Karol Lowery (Bowser)

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Our own Jim Shirk chosen by the McLean County Chamber of Commerce, Congratulations!

C

Phil Hershey (Hershey)

Congratulations Jim.

Bob Knapp

CONGRATULATIONS JIM!  THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVANT HEART TO OUR COMMUNITIES.

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Happy Birthday Bill Butler!!!!

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Happy Birthday Era Shipp Marshall!!!!

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Happy Birthday Darrell Olson!!!!

Bill Butler

SOME RANDOM RUMINATIONS ON REALITY AND RECURRING BIRTHDAYS

Barb,

Thanks for the BD email card.  Not only do you have a TERRIFIC memory, you are really on the ball getting it into the system 3-hrs. before the 7^th.  I think you deserve a free meal for “administrative duties” at the next Class Breakfast at Shannon’s.  I’ll email you personally on how this will happen.

          Before I start rambling about birthdays, old age, and time, let me also congratulate Jim Shirk on his business award.  Well deserved, Jimmer!  Not everyone could get a jar of BeerNuts^® on the bartop of Cheers… a great TV series covertly advertizing a great product.  I hope McLean County gave you a free membership to any golf course of your choice and pays your subscription to the WSJ.

          Because The Class website is tracking birthdays, I am in a dilemma on whether to deny another BD and claim that I’m not becoming an “old curmudgeon”, or to feel good for making it through another revolution of the planet.  I could argue that in Mars-years, I just turned 52, and in Jupiter-years I am only 15, and in Pluto-years I am only 2!  The passage of relative time depends on the frame of reference being invoked, and there is no special frame of reference.

          Everyone knows that time is arbitrary  -- a mere convenience and mental construction to understand why and when everything is happening.  It can be weird because twins born 1-minute apart can be born in different years.  And a baby born in year 1 BC who dies in year 1 AD may have lived for less than 1-second (there is no year 0).  And why is it that on someone’s BD they get immediate “credit” for a full year they haven’t lived?

          So, I hope this website takes into account the fact that time is relative and absolute;  therefore, making these yearly BD markers accurate is beyond complex and perhaps even fickle.  It would take a darn good mathematical algorithm to determine the absolute age of anyone because the days of the year (Earth rotations) are getting longer and the length of time for Earth to revolve around our Sun is also being dilated and stretched.  Physics says there is no such thing as a perpetual motion machine in the Universe (…unless it is the Universe itself), and things in the solar system must slow down.  Hey, it takes me 1.5-seconds longer to make coffee and walk the dog every single day – unless I have a strong tailwind!  BTW, if you walk your dog every day, or drink a cup of coffee daily, you will be immortal…. (that’s a famous paradox.)

          Now, we must add another complication to all this “marking of birthdays” by Class Creator.  Time flow depends on where the observers are in the Universe.  This is because all observers have different velocities relative to one another and they all see the same event at different times.  No two identical clocks keep the same time (and thus no 2 people age the same, including identical twins), and there is no such thing as simultaneity. When events occur depends on the location of the observers, ….so forget clocks and calendars for keeping track of how old members of the Class of 1962 are.  Just take our word for it.  Maybe we could establish a new system of tracking time and cut ourselves some slack, OK?  Everyone can be young!

          Time passage/duration also depends on how strong the gravitational field is where our perfect clocks are.  Clocks slow down or speed up depending on how far they are from various masses, e.g., a clock on the equator tells time differently than an identical one at the Earth’s N or S Poles and an identical one on the top of Mt. Everest due to this difference in distance from the center of mass (Earth is not perfectly round = oblate spheroid).  Clocks run faster in weaker gravity.  And gravity depends on how curved the space-time continuum is.  Someday I’ll understand how mass bends time and space and get all this figured out.  Stay tuned.  Sure, these 3 time differences are small in the grand cosmic scheme of things, maybe a second every 100M-yrs., and nobody except the cosmologists and astrophysicists really cares, … so therefore maybe Class Creator should keep marking birthdays and pretending they accurately portray reality.

