October 29, 2018

Steve Burns

Steve Burns

STEVE BURNS does some acting work when and where he can. He writes that his greatest accomplishment since high school has been in academia, where he did well and has done well since. He became a lawyer then lost his license to practice in 2010. He says, “Ashamed of myself for that but trying to get my license back. Nil desperandum. Have to be honest here because what is the point otherwise! Otherwise my life has been a matter of good and bad fortune, but in the main I am largely responsible for all that I have done and not done. The details are too nasty, or even worse, tedious and boring, to write about here.

“I can honestly say however that I am lucky and blessed to have good family and friends who seem to like me despite all my failures, and I include therein all my fellow graduates from and at the 50th Reunion, which was just fantastic.”
“Most all of going to BHS for three years, including summers before and between school, were pretty good.”

Steve Burns selfie

Steve at the Reunion.

“Thanks for a great 50th Reunion party.”

Posted by on October 29, 2018 in Burbank High School and tagged .

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October 24, 2018

Michael Katzman

Mike Katzman, 1968

Mike Katzman, 1968

About Michael Katzman, creator of the Reunion video:

In April of 2018, Kathy Au Crosier contacted Michael to create some kind of presentation for the upcoming 50th reunion. Michael volunteered to create a video which he only described as a nostalgic re-imagining of the fifty year-old Ceralbus yearbook.

About three weeks later, Michael submitted a sample to the 1968 Alumni Committee. Work proceeded almost up to the day of the event on October 6, 2018. The work involved scanning, colorizing, building the animation pieces, 3D rendering, and sound editing. Michael used Adobe Creative Suite (CS5) for most of the work.

Michael has worked with digital graphics since 1989, taught introduction to animation and gaming, and when not teaching high school English, taught video and theater production. His current long term video project is digitizing and editing 25 years of VHS tape from Lincoln and Bravo high school.

And his third novel, Forever My Teacher, will be available on Amazon December 2018.

 

Mike Katzman, 2018

Posted by on October 24, 2018 in Burbank High School and tagged .

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October 24, 2018

A picture is worth a thousand words!

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And do we have pictures! The photos above are just a samplling of the nearly 200 in the Memory Book, a perfect souvenir of our 50th Class Reunion weekend, October 5-7, 2018. If you were not able to attend any of the reunion events, we would strongly urge you to consider purchasing a Memory Book—so you can relive all the excitement, fun and joy that we experienced in reconnecting with our classmates. Or, even if you were there, it was impossible to talk and see everyone, so here’s another chance to see who you missed.

We will only take orders for Memory Books until October 31, 2018 when we have to send in our order to the print shop. Naturally we don’t want to order more than we need to, and John and Donna Canzoneri Wray don’t want the books to accumulate dust in their garage!

Order your Memory Book here. We made the price affordable so that there’s no reason not to have one. The price is only $10 and includes shipping.

Check out this list to see if you have already purchased a book. If you have paid and don’t see your name, please email Kathy Au Crosier right away.

And … (drum roll, please)

In response to many, MANY requests, Michael Katzman’s fantastic video is now available for download! I dare say that the showing of the Reunion Video was *THE* highlight of the evening of October 6th! We all owe Mike a huge debt of gratitude for the several hundred hours he spent on this project— a compilation of ’60s music, nostalgia photos of Burbank, and yearbook photos sure to make you laugh, cry and remember the good ol’ days!

You can click the photo of Burbank High below to download and play the video. NOTE: It will play back smoother and faster if you download the video to your phone or computer first.

Remember that this blog will be ongoing, and it’s not too late to fill out the Reunion Questionnaire! Rick Nyberg just did and you can see his contribution here. Some people have just written short answers and others have written entire treatises—it’s your choice. To see a list of all people who have responded to the Questionnaire, you can click here.

 

Posted by on October 24, 2018 in Burbank High School.

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October 23, 2018

Rick Nyberg

Rick Nyberg

RICK NYBERG met his wife Joyce Hawkins in 1969 in an English class in college, making for almost a 50 year relationship and a 47 year marriage. They have two sons.

“I would love to report in on a gaggle of grandchildren, but our two sons are not cooperating in the matter. I have begged them to consider not waiting till I am too old to take grandkids backpacking. But to no avail. Joyce and I are thinking about becoming foster grandparents. Our eldest son, Justin, is a Princeton educated writer and outdoorsman. He wrote for Outside Magazine for a decade. Once he realized that he wanted to get married and buy a home he became an attorney. He lives with his attorney wife in Colorado. He has accumulated more adventure travel in his pushing 40 years than most all of us have in a lifetime—combined. Our younger son, Morgan, is a police officer in a tough municipality of Southern California. Despite having a MA from USC, he loves serving the community from the street perspective. And, while he asks us to be discrete about details about his work, suffice it to say he is one of those very good guys that runs selflessly towards dangerous situations that the rest of us run from.”

