Yolanda Vasquez (Gum)

John - I did watch the "We Didn't Start the Fire" video and I thoroughly enjoyed it!  I was at work so I couldn't sing out loud to the music but I was chair dancing to it!!  All those memories in one song.   I went through Tehachapi the other day and noticed the "T" on the hillside...it needs some work.  I remember our freshmen year when we went up to whitewash it and I couldn't believe how steep that little hillside actually was. 

Tom - I never was in your class, but I do remember the Helms Bakery truck.  I remember them having the best "cream puffs" I've ever tasted.   I want to thank you for posting the pictures from 6th grade camp - great memories of Camp Earl Anna. 

Peggy Melton (Selby)

Watched the Fi-ah video, a bit a chair dancin' with the volume up!  Thanks for sharing John!  Oh..... I remember the Helm's truck!  Nothing like fresh glazed donuts delivered to your door (giggle, giggle).  I also remember white washing the "T" up on the hill.  I Wonder... do the freshman still have this ritual?  Too much fun, everyone together, white washing the rocks as well as each other (giggle, giggle).  I also remember hula hoops!  I was a maniac with 2 and three at a time.  A bit of nostalgia I share in my "Hula Hoop" Workshops I host at my studio - we even make them!  Never thought at 58 I'd be teaching "hula hoop how to's" to the youngsters. 

Yolanda Vasquez (Gum)

I loved the hula hoop and I must admit I am still pretty good at it!  I actually taught my granddaughter how to take it from your neck down to the knees and keep it going - not too bad for 58!  I just taught her how to play jacks - including pigs in a blanket and around the world!  My husband (Steve) and I get a catalog that has toys from our time era and we like to buy them for the grandkids.  Pogo stick, stilts, tether ball, etc.  Neither one of us would attempt to show them how to use the pogo stick, afraid what it might do to our backs, knees, actually our whole body.  We sure did have "fun" toys back in our days - and good imaginations.

John Davies

Maybe we should have a hula hoop competition at the 60th party.  I'm gonna start practicing now.....a top 40 finish would be good!!  The Ladies have, no doubt, got us on this one, guys!!  In fact, the mental image of all of us guys doing hula hoops is way too much (probably a trip to the ER, too!)!!!  Anyone remember the yoyo and top fads in school?  Do they even make tops any more...probably outlawed for one reason or another??  Maybe we better stick with gin rummy, or better yet, beer pong!!!!!  Or maybe just sit around and listen to the oldies (songs, not people!!).....yeah, that's the one!!

John Davies

Does anyone remember the "bonfires" we used to do for homecoming every year?  Students would bring in old lumber, tree branches, fire wood, etc. to build up the huge pile there on the baseball field at the school where we went to 8th grade.  (I have lost track of the names of all these schools.)  Someone even brought an outhouse one year and threw it on top of the pile.  Manny, in honor of your 20-month old granddaughter and all of us who have had kids or grandkids, this will bring back old memories from a version of Bobby Darin's "Splish-Splash". http://www.terrisfp1.com/flash6/bath.swf is the link.  I'm not sure Yolanda or Peggy will want to "chair dance" to this one!!  But hey, after a couple of those adult beverages, what the heck.....

Larry Morphis

Hi John.

I remember the bonfires really well.  Your right we did have an outhouse our senior year because myself, Russ, and Bob found one and carefully climb up all that wood, and placed it on top, (which was quite a job  for a bunch of drunks).   I think they had the bonfires a few years after we graduated, but for some reason put a stop to it.  It was a great time though, and what a great time we had.  Thanks for reminding me of those precious memories.    Larry

John Davies

Joggling some memories just a tiny bit....does anyone remember the timewe had an assembly and a hypnotist came to the high school gym and hypnotized several students??  Two of them stick in my mind for some reason.  The hypnotist went through his whole routine then prior to unhypnotizing everyone, he left a post-hypnotic suggestion with all the hypnotizees (is that a word?).  Anyway, one of the students I remember is Janette and he had left a suggestion for her when she was sent back to the audience, she would go halfway, then turn around and come back and straighten the hypnotizer's crooked tie.  She did it, and it was really funny.  The other one that sticks with me is a kid named Mike Dahl, who was one of the shyest quietest people in the school (he's probably CEO of some huge corporation now!).  The suggestion was for Mike when he got back to his seat in the audience, and he heard the hypnotist speak, Mike was supposed to stand up and yell "SHUT-UP".  He did it, and everyone was in stitches....even Mike didn't know why he did it.  Why do I remember this stuff, and can't remember what I had for dinner yesterday.....does anyone else have this problem?? 

