Message Forum

I wanted to get in a quick blurb in the web site before I go to up into the mountains for the month of October. Reading John's message reminded me about Barbara and Cheryl. I too remember Barbara helping out at school and I always thought she was a very nice and "classy" lady. For young kids, our Coach Humpert marrying Cheryl was a big thing! Coach Humpert passed away a couple of years ago and I was sad to hear of his passing. I always respected him and had fun being around him. I thought he was a great Coach. I always had fun playing sports, and for that matter going to school in general in Tehachapi. Our Coaches did things to us and called us names that would get them fired now. But we never, or at least I never, took it to heart because they said it to everyone. I know there are some classmates and schoolmates who do not feel the same as I. I understand. I wish I knew then what I know now. I do not think I was a mean person in school but I know I could have been a more positive influence to the people I was around and knew. Knowing that, I try to be as helpful as I can to people around me now. Maybe you classmates can let me know your thoughts on my comments.

"Talk" you when I get back. Manuel

09/18/13 10:18 AM

#32

Like everyone else I have not been on the website for a while. I am trying to make it a goal to try to do something to the site to bring people back. I know the site needs some sprucing up and new ideas and if anyone has some suggestions let me know?

Reminising is a good way for people to connect and I'm glad John and Manuel have started this forum. Way to go guys!

We always walked past the Warner's house on Curry when we would meet Katie "half way". That is what we always said when Katie was either coming up to "Acacia-Black Oak" Streets or we were going to "B" Street. We'll meet you "half-way". I don't know if our parents knew we were meeting half way but it doesn't matter as long as we were home before lunch time or dinner time.

I was just at a party with my husband's classmates from Rosamond and they said that the one thing you knew when you were going to play in Tehachapi is that it was going to be cold and that you were probably going to lose. Not only did we have great teams but also great coaches like Jerry Humpert and Coach Carll. I was just reading a book about people who inspire you and Coach Carll was one of those names that popped into my head. Another person for me was one of the school secretaries, Ruthe Peterson. She was tough but she taught me alot about ettiquette in life. Of course we also had some teachers that were just plain fun like Coach Ganz! He was always ready to tell a story about his boxing days. He also took us on some pretty crazy school trips. I can't believe he let us loose on Sunset Blvd on our trip to the Mission!! We sure did learn a lot on that trip.

Like Manuel I was one of the fortunate ones that loved living and going to school in Tehachapi. I have very fond memories of growing up in Tehachapi. Great friends, family and a great period in time to be a kid!

Manuel have a great time in the mountains and be safe. And John, I love that you are finding reasons to keep tipping them back! Happy Belated Birthday to all the classmates I missed in the last few months!

09/23/13 08:41 AM

#33

Manuel, you mentioned something about wishing you more caring or whatever in high school. From my point of view, you were one of the most respected students in the school....and so was Yolanda for that matter!!! You were two of the best!! (The whole reunion committee could be included in that group as well....and many others too!). Remembering great people in Tehachapi, I remember Lou Yeager (Bart and Jackie's Mom) who owned Yeager's Department Store, located between the old Post Office and Squire's Drug Store (Later to be owned by JB Edmiston, Dave's Dad, another great individual). Lou later married Bill Mantoth, Chief of Police, who died in the line of duty in the late '60's. He was a great individual. His yellow Willy's jeep was named "Old Yeller". And there was Fire Chief Tony Anthony and his wife Beth.....two awesome people!!! (I hope they are still alive!) And there was Mrs. Eisenman the librarian when we were in grade school, and her husband Walt. (Remember when the whole elementary school class would walk down the street to the library every week?) And there was Bill Robison Sr., who drove old bus #9. Some of us must've traveled a "million miles" on that bus with him. He was a great man. And there was Mr. O'Donnell, and Mrs. Spacke, and Coaches Carll, Humpert, Oglivie, Dorrington, Uhl.....and, and, and.......oh man I am out of breath!!! There are too many great people who made big impacts on our early lives. We could all name so many people who taught us and kept us on the straight and narrow........

Manuel, I hope you had a great time in the mountains, and Yolanda keep up the good work keeping those Rosamond guys in their place (Ha Ha!). Go Warriors!!! Hope to hear from some of the rest of the '70-gang soon. Until then take care everyone!!....John

11/19/13 07:17 AM

#34

I know you are all worried because you have not heard from me since before I went into the mountains. I found my way home despite having almost running out of beer! It was touch and go there for awhile. Poor planning on my part!

I noted we have two new Profiles in the website and would like to welcome them, Susan Smith and Ray Koehler. I for one like to hear about classmates and what they are doing. Might be because I have no life.