Their beloved Golden Retriever, Cyrus joined the family for nearly 15 years. “It been almost 15 years since we had to let him go, and the pain of that passing still has our kennel quiet. (Though I fell in love with a Rhodesian Ridgeback on a Paris subway a few months ago and find myself leaning in that direction.)”

Rick spent his childhood in Portland, OR, and in Burbank for high school. From there he was in California for college, Princeton, NJ for graduation school and in Irvine, CA during household years. Since retiring, he and his wife have been living in Newport Beach, CA.

About his post-high school education, Rick writes: “As undergraduates, Joyce pursued a degree in elementary school teaching, while I studied philosophy, psychology, and religion. (Clearly, she has always been the practical one in our relationship.) After one year of marriage, we headed off on a wonderful east coast adventure where I pursued master degree studies in Pastoral Counseling at Princeton Theological Seminary, and Clinical Social Work at Rutgers University. Joyce earned her “PhT”, (“put him through” graduate school) by becoming a 5th grade teacher in the Princeton area. My studies eventually lead to receiving a M.Div. and MSW degrees. We had planned to settle in some quaint New England town to establish a career and build a family, but my mother’s terminal illness had us hastily return to California in 1977. We ended up in Irvine in its hay days where I began my clinical career and Joyce and I settled into building and nurturing a family. From that point we established what came to be deeply rooted relationships in the Orange County community and have been there ever since.”

“Historically, my career revolved around providing counseling and executive coaching services that included professorships at Chapman and Concordia Universities. But I have also enjoyed other career adventures in the area of executive coaching and organizational development. With all the changes in the mental health industry in the 1980s, I became involved with side businesses that took me into a world that I would have never imagined I would venture into the world of banking. One of these career side trips did well and has freed me to pursue only the most fun aspects of my clinical/coaching profession. Chief among this is helping mid life men move “from success to significance” in their lives, which nets out to be nothing more than soul work. This time in life has also permitted me to explore other areas of personal and professional growth in the form of becoming a voluntary chaplain within local hospice services, and the mentoring of underprivileged youth via exposing them to nature and backpacking. I am told that I am retired. And my office is for the most part closed. But I seem to be busier now than ever. Given how busy I am in retirement I actually wonder just how I fit work into my schedule for all those years? My bucket list is long. It includes a couple of books that have been festering in my head for decades now, enjoying time with my wife, family, and friends, travel, and pondering such issues as to just what I plan to do when I grow up.”

Rick Nyberg at the 50th Reunion

“While enjoying a diverse and fulfilling career path in human services has been a significant accomplishment in my life, I don’t view it as my greatest. Beyond any professional achievement, I believe that my greatest accomplishment has been to raise, with my wife, two wonderful young men who have deep souls, and who are assets to the quality of our world today. No success in the world could ever be worth a failure in the home.

“Our High school years, the years 1965 through 1968, were exceptionally complex ones on the world stage. (For a great overview of this time read 1968: The Year that Rocked the World, by Mark Kurlansky.) Our world was rapidly losing its innocence—or naivete. And as we tried to negotiate the normal developmental challenges of adolescence during those tumultuous times we did so in the unfolding of a new world that previous generations never faced. For me, that complexity was amplified by the fact in 1965 was a transplant from the pastoral green of an Oregon childhood, to the gray hues of apartment life on Grismer Avenue the week that the Watts riots broke out.

And so, when I arrived in Burbank in 1965, I was one of several in our class at BHS with no historic connection to the place or to the people. It took a year or so to begin to find a sense of belonging in that community. My best memories are grounded in gratitude for those that did reach out it support of a lost kid from Oregon. Mr. Lloyd, my guidance counselor, stands at the top of a long chain of mentors who throughout my life believed in my potential in ways that I could never have imagined at the time—and nudged me towards achieving it. I recall the day when he told me that he was placing me on the “college track” —whatever that meant. Then there were the wonderful families of fellow students who welcomed me into their hearts and homes. The graciousness, support and love of the White, and the Parrish families is at the top of that list. Then there was Bill Flannigan, the youth minister from the local Presbyterian church who served the spiritual needs of the stable kids and shepherded the wayward ones alike. As for teachers Regnal Hall, and his infectious blissful love affair with music that made all within his reach make joyful noise. Some of my most rewarding times in HS were doing the musicals, madrigal choir, and finding my way into the S. California Youth Choir under Mr. Hall’s mentoring.”

