March 24, 2023

'63 classmates Kathy Houser Nolan, Jerry Lovelady, Linda Johnson Wise, and Jerry's wife Nancy gathered for lunch earlier this month.  Click HERE for the details and a bigger picture.

Remember Don Jose's, on El Cajon, near Hoover High.  Our family visited there once in my youth.  I was probably 12, going on 9, and wasn't impressed.  In later years I'll bet I would have LOVED it.  Click HERE to revisit the Don Jose's page. 

Yoli Leon Banda '65 asks her classmates to Save The Date -- Friday, October, 6, 2023 --  For a class reunion buffet luncheon, 11-3, at Admiral Baker Field.  It gives me an excuse to share, once again, the photo I took at the Admiral Baker swimming pool in 1964.  Click HERE if you'd like a larger view.

Click HERE to peruse the 6-page March 23, 1963 Pacer

March 17, 2023

 

Green Beer and Corned Beef Tacos?  No Thanks!  But YOU go ahead!

Abrazos de Uruguay!  Laura Montaldo now has a copy of her father's annual, thanks to Pam Woodbury '62.  Darwin was Crawford's first Exchange Student.  Click HERE to get all the details.

Nathan East '73 is in the news again.  Union-Tribune columnist Diane Bell reports that he created the score for the movie A Snowy Day In Oakland.  Click HERE to read the column.

Natalie Olmedo is looking for alumni baseball players for the game to be held on Saturday, April 1st at 2 PM.  The baseball field is apparently where the football filed used to be.  Natalie, a 17-year old Senior, is the manager of this year's baseball team.  You can email her at onatalie321@gmail.com or download an entry form from the Reunions and Get Togethers Page.

Click HERE to read the Pacer from March 18, 1958 -- 65 Years Ago

And HERE to peruse the issue from March 14, 1968 -- 55 years ago.

March 10, 2023

Sharon Mitchell Danner '62 stopped at the Denny's in Manassas, Virginia on Wednesday and thought of me when they brought out the coffee cups.

 

It may be time to again remind folks that, if they don't get a Fry Day email, they should go to the Colt Corral blog where the emails are archived.  If they don't see anything current, THEN they can worry if I'm still alive.  Go to http://coltcorral.blogspot.com/  -- and SAVE it!!

Eleven Colts stepped up the first day with pledges to pay for Championship rings for the Cross Country team.  I'll let you know, in a couple of months, how it all works out.

Ernie Cowan's Outdoors column this week is about Rare and Familiar Birds that can be spotted in San Diego County.  Click HERE to read all about them.

A couple of folks questioned the 1960 date I put on the above photo.  One recognized the brand of the motorcycle on the left as not being produced until later.  The other person noticed the Chevy El Camino behind the motorcycle as a '64.  I stand corrected.

Jeff LeSage is looking for a secure place in the San Diego area to store his new Dodge Ram Promaster while he's out of town May 25 to August 3rd.   It's too tall to fit in a garage.  He'll pay $250.  Contact him at frenchyquebec@yahoo.com

Yikes!!  It looks like it was 60 Years Ago that Larry Blum led the '63 Basketball Team to the CIF Championship.  Click HERE to read the March 7, 1963 Pacer and refresh your memory.

Ken Sheldon ’65 passed away March 1, 2022.  After Crawford he joined the Navy and was a flight deck technician on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk.  Following this he opened an auto body shop in Huntington Beach.  After selling the shop he opened a printing shop.  He met his wife Pam Osborne, from Clairemont High School, and they married after he finished with the Navy.  They are survived by one son, Adam.  Always a car guy, he bought his first car, a new Pontiac GTO, in his Junior Year.  He had several classic cars which he showed at local car events in Orange County -- Richard Westfall ’65

 

Greg Roper ’71 died February 17, 2023 from complications of heart failure after a long battle with von Hippel-Lindau disease and related kidney cancer.   Greg was born in San Diego and lived there his entire life. He was an Eagle Scout with Boy Scout Troop 18 of North Park.  In 1974 he earned his BA in history at UCSD with high honors. He went on to attend law school at UCLA, graduating second in his class in 1978.  After graduation, Greg joined the law firm of Luce, Forward, Hamilton and Scripps, and went on to become a partner of the firm. He specialized in the protection of free speech rights as an expert in First Amendment and Media Law.  Despite the many health challenges Greg faced in his life, he lived life to the fullest, treasuring every moment with family and friends. After retirement, Greg enjoyed his favorite pastimes of golf and tennis, as well as international travel and many happy road trips with his wife Sherry.

