August 19, 2022

 

It's been a while since anything on the comics page tickled my funny bone.  I'm pretty sure this recent Bliss cartoon is actually a Golden Oldie.  

Somebody didn't get their Fry Day email last week and called somebody else to see if I was OK.  REMEMBER, the Fry Day emails are available -- and archived -- on the Colt Corral Blog.  Check there before you assume the worst.

Phyllis Schwartz '72 got some nice ink in last Saturday's Union-Tribune.  Her new book comes out in 6 weeks. Click HERE to read the article.

The ex-wife and widow of Ron Mollick '62 -- Bernadine Berlin Temple and Beth Shepherd Mollick -- report in to tell me that Ron now has a nice plaque at the Virginia Living Museum.

Ken Benson ’64 died August 13, 2022.  After graduation from high school he went to Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas and became a minister.  After a few years, he served in the U. S. Air Force at Fort Ord for four years while attending medical school and became a urologist.  He had private practices in both Brenham, Texas and then Brownwood, Texas.  He then moved to Lubbock, Texas where he retired in 2014 when he was no longer able to operate and practice due to ALS.  Survivors include his sisters Kathryn Benson Billing ’67, Kristina Benson Cosgrove ’71, and Kerri Benson Tweed ‘72 

August 12, 2022

Nearly all of the tributes to Dodger announcer Vin Scully, who died last week at 94, feature the 1988 Kirk Gibson game-winning home run against the Oakland Athletics.   I had forgotten that Dave Duncan '63 was Oakland's pitching coach for that series (and several others).  That's him, looking a little dejected, on the right.

The Cross Country Championship Rings came in a while back.  Click HERE to take a look at photos of happy champions.  (Note: the first photo is actually a video of the players opening the ring boxes.  It, for some reason, turns sideways almost immediately, so be prepared to get a crick in your neck)

I thought San Diego State graduates might enjoy this campus aerial taken by Union-Tribune photographer Nelvin Cepeda.  It appeared in the Los Angeles Times this week.  Click HERE for an enlarged view.

 

My husband Bill Wolf ’68 was a door gunner, then crew chief, with the 129th Assault Helicopter Company in Vietnam.  He’s pictured in his Huey in this shot -- Kathleen Lally Wolf ’68 

Some Colts have mentioned Crawford graduates who didn't come back from Vietnam.  They may not know about the page I've devoted to them.  Click HERE to take a look.  The photo above is of my buddy Ron Davidson, whom some of you had as a coach at Horace Mann.

August 5, 2022

The Class of '67 Lunch Bunch and some hangers-on got a guided tour of the new construction at Crawford on July 21st.  Gail Schindler Fogelman took pictures.  Click HERE to take a look.

Jack Tempchin '65, who wrote Peaceful Easy Feeling for the Eagles, says he goes to the beach each day and writes a song on the spot.  You can listen to them at BEACHJAMS.COM.   Click HERE if you wanna hear Peaceful Easy Feeling.

 

Gary Juleen '64 shares a photo of himself and Tony Dow taken last January.   Big brother Wally on Leave It To Beaver, Dow passed away July 27th.

Dan Burton '66 shares a black and white snapshot taken during his tour of Vietnam.  Looks like a giant toaster in the foreground.  Click HERE to view the Colts Who Served page.

Doug "Stud Muffin" Kvandal '66 recognized a younger, slimmer version of himself in last week's mystery photo.  He thinks it might be the 1966 Crawford Handball Champions.

Steve Fontana '69 dug out his class photos from 2nd to 6th Grade at Rolando Park Elementary.  Click HERE to take a look.

Vicki Holeman Sawders ’62 died suddenly at her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico on July 25th, with her husband William and son Jon at her side.   Although she had very few early symptoms, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer shortly before her death.   After graduation Vicki obtained her A.S. degree in dental assisting.   She and her family moved to Bend, Oregon in 1975.  Her husband William, known as “Bill Jay” at KOGO radio, took the job as Operations Manager at KBND in Bend. Vicki worked in the medical field for nearly thirty years.   She and her husband retired in 2006 and moved to La Pine, Oregon. When her husband’s back went out from shoveling snow, the couple moved to sunny and warmer Los Lunas, New Mexico in 2017.

Our older sister Carolyn Reznikoff died on May 20, 2022 in Portland, Oregon.  Our family moved to San Diego from St Louis, Missouri in 1954.  Carolyn attended Andrew Jackson, Montezuma and Hardy elementary schools and graduated a semester early from Crawford, Class of '65.  She studied sociology and psychology at Pitzer College and went on to get an MSW from San Diego State. She worked as a medical and hospice social worker in Portland, and upon retiring, became a skilled basket weaver using and gathering many native materials -- June Reznikoff ’66 and Laura Reznikoff Olson ’70

July 29, 2022

 

Last weekend's Outdoors column by Ernie Cowan is about Butterfly Farms in Encinitas.  Click HERE to read all about it -- and see some more photos.

David Clark '69 shares a photo of himself in Vietnam in the Fall of 1971.  Click HERE to revisit the Colts Who Served In The Military Page and get more details.

This colorful photo of a CocaCola truck was taken in 1966.  (Hint:  The San Diego Zoo was established in 1916).  Click HERE to see photos of the NEW (in 1964) Coca Cola bottling plant at Highway 94 and 47th Street.

