December 31, 2020

I'm posting this early because I may not be able to get to my computer early tomorrow 

Best Wishes for 2021.  This is all I have for this Fry Day.

Richard Lidbom went to the Reunion Page of my web site and tried to look at the photos taken at the Class of '62 50 year reunion.  I had them set up as a Picasa slide show.  Turns out Picasa is no longer in business.  I spent a couple of days reformatting the photos onto their own page.  Sadly, some of the folks are no longer with us.  In this photo Coach Harvey and, more recently, Bill Rainey have passed.  Click HERE to take a look.  

December 25, 2020

 

Merry Christmas!!

You know you're getting old when you read an article in the paper about a Navy destroyer successfully shooting down an ICBM in a test over the Pacific, and the destroyer is named after someone you knew -- the USS John Finn.  John was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Pearl Harbor.  He lived out near the Golden Acorn Casino and passed away in 2014.

Jack Tempchin '65 and his wife Sheryl have written a Christmas song, The Gingerbread Man.  Tuesday's UT has a nice article about it.  Click HERE to read all about it.

Georgeanne Irvine is the little sister of Ginger '60 and Janis '64.  Her folks whisked her away to Anaheim while still a youngster, so she didn't go to Crawford.  She joined the public relations department of the San Diego Zoo in 1978 where she worked with Joan Embery '67.  Last Saturday's UT had a nice article about her and the childrens' books she's written.  Click HERE to check it out.

I saw the article in last week's Union-Tribune, but didn't realize there was a Crawford connection.  Norman and Sivia Mann, married 76 years, contracted and survived COVID, and are back home again.  They are the parents of the late Mark Mann '63 as well as Stacy Mann '67.  Click HERE to read the whole story.

This looks for all the world like a color shot of Mission San Diego de Alcala in a pristine Mission Valley.  We featured the black and white version in a post a while back.  Apparently computer tinting apps are getting very good.  Click HERE to see an enlargement, along with the other two 1936 photos we featured.

Recognize this place?  It's Goodbody Mortuary, on 50th and El Cajon.  Ed Goodbody died December 9th at the age of 93.  In what was a surprisingly brief obituary it mentioned that, when word came down that a new Blessed Sacrament church was to be built, Ed had the old one moved to this location and turned it into a mortuary.  Ironically, Featheringill Mortuary was in charge of Ed's funeral.

Susan Gallerstein Krull '66 passed away December 21st after a lengthy illness

Tony Flores '72 passed away December 13th, according to the Crawford Alumni web page.

December 18, 2020

I gather it's become a regular thing to post a pun or funny saying on the Community Center marquee in Indian Hills, Colorado.  Click HERE to see some more.

Laurel Brassey Iversen '72, and two other sports figures, are the latest inductees into the Breitbard Hall of Fame.  They will be honored at the 75th annual Salute to the Champions, which will be held next year at a date to be determined.  Click HERE to read the article in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Turns out someone made a 3-minute video of the demolition of Crawford's auditorium last September.  It also shows what the finished product will look like.  Pretty cool for future Colts.  Kinda depressing for old Colts.   Click HERE to take a gander.

Life imitates art.  On November 20th I opined that the kicker on the cover of the program for the Jeff Greenleaf Benefit Football Game was "very attractive" (translation: "looked female")  This past Saturday Sarah Fuller became the first female to score in a Power 5 football game.  The Vanderbilt kicker made two extra points in the game against Tennessee.  Sadly, the Commodores lost 42-17.

Sandie Robbins Knox '61 shares photos from the 1958 Fad and Fun Day at Horace Mann.  Click HERE to take a look.

This seems an appropriate time to listen to some tunes recorded by Owen Western from the December 1962 Winter Holiday Concert album.  I see the names Alan R. Frank and Richard W. Robinette on the cover.  Dick Robinette is still in town.  Many have asked about the whereabouts of Alan Frank, but no answers have been forthcoming.  Click HERE to view your song selections.

Hard to believe it's was 25 years ago that I lugged my camera and tripod over to Chollas Park to take pictures of them demolishing the towers.  Click HERE to see the photos.

December 11, 2020

Happy Hanukkah 2020.  I didn't get the memo.  If I had a Menorah should I already have lit a candle?  

 

Would you sell a class ring to this man?  Dennis Frieden '59 would like to buy a used class ring.  If you take it to him in Julian he'll probably throw in an apple pie.   Contact him at def12358@aol.com

A Corvair?  You look like trouble.  Pull into Secondary.  Click HERE to watch a three minute movie, circa 1960, about the border crossing at San Ysidro.

Remember the Rancho Drive-In?  I've put together some photos and a news article written when it closed on October 17, 1978.  Click HERE to check it out. 

Click HERE to read all six pages of the Red and Green Holiday Edition of the Pacer published December 15, 1960.

Terry Harkless Kneeshaw '68 died November 22, 2020 after a year-long battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  She met her husband George when she was 15 and they became inseparable, marrying on August 29, 1970.  She loved to sew, bake, garden, and had a passion for painting.  She worked part-time at an elementary school so she could balance work and raising her three children. Terry was preceded in death by her father, Bill, her mother, Jean, and brother Gary.

