6/10/2014   BCHS in 1960  ...  my how the dress codes (norms) have changed.  Did those skirts come from Maryemma's  ?

Happy 4th of July

Here are some pics from the BC Damboree celebrations in 1953 borrowed from the Boulder City Musuem webpage ..  you can see at their great website at      http://www.bcmha.org/Damboree.html

1943 ..  Civil Defense, volunteer firemen

7/9/14  -  Easter Egg Hunt at Gov't Park 1952  sponsored by Boulder Theatre    ..  starring Mary Jane Carter Smith, Class of '43 in the bunny suit with her kids.

7/2/14  Boulder City Theatre in 1956-57.  David Shay, Kathleen Warner, John Bromley, Peggy Wood.  Notice the prices, 50 cents for adults, 20 cents for kids.  As a benchmark the cost of gas was 30 cents a gallon.  So you get 1.67 gallons of gas for a movie ticket, today the gas would cost $6.70 but, a movie ticket costs $11  ...   so gas is a lot cheaper that movies nowdays.

7/24/14  One of our earliest BCHS grads is Mary Jane Carter Richey Smith, class of '43.  She is one of the few from the early classes who still attends the reunions.   Last year she gave a great talk about the beginnings of BCHS (see below for video).  She has a rich, colorful family history tied to BC.   Her father was a highscaler, they moved to Ragtown in 1931, her mom was active in business and charity groups in BC and started the first newspaper in BC.  Her dad was killed in an accident at the Dam in 1934,  her mom passed away unexpectely in 1946.  I recently found a pic of her mom from a 1939 parade, on the UNLV website.  Mary Jane had a pic of her dad.  That lead to this picture of Mary Jane and her parents.    Mary Jane plans to attend the reunion this year, be sure and greet and meet her, you will be glad you did.        Jim

8/16/2014   Here is a great pic from about 1939+- of the American Legion Post 31 Auxiliary Juniors.  Many of those named are listed amoung the BCHS grads on our website:  Those I found are: Elaine Abercrombie* '46, Cloe Lomas '46, Ella Boyce '44, Gene Dunbar (school secratary 45-47), Bonnie Buck* '42, Mary Jane Carter '43, Deloris Brown '42, Ida Boyce '43, Lola Dunbar '43.  Can anyone add some more background to this historical pic.    jw

8/21/2014      Boy what a find I had this week ..  The program from the 1976 Damboree.  Here is a great extract of the Damboree Queens and it reads like a who is who of BCHS ...  hope you enjoy.     jw

Great and cute story send to us from Flo Daun Atkin MacKay class of '52 , after she saw this Pic of the Week. 

THE DAMBOREE QUEENS  ...  In the school year of 1945-46, the committee for the Damboree celebration had what they thought was a spectacular idea. Since all the girls in Boulder City High were lovely, it really wouldn’t matter which one was chosen to be queen—they all would represent Boulder City with grace. The committee could use some free advertisement and some additional funds. They presented their idea to the high school and it was accepted with enthusiasm. High school students would sell tickets at $1.00 a piece. The girls could sell tickets, and the guys could sell tickets in a girl’s name. The idea was that a ticket represented a “vote” so the girl who had the most “votes” or the most ticket sales would be the queen.

The idea caught on so well the committee decided to present it to the Junior High, and even to the 5^th and 6^th graders who at the time were attending school clear across town in temporary buildings on the barren lot on Nevada Highway across from the Bureau of Reclamation buildings.

The day came to turn in the tickets. It was a day of great expectation. Who had sold the most tickets? A lowly 6^th grade girl. The committee counted the tickets again, but the outcome was the same. What on earth could they do! A 6^th grade girl didn’t have the poise to be a queen! But the committee had set the rules. So that year I was the Damboree Queen. I received the crown of silver sprayed oak tag stuffed with a conglomeration of flowers. I sat in a chair in front of the audience at the kick off event held on the lawn next to the tennis courts. And it was the first and last time the queen was selected by ticket sales. A few years later (49) my friend, the gorgeous Barbara Jean Nelson was the queen, the next (50) my delightful and energetic friend, Florence Tobler, and the next year (51) my close friend in my own grade, Carolyn Cowan.