Debbie Munguia (Knowles)

Happy Belated New Year to everyone.  Finally had surgery on my right foot last Thursday.  It was originally scheduled for March and September 2010 but my parents were hospitalized both months it was scheduled so I had to cancel.  My dad passed away October 28, 2010 and my mom is hanging in there.  My daughter and grandchildren are visiting from Alaska to help me out while I'm off my feet.  I need to have surgery on my left foot as well but at this point, I'm rethinking that one.

The reunion committee will be meeting soon to start planning the "60th".  The committee agreed to keep the website for another year.  We hope to start hearing from everyone...let us know what your plans are for the new year.

Keep in touch everyone!

Debbie

John Davies

Hey everyone!!  I see a whole bunch of birthdays are coming and going.  I am mystified that everyone says they are 59.....probably a misprint....we are only 39 now aren't we???  It's been awhile since I logged on to this site.  I was hoping for a few more stories from our younger days...surely there are some left to be told!!  I remember in 5th grade in Mr. Johnston's class, he took a few of the guys in class to Crystal Cave somewhere over around the Greenhorn mountain area.  I remember Larry M and I were part of it.  We rode in Mr. Johnston's Corvair Monza.  I think there were 5 of us kids.  I don't know how we all got into that "car".  We survived the trip.  And there were the purported eraser throwing incidents in Mr. O'Donnell's 7th grade science classes, although I don't actually remember seeing anything.....we must've been one of the well-behaved classes!  And Coach Dorrington smoking his pipe during PE in junior high school.  And Mr. Wipf getting mad at Tom Booth and I for putting a golf ball in the sink drain in the science lab, and then filling the sink with water.  I don't know how they ever got the ball out of that drain.  It was a perfect fit!!  All this falls under the category of good clean entertainment....doesn't it??!!  Take care everyone, and let's slow down on the birthdays just a little...I'm starting to feel old!!!

-John

Manuel Avila

Manuel

John Davies

Manuel, now that you have mentioned Kathy Bermudez, I have a Kathy Bermudez story.  When we were in 3rd grade, going to the old Catholic School over on Mill Street, there was this kid named Clinton Bates (he must've moved while we were still in elementary school, because I don't remember him after 3rd grade).  He could run like the wind.  He would challenge anyone to a race anytime, and he always won....until one day, when Kathy apparently grew tired of watching these events go on endlessly.  She stepped up to Clinton and said something like "Hey Dude, would you mind if I challenged you to a race, even though I am just a little girl!!"  Well, OK, maybe she didn't say it exactly like that!!  Anyway Clinton took her up on the challenge.  The races always started next to the sidewalk outside the classrooms, and went probably 50 yards across the playground where you had to touch a fence, then come back to the starting point.  OK, OK, I'll get to the point.....Kathy beat him by at least 2 yards!!!!!!  She was forever my "hero" after that!!!  A day that will live forever in my mind..........

Manuel Avila

Living on Acacia Ct. for awhile, I have a couple of Kathy stories but I will hold onto them for blackmail. I was talking to someone about the old days and started thinking about the families that lived in the area.  There were the Avila's, Douglas's, Bermudez's, two Vasquez families, Hawkins's, Sander's, Yearton's, Summy's, Gilliland's, Hammon's, Redelsperger's, and Melton's. Most of the kids were our age or younger. Rick Davis lived up the street but still in the neighborhood. We move later to Fir St. up by Tompkins and lived two houses from Marvin Williams. Those were good times then.

