November 11, 2016

I'll be thinking today about all of you who served your country, especially those sporting hangovers from last night's Marine Corps birthday celebration.  If you have photos of yourself in uniform I'd be glad to post them.  I've included below a portrait I had taken in 1946 while on liberty in Long Beach.  

The Aerial Photo Corollary to Murphy's Law is, "If you find an aerial photo of your old neighborhood, the edge of the photo will end with your house out of the picture."  Not true in the case of some aerials posted this week on Greg May's Vintage San Diego Facebook page.  The apartment I lived in from 1967 to 1970 is right down front in the photo above.  Click HERE to look at some enlargements.

The good news is that last Friday's football game was not Coach Wright's last game.  I misread an an email sent to me earlier.  The bad news is that the last game of the season was a 35-0 loss to University City.  Next year will be better.

The football program for the Crawford vs St. Augustine game on November 13, 1959 only cost a dime.  Click HERE to read it for free.

The Golden Anniversary Pacer is the issue from November 10, 1966.  Click HERE to read all six pages.  Scott Shaw!, who may or may not have legally added an exclamation point to his name, has enjoyed the last few Pacers from the 1966-1967 school year, partly because they feature some of his early work as a cartoonist.  Actually Scott! says he drew some cartoons while at Horace Mann and today is still in the business.  You can check him out on Facebook.

November 4, 2016

It's gonna get dark real early starting Sunday, but at least it will be light when I go out in the morning to get my paper.  And I get to try to re-set my digital clocks by going forward 23 hours.

I was really looking forward to the end of the political ads on TV until I noticed a trickle of Christmas ads on the first day of November that will soon turn into a torrent.

If you thought the driver-less car was incredible, you won't believe the TV ad I saw for the latest in snobby razors -- the R89 Grande Safety Razor by Mühle of Germany.  Apparently you twist the handle, insert a double-edged razor blade, twist the handle back and get ready to shave.  They also make chrome-handled shaving brushes.  There's a deja vu quality about all of this.  Did I mention it's $75.00?   I'll stick with the bag of cheap plastic razors I buy at CVS. 

I hope you can read the caption on this Bizarro cartoon from last week.

More than a few folks thought my 1946 Halloween outfit looked like a Klansman in training.  That made me think about the white poncho giveaway at the Chicago White Sox baseball game played in Anaheim on July 3, 2014.  When folks pulled up their hoodies it looked like a Klan rally.

The Colts fell to Kearny 19-7 last Friday.  Today's 6:30 game against University City will be the last for Coach Michael Wright.  Meanwhile, down El Cajon Blvd, Coach Jimmy Morgans' Hoover team has been outscored this season 405-0.  The article in the Union-Tribune was upbeat actually -- focusing on three Cardinal players who hail from Myanmar.  Click HERE if you'd like to read the article.

Click HERE to read the program from the Crawford vs San Diego Homecoming Game played on November 3, 1961.

Click HERE to read both the front AND the back pages of the Mighty 690 Top 40 list for November 7, 1958.  "It's Only Make Believe," by Conway Twitty topped the charts.

October 28, 2016

Boo!  Sorry if I scared you.  Here's  a photo of my 1946 Halloween outfit when the Fry Family was living in Navy Housing in Long Beach.  Remember when Moms dutifully put together our costumes? I wonder if I've shared this photo before, because someone asked who I was -- "the ghost of the Lone Ranger"?

Sad to report that the Colts came out on the losing end of a battle at San Diego High 6-0 last week.  A lot better than the 60-0 thrashing we took when I was a sophomore.  The Crawford Eleven meets Kearny tonight at 6:30.  At Kearny I assume.

Click HERE to peruse the 4-page program from the Saint Augustine vs Crawford football game held at Hoover on October 29, 1961.

John McMullen '63 was one of the few who got to go through last week's Class of '66 reunion links before they evaporated.  He was puzzled by the photo above, in which he's holding the megaphone at the top. He can't remember when it was taken, nor recognize any of the others in the photo.  (Take a number, John -- there's a lot of that going around these days)

Here are a couple of photos posted last week on Greg May's Vintage San Diego Facebook page. Above is the Lemon Grove Bowlero circa 1957.  I can picture it in my mind's eye in the distance as I drove south on College Avenue past College Grove.  Below is a color shot of downtown San Diego from the late 1940s.  I liked it so much I enlarged it and put in on the web.  Click HERE if you'd like to check it out.

Visitors to the Amigo Spot on Saturday night get their pictures taken by Nancy's daughter Lisa whether they want to or not.  Bob Richardson '61 (above) stopped by on September 17th on the day after his reunion.  Larry Okmin '64 brought his clarinet and sat in with the band on September 24th.  

Class of '66 pals Dan Burton (white hat) and Kemp Ipsen show off the 45-pound Wahoo they caught off Cabo San Lucas last May.

You may have seen on television the Sharp Hospital video telling the story of the stroke suffered by Joan Embery '67 and how they helped her recover.  Click HERE to watch the YouTube video.

Along the same lines is the story of Janet Chelberg Burgess and her recovery from breast cancer at Scripps.   The Mission Times Courier article was emailed to me by Janet's 1969 classmate Steve Fontana. 

