June 27, 2014

OH, MAN, I KNEW IT! The mornings are already darker.  Well, maybe I’m overreacting.  I’m not sure where Nancy and I will brunch this morning. Possibly the new Broken Yolk on Midway, since we have to stop by what’s left of the Midway Post Office.  (Hint:  there’s NOTHING left, except the bulk mail facility, and that’s been moved north across the parking lot. Hold on — the post office building is still there, it’s just no longer open)

San Diegans in general and Padre fans in particular are mourning the death of the delightful Tony Gwynn.  Charles Wax ‘68 shares an autographed photo of himself between Tony AND Ted Williams — two of the greatest hitters ever.

Jerry Ellis ‘61 shares a recent photo taken in Australia.  From right to left that’s Jerry, daughter-in-law Samantha, and son Matt.  Jerry learned that it’s hard for a 70 year old to keep up with two 30-somethings.

There are two kinds of Blue Jays in San Diego’s back country.  Ernie Cowan ‘62, who took these photos, tells you all about them in an article in last Saturday’s U-T.  Click HERE to read the article.

Kiley Schlader thought I might be interested in some photos of her parents that she recently posted on Facebook.  Boy was she right!!  This shot, taken by her grandpa around 1963, shows her mom — Diana Morawitz Schlader Kruse ‘72 — taking a spin on a llama on the corner of 54th & El Cajon.  Heavenly Donuts, in the corner, is advertising Puff Nuts.  Her photos also include 1970 night shots of the Westward Ho and Aztec Motels, with her dad Joe hanging around suspiciously in a cowboy hat.  Click HERE to check them out.

June 20, 2014

Yippee!! Tomorrow’s the longest day of the year — the first day of summer.  Boooo!! It’s the  beginning of the long, slow slide into darkness.

Good news!!  Barry Penn sends this photo from Hawaii’s North Shore.  He claims it’s the (almost) final destination of all Colts.

I believe the big Mark 4 party is still on for this Sunday.  Apologies to Joan Antofte Augsburger whose last name I mispelled and and Mark Elson, whom I left out altogether.  Appropriately, he was the one in charge of publicity. Contact Alan Novidor if you’d like to attend.

Was there REALLY an airport at Alvarado Estates?  Joe Naiman’s article about Robert Hume’s appointment to the Fallbrook Airpark Advisory Committee has an answer.  Click HERE to read the article.

The newsletter subscription envelope sent to Joe Luna ‘59 was returned by the post office -- “deceased”.  All Mary Jane Rogers could learn about the local musician is that he died December 29, 2013.

Linda Zawacki ‘70 passed away June 7th in Winchester, VA.  Click HERE to read a complete obituary and sign the guest book.

June 13, 2014

Happy Friday the 13th.  It’s getting light outside here in Pacific Beach.  Nancy will be coming down from Escondido later and we’ll head to the Waffle Spot for a late breakfast.

The 8th Annual Mark 4 Classic Rock Gigathon will take place on Sunday, June 22, from 1-4 PM — and you’re invited.  Joan Antofte Augsberger (that’s her in pink), Rick Simons, Alan Novidor, Gary Orlansky and Phil Catalfo will be reprising the hits they first played in 1968. Email Alan Novidor if you’d like to attend.

Dennis Frieden ‘59 checked in from Julian.  I couldn’t resist sharing his business card.

Here’s the KCBQ Top 40 from June 3, 1958 — before Harry Martin became Happy Hare.  The top five included: All I Have To Do Is Dream, Purple People Eater, Witch Doctor, Return to Me and Secretly.  Ralph James and Jack Vincent it the mark on their picks to click — Yakety Yak and I Wonder Why.  Click HERE to check out a larger version.

I’m not sure when Mary Smith ‘62 left San Francisco, but she recently stopped in Parker, Colorado to visit Karola Braunagel Randolph and her husband Don. Mary, or rather her dog Tiffany, is keeping a blog along the way.  “I can’t get away with saying some of the things she reports,” says Mary. That’s Don holding Tiffany and Karola holding their dog Fritz.  Click HERE to look at some more photos as the pair make their way to Disney World.