Best wishes for a wonderful reunion of queens.    Floy Daun  8/26/2014

9/27/2014  BC Braves  1953   Pic complements of Louise Smee Newton cleaning out old stuff.  BC Braves 1953  - resler, hodgkin, cline, coach?,  donnelly, tract, ?, patton, ?, smee, roper, resley, cunningham.

9/2/2014    From the Freshman Frolic Can Can  in 1953-54.   Thanks to Barbara Kelly for the pic.  What Fun!

Judy Bilderback, Sharon Kenny, Donna Fenton, Louise Smee, Barbara Kelly, Susan Stice.   Class of '57

10/25/14  A tour of Pepper Coombes (Class of 60)  vintage 50s car collection during reunion.

It does Snow in BC

2/21/15  BC makes Sunset Mag.

to see full article  click on this link:

http://www.sunset.com/travel/southwest/little-town-great-big-dam

1/19/15  You will like this video if you love 50-60s music and dancing and cars !!

http://biggeekdad.com/2013/01/the-best-of-times/#at_pco=smlrebh-1.0&at_si=54bdb189e3a3625d&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=2&at_tot=7

12/31/2014

Posted September 27, 2010 - 12:00am   LV Review Journal

See Article at:  http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/sisters-recall-growing-boulder-city-30s

6/7/15  Boy Scouts in Arizona 1955-57 ..  photo credit  Belknap Collection @ NAU

5/17/15  -   Brownie campout at Mt. Charleston  1950+-

Front row: Peggy alexander, Bernice Kimball, Sandra ?, Lalonie Greenwood, ?, Silvia Wood, Virgina Wilson, Louise Smee, Virginia Lewis, Barbara Kelly.    If you know missing names or any mistakes, let us know.

8/2/15   Remember going to the Lake for swimming lessons ..  long before there was a pool in BC.

9/1/15  Some old timers at Bootleg Canyon  .. 

thanks to Jeannie Shipp for this pic.

9/12/15  Lifeguard at Boulder Beach

Rae Kenney (Kine)  Class of 1953  ..  Anyone know about her current status, location, etc.?

 

8/20/15   BCHS students Help out with 2014 reunion planning, registration and decorations.  What neat kids!

 

 

8/2/15  Remembering some of the BC businesses from the 40s & 50s .  (Snackateria, BC Furnituire, Sweet Shop, Central Market, Bus Station, Bowmers, Fire Station, Laundry, Hotel, The Club, Chicken Shack, Travern, Dossetts, Drive In, Maryemmas, Manix.)

See larger version at :    https://www.flickr.com/photos/31571116@N08/shares/02H9BX

12/3/15  -  Early pic of BC .. looks like the priorities were houses & TAVERN, then we will work on school, hotel, theater, stores, paving .   Thanks to Mack Newbanks ;65 for the pic - jw

11/10/15 -  Birthday Party in 1950+-  at Ruth Ann's home on Denver. 

Thanks to Ruth Ann Baggley Bennett for this and several more pics from her youth.

10/23/15 - Winner of the earliest BCHS grad who graces our reunions ..  Mary Jane Carter Richey Smith (Class of 1943) , and she always brings some family along.   She comes all the way from Oregon, stays several days and we have LOTS of kids who live in BC and LV who don't bother to show up.

10/8/15   B HILL   ..  How could this happen ?

The posting of the following article is spurred  by the recent death of one of our alumni from the class of 1943 Jane Webb Crum. Her father built the Hotel in 1933.   See her obit in the "memory " tab.

The Boulder Dam Hotel to mark its 80th birthday

Wednesday, December 11, 2013 ♦ Renee LiButti ♦

The Boulder Dam Hotel opened its doors with a two-day celebration on Dec. 15 – 16, 1933. The Colonial Revival hostelry is located at 1305 Arizona St. in Boulder City, near the town’s business district.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, the Boulder Dam Hotel is of great significance because it not only dates back to the earliest years of the community, but it also was a leader in the tourism industry in the Southwest until the early 1940s.