Remember the June 17th post with the color photos of the 1953 San Diego State Homecoming Parade on El Cajon Boulevard?  Bob Richardson '61 sent me the photo above at the time, and it slipped through the cracks.  Click HERE to see the photo enlarged, plus a super enlargement of the girl sitting on the wall at the far left.  Bob thinks it's Valerie Ziegenfuss.  He ought to know.  They were childhood neighbors.

Jay Easton '66 submitted this photo.  He's second from the left in the back.  James Guffey was good enough to print his name on his shirt.  Neither of them can remember the names of the other people, the location, or the occasion.  Can you help?

My brother Glen “Skee” Strzelecki ’65 passed away Tuesday after a short illness.  He was surrounded by his wife Piedad, son Glen, grandson Christopher, sister Ann and brother in law Dave Harding.   Skee loved surfing, baseball and his family.  Prayers are accepted in lieu of donations -- Ann Strzelecki Harding ’63

July 22, 2022

I just rediscovered this Pandemic cartoon in my phone.

There was a nice article in the New York Times about an exhibit on the history of Jewish Delicatessens at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.   Click HERE and cross your fingers that the NYT will let you read it.

The Skirball exhibit gets its name from the iconic scene in When Harry Met Sally where Meg Ryan, while dining in a deli with Billy Crystal, demonstrates a woman's ability to fake an orgasm.  A lady diner, played by director Rob Reiner's mother, says to the waiter, I'll have what she's having.  I guess if she's Rob Reiner's mother, she must have been Carl Reiner's wife.  Click HERE to view the scene.

This April 1972 aerial of downtown San Diego and Coronado showed up on Facebook this week.  Click HERE to peruse an enlarged view.

Tom Cassie shares a couple of snapshots from 1958 at Horace Mann Junior High.  Above are the 8th Grade Soccer C Champions.  Below are the 8th Grade Volleyball C Champs.  Click on the links for names.

 

July 15, 2022

Some folks from '71 got together for dinner recently.  Click HERE for names and details

A sextet of guys from '67 and '68 met for lunch at Duke's Old Fashioned Onion Burgers recently.  I wonder if they realized they were sitting where the Alvarado Drive-In used to be.  Click HERE for an enlargement with names.

Ernie Cowan '62 talks to the animals on Mt. Hoo in his most recent Outdoors column.  Click HERE and give it a read.

A bunch of folks sent in their memories of the State Theater and Larry Okmin submitted a photo of all that remains.  Click HERE to revisit the State Theater page.

July 8, 2022

 

A goodly crowd of Colts from '67 got together last Saturday for lunch at Casa Guadalajara in Old Town.  Click HERE for a bigger picture -- and names.

The photo of the North Park Theater got me thinking about the State Theater, which was a little closer to home for most Colts.  Click HERE to see what I put together.

July 1, 2022

Take it easy this weekend and don't lose any digits with fireworks.  The Woo Chee Chong advertisement below is from the July 4, 1930 San Diego Union when they were on Third Avenue.  I remember seeing the store on 16th Street when I used to eat at Bea's Rancho Chico.  I'm not sure fireworks were legal in San Diego during my lifetime.

 

Some folks from '69 and '70 held a dinner party for Karen Smith Takizawa last Saturday.  She was visiting from her home in Japan.  Click HERE for an enlargement with names.

Is it warm where you are?  Maybe this winter shot of the Mount Laguna Lodge from the 1950s will cool you off.  Click HERE for an enlargement

This 1929 photo of the North Park Theater popped up on Facebook last week.  It took me back to my classmate Jack Montgomery's attempt to refurbish the venue after it had fallen on hard times.  Click HERE to see an enlarged photo and read the newspaper article from 2003.

June 24, 2022

 

Summer's here and it's time to go to the beach!!

I've retrieved some snapshots I took at La Jolla Shores in June 1962.  Click HERE to check them out 

 

Tragically, on the first day after graduation the Class of 2022 lost a member when basketball player Woodlain Prudhome disappeared in the surf off Mission Beach.

Dick Cloward '60 recalled a similar incident when Glen Carraway '59 was lost while swimming off La Jolla Shores on April 15, 1960.  Click HERE to read more about Glen Carraway.

Turns out that 19-second Channel 8 video of Crawford in 1958 was followed by a 5-minute story done in 1978 -- and it's in color.  Click HERE to travel back.

Some years ago Bob Richardson '61 wrote about Aztec Villa, a portion of the old Frontier Housing where a lot of San Diego State professors and their families lived.  The recent publication of the 1950 Census may have muddied up his research.  Click HERE to take a look at Bob's original story -- and HERE to read about some changes.

June 17, 2022

The latest Outdoors column by Ernie Cowan '62 encourages you to Sit and See.  Click HERE for the full story.

A recent Channel 8 Throwback features a 19-second video of Crawford's campus getting cleaned up prior to opening in 1957.  Click HERE and have a look via YouTube.

The Vintage San Diego Facebook page showed a bunch of color shots of a San Diego State Homecoming Parade from the 1950s.  I was able to find the exact date and transfer most of the photos my web site.  Click HERE to check it out.

Mark Hamm '68 passed away at home in Cottontown, Tennessee on May 31st.