 

Rick Nyberg

 

Posted by on October 23, 2018 in Burbank High School and tagged .

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October 17, 2018

Elementary School reunions

One of the most fun moments during our Class of 1968 50th Reunion was when alumni of the elementary schools posed for a picture. Since I went to Emerson, I’ll start with that photo.

Emerson

Emerson School alumni

We just got an updated picture of Mrs. Perry’s Kindergarten class at Emerson School from X-graduate Jill Gipson and I’ve stored it with the other elementary school pictures, but here it is again.

Emerson

Kindergarten, Mrs. Perry

I can spot at least three of us in this picture who came to the reunion! Myself (Kathy Au) in the far left, front row, Carole Aikin Hutcheson second row in the middle, and Bob Chamberlin, far right top row. There may be more of us—if you are in the photo above, and you also came to the reunion, please comment in the space below! The three people I identified are just the ones I could pick out right away. Just think, this kindergarten picture was taken a whopping 62 years ago!

Have fun with the kindergarten picture from Jefferson School.

Jefferson Kdgn

Mrs. Hosier’s class, Jefferson School

ThomasJefferson

Jefferson School Alumni

We don’t have any other kindergarten photos, so if you can pass them along, please send them to burbankhigh1968@gmail.com.

And all we have from Horace Mann is the 6th grade class of Miss Ambrose:

6thgradehoracemann

Hey, I think I recognize Teri Hill in the front row! Please help us identify more kids—use the comments section below. Here’s the photo of Horace Mann alumni from the reunion.

HoraceMann

Horace Mann alumni.

Here are the other school photos:

JoaquinMiller

Joaquin Miller alumni

BenFranklinJPG

Tom Bennett, Annette Dinolfo Bennett and Gene Hernandez from Ben Franklin.

BenFranklin2

More from Ben Franklin: Larry Lewis, Barbara Bautista Lear, Gene Hernandez, and Jerry Trotta.

GeorgeWashington

George Washington alumni.

Providencia

Providencia alumni.

ThomasEdison

Barbara Sebern Rowe from Thomas Edison.

MontereyAve

Ann Shamoon Chandler and Loanne Walker Ginchereaux from Monterey Avenue.

Just a reminder that it’s not too late to order a Memory Book from the 50th Class Reunion, but we will only order a limited number of books, based on pre-sales. We don’t want to fill up someone’s garage with unsold books! Memory Books should be ordered no later than October 31, 2018. The book will definitely be a special memento of the Reunion Weekend with full color photos throughout plus an alumni directory.

Reserve your Memory Book now.

Check the list of all who have reserved a Memory Book.

 

Posted by on October 17, 2018 in Burbank High School.

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October 14, 2018

Definitely a 10!

Emerson School alumni

Here are some comments from our classmates on what they thought of the Burbank High Class of 1968 reunion:

When I was asked how the reunion was, on a scale of 1-10, I said definitely it was a 10! We enjoyed every minute and want to thank the Committee for the time and effort that went into the success, from concept to completion. (Louise Good Hernandez)

Such a wonderful evening! Super fun catching up with old friends at the reunion! (Karen Parrish Rapport)

We had such a great time. Can’t wait until next time. Fun fun fun! (Carol Stephenson-Walter)

Thomas Jefferson alumni

A special thank you to you and your committee for a very lovely evening for the 1968 Class Reunion. The location was so pretty and the thoughtful details to the evening made it so much fun.  The name placards started many conversations with those we knew and those we didn’t and it was so nice to meet new interesting people that I hadn’t known in high school.  The video was so creative and the décor with the blue and white and pretty centerpieces (I won the one at our table!) added to the festive evening… Thank you again for all of your hard work.  I appreciated it so much. (Tina Anderson Hughes)

Thank you for ALL that you did for our reunion. Great time! (Debbie Myers Schmidt)

A big thanks to all the people that put the event together—it was a blast. This was my first and had a great time. Thanks again. (Fred Lee Stenson)

It was really a blast!. Thanks to all the people who came a long way to attend the reunion. and thank you to all the significant others who came too and actually seemed to be having a very good time. (Stephanie Llewellyn)

Horace Mann alumni

It was such a blast!! Thank you so much to the reunion committee for all your dedication and hard work!! It was a great turnout and an an absolute joy to see everyone…like coming home again. (Deborah Dana Richman)

It was a great night! Many thanks to Katherine Crosier and all committee members! 👏👏👍👍 (Tenny Battles Kendryna)

I’ve enjoyed all of our reunions, but this may have been the best ever! So many details that made it special.  People were remarking how much work was put into it.  (Michele Bro Paul)