          Hope I didn’t confuse anyone, and hope everyone is having a great New Year… (Earth years, Gregorian Calendar), and doesn’t get swallowed up by any super-massive highly-dense black holes … unless of course you want to dilate time and find the Fountain of Youth!  (Your watch will definitely run slower, even if it’s a Rolex.)  On second thought, a more practical way to dilate time is to move faster relative to other people.  You could just walk faster or book a seat on a Blue Origin suborbital flight, as did Wm. Shatner (Captain Kirk) last year, and age slower…. but that could get a little expensive.

          Have a good time at Shannon’s – wish I was there.  Ah, …too many fickle dilemmas and not enough time!  Take care all!

Allan Mapel

Just curious!  Are there any members of the class that played on the Bloomington Knockers Youth  Football Program.  Age bracket would have been 13 and 14 year olds,  around 1957, 1958. It was tackle football.  I believe the Bloomington team was call the GOLDEN GRIDDERS.

Janice Scott (Vitton)

Congratulations Jim Shirk on your 2021 Legacy of Excellence Award. The class of 1962 🎓was/is an awesome class with many achievements in academics 📚, sports 🏈🏀⚾️, and music 🎼🎺. We are proud of these and another one was just added with Jim's award.🌟t>

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

This morning I was trying to find any pictures of the football team Allan was talking about and came across this, do you recognize anyone?  The first is of the Mitzis and the second are of the Tridettes and by the way Allan, I'm still looking!

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Breakfast this Wednesday the 12th at Shannon's at 9 o'clock, I hope you can join us!

Allan Mapel

Barb,  As I understand Paul Segobiano started this league.  I believe Trinity was called the Irish, and Normal was the Cardinals, and Bloomington was the Golden Gridders.  I believe a few of the Gridders became the stars of the BHS championship football teams.  You might look at Youngs Yarns in the Pantagraph for 57, or 58.

I remember watching a couple games.  They were held in a open field south of the Holiday Club on McGregor St.
 

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Allan I found these articles on another website but I don't think they have everyone listed.  I notice Brian Olafson and George Gilmore are mentioned but if you look on the teams you don't see their names because this is from 1959. I'll keep looking but for now this is all I found.

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

I also found these two articles.

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Happy Birthday Ron Williams!!!!

Allan Mapel

Barb,  You have done a fantastic job on locating all this information.  Besides George and Bryan I see several other members that played on our BHS football team. Thanks again.

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Happy Birthday Donna Fogel Phillips!!!!

Janice Scott (Vitton)

Mitzis and Tridettes:
 

I was a member of the Mitzis, Mitzi XX, an "illegal" secret society which was not so secret. Most people knew of their existence. The groups were made up of girls from Trinity and Bloomington High Schools. They got together for social activities. Many friends were made through these groups and many fun times were spent together.

I have my dance card from when the Mitzis held a dance at the Illinois Hotel, 12-28-1960. "Wonderland By Night" was the theme for the evening with a stop at Brandtville after the dance. I also have a faded blue book with a red M on the front. It was our pledge schedule and rules book. Two of the rules were: 1. No smoking, no drinking, no cussing and 2. Go to church every Sunday. We pledged in June and the formal initiation was in August.

If I recall correctly, one special evening the pledges were to hide from the members and they would search for us. We hid in an apartment above a bakery, located on a corner, on the West side. They found us and were yelling at us to come out, but I don't think we did and later that evening we all went home.

This all came to an end when one of the girls wore her Mitzi XX sweatshirt to a Spring baseball game. She was sitting on the grass, was spotted by a school official, and that was that!

Stay warm and well. Janice "Scott" Vitton ❄️☃️

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Happy Birthday Sandra Dorrell!!!!

Allan Mapel

Barb,  I wonder how many of the class remember the Interurban that came through Bloomington until February 1953.  I had the chance to see it a couple times

. 

Bill Butler

        Bloomington has a wonderful and rich history.  As others have noted, it is a great privilege to have been raised and schooled there.  During a recent browse through a used-book store, I happened upon a little gem with the title:  Defunct Secret Societies of Bloomington, IL:  A Concise Rule Book and Primer for Mitzis.  Wow!  I couldn’t resist buying it.  I’ll share some of its content.  Chapter One is on “Smoking, Drinking, Cussing, and Other Somewhat Semi-Serious (But Fun) Infractions Against Humanity”.  This really got my attention!  I’ll quote some of the content from this explosive expose’.

