April 26, 2024

I'm a little unclear on my Passover etiquette.  Is it too late to wish my Old Testament friends a Happy Passover? It always sneaks up on me. Turns out it started this past Monday at sundown, and will end on Tuesday, April 30th.

I saw this hat for sale on the web.  I'm nor buying one, but the caption cracked me up.

This stunning aerial, with Seaport Village in the foreground and Balboa Park way in the back, may have been taken in 1983 like the helicopter shot featured recently.  The square patch of dirt center-right appears to be the future site of Horton Plaza Shopping Center, which opened in 1985.  Click HERE if you'd like to peruse a larger version.

George Sorensen '69 has a new book out.  You can tell by the cover artwork that it's gonna be fun.  Click HERE to read more about it -- and maybe snap up a copy -- on Amazon.

Bob Creason '62 shares a 1959 snapshot of four Horace Mann track stars -- himself, Richard Green, Dan Worona and Colin Cole.  Click HERE for an enlargement, with additional information, including the current whereabouts of Bob's gym shorts.

James Person ’61 passed peacefully on April 9, 2024 with his family at his side, his long journey with lymphoma over.  He is survived by his wife Pat Baker Person ‘63, two children, five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and his 103 year-old mother.  Jim graduated from SDSU with a degree in chemistry, but worked for Social Security for 36 years. He loved to build furniture in his wood shop.  He and Pat spent their twenty-five years of retirement camping and "loving on their grandchildren".

April 19, 2024

After a number of false starts I was able to get a Macintosh expert, thanks to Charles Hansen, to come to my place and transfer data from my old computer to the new iMac with two major exceptions -- Thunderbird email and Filemaker database.  I use Filemaker to generate mailing labels for the quarterly newsletter.  This guy was really good, but he couldn’t figure out how to make Thunderbird work on my new computer.  If you get this, my old computer is still working.  Johnfry1@icloud.com and jfry@san.rr.com appear to be the best email addresses if you need to contact me.

 

Remember when you (well, not me) would sidle up to a girl and softly say Psst -- It's snowin' down south?

I'm guessing this photo of Mission Valley was taken around 1920, from where the Junipero Serra Museum is today.  It's credited to the Bunnell Photo Shop.  I always wondered if my classmate Doug Bunnell was a relative, but I think he told me once he wasn't.  Click HERE for an enlargement.

Here's a treasure I found at the bottom of the Dietra Anderson gift box.  It's undated, but appears to have been published during the 1957-1958 school year at Horace Mann.   Click HERE for 8 pages of 1950s' Jive Chatter.

Kevin Thrash ’74 was a classmate of mine at Andrew Jackson, Horace Mann and Crawford.   He was a big part of the football team and played college football in west Texas.  He died April 14, 2024 -- Dale Olson

April 12, 2024

My all time favorite Gary Larson cartoon

Tom West gently noted that the construction project in the above photo would become the Convention Center, not Seaport Village. 

In addition, George Glover sent me a photo of a Coast Guard H-3 with the Reuben E. Lee in the background.  I countered with another Coast Guard H-3 photo that I took at Santa Clara Point in Mission Bay.  On a roll, I then came across photos of Sea Kings fighting the 2009 Cedar Fire, a Sea King recovering the Apollo 17 astronauts near American Samoa and, finally, the President's own H-3 which you may have seen this week flying him to look at the bridge damage in Baltimore.  Buckle up and click HERE to check them all out.

Here's a 1946 photo looking south on Fourth at University,  I've also included a Google Street view taken in October 2022.  Click HERE to check them out.

I've added another postcard to the Aztec Motel page.  Click HERE to see the front AND the back.

Click HERE to read all four pages of the April 13, 1973 Pacer donated by Tracy Gantz

Camille Negro Frederick '60 didn't renew her subscription to the Crawford newsletter (the April issue went in the mail last Friday).  Inside the return envelope was a simple note saying she died June 30, 2023.

 

April 5, 2024

 

Sandra Crossland Cordell was really looking forward to the annual You Idiot Easter cartoon.  I've included it here, with a bonus cartoon below.

Click HERE to see an enlargement of this 1983 photo of six helicopters flying over an under-construction Seaport Village.  There's also a bonus photo of the area taken this week.

John Sullivan '65 shares some class photos from his time at Darnall Elementary.  Yes he DID attend 3rd Grade twice.  Click HERE to check out the photos and get his explanation.

I keep saying the Dietra Anderson Hope Chest is almost empty, but I'm still finding stuff.  Click HERE to read the May 20, 1959 Horace Mann Cougar Times.  

Char Krebsbach Clark asked me to post this updated invite to the Class of 1964's 60 Year Reunion.  Click HERE to go to the Reunion Page and a larger view.

March 29, 2024

Enjoy your Easter Sunday!

You're not gonna get this one if you don't have a computer and have never been on-line.

Click HERE to see an aerial of Cortez Hill from around 1960 -- before I-5 was built.

What?  There was a Rolando Park Elementary School AND a Rolando Elementary School?  Click HERE to see Dietra Anderson's 4th, 5th, and 6th grade photos from Rolando Elementary.