Manuel

John Davies

Manuel and Kathy.....You both make me a little homesick, even though I haven't lived there since high school.  Even though I live in Florida now, and have lived in Bakersfield and LA and Sacramento, it seems that my real heart still lives in Tehachapi.  I lived on Valley Blvd, and hung around A street with the Anthony's, McLaughlin's, Johnson's, Carter's, Sausman's, Johnston's, Ganzfried's, Ramos's, Davis's and probably others.  I guess I would cringe to know who is no longer with us, but I still smile when I think of the comraderie and closeness of all those families and all those kids.  What an awesome experience that was.  Am I getting old when I start thinking like this???  Well, no matter, it was great and I still enjoy thinking back on those days.  I did have a great time last year driving around town when we were there for the reunion and reminiscing about those times.  Many things have changed, but many things are still pretty much as they were.  I did see a couple of gray-headed people that looked a lot like some kids I knew back in the 60's!!!  Imagine that!!  Anyway, thanks for the the thoughts that joggled my last few good brain cells and brought back some great memories.  Take care.....

Tom Thompson

Regarding Nelson Rowlett, even though my family moved to Inyokern after 6th grade, we used to visit several times a year. I remember Nelson, his wife Pauline and their daughter Trudy because I lived across the street from them in the Ashe Tract on Brett Street. Althought I haven't notice too many names from the Ashe Tract, I know they are out there somewhere. Anyway, thanks for the sparking of a memory from not so long ago.

John Davies

I would be very happy to attend the 60th birthday reunion.....come and get me!  I'll be the old guy sitting on the park bench feeding the pigeons!!  Manuel, you mentioned the Desert Inyo League.  I heard it has changed a lot since we were in school.  I still remember (I think!) the teams were Tehachapi, Mojave, Paraclete, Boron, Desert, Rosamond, Bishop, Lone Pine, Kern Valley and Trona.  Were there others?  Do you remember the baseball and football fields at Trona were 100% sand?  There are probably laws against that sort of thing nowadays, huh?  We did have it pretty tough, I mean, with the deal of having to walk 7 miles to school, uphill, in the snow, and then do the same thing in the afternoon, and the trip was still uphill!!  Yeah, those were real kids in those days, not these little computer game footballers of today  Well, at least that's our story, right!!??

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New Year.  It's 2012!!!  The last thing I remember was 1968, sitting in Mrs. Christiansen's German class next to Chris Cote and Rick Davis.  "Wie gehts?  Was ist den los?"  Where did all those years go???  Wow!!  Well, anyway, good health and happiness to everyone and hope to see you all this summer.....John

Kathy Bermudez (Forcum)

Hi everyone, I"m ready for our 60th. Happy New year and hope everyone had a good Christmas. Sorry to hear about Katie. I would of like to have seen her before she passed.  It's like we're here one day and gone tomorrow. It's sad and  I want you to know I love you all. I'm glad that we got to share our childhood together and a chance to see each other grow.  Well , enough of that . To many great day ahead 60 to 70.    Love you all     Kathy

DeAnna Gassaway (Brooks)

Happy belated New Year!

I have enjoyed finally taking a little time off here in Arizona and have so enjoyed looking at everybody's pictures and messages. I feel so sad about the classmates that have died... Katie especially hit my heart!!! She was the first one I met when my mom moved back to Tehachapi and married her high school sweetheart. I was around 4 years old and my sister Suzie was 2.

I plan on attending our 60th birthday bash if it is still on. Let me know if I can do anything to help with graphics, etc.

My two grandsons, Eljah and Tobias are excited they are going to have a baby sister in March named Taleah.

I am heading back to Newport Beach and hopefully I won't be such a work-a-holic anymore.

Love you all and can't wait to catch up!

DeAnna

John Davies

It is so sad to hear of Katie's passing.  Yolanda, that was a beautiful message you left on her memoriam.  Yes, it seemed like a standard phrase "Katie and Yolanda".  There was definitely a special bond there, like sisters.  I remember when I was in first grade and I was not able to make the swing go back and forth.  Katie showed me how to make it happen.  She was my dance partner in 3rd grade in Mrs. McElrath's class....although I apparently didn't retain much as far as dancing goes!  Yes, Katie was intertwined in all of our lives for so many years.....lucky for us!!  Yes, life will go on, but there is a piece that will be forever missing.  Katie, if you can somehow see and hear us, thank you for the wonder and blessings you brought to all of us!!