Love hearing from John Davies on the other Coast. He gives me insight into the class when it was MUCH younger and from a different perspective than say the female population of the Class or other individuals. Remember, I came to Tehachapi in the 7th grade and left at the end of Junior year. (No dates, read profile.) But I still have my memories of Tehachapi and did move back in 1988.

Now, we do have a couple of Birthdays before the end of the year, Debbie White (Taylor) and Marvin Williams. Are these the "babies" of the Class? It seems Dae, Larry and yours truly are the "Old Men" of the class. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Debbie and Marvin!! John and Yolanda, do not worry, I stocked up when I got home to be able to celebrate these Birthdays.

And speaking of Marvin. Larry, Dae and I spent some time with him when he came into town last Summer. We had a good time talking and remembering. It was good to get together. Also spent a couple of days with Kathy Bermudez (Forcum) and her husband Steve in Visalia with Debbie Knowles (Mungia) and her husband Dan. It was a great time. Kathy has not changed and Steve is a good influence on her. And if you remember Kathy at all, you will realize he must be a saint!

The rest of you can jump in and remember any time and it would be good to hear from you.

Manuel

12/21/13 09:23 AM

#35

Manuel....It's good to see you made it back to civilization before the liquid supplies ran out!! Dehydration can be a brutal thing as you know....hahaha!! And yes, I continue to celebrate all class of '70 birthdays with a toast of an adult beverage every Friday night to properly honor each and every student in our class. It's the right thing to do....well at least that's my excuse!! Well Manuel and everyone in our class, another year has somehow slipped away....they are going a little too fast. But I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest and Healthiest of New Years in 2014. My gosh that means it was 44 years ago that we graduated!! Is that possible? Well, the good news is that one more year and we can do another reunion. I hope everyone is well and maybe a note or two from everyone at Christmas would be great. Manuel and I are lonely....nobody will talk to us....please, please respond somehow. We will be forever enlightened and appreciative. Please everyone take care...John

12/24/13 12:54 PM

#36

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL THE CLASS OF 1970! John and Manuel I would like to thank you for keeping this website going with your monthly-quarterly-yearly postings. I do miss all of you and like John feel life is going too fast. I know there have been updates to our website from the company that hosts our site and I promise to go in and take a look and try to update everyone else.

Enjoy your holidays and travel safely!

Love you all - Yolanda

02/17/14 08:09 AM

#37

This website must have been broken because nobody is writing. Happy New Year to everyone! I hope all is well with everyone. Happy Birthday Jim Wright. I still remember your parents, Clyde and Juanita....awesome people! We played Little League baseball together back in the early-mid 60's (is that possible?). Tom Booth and Bob Warner were on that team too, if my faded memory is correct. You worked at Uptown Market and I covered for you one summer when you went on vacation with your parents. Janette's Mom worked at that market too....sweet Lady! Does anyone remember when we got glass backboards for basketball in the gymnasium when we were freshmen or sophomores? That was a big "high-tech" event in those days....and then Mustangs and Camaros.....whoops there I go again with all the oldie stuff. Well anyway, I just wanted to say HELLO to the gang. I hope life is treating everyone reasonably well. Take care....John

02/20/14 09:46 AM

#38

I agree with John about the website. However, to be fair John, I think most of the members do not have the "Notify Me" boxes checked in the Members Function bar on the right. Not all the boxes have to be checked but a few of the main ones would help. We can still be talking to each other though! Maybe Yolanda knows how to send a mesage to all the classmates who are still on and advise them. Yolanda, you can tranlate this request to ,"I am too lazy to tr and find out how to do it!" But I will give it a shot if need be. Let us see who responds to this!

Manuel

03/07/14 07:55 AM

#39

I see where DeAnna Gassaway (Brooks) and Dave Edmiston are celebrating another milestone. Congratulations and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Others in our class have celebrated birthdays but have done so quietly. I am guilty of doing so. I might have told others if I had remembered in time but short term memory is sporadic at best. But I do have somewhat great long term memory. Once in awhile I remember something from school but by the time I get to the computer to tell anyone, I forgot what I remembered!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all those silent classmates too.

03/25/14 08:14 AM

#40

My computer has advised me John Marin and Sally Warfield will and have had Birthdays. Happy Birthday to you all and I hope many more will be celebrated by you two. I also see Sheila McTyre (Williams) has entered her profile into the website. I am glad to hear from you Shiela. Hope to hear from more of you on the Message Forum tab in the future.