Click HERE to read the 6-page Golden Anniversary edition of the Pacer published on October 28, 1966.

Barbara Cagley Thomas wrote this week of the passing on July 29, 2015 of her brother James Cagley '75.  He suffered a heart attack while training for a marathon.

October 21, 2016

My favorite Bliss cartoon from last week

My favorite Bizarro cartoon from last week

The Colts lost last week 41- 0 at Coronado.   They play tonight at San Diego High at 6:30 PM

Here's the program from the San Diego vs Crawford football game played October 26, 1962 at Balboa Stadium.  

The Girls' Basketball GoFundMe account can still use your help.

Jim Clarke is now getting the Fry Day emails and is on the Class of '68 Email Page.

Newsletter subscriber Patrick Dewey asked to be placed on the Fry Day email list.  He's now on the Class of '73 Email Page.

Sharon Sklar Smith checks in from Oak Harbor, Washington.  You can contact her using the Class of '75 Email Page.

"Grammar, grammar, grammer," chided Susan Miller Grossman '61.  In referencing John Floodberg in the above photo, she maintains I should have said "that's he" on the left -- not "that's him".   I took some small solace in the fact that she was two out of three on her spelling of grammar.  

The Caspian Tern was the subject of last week's Union-Tribune article by Ernie Cowan '62.  Click HERE if you like to read the piece.

Barbara Alvarez '75 sends word that Jack Tempchin '65 will be performing tomorrow night at the "Love the Dove" Concert at La Paloma theater in Encinitas.  Click HERE for details and tickets.  What a coincidence -- I think Paloma is the Spanish word for Dove.

Jim Wehking, Jim Dyke, Mickey, Musselman and Doug Kvandal at last week’s Class of ’66 Fiftieth Anniversary Reunion.  Attendees were impressed with the presentation put together by Steve Ko ’68.   You can watch it -- THROUGH OCTOBER 24TH -- from the comfort of your own computer.

Memories of Crawford High School: Part 1

Memories of Crawford High School: Part 2

Classmates In Attendance Tonight: Part 1

Classmates In Attendance Tonight: Part 2

In Loving Memory

October 14, 2016

I got a kick out of Steve Breen's take on the exploding Samsung Galaxy 7 phones.  This appeared in the September 15th Union-Tribune.

The Crawford Colts football team lost Friday's neutral conference game against Clairemont by a score of 29-8.  They will travel to Coronado to play the Islanders this evening at 6:30 PM

Basketball season is just around the corner, and Coach Dwight McDonald, Jr. is looking for financial assistance for his Girls’ Basketball program.  “We are setting the bar pretty high”, says Dwight.  “We are trying to raise money for bus transportation to and from games, and for shoes and equipment for our student athletes.  Click HERE to take a look at his GoFundMe page.

John Floodberg '62 (that's him on the left) was pictured playing the harmonica in an article in last week's Union-Tribune on the San Diego Parkinson's Association struggle for survival.  Click HERE to check it out.

It's probably too late to use this coupon for Don's Drive-In, which appeared in the Golden Anniversary Pacer for October 13, 1966.   That and the fact that Don's was demolished many years ago.  Click HERE to see a current Google street view.  Click HERE to read all four pages of the Pacer.

Boy, you don't see pink football programs very often.  This one was for the Crawford-Kearny game played at La Jolla on October 13, 1961.  Click HERE to check it out.

Pictured at the Class of '71 mixer/fundraiser at The Alamo in Old Town on September 30th are: Leslie Benjamin Wichers, Sue Eckert Smith, Lisa Kirk Hollingshead, Carmen Buckles Hiebing, Sandy Barber Pikula and Sharon Jobb Reynolds.

Caren Steinberg Brewer '76 thought we should know that her brother Allan '73 passed away December 5, 2013.  Click HERE to read an obituary.

October 7, 2016

Tonight's 6:30 kickoff against Clairemont at Lincoln is Crawford's Homecoming Game.  If I had more information I'd share it.

Click HERE to check out the program from an earlier Clairemont vs. Crawford football game -- October 9, 1959.

New reunion committee officers Victor Perez, Phil Piscopo, Robert Leidolf and David Feeley were photographed at the Class of ’71 Colt 45 mixer at the Alamo Café in Old Town, September 30, 2016.  

Recognize this car wash on University Avenue in 1956?  It's still there, on 34th Street just east of the 805.  Click HERE to see an enlargement, accompanied by the photo of a car wash at 6th and University that isn't still there.

Services for Dennis Bowman '62 will be held Saturday, October 8, 10:30 AM at Mission San Luis Rey, 4070 Mission Avenue, Oceanside.  A complete obituary, with an on-line guest book, appeared in last Sunday's Union-Tribune.  Click HERE to check it out.

Richard Spatz ’67 died of liver cancer September 28, 2016. He moved to Arizona twenty years ago after losing his wife Helen-Mary at the Family Fitness murders in 1993.  He survived by, among others, his sister Jude ’65.

Ernie Rea ’69 passed away from medical complications on July 7, 2016.   He was a lifelong friend of mine.  He took me to my first San Diego Charger game at Balboa Stadium in 1961.  We shared a lifetime of adventures and memories.  I miss him terribly -- Susan Harman Hammond ’67