a medical assistant in a general medicine office.  She entered Mercy Hospital Nursing training but suspended training in her second year to marry Richard Schumann. She eventually received her LVN degree at City College and was valedictorian of her nursing class.  She continued her education, receiving her Bachelor's degree in Nursing from California State Dominguez Hills.  She worked for Kaiser Permanente Medical in the OB/Gyn-Infertility Division. She did this faithfully and with excellence for 35 years before retiring to spend her golden years with husband.

DeAnn Miner ’67 passed away on September 26, 2021.  She is survived by, among others, her brother Steve Miner ’65.

Dee Gantz ’71 died October 15, 2021.  She earned a Bachelor's Degree in History from University of Wyoming and Master's in Library Science from The Catholic University of America.  She was a librarian for close to 30 years -- a decade with the New York Public Library and then 20 years with the San Diego Public Library, primarily in the City Heights branch.  She loved the San Diego Chargers and the LA Lakers.  Dee played flute in Ozzie’s Marching Chargers and performed in many of the halftime shows.  She leaves a family that includes brother Mike Gantz '73, sister Tracy Gantz-White '73; sister Shelley and Gantz Dunn '80.

BELATED PASSINGS

Tenney Otto “T. O.” Poulson ’64 died April 29, 2020.  As a child he enjoyed playing little league baseball.   He played football and wrestled at Crawford.  He attended Grossmont College, and Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.  T. O. was a hard worker, having several occupations in his lifetime.  He was a College Campus Police Officer, pool builder, master plumber while his family lived in California. After relocating to Utah, he was a Code Enforcement officer for Layton, Utah.   He enjoyed sporting a big bushy mustache.  In his later years he enjoyed growing out his big white beard and playing Santa Claus for Christmas Parties.  Click HERE to go to the Class of '64 Obituary Page and see a recent photo of T. O. and his mustache.

UNCLAIMED BODY

Well, this is just sad -- if true.  Jeremy Juenger, who researches these things, says the authorities in Everett, Washington have an unclaimed body by the name of Danny Steven Stoskopf.  The Class of '73 had a Danny Stoskopf.  Could it be the same person?  The '73 Centaur did not list a middle name.

October 15, 2021

Here's yesterday's Bizarro cartoon

I'm worried Bob Richardson's '61 Reunion photos may have gotten lost in the shuffle last week.  He's at the right in this shot, which I think was taken by Paul Dean.  Click HERE to enjoy them all.

Speaking of reunions, '62 grads who attended the '61 reunion will have their own reunion on September 22, 2022 at the Bali Hai -- and they've invited the Class of '63 to join in the fun.  Email Lynn Routt Swanson swansong@cox.net or Jerry Smithson Jerrysmithson@aol.com to get in on the ground floor.

Class of '72 members Roberta Myles Markey, Anne Corio Westerfield, Mark Westerfield, and Phyllis Schwartz recently lunched at the Off Shore Tavern on Morena, site of their 45th reunion.  Phyllis says the 50th will be at a new, fun location.

Click HERE if you'd like to take a look at photos I took of movie marquees 40 years ago.

My classmate Ed Gabrielson died September 18, 2021.  I was lucky to have spotted his obituary tucked away in last Sunday's Union-Tribune.  It listed only his birthdate -- July 19, 1944 -- and the date of his death.  I've posted two photos to the Class of '62 Obituary Page, neither of which show the red hair and freckles I remember from our high school years.

 

October 8, 2021

 

I LOVE the stuff Sandie Robbins Knox shares on Facebook

San Diego Union-Tribune photographer K. C. Alfred caught this shot during Monday night's thunder and lightning storm.  It looks toward Coronado from Mount Soledad.

Can't make it to New England for the Fall Colors?  Ernie Cowan suggests you take a drive up to the Eastern Sierras.  Click HERE for the details.

Pictures are coming in from the Class of '61 (and '59, '60 and '62) Reunion.  Click HERE to see an enlargement of this photo plus a Google slide show from Bob Richardson that has names.

Original Colt Hank Williams '59 was looking for a Crawford High decal to put in the back window of his restored '56 Chevy.  He said the school doesn't sell them.  I'm not sure exactly what he's looking for but I got this image from Sally Brett '63.  Click HERE for an enlargement.

Dave Sleet shares this poster from when he was a drummer for the Nomads.  He also was a drummer for the Cascades.  Apparently he decided NOT to bang on drums all day.  He has a PhD and works for the CDC.  (Hey, that could be the first line of a good song!)