Here’s the KCBQ Top 40 from June 3, 1958 — before Harry Martin became Happy Hare.  The top five included: All I Have To Do Is Dream, Purple People Eater, Witch Doctor, Return to Me and Secretly.  Ralph James and Jack Vincent it the mark on their picks to click — Yakety Yak and I Wonder Why.  Click HERE to check out a larger version.

The final Golden Anniversary issue of the 1963-1964 Pacer is the June 10th Graduation Issue — minus the first two pages.  Maybe you have a copy and can help make this issue complete.  Click HERE to read the 6 remaining pages. 

Gloria Dutra sends word of the belated passing, on June 2, 1998, of her aunt Frances Schneider Van Maren Trujillo ‘61 after a long battle with cancer.

June 6, 2014

Ann B. Davis died last week.  I was hazily aware that she played housekeeper Alice Nelson in The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974.  I was busy teaching and grading papers during those years, so I may never have actually seen the show.  Some of us older folks have fond memories of her as Charmaine “Schultzy” Schultz on the Bob Cummings show, which ran from 1955 to 1959.

I loved this photo in this week’s LA Times of a 1950 bust of drag racers in the Los Angeles “river”.  It accompanied an article on the early history of drag racing.  Click HERE if you'd like to read it.

Jean Peacock Graham ’71 can’t remember how she acquired 1973, 1974 and 1975 Centaurs belonging to Gene Brooks ’75.  “They’re in only fair condition, but I'm loathe to just throw them away,” she said.  No problemo.  I emailed Gene in Albuquerque and learned that I was in possession of an invalid email address.  I quickly went to the web and came up with three phone numbers, the first two of which were no longer in service.  A lovely lady answered the third number.  It turns out I was calling Gene’s mom on her cell phone as the two of them were driving.  Gene called back on a land line a little apprehensively.  I quickly put him in touch with the other Jean.  She thinks the other Gene might have left the yearbooks behind in a rental property owned by her father.  All's well that ends well.

 “Hey, I just got your PB book,” writes Dave Sleet ‘61.  “You should tell others about it and put an ad in the newsletter.”  Thanks, Dave.  I’m sure you can find my Images of America: Pacific Beach on line.  If you’d like to support the author, and get your copy autographed, click HERE.

Award-winning chef Katherine Humphus is a 2006 graduate of Crawford — and the daughter of Robert Humphus ‘75 and Jo-Ann Harb Humphus ‘74.  She was featured in a nice article this week in the San Diego U-T.  Click HERE to check it out.

Melissa Varney (that’s her above), the 18-year old daughter of  Cathy Rule Varney ’61, has severe hypotrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and will need a heart transplant.  Cathy has set up a transplant fund.   “All donations are tax deductible and deeply appreciated,” says Cathy.  “If the fund brings in $5.00 that will be $5.00 more than we have now.”  If you’re doing the math and trying to figure out how Cathy came by an 18-year old daughter, it’s a bit complex.  Cathy married Grossmont grad Ron Varney and acquired three boys in the process -- Bryan, Brad, and Richie -- all of whom graduated from Crawford.  Melissa, in fact, is Brad’s daughter, who went to live with her mother after her parents divorced.  Says Cathy, “I took Melissa in when her mother was terminally ill and adopted her when her mother died.”  Contact Cathy at roncathvarney@aol.com if you have questions or go to www.cotaformelissav.com  if you’d like to help.

John McMullen has added names to the 6th grade faces from the 1957 Hardy Graduation photo — names like Marsha Madrigal, Gary Byrnes, Deborah Nichols, Zeller Waymire, Howard Toole, Mary Ann Roskos, Richard Christensen, and Gail Latham.  Janey Barrett and Joan Campbell are here too, but John’s not absolutely certain he’s got them right.  Go to the Hardy Elementary Page to see the results.  Or you can click HERE.

Wayne Zucker attended Hardy from 1959 to 1964 and shares all six class photos — but no names.  I’ll assume one of them is Wayne.  Click HERE to check out the big pictures.

Paul Governali Jr ‘70 was laid to rest this week at Holy Cross Cemetery, not far from his father Paul Governali Sr., 1942 All American Quarterback.  John Hermes says his classmate died April 17th of natural causes.