Click HERE to read the March 30, 1973 Pacer, courtesy of Tracy Gantz

 

March 22, 2024

 

I was so preoccupied with the Ides of March and Saint Patrick's Day I forgot that Spring was upon us.  I guess it arrived this past Tuesday.  Sure is nice here in Pacific Beach.

I have no experience with the first panel, but the second one sure hits home. 

How's your German?  Maybe YOU can read the little snippet at the right.  At any rate, the people in Baden-Baden were excited to have Nathan East '73 in town.  The world-renowned bass player seems to have forgotten his instrument.  Click HERE for an enlargement.

I thought you might enjoy this 1950s postcard of the Tour Inn Motel at 7166 El Cajon.  Click HERE for an enlargement and recent photo of the location.

John McDonald ‘60 passed away on Friday March 8th at the VA hospital in La Jolla.  I called him the week before and he seemed fine, but he had been in the hospital for several months.  I never found out why, other than he was not able to walk or get out of bed. John and I were friends in high school and we both joined the Air Force about the same time.  He was in the Air Force Band where he was constantly traveling and performed at various venues around the world.  I was assigned to Air Force intelligence operations planning.  We ran into each other a few times during that time. Since then our lives took totally different paths and we only saw each other a few times in the last fifty or so years. He worked as a musician most of his life. -- Paul Montgomery

March 15, 2024

And steer clear of Green Beer!  Other than that, have a nice weekend.

I'm guessing this is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Wait -- what?  This train is on its way to Tijuana?  AND you can go see the original locomotive at the train museum in Campo.  Click HERE for all the details.

Tom Isom shares this photo of Maine Street in Lakeside around 1950.  I can't tell if it's a color photo or a photo that Tom has colorized.  Maybe it doesn't matter.  Click HERE to see an enlargement.

Here's an advertisement from the March 16, 1973 Pacer.  Baker's must have been after my time at Crawford, and appears to have been located near Sheng How Lo Chinese Restaurant on 58th and University.  Click HERE to peruse all four pages of the student newspaper.

The Cougar Times piece about the Bergquist twins, one of whom taught PE at Horace Mann, got Sherri McCormack Burch thinking about the Flag Football game that Rose Bergquist invented.  Click HERE to take another look at the school paper and Sherri's query.

Judy Hughes ’65 died peacefully with her husband Joe by her side at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, VA.  She was born in San Diego, the daughter of the late Dr. J. Ralph Hughes and Geraldine Hughes.  Judy was working for the City of San Diego when she met her future spouse, Joseph Michael LoPresti, Jr, a Navy helicopter pilot.  Judy and Joe were married on July 31, 1976.  After numerous moves with the Navy, they settled in Burke, Virginia, where Judy completed her degree in Marketing at George Mason University.  Judy was the quintessential California girl who loved being outdoors. She particularly loved the beach and playing golf with her husband.   Her death was reported in the San Diego Union-Tribune on March 14, 2024.

 

March 8, 2024

Looks like cartoonist Harry Bliss has a new twist on the Grim Reaper theme.  It appears that Father Time is waiting at the curb for Grandma and Grandpa.  

I always enjoy that first photo of the Carlsbad Flower Fields published in the Union-Tribune.  This one was in Monday's UT.  Click HERE to see a larger version.

Five Fabulous Fillies from the Class of '64 had lunch last Friday at True Foods in Fashion Valley.  Click HERE for an enlargement with names.

Scott Shaw found another photo of the Sombrero Taco Shop on El Cajon and Montezuma.  Click HERE to check it out.  Maybe YOU can figure out if this is newer or older than the one I first posted.

Here's the March 1, 1973 Pacer, courtesy of Tracy Gantz.  I should have shared it LAST Fry Day, but it fell through the cracks.  Click HERE to peruse all four pages.

I found some Horace Mann school papers in the Dietra Anderson memorabilia.  Her copy from November 14, 1958 was better than the one I'd already posted so I made the change.  Click HERE to go WAY back.

 

March 1, 2024

Everybody needs an 8-year old to help them with the new technology

Alvarado Estates had an airstrip AND a Cave?  Click HERE to hear from some Colts, read an article from the San Diego Union, and watch a Ken Kramer video about Young's Cave and the Kensington Cave.

Jan Goldsmith's Someone You Should Know column in the San Diego Union this past week featured Beth Bond Sczempka '77, who has done wonderful work establishing an academy in Tijuana to train youngsters to become beauticians.  Click HERE to read all about it.

I've added a 1965 photo to the Santa Fe train page.  Click HERE for the enlarged version

A recent Channel 8 Throwback Edition features video of San Diego State, starting in 1959.  Get out your steno pad to take notes on the enrollment figures, number of parking places and Channel 8 reporters you've forgotten about.  I didn't watch the whole thing, but it might be 30 minutes long, so make sure you go potty before you begin.  Click HERE and enjoy.

My brother Robert Zucker '66 passed away early on Valentine's Day after a very brief illness.  After living in Santee for many years, he and his wife Julie moved to Brimfield, MA in 2021 to be closer to their son Ryan.  Bob and Julie -- as well as Ryan and his longtime girlfriend Danielle -- breed and show Saluki dogs, which somewhat resemble greyhounds.   Most of their many dogs are champions.  In addition to Julie and Ryan, Bob is survived by his cousin Robbi Mintz Campbell '71 and myself -- Wayne Zucker ’70