          “Mitzis are very fine, gracious, urbane, delightful, upstanding, responsible citizens; they are not a domestic terrorist group or gang.  Members who follow our special rules will grow up to be respected models, pillars, and leaders of the community and beyond.”  Continuing…

          “Our rulebook clearly denotes that Mitzis are allowed to drag race only on weekends.  Drag racing on weekdays is inappropriate and must be done in Peoria or Decatur.  Any weapons, such as knives cleverly concealed as hat pins or in boot sheaths, are to be avoided but may be necessary depending on the company being kept late at night.  Smoking is prohibited, unless someone offers up a Run Crook cigar and you are in the basement of a church (avoiding the sermon you are supposed to be listening to) or in the high school parking lot in a car with tinted windows.  Drinking is strictly limited to what you can find in your parents liquor cabinet, and not to exceed a fifth per week (vodka excluded), unless of course there is an intervening holiday, or you share it with your buds, or you have a final exam the next day.  Dancing is a provisional activity, i.e., ballroom types are OK, but Mitzis must first have studied Arthur Murray to avoid embarrassment -- no rumba, bolero, swing, foxtrot, cha cha, jitterbug, tango, or twist, especially in shorts and barefoot.  Anyone caught doing any of these outrageous things will immediately be placed on pro.  Punishment includes ostracism up to and including permanent revocation of your exclusive autographed photos of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Joe Dowell.”  Continuing…

          “On tattooing:  Mitzis are not allowed to have any of their flaming- skull tattoos visible above the neck.  We recommend turtle-neck sweaters to prevent any possibility of exposure.  Make sure you own plenty of these garments.  Spitting is frowned upon unless you are outside and you let people around you know what you are about to do.  Please take wind direction and splatter factors into account.  Motorcycle riding and cruising on fat-tire hogs requires head-to-toe urban camo so that nobody can recognize you as a Mitzi.  We acknowledge that operating a 1100cc-chopper is awkward sidesaddle, but you’ll get used to it.  Good luck.”  Continuing…

          “When new members are hiding from the senior members, breaking and entering of buildings is a definite no-no….. especially at 2AM.  Hard-working, law-abiding citizens get really miffed when trying to sleep but are  awakened by groups of weird crazy people running around trying to hide.  It is better to charter a bus and just leave town for a few hours.  Put on your ballistic vests and go shopping in Chicago for awhile.   Remember that our bail bond money is limited and being depleted; hence, diligently avoid being arrested.  And most importantly, we vehemently encourage rogue members not to engage in drive-by shootings at pumpkins, watermelons, or street lights; but reluctantly, should it happen, headlights should be off to facilitate getaways, and silencers/suppressors on to minimize obnoxious noises.”  Continuing…

          “Cussing is a discretional gray area for Mitzis.  We realize that this is an impossible trait to completely control, especially when you are outraged at being told you cannot attend a 3-day slumber party, or when  trying to flush your boyfriend, so we offer some “less offensive” substitutes.  Make sure you keep this list handy to cover all occasions.  If you inadvertently use a strong vulgar cuss word, you are required to wash the chapter president’s cars, then do 5-hrs. of community service rehabilitating the patrons at the local pool halls, and then clean the kennels at the dog shelter.  [actually, the rehab stuff may not be so bad because the patrons will buy you free beers!].  WARNING:  if you are caught cussing, or wearing a pink Mitzi armband or garter with an embroidered “M”, just deny-deny-deny, ….and if that doesn’t work, claim that you are a Tridette and profusely apologize because we need to keep this important socializing business going.”  Continuing…

          “Our suggested cuss words are as follows (group A is the “holy xxxx” variety, and group B is our preferred “mild exclamations”).  In order to make these cuss words more effective, a Mitzis can put both hands on her waist and stomp her feet with rigor.  Low-level highly-refined mild cussing is a real art and all Mitzis are encouraged to master it and develop their own unique genre of swearing – but just keep it civil, OK?  Four-letter words are prohibited.  Five-letter words are OK, but 6-letter ones are best.  This list shows some examples:

GROUP A:  holy Toledo!, holy cow!, holy catfish!, holy mackerel, holy moley!, holy Moses, holy guacamole!, holy whackamoley, holy sheet!, holy krappola!, holy wholely!, holy crabs!, holy flammin’ biogenic methane!, et cetera.