Nona Beckham Eichelberger sends word that her brother Gary passed away September 11th.  He lived in the Seattle area.  

My friend Judi Romano Hetrick ’67 passed away October 4th. She had been fighting cancer and beating it until a different, more aggressive, kind took her from us -- Laralee Richardson ’67

October 1, 2021

You ever quit going to a certain restaurant because the music was too loud?  I have.

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HOMECOMING • FRIDAY OCTOBER 8th

Crawford vs. Mission Bay

7 PM • Crawford Stadium

Pre-Game Alumni Party

5:30 PM • Inside the South Gate

Alumni parking behind the gym • Enter from Spartan Drive

Senior Tickets $2.00

Special Alumni Seating Area

Tour of the school

Ethnic food and drinks for sale by ASB Clubs

CHS gear for sale by ASB and the Crawford Foundation

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I got a cryptic email this week noting the passing last week of Wendy Wangsgard at age 83.  I didn't know she taught at Crawford.  Turns out she didn't.  Here's a photo, circa 1967, of Ron Davidson, Bill Jones, Wendy and me at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas.  Ron and Wendy were PE coaches at Horace Mann.  Bill was my neighbor at College Village Apartments.  Ron died on August 5, 1968 in Vietnam.

Gary Mitrovich sends word that his cousin-by-marriage, Martha Gail Davis Mitrovich '61, passed away this past August.

 

September 24, 2021

 

I see that Steve Martin got partial credit for yesterday's Bliss Cartoon.  They've written a book together, entitled A Wealth of Pigeons.

Ernie Cowan says the White-Crowned Sparrow, and other birds, should have arrived in San Diego this week if they're on schedule.  Click HERE to read his column.

I can't help myself when Greg May posts car photos on his Vintage San Diego Facebook page.  This brand-new 1963 Chevy Bel Air station wagon was photographed, I suspect, on the Sunrise Highway turnout that offers views of the desert.  Click HERE for a larger view.

Aerial photographer Jimmy Erickson was, for a short time after WWII, a business partner of my late friend Howard Rozelle.  Howard found him difficult to work with and something of a blowhard.  Jimmy claimed to have been the first to take an aerial photograph.  He also claimed to have been Charles Lindbergh's roommate when the latter came to San Diego to oversee the construction of the Spirit of Saint Louis.  Turns out Jimmy may have been telling the truth.  Click HERE to check out the results of research I did last year.

Click HERE to read the September 24, 1971 Pacer.  That's EXACTLY 50 years ago!!  Dang!!

Crawford teacher Mary Lee Anderson passed away peacefully on September 8th at the age of 97. Mrs. Anderson graduated in 1947 from San Diego State College with a major in English and a minor in French, earning an M.A. in English Literature from Syracuse University.  She taught English at Woodrow Wilson Junior High and then at Crawford High School for over thirty years, retiring in 1985.  She was a lifetime member of First United Methodist Church and United Methodist Women. She remained active in the Delta Kappa Gamma Society for women in education.  Her husband, Harry Lancelot Anderson, a noted bibliographer of piano recordings, died in 1990.   

A memorial service will be held at First United Methodist Church on Saturday, Sept. 25, at 10:30 a.m.

Click HERE to look at the Faculty Obituary page

Thank you Linda Roberts Ponsford '70 for telling me of Mrs. Anderson's passing.

September 17, 2021

Yesterday's Bliss cartoon

This stunning photo of the Geisel Library was taken during last week's lightning and thunder storm by UCSD photographer Erik Jepsen.  Click HERE if you'd like to see an enlargement.

Sixty years ago?  How did THAT happen?  Click HERE to read the September 21, 1961 Pacer

Remember the Football Carnival in Balboa Stadium that opened the prep football season?  Click HERE to read the program from the September 23, 1961 game.  