March 3, 2023

Are all the ??????  intentional?  Some of you are getting blocks of question marks in your Fry Day emails.  I'm not putting them there.  Here's what I learned from Google:  The question marks indicate font substitution occurred because your computer does not have the same font that was used when the content was created. The substituted font does not have the glyphs that exist in the specified font that is not present.  Does that help?  I didn't think so.

Rose Mercurio Royster ’66, Butch Higgins ’65, Sally Marshall Hyde ’66 and Colt Mascots attended the ribbon cutting for Crawford’s new building on February 8th. 

The Boys' Volleyball team poses for a team photo with the new equipment purchased with alumni donations.  Click HERE for the BIG pictures.

Here's a photo that appeared on Facebook this week.  It looks eastbound on University at Central.  Click HERE to see an enlargement, plus a current shot in which nothing looks familiar.

Click HERE to take a look at the Crawford Pacer from March 4, 1958.  Yikes -- that's a long time ago!

 

February 24, 2022

 

A Bliss cartoon from this week

Three Crawford coeds -- Michelle Hazlewood ‘67, Candy Groves ‘66, and Judy Sage ‘66 -- behind the Candy Counter at the Cinerama Theater, 5889 University Avenue in 1966.  Click HERE for an enlargement, a color photo of the theater, and news clippings from the opening and closing of the theater.

Steve Gunderson and Kathy Najimy weren't the only ones to work with the late Burt Bacharach.  Dennis Bishop reminds me that his brother Stephen Bishop wrote the lyrics to It's Only Love -- Bacharach wrote the music -- for the soundtrack of the movie Arthur.  Click HERE to take a listen.

Ernie Cowan's Outdoors column tells you how to attract migrating birds and where to find Spring's wildflowers.  Click HERE to check it out.

Separated at birth?  Ray Barner (right) thinks he bears a resemblance to World Wrestling Federation star Ric Flair.

Marcia MacDonald '62 passed away October 16, 2022.  Her childhood neighbor Dan Donovan shares a lovely tribute to Marcia, which I've posted on the Class of '62 Obituary Page.  Click HERE to take a look.

John Floodberg ’62 passed away peacefully, on March 30, 2022.  Born in Oneida, New York, John moved with his mother to Chula Vista at the age of four.  He was a San Diego resident the remainder of his life.  John began undergraduate classes at Mesa College soon after graduation. He joined the National Guard and married his first wife, Judy Thomas, in 1965.  Between 1965 and 1972, John worked as a draftsman for several architectural firms.  The first blueprints John put his architectural stamp on were for the Grove Gallery at the UCSD Crafts Center, built in 1982.  It was a collaboration between John and his childhood friend, Ron Carlson ’62, the Center's Director.  John and his current wife, Nancy Dickinson Floodberg, met in 1971 when he volunteered to bring the San Diego Mental Health Association's halfway house up to code; Nancy was the Director of the halfway house. They wed two years later and moved to a home in Pt. Loma – the home he lovingly remodeled over the years and where Nancy, their eldest daughter and her family still reside. In 2005 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. As with any challenge he faced, he met this diagnosis with grace and determination.  He was preceded in death by his brother Ron Robson ’71

Click HERE to read the complete obituary in the Union-Tribune

February 17, 2023

 

The passing last week of Burt Bacharach reminded Rose Mercurio Royster '68 of Back to Bacharach and David, the show put together by 1975 Colts Kathy Najimy and Steve Gunderson.  Click HERE to read all about it.

But wait -- there's more celebrity songwriter stuff!!