GROUP B:  gosh darn it!, what in tarnation?!, heck!, shucks!, golly darn it!, #@^%*+!, oh fiddlesticks!, jiminy crickets!, awe shoot!, dang it anyhow!, golly whizz!, swell!, golly bumps!, oh phooey!, gadzooks!, dagnabbit!, criminettely!, blast it!, for cripe’s sakes!, drat it!, rats!, %@$#!(+!, oops!, that’s a bunch of BS!, aw go stuff it!,  eff word!,  you little snot!, you did WHAT?!, that’s baloney!, oh crumb!, by gosh!, jeepers creepers!, what the devil?!!!, Heavens Almighty!, now ain’t that just peachy keen!, what a crock!, that’s pure unadulterated B.S.!, *!$@*$_+##6^~<!, well well well – kiss my caboose!, great Scott!, well son-of-a-gun!, oh poo!, gee willickers!, well I’ll be!!, well cut my legs off and call me Shorty!, man oh man, now ain’t that the sh-ts!, hey dandy dude whutz all dis bloviatin’ bodacious jive ‘bout?!, can you maniacal reptilian idiot imbeciles just go away?!, really, really, come on now, REALLY?!!, you’ll be sorry, butthead!!, dummkopf jerk!, whatta bummer!, et cetera.”

          Well, that’s a synopsis of chapter one revealing the Mitzi code of conduct, and the proverbial tip of the Mitzi iceberg.  I took this book to the Antique Road Show to have it appraised.  They said being so old it is of historical significance and quite rare…. worth $8-10 due to its extremely worn condition.  Some chapters on tips for passing school exams were ripped out.  ARS asked what I paid for it…. but I wouldn’t tell them for fear of being ridiculed.  I asked them where the peculiar name Mitzi originated and they laughed uncontrollably.  So, I’m still in the dark.  Drats!

          Alright, FYI that’s what secretly went on in the ‘50s in Bloomington!  Good grief!  Goodness gracious!!  Good Heavens!!!  Amazing!!!!  (Just thought you’d like to get the straight skinny and authoritative insight on this intriguing and enigmatic issue.  Who knows, a real Mitzi might be living near you!)

Patti Perry (Daubs)

I haven't been responded to some of the great pics and comments from fellow classmates, but everything is really a day-brightener to me - from Jim's community service award, pic of old City Hall (where I typed up the Wheel Tax stickers each summer during high school), the Interurban (that I rode to Clinton with my mother - when going up the hill (one of the few in McLean County), down by Wapella? - the lights in the car dimmed. And, Bill Butler's fantastic imagination is so appreciated - we were truly wild girls! The one thing he didn't address in what was allowed for Mitzi activities were and were not allowed - egg-throwing at the house of the President of the Bloomington School Board and chopping down a tree at the new high school in honor of said President! Both of those activities were definitely frowned on!

I am really hoping that we can have a class reunion this year. I am willing to help (mostly from afar - but not that far - jiust up the road about 3 hours). 

Thanks, Barb, so much for keeping this going!

Patti

Phil Hershey (Hershey)

Thanks Allan Mapel for the great post on the interuban. We rode it every other Saturday to Clinton for a  visit with my grandmothern and Aunt and Uncle and some cousins. I like to think that experience of going through small towns such as Heyworth and Wapella helped me get a job some years back. I had gone trough several interviews for a National Sales Manager's position and had one more interview with the Company President. He saw I was from Bloomington and said he grew up in a small town near there that I had probably never heard of or remembered. He grew up in Wapella and I told him of my many trips on the Interurban and then when we got our first car. He invited me to lunch at his CC and offered me the position.

Bill Butler you always make my day with your posts. How lucky for us you found and purchased the Mitzi's handbook. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Janice Scott (Vitton)