Reminder that the monthly, 4th Monday GHS ’70 Luncheon is right around the corner, noon August 27 at Auburn’s Peking Buffet (@Grandstaff&SR8, 260.925.2746). Put this on your calendar now, and while you’re at it, fill out the year’s remaining 4th Monday dates.July’s luncheon saw Gery Barry, Mike Rhodes, Tom Refner, and myself. In addition to Mike Rhodes and myself, June saw Dave Ashenfelter, Bob Bishop, Jim Burns, and Kathy VanAllen as well. Hope to see even more new old faces this time, all are welcome, and all there in prior months agreed it is worthwhile in any case – we all had a good time.
The annual Garrett Alumni Days were July 20-21. This scene is from the “historic walk around town,” and those who haven’t been to Garrett lately can see there have been some changes.
Most of the participants here though are the very old-timers – that generation that made much of Garrett the place many of us remember.
Mike Rhodes, however, serves as the Alumni Association’s secretary, one of the very few “youngsters” on its board - thank you Mike. I hope more will find some way to keep the community spirit alive.
Above you see Mike at the July 20, 2012 Annual Walk Around Town, as participants begin to assemble in the parking lot beside the library.
On the other hand, there have been some really significant community developments in recent times, and Garrett may be more dynamic than many may realize. Upcoming GHS ’70 bulletins will highlight the impressive Community Center (2005), the Garrett Museum of Art (2008), and more. I’ve taken some photos and would like to take more, so if you are aware of any noteworthy developments, please let me know what’s going on – send info and even your own photos. I live west of Fremont, and don’t begin to see all of what is happening there in town.
This July 20 photo shows the old high school coming down, and the new school rising in the background (bright blue roof on far right). The old school’s first graduating class was that of 1922, so it was 110 years old at the end of its last year. Ours was its 48th graduating class, and it seemed old even then, in comparison to the 30-some year newer J E Ober Elementary school.
People
Tom Refner made it to the luncheon, having just returned from a few weeks helping his daughter move from the University of Oregon in Eugene, where she completed a masters degree, to Moses Lake, WA, 90 minutes SE of Spokane, for her first job as a speech and language pathologist, with a certificate in Gerontology. Sounds like a promising career, and Tom and his wife are rightly proud.
Garrett’s July 4 celebration always features an old-car Cruise-In. Bob Bishop, Ron Gall, and John Jinnings were there that day with their cars, though the photos here were taken elsewhere.
This is Bob’s a 1965 Chevrolet Chevy II Nova. In his own words: It has been modified for street and drag strip use. It has a 355 cubic inch engine producing 400 horse power. All the engine machine work was done at CJ Racing in Auburn. My brothers Jim and Tom helped me with the assembly of the engine and other components using their life long experience and love of old cars. A super T10 Borg Warner 4 speed manual transmission. Front disc brakes. A narrowed Ford 9" rear end with a 4:11 gear ratio. Tubbed to allow room for a set of Nitto drag radials. An eight point roll cage for safety. Interior, engine compartment, and trunk look as good as the exterior. Hope you like it.
Yessiree Bob - in Facebook’s parlance, many of us will indeed “click on like” for that.
And click on like as well for Ron Gall’s red 1968 American Motors A M X, which I saw there in Garrett along with Bob’s, and also a month later at an American Legion August Cruise-In.John Jinnings was there on July 4th as well with a car. We talked some, always interesting, but I don’t remember the automotive details and John didn’t send a photo. Still, it was good to see John back in Garrett for the day.
These cars are always fun to see, especially those owned, rebuilt, restored, etc by people we knew back in the day, and I’ve often thought “Can you imagine how cool we’d all have been, had back then we had the cars we have today?” Not that my near-12 year old Chevy is anything special at all today, but many of the features we take for granted now (so much so that you may not even realize you have them) simply weren’t to be had in cars 40-45 years ago. So I tell my wife and grandkids how cool I am today for having a 2001 Impala, but I can tell they still don’t quite get it.
Teresa Koehl Thorne conducted a day-long, July 14th yoga workshop at Pokagon State Park, with continuing and new students. Teresa began studying yoga almost 30 years ago, long before it became so popular; she practices and teaches traditional Hatha Yoga. The workshop was a success, and she plans to do it again next year.
Mary Kay Yoder Weaks, who currently lives in Connecticut, spent the first two August weeks at her place on Lake Gage. She and Barbara Tustison Smith, Linda McDaniel DePew, Paula Johnston Fike, and Teresa Koehl Thorne spent some time together in Garrett, including lunch at Shorty’s Steakhouse (one of Garrett’s more recent successes, many drive here from Fort Wayne and the surrounding area, 2012 is its 6th year).
The bar you see here is the original, fabulous really – so happy it’s still there …
And happy for its current success, so don’t let my nostalgia give you the wrong impression – the bar is great, but it is definitely the food that drives Shorty’s success these days.
On a more somber note, Richard (Dick) Hyde died on August 15 at his home. I don’t know the details of his illness, but he had been sick for a long while. Actually, these 4th Monday class luncheons were inspired by a well-attended an April 23 luncheon organized by Hal Hippensteel for Dick and for Steve Tullis (who has colon cancer, but is relatively well at this time). Unfortunately, Dick was too ill to attend the April luncheon. His obituary can be viewed at http://www.thomasfuneralhome.org/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1560992&fh_id=11057.
Finally, since sending the last newsletter, several additional classmates have requested or otherwise been added to the email distribution : Pat Casey, Doug Smith, Barbara Tustison Smith, John Jinnings, Ron Gall, Carolyn Myers Kowal, Rick Elder, Doris Sleek Jarnagin, and Tony Janueski. It’s really nice having you all here with us, even if the gathering is in Cyberspace.
In Closing
That’s just about all for now, except please help spread the word: share this email and help get other classmates “signed up.” Anyone wanting to be added directly to the distribution need only email or call me (630.251.6931), and I will add them. And please share the info with classmates not using email.
If you want to share class news, a photo, etc, just send it electronically to me (along with descriptive text and your phone #). The idea is to make these bulletins interesting whether or not you want to or are able to attend the luncheons.
We all grew up together in the Sixties, and now that we have arrived in our 60s, maybe it is time we got to know each other better!
Presently the direct email electronic distribution includes 32 classmates, but so far only six have elected for their email address to be shown (in alphabetical order):
Bob Bishop, Carolyn Myers Kowal, Delana Runion Kantzer, Don Campbell, Teresa Koehl Thorne, Vicki Miller Hodge
The others listed below are on the email distribution list as well, but email addresses are hidden per the Bcc option:
Arni Placencia, Barbara Tustison Smith, Cindy Nodine DeWitt, Dan Yarde, Dave Ashenfelter, Dave Kobiella, Doris Sleek Jarnagin, Doug Smith, Gary Fike, Gery Barry, Jack Clark, Jama Payton Campbell, Jeanne Hockaday McNeal, Jim Burns, John Jinnings, Kathy Creager VanAllen, Marisa Kennedy, Mary Yoder Weaks, Mike Rhodes, Pat Casey, Paulette Swank Kobiella, Penny Evans Wolf, Rick Elder, Ron Gall, Sarah Haynes Sweitzer, Steve Tullis, Tony Janueski
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