Penny Humphrey Scholl ’74 passed away November 30, 2020.  She graduated from the Sheriff’s Academy in 1981 and began a 27-year career in law enforcement.  Her passion for helping and protecting others made her a compassionate and fierce member of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department and a force in her community for positive change, healthy interpersonal relationships, and mental and emotional health advocacy and empowerment.  In her retirement, she worked security for the Del Mar Fair and other jobs that she enjoyed, and volunteered for the local women’s domestic violence shelter.  She was funny, fearless, and made it her mission and her business in life to help make other’s lives better and heal other’s hurts.

December 4, 2020

 

Coach Draz didn't get 90 cards at his 90th birthday party on November 17th -- he got 150!!   He was very surprised and blown away by the outpouring of well wishes, according to his daughter Kathy Draz Zopatti.  Congratulations to those who sent in cards.  You know who you are.

Where are they now?  Norm Lombardo is enjoying life in the desert in Sierra Vista, Arizona says his big brother Jared.  Ken Pernicano is around and has been contacted by a relative.  We'll see if he surfaces and wants to reflect on his early life as a trend-setter.  Turns out he IS a Pizza Pernicano.  

Malka Buchinger Nagel, San Diego's Junior Miss for 1971, is married and living in Santa Cruz.  She accomplished the goals she mentioned in the San Diego Union article.  She majored in Social Work at San Diego State, then returned to Israel in time for the Yom Kippur War.  She attended Tel Aviv University and volunteered in the hospital where there were wounded soldiers. 

Boy, it's difficult to tease any good news out of the pandemic.  Word that California was not only in the Purple tier, but headed to the DEEP Purple tier, did bring a happy memory: April and Nino's 1963 rendition of the song Deep Purple.  Click HERE and, if the computer gods are kind, you can listen to it again.

I saved a Crying Towel handed out by the Kearny ticket takers at the CIF Finals played on December 1, 1961 at Balboa Stadium.  Turns out I didn't need it.  Click HERE to check out the program AND an article published the next day by Bill Center.

I was looking for something else when I came across one of the first web pages I ever created.  It features my class ring, pendant and pin.  I've updated the page and made it look a little spiffier.  Click HERE if you can't stand the suspense.

November 27, 2020

I've added a couple of photos to the Sunset Auto & Trailer Park page.  Click HERE to check them out.

Did you ever have occasion to visit, or drive by, Brown Military Academy in Pacific Beach?  It was torn down in 1959 to make way for Pacific Plaza Shopping Center.  Some gorgeous color shots showed up on Greg May's Vintage San Diego Facebook page this week.  I was unable to "share" them to the Crawford Facebook page so I put them on a page on my web site.  Click HERE to take a look.

It's too late now, but HAD I been asked to attend April a'la Mode in 1961, and the invitation said Dressy Cotton, what should I have worn?  (Asking for a friend).  Click HERE to see the rest of the invitation, from the Mary Ann Roskos Roffelsen Collection.

Boy, I hope the late Mary Ann Roskos Roffelson left a diary!  It would appear that every weekend night in high school she was Tripping The Light Fantastic.   Here's the last of the items she saved for posterity -- the bid for the Class of '62 After Prom at Parkway Bowl.  You'll be amazed at who was performing at The Roaring '20s.  Click HERE and all will be revealed.

November 20, 2020

Here's a nice shot of the old May Company in Mission Valley Center around 1962.  I like it just because of the cars.  Would you say May Co was painted Mustard Yellow?  My grandmother had a different name for that color.  I think it had the word Baby in it.  Click HERE to see an enlarged view of the picture.

I've added this postcard of the Sunset Auto & Trailer Court to the Pacific Highway and Taylor Street page.  Click HERE to check it out enlarged.

60 years ago Crawford and Sweetwater met on Thanksgiving for a football game to benefit Jeff Greenleaf, who was paralyzed during practice on September 18th.  Click HERE to check out the program.  (Is it just me, or is that not a VERY attractive place kicker?)

I'm almost finished going through the Crawford memorabilia collected by the late Mary Ann Roskos Roffelsen '63.  Click HERE to see larger images of her ASB and Senior Privilege Cards.

Click HERE to read all four pages of the November 23, 1960 Pacer.  You'll wanna see Tom Anderson's souped-up Chevy El Camino.

My classmate Ron Fox has checked in with memories of good friends who have died

Bill Rainey

and

Tom Ault

Ron Baldwin '60 passed away October 25, 2020.  He was born in Rhode Island on November 25, 1942

Greg Finley ’64 died November 2, 2020.  After Crawford he went to San Diego State, where he was a dedicated TKE and recorded albums with his band Little Joe and the Mustangs.  He ran Finley's House of Carpets until his early retirement in 1997. In retirement Greg played trumpet at watering holes around town.  Greg's lifelong gift for friendship meant his untimely diagnosis with Alzheimer's reverberated through a wide circle. Throughout his battle, he kept his kindness, charisma, and humor, and he never stopped loving music, dancing in the kitchen with his wife of 18 years, Ann Marie.