Remember last October when we shared video of Mike Schwartz appearing on American Bandstand in 1967?  Earlier this week I was reading Carole King's autobiography and got to the part where, divorced with two kids, she moves to the West Coast and finds a place in Laurel Canyon.  Click HERE to read about Carole meeting her neighbor Mike Schwartz '61.

Remember locker clubs?   If you were in the Navy you do.  Click HERE to see an enlargement of this shot of the 7 Seas Locker Club, 407 West Broadway.  I think there's a Crawford connection.  I KNOW there's a Mission Bay High connection.

Remember Cinema 21 in Mission Valley?  Click HERE to see a bigger picture, an ad for Youngblood Hawke, and a recent photo for what's in this location today.

A PACER TRIFECTA

February 18, 1958 -- 65 Years Ago

February 21, 1963 -- 60 Years Ago

February 15, 1968 -- 55 Years Ago

Bob Trolese ’65 passed away in October 2022 at his home in Nicaragua, where he had been working as a missionary for many years. He gave his life to Jesus Christ, and worked tirelessly for the indigenous native people of Nicaragua.  He was an old surfing buddy of mine -- Steve Brownell ‘64

February 10, 2023

 

People are wondering if January's rains will produce a superbloom of wildflowers in the desert come Spring.  This photo of Carrizo Plain, in San Luis Obispo, was taken in April 2017 by Los Angeles Times photographer Paul Roa

From Rhymes With Orange this week

1960 classmates Nilla Pate Hamilton. Sharon Bentley Ball, and Beverly Umholtz Wadman got together at Fallbrook's Grand Tradition Veranda on February 3, 2023

Bob Richardson ’61 received last week an email from Laura Montaldo, daughter of Darwin Montaldo ’60, Crawford’s first Exchange Student.  Darwin passed away in 2016.   Laura wanted to contact ASB President Ernie Griffin, whose family hosted Darwin during his stay here.  Bob put her in touch with Ernie, and wondered if she had a copy of her Dad’s 1960 Centaur.  She did not, but Bob was able to access an on-line copy at Ancestry.com and download a page featuring Darwin.  Turns out the on-line yearbook once belonged to our recently departed Marcia McDonald ’62.  Ancestry has a ’61 yearbook that also belonged to Marcia and one from ’62 that was the property of Londa Galley.  Bob wonders if anyone has a hard-copy of a 1960 Centaur that he can send to Laura.

OBITUARIES

Donna Foster ’65 died on January 29, 2023.  She was married in 1967 to Richard Westfall, also class of 1965.  Born in 1947 at Mercy Hospital, she went to Euclid Elementary, Horace Mann and Crawford.  She went to San Diego State, then transferred to Grossmont College School of Nursing.  As an RN she worked in the ER at Villa View Hospital, followed by Scripps Clinic, Sharp Hospital, Scripps Hospital La Jolla, Urgent Care and finally retiring from Kaiser Permanente.  Her interests included backpacking and camping in the Sierras, snow skiing, traveling around the world, and gardening. She is left behind by husband Richard, two sons and two grandsons. She struggled with pancreatic cancer in the end

Joe Ham ’67 passed away peacefully at home, on Sunday, January 29, 2023, surrounded by his family. He was born in San Diego to Charles and Kathleen Ham and was a lifelong San Diego resident.  He spent his career working for Brady Company for over 40 years.  The beach and mountains were his happy place, and he would often ride his bike along the boardwalk from South Mission Beach to Windansea after he retired.  He loved being outdoors in the sunshine and also enjoyed hiking. Joe was quite the dog and animal lover.  He always looked forward to watching his son play Over The Line at the beach, a sport he enjoyed playing himself for many years.

A celebration of life will be held Monday, February 13, 2023, at 4:00pm at Calvary Chapel, 7525 El Cajon Blvd., La Mesa, CA.

 Tim Darton ’69, a retired National City Police Department Detective, passed away in Chula Vista  December 29, 2022, surrounded by his family and loved ones.  Tim enjoyed his 21 years in law enforcement, and was thankful for the numerous anecdotes and friendships. He also worked for Sycuan Casino Resort for an additional 16 years before retiring.