My brother Joe Keeyes ’63 passed away Thursday, September 16th, at 3:30 AM.  His daughter Karen was with him and said he was completely at peace.  This was all pretty sudden.  Joe has been in a private home for assisted living care for a few years now and seemed very content and happy there.  Not long ago he just stopped eating and drinking but then he bounced right back and was at the table eating two helpings of breakfast and glasses of OJ.  This past Monday he stopped eating and drinking and was so weak he could not even suck the drink through the straw.  Wednesday morning the hospice nurse said it was time to let him go, that he had transitioned and would probably pass by night.  Joe's son, Jon called this morning to let us know he passed -- Kathy Keeyes Antus ’68

Belated Passing

Donna Kade Miller ’63 died July 31, 2017  After graduating from Crawford, Donna went to nursing school at LA General, graduating with honors.  She married fellow Colt Mike Miller and they had four children.  She was an ICU nurse at Scripps for 17 years, then got a Master’s Degree and went into home health care services.  She was a beloved baby sister.  I miss her terribly -- Gail Kade Grundman ’59

September 10, 2021

 

Courtesy of Sandie Robbins Knox '61

The August 23rd Golf Tournament at Rancho Bernardo raised $13,000 for Colt sports activities.  Pictured above are Butch Higgins '65, Susan Marshall Gordon '64, Maureen Doyle Miner '65, and Terry Percival '65.  Click HERE to check out a bazillion photos -- AND videos.

Looks like Editor-in-Chief Pat Edwards got an A-Plus from Mr. Parry for the September 15, 1966 Pacer.  Click HERE if you'd like to read the 4-page issue from 55 years ago.

I wonder if any of the folks who produced the Pacer above were in Jim Teeter's classes at Phoebe Hearst Elementary School.  Click HERE to take a look at Grades 4-6.

September 3, 2021

(Hint:  Looks like someone has arrived in Hell in a Handbasket)

More than a handful of folks thought this was Fritz Ziegenfuss and that last week's shots of the 1956 San Diego Commencement were actually 1965.  I did a little research and it turns out that the 1965 Commencement was held in Aztec Bowl and not the Open Air Theater.  I've included the snippet below, from the June 12, 1965 San Diego Union, that shows Jim Schrupp '61.

Last week I shared the colorful crowd photo from the 1962 Crawford-Mission Bay football game.  Here's the other color photo from the 1963 Centaur.  Click HERE if you'd like to see an enlargement.

Click HERE to check out the 1956 Horace Mann Cougar loaned to me by the late Larry Mabee '61.  I'm trying to do the math.  9th Graders from 1956 would go on to become Crawford's first graduating class in 1959 -- I think.

August 27, 2021

Courtesy of Paula Kincaid

Exciting news from Mt. Whoville!!  Ernie Cowan thinks the resident possum might be expecting.  Who knew baby possums were called Joeys?  Click HERE to read all about possums.

I'm not sure who this fellow is, but his family took some nice shots of his graduation from San Diego State on June 8, 1956.  It took place in the Open Air Theater, the same venue my Crawford Class of '62 graduated from six years later.  Click HERE to check out the photos.  I tossed in a couple of articles from the San Diego Union too.

This stunning color shot, from the 1963 Centaur, has always fascinated me.  Wanna know when and where it was taken?  I did a little research.  Click HERE to learn the results -- and correct me if I'm wrong.

Faculty member “Mickie” Geiger passed away June 9, 2021 at the age of 101.  The youngest of four children, Mickie grew up in McFarland, Wisconsin.  She attended the University of Wisconsin where she met her future husband Marlow Geiger.  Marlow joined the Marines, and in 1941, they moved to San Diego.  Mickie continued her education at USC, getting a degree in library sciences, then obtained her Master's Degree at San Diego State in Pupil Personnel.  Mickie worked at the reference library in San Diego as well as the Children's Library. She then became manager of her own branch library.  After her career as a librarian, Mickie taught English at Crawford and eventually became a counselor.  In retirement, Marlow and Mickie built a home on the Sea of Cortez in Mulege, Mexico.  Mickey was a volunteer at Grossmont Hospital for over thirty years.  She also volunteered for the La Mesa Junior League and chaired the Harvest Ball. 

A Memorial Service will be held at Saint Andrew's Lutheran Church, 8350 Lake Murray Blvd., San Diego, 92119, on Saturday, August 28, 2021, at 11:00.  A reception will immediately follow the service.

Joanne Dawson Stone ’61 passed away on August 15, 2021 in San Antonio Texas from Covid 19. She was surrounded by her loving family.  Joanne was a dedicated Special Education teacher until her retirement.  She also adopted rescue dogs and gave them a forever home.  She was a good friend for many years and will be missed -- Pomela Stewart Furtkamp ’61

Shirley Marquette Aldridge ’63 passed away August 17, 2021 due to complications from COPD.