John Davies

I'm not sure if anyone reads these messages any more, but just in case someone is out there, I wanted to say that my wife (Pam) and I had a great time at the 60th birthday party.  It was great to see everyone again.  Thank you so much to Janette and Kent for (once again) allowing us to meet at their house.  And even though Pam and I missed the Friday night gathering at Debbie and Dan's house, many thanks to them also for the use of their home.  Thanks to the reunion committee for doing another fantastic job....Larry, good steak too!!!

I was sitting there at the party just kind of absorbing everything, and the thought struck me that this was/is a pretty amazing group of people who have gone out into this world after high school.  And over the last 40+ years, each person in his/her own unique way has made a difference, doing awesome things with special skills and talents to make a positive impact in this world.  And virtually every one of us has created a new generation of people (our kids!) who are also making an impact......and who are in the process of pushing us all aside so they can take over!!!!!!  We never thought that far ahead to see that one coming, did we???!!!!  Yes, I know I am wandering around, but I am old and can't help myself.  Anyway, I am honored to be part of a great group of people who have done many great things, and are still doing them.  We can all hold our heads high and say "We done good".....whoops, don't tell Miss Bagwell.......We did good, ok?!!!  Thank you all for being such great people.  I eagerly await our next reunion!!!!

Janette Sanders (Ashworth)

John Davies

Manuel, Janette, Everyone.......So sorry to hear about Marlynne.  She was a great person with a great family.  Sometimes words just can't express our feelings at a time like this.  This is supposed to be a happy time of the year.  Marlynne would tell us we must carry on.  In her honor, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year in 2013......John

Manuel Avila

The passing year has seen class members become part of the 50++ somethings. I for one am grateful for the chance to celebrate yet another Birthday. When celebrating my "Day", I also remember those who have passed. In this way I keep their memories alive. Actually, I think of them all during the year.

Yes, I complain about the aches and pains of the advancing years. Some of the aches and pains are from old sports injuries. My brother asked me once if I would play sports in school knowing I would feel the way I do now. I thought for a moment and said "yes." I had fun participating in sports. It was through sports I made and kept friendships, first in Tehachapi then later in Paraclete. Of course most of my fondest memories are in Tehachapi.

I have been able to keep other friendships alive with classmates and this is good. I am not one to get out and socialize. Because of this I do not make new friends. And I get worse as I get older!

Celebrate Life!

Manuel Avila

Happy Birthday to Paul Moore and Steve Helms! Roger Longcrier, yours is in a few days so Happy Birthday to you too. I hope this post finds Paul and Steve in reasonably good health. I see Roger around and he is looking good as is his lovely wife, Debbie.

I take these Birthday notices to reminisce about my life. I think, I may not be where I thought I might be at this point in my life but I sure am doing a lot better than most people thought I would be!

Happy Birthday all!!

Manuel

Steve Helms

Thank you all for the Birthday wishes , ya know now days its just another day... 

Went on a nice ride the weather was great...

Family & a few Friends for a Birthday BBQ... Life is good ..

Hope you are all well and living life to its fullest ... 

Thanks Again 

Steve Helms

John Davies

Manuel,

You are almost a one-man band on this message forum!!!  I haven't been on it for awhile, but maybe we can get some interest among all our classmates again in talking about the good old days......or these days too!!  I remember Bob Warner (happy belated birthday Bob!!) had an uncle and aunt that lived just around the corner from us on Curry street, between A street and Valley Blvd.  Wayne Warner had told all the young kids on the block that he was going to build a big boat and sail it to China, and take all the kids with him.  He had all the young kids believing it for awhile.  His wife, Bob's aunt, Barbara was a great lady.  She assisted in the cafeteria and study halls in high school and always seemed to be somewhere helping out when it was needed.  Their daughter Cheryl (Sheryl?) eventually married Coach Humpert in the late 60's.  Those people were all some great people, as were Bob's mom and dad, Jerome and Laura, who both put up with me in cub scouts and boy scouts, among other things.  Ahhh, those were the days.....

And to take your advice Manuel, I did tip a few in honor of Bob's birthday and many other reasons I invented recently.  I tipped one of them to the entire class of '70, a great group of people too!!  I hope everyone is reasonably healthy and totally happy.  Take care everyone!!!

John