The first visitors were attracted to the area by the building of Hoover Dam. The greatest civil engineering endeavor undertaken by the U.S. government since the Panama Canal, it literally put Boulder City on the map. Construction on Hoover Dam began in 1931, and at the same time the Bureau of Reclamation spent approximately $2 million to develop the town about 7 miles from the main work site.

W.F. Grey recognized the dam was a project that would draw countless visitors, so he applied for a permit to build a hotel in Boulder City in 1932. Paul Stewart “Jim” Webb broke ground for it on Sept. 1, 1933, and the Boulder Dam Hotel debuted just a few months later.

“The hotel was really the luxury, classy, ‘it’ place to stay during construction of the dam,” said Laura Hutton, manager of the Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum, which is situated within the H-shaped configuration of the Boulder Dam Hotel.

In its early years, the hotel was an exclusive escape for many famous people. It hosted political leaders of the time, like Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes and Republican Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, as well as European royalty, including Loelia Lindsay, the Duchess of Westminster, and Crown Prince Olav and Princess Märtha of Norway. Movie stars Boris Karloff, Shirley Temple, Henry Fonda and Will Rogers were also welcomed here. Bette Davis popped in following the filming for “Of Human Bondage,” and Howard Hughes actually recuperated at the hotel in 1943 after crashing his airplane in Lake Mead.

The 80th anniversary of the Boulder Dam Hotel is being observed on Saturday, Dec. 14. The day’s focal event will be the 38th annual Home Tour, beginning and ending in the lobby.

BC Generations: Legacies of high scaler, raft trip founder celebrated on ride down river 

  ..   Here is a great article (from Boulder City Review) about  BC pioneer families  and BCHS alumni , Dorthy Kine Rants, Dean Kine, Willard Julian  and  Jim Bob Rowland and his daughter Jill.   Article by  boat pilot  Kathleen Wood.

http://bouldercityreview.com/community/bc-generations-legacies-high-scaler-raft-trip-founder-celebrated-ride-down-river#sthash.gvAKC6rI.dpbs​

* Here is a great picture of 4 generations of BCHS grads in the Broadbent/Swarts  family, starting with Sue Swarts, class of 1952. I graduated from Boulder City High School in 1952. This a picture of my family. There are 16 BCHS graduates in this photo and at least 8 future graduates. Next year (Class of 2018) my great-grandson will graduate from BCHS, making 4 generations of graduates! I am grateful to BCHS for all it has done for my family :)

BCHS Sports History  ..    Here is a picture of the BCHS basketball warmup jacket from the late 40s and early 50s.  I have stored it and moved it with me for 64  years.  I am returning it back to BCHS and the Athlectic Director has agreed to find a good place for it in the  gym. I added the pictures here that are framed with the jacket , I found them online  in the 51 and 52 annuals.  Some of those team members, in the pics,  still attend our reunions.   Jim W.

Here is a pic from the 2016 Reunion , when one of the prizes was a hand made picture frame crafted from the retired floor of the BCHS Gym.  Even though Jim won it , he gave it to David Shay, Class of 60, who played BB at BCHS , then went on to coach there for 20+ years.

Pepper Coombes  awards frame  ...  Jim Widner and David Shay  in 1958 @, Bhill  and 2010 Reunion.

 

By Celia Shortt Goodyear Boulder City Review     jw

Several pieces of Boulder City High School’s old building have been given a new life.

When it was being torn down about 2½ years ago, then-yearbook teacher Canaan Petersen noticed some items, including windows, doors and theater seats, that were going to be thrown out.

“My heart was broken when the old school was torn down,” he said. “I felt compelled to save something for alumni, future alumni and those who consider it home.”  The moving force for this project was Kirk Estes.

July 11, 2018 - 4:16 pm  See the full article  at this Link:                                    

       https://bouldercityreview.com/community/like-a-phoenix-pieces-of-old-high-school-reborn/

 

p.s.  There is another touch of BCHS history to this story.  Kirk Estes is the son of BCHS, Class of 58 grad Lavonne Brown Estes.  She went on to become an elementry school teacher in BC  for decades. Yes decades.   j.w.