03/31/14 06:59 AM

#41

Manuel, as always, you are carrying the load on this forum. Thanks for holding it together for the rest of us! Maybe it's just me, but does it seem like the birthdays are coming faster and faster these days?? Happy Birthday to everyone.....go slow on these things please!! March madness is alive and well.....go Gators!!! Baseball season is underway...go Rays!! Winter is officially over, thankfully. It was a cold one for sure....we had several days here in Florida that were in the 40's and 50's....brutal, I tell you, just brutal!!! OK, so much for my cold comments. I hope everyone is well and would love to get some of the 70's gang to chime in with some interesting thoughts from life nowadays or even the previous century when we were more "youthful".....John

03/31/14 08:12 AM

#42

Well John, WE are the "Chatty Cathies) (?) of the website. Maybe when people get tired of reading my non sensical information, they will contribute. Let us hope so. You are correct about birthdays coming fast and furious lately. Seems we have John Marin, Frank Bachara, Kathy Bermudez (Forcum) and Shirley McCain (Nelson) to add to the 60 something club. I for one think it is a good club of which to belong. I will add that with the celebration of birthdays, we should celebrate the memories of classmates no longer with us.

Tehachapi has not had the Winter weather we experienced when we were in school. It seems more mild and less snow involved. There are more "snow days" in which the school kids do not have to go to school but I think it is because we now have the communities of Bear Valley and Stallion Springs. They are farther out and the school district does not, rightfully so, want to take the chance of a school bus being involved in an accident on the road. When most everyone lived in town, that was not a problem. Not sure what the kids in Cameron Canyon and Cummings Valley did.

04/04/14 06:23 PM

#43

Kathy Bermudez (Forcum)

Hi everyone, thank you for the happy birthday. Manuel and John thanks for keeping the message forum going. Miss everyone and I' ll try to keep in touch more. Love you guys

05/20/14 09:16 AM

#44

Happy BDay Vrylanne! Classmates are slowly becoming "age equal." Have I missed any new converts lately? Hope all is going well the classmates, especially the BDay girl. I had to deal with an age issue this year. The knee I had reconstructed 40+ years ago gave out. I had it replaced with a "new" one. The Dr. said this replacement would last 30 years. So much for technological advances! I told the Dr. the new knee might have to be replaced when I get into "middle age!" I will have to wait and see what happens.

05/21/14 09:04 AM

#45

Happy Birthday to Vyrlanne and Kathy and all the others I have missed the last few months. Manuel, I guess we can enter you in the "Dancing With the Stars" competition, now that your knee is 100%!!! No doubt you'll need another replacement when you reach middle age in 30 years or so. My brother-in-law just took a trip from his house in Fresno, around through Tehachapi and up the east side of the Sierras to Bishop, then cut back across on Tioga Pass into Yosemite and back home again. I miss that awesome country....Florida just doesn't measure up in that regard. But it is warm here in January, so I should be happy, especially now that I am so old and get cold too easily!!! Anyway, I hope all is well with the '70 gang. Take care all, and be healthy!!!

05/22/14 06:55 AM

#46

I received a really interesting email concerning the Vietnam Wall and the names of the people on it. It is worth logging in to see it. The address is http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm and once you get into it, click on the state, then go to Tehachapi and it will list 4 guys. You can click on each name and see all their information. All the names are familiar and obviously from the era when we all went to high school. It is nice to remember these guys who gave everything they had for this country. My hat is off to them and their families.

05/23/14 07:03 PM

#47

John and the rest of the Class,

I am familiar with the virtual wall and have gone into it a few times. I know which names you are talking about and I think of them once in awhile. I think we should also think about the classmates and school mates who also served in Vietnam and the other localities they might have been stationed. I never served and I respect those who did. Someone had to do it and they did. Most came back and for that I am thankful. I have other older friends who served in Vietnam and it is only in the last few years they talk anything about some of their experiences there. For most who survived, it was not a good experience. War never is.

06/03/14 05:53 AM

#48

This very short video will probably remind everyone of high school days. It is

and will bring a smile to your face. Being the dinosaur that I am, I still think back to counting with popsicle sticks in the first grade, or making a clock with a paper plate to learn how to tell time, or walking into a store with a dollar (didn't happen often) and walking out with an armload of goodies, and enjoying the three channels we had on our black and white TV. Now I sit with the remote control and go through 500 channels and can't find anything worth watching.....well, occasionally Duck Dynasty is on, but that's about it!!! Yes, I am rambling and it's time to go back to my cage, but just wanted to say HELLO to the 70-gang and hope everyone is doing well. Take care....John

06/08/14 06:42 AM

#49

Two new inductees to the elite Class of 70, Rick Davis and Yolanda Vasquez-Gum. I hope your celebrations of your Life Day were long and joyous. You two must have still been wearing diapers when you started school! Just kidding. Happy Birthday to both of you.

John, and the rest of the class, I too remember parts of my learning experiences in school. Sometimes they come at the oddest times though! Remembering is good. That was a good video, John. Kids today will not experience the "joy" of handling many of the mechanical objects that enhanced our lives. Todays kids can make me look silly with what they can do with all the electronic devices available today. But I can more than hold my own with fixing things around the house or messing around the car. Like John said, time to quit rambling and get back to my rocker.

06/12/14 03:19 PM

#50

Hi Everyone! Just wanted you to know that we recevied an email from Brenda Kirkbride Bennett. It was sent to our Class of 70 email. I asked her if I could post it and here it is. Thought there might be some of you that might want to contact her and say "Hi" :

From: Brenda Bennett <bartendersmiles2@gmail.com>
Date: June 6, 2014 at 10:21:55 PM PDT

Subject: Re: Class of 1970 Website

Hi Yolanda!!!!! Thank you so much for responding. Those times were (and still are memories that make me smile.) Hope you and your family are doing goid honey. Mom, whi is now 86 years old is as stubborn as ever. I came to Visalia a year ago to be close and help her. ( on occasion we do get along. *smiles* Daddy passed away going on 2 years ago and hr was 2 years okder than Mom. The disease of Alzheimers is a horrible thing Yolanda. I am still having a hard time as I was always my Dad's girl. Rod stayed in LA after his Jr College in Bakersfield. He went to Irvine and is a big type boss for a huge shipping company and works in Long Beach. He owns a home in Rowland Heights, California and is single still even though he has had the same girl for about 23 years. My daughter, Shannon, has 5 kids...thr youngest is 14 and the oldest is 21 and just had a baby girl. I am single and have been most of my life and don't have any plans to be married. BF's aren' an option either lol...seriously. Will be back in C.O.S.here in Visalia for the fall semester.
Thanks so much again Yolanda, Brenda Kirkbride
P.S. I can still see you dancing at the football games...you were great! Take care and God bless.♥

Hello Brenda:

Thank you for sending your email inquiring about your friends in the class of 1970. If it's okay with you I would like to post your email on our site so that the people in our class could contact you. I know that Manuel Avila, John Davies, Rick Davis, Janette Sanders Jenning, Kathy Bermudez Focum, Debbie Munguia Knowles are just a few of the people that are on our site. It was great hearing from you.

Yolanda Vasquez Gum

06/20/14 07:25 AM

#51

Glad to hear from Yolanda and from Brenda Kirkbride too. Now to John Davies and his BDay. Were you still wearing diapers when you started school!? I thought Rick and Yolanda were young! Makes Larry, Dae and me feel like old men. Oh! We are! Anyway, Happy Birthday to John!! May we ALL have many more.

Heard from Connie Carter-Brown and she said the Class of 1969 is having their Reunion this year during the Festival and it is more of a "if you are in town" attend affair. Do not know how that will work out. At least they do not have to plan for a place or food to eat. Everything will be at the park. I did advise her there is no open alcohol in the park unless it is in the "Beer Garden." Those of you who get this post let the committee know of ANY ideas you have for our 45th next year.

Hope all of you are doing well. Feel free to jump into the Forum any time.

Manuel

06/21/14 01:28 PM

#52

Debbie Munguia (Knowles)

Hello everyone and happy birthday to all who have had a birthday or has one coming up. Wow...62 and eligible for social security for those of us who have retired. Where have the years gone? Are we really that old??? We're thankful we made it this far and in good health. Well, enough about age.

I agree with Manuel, if anyone has any ideas about the 45th reunion, please contact the reunion committee or post your suggestions on the Message Forum. We're looking forward to seeing everyone next year. Bob Warner are you reading this? Hopefully we'll have a date set by the end of the year or in January of next year so everyone can make arrangements to attend.

Keep in touch everyone!

07/10/14 10:00 AM

#53

Just received another email from Brenda Kirkbride saying that she now has another email account and she would like to hear from everyone that she can. Her new email is bkzebra2@gmail.com She is especially trying to contact Frances Haubrich.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Yolanda

07/27/14 07:09 PM

#54

Hard to believe Larry finally turned 62! How do you feel now old man? The aches and pains just keep rolling in and accumulating. I hope you had a good day and a memorable celebration on your special day. May they keep on rolling by. Manuel

08/13/14 07:24 AM

#55