Keep the pictures coming. Almost like being there. Would love to have come, just wasn’t meant to be. I may not be remembered by many of my classmates as I only spent my senior year at Burbank High. However I went to Kindergarten at Joaquin Miller with some of the same people I graduated with. My dad grew up there and my grandmother lived there all of her adult life. Burbank is very special to me. (Kathy Brake Falk)

Three Karens: Karen Parrish Rapport, Karen Watson Gillespie, Karen Walther Berg

It was THE best place to be! (Teri Hill Clark)

So much fun to see everyone tonight! Thank you for all time, resources, and love that made this reunion so special! (Merrily Thorne Prescott)

We had such a great time. Can’t wait until next time. (Carol Stephenson Walter)

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! (Debbie Myers Schmidt)

I can’t say enough great things about our 50th reunion!! We had a great time. The committee did an outstanding job and all their hard work is greatly appreciated!! Loved the Bob’s menu – nice touch! (Cathy Dibble Perfect)

Great reunion weekend!! Thanks, everybody! (Kenda Vaughan)

The Reunion Committee

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: The Memory Book is being processed. Even though my brother, Rick’80, took over 400 photos at the reunion, we may not have taken every person’s picture. Please send your best pictures to burbankhigh1968@gmail.com no later than October 15, 2018. Or, if you were not able to come to the Reunion and wish to submit a picture for the book, please send it to burbankhigh1968@gmail.com no later than October 15, 2018. 

Also, it is not too late to order a Memory Book! It’s only $10 postpaid and is full-color throughout. Order a Memory book here.

Here are some posts you may wish to view:

To dream the Impossible Dream – Sallie Shelton Thomas’s speech

We had a BLAST!

If anyone has asked – Kathy Au Crosier’s speech

The Reunion Tour of Burbank High

The final guest list

The list of those who have ordered a Memory Book.

I

Posted by on October 14, 2018 in Burbank High School.

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October 9, 2018

Cathy Dibble Perfect

Cathy Dibble

CATHY DIBBLE PERFECT met her ex-husband in 1972 and didn’t believe his last name was “Perfect.” Yeah right! “Let me see your driver’s license,” she quipped. They married, had three great kids, and pursued any number of hair-brained business ideas. She tired of that and divorced in 1995. It was amicable and they agreed to keep their children’s interests foremost in the decision-making.

“I tell people I have perfect kids and grandkids. 😂😂 As Fred Lee Stenson and I caught up with each other’s lives at the reunion, we agreed our children are our redemption! I must have done some things right; I am truly blessed to have three amazing children: Amber, born in 1975, Brooke in 1980, and John – our 1988 surprise. Amber and her daughter Caitlyn, 16, live nearby in Kern River Valley and we spend a lot of time together. Brooke and her daughter Leila, 17, and son Preston, almost 10, live in Peoria, AZ. We keep Southwest Airlines busy with frequent flights to and from Phoenix. John and my youngest granddaughter Sydney, who turns 3 on New Year’s Eve, live in Stafford, VA, just south of Washington D.C. With that many miles between us, we don’t visit as often as this grandma would like; however, they fly to California as often as possible and it’s given me the opportunity to visit our nation’s capitol.”

Cathy is a cat person and has rescued and been adopted by many felines. Most recently Maisy, a white Scottish fold, was the offspring of her daughter’s cat, Snowflake.

After high school graduation she attended Valley College in Van Nuys for a couple of semesters. She also worked full time and gradually drifted away from school. In 1996 Cathy decided to pick up where she left off and enrolled in classes at Cerro Coso Community College. As a 45-year-old re-entry student she found her niche and excelled! She transferred to California State University Bakersfield and graduated in 2000 with a BA in Communications. She was on a roll and applied to Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at University of Southern California. Cathy was stoked when she was accepted into the graduate program. “You’ll love it,” a friend told her, “but it probably kill you.” She was right! She graduated in 2002 with an MA in Communication Management. Fight on!✌🏼

She took an early and unplanned retirement when her job as managing editor at Kern Valley Sun, a small weekly newspaper in Lake Isabella, was eliminated in 2012. She continues to substitute teach, but she loves having time to work in the garden, read and enjoy the grandchildren.

Her greatest accomplishments are raising three beautiful children and earning a Master’s Degree at the age of 52. And being a Trojan. Fight on!✌🏼

At Burbank High, her priority  was hanging out with friends and taking way too many unauthorized, weekday trips to the beach.

Cathy Dibble Perfect

 

 

Posted by on October 9, 2018 in Burbank High School and tagged .

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October 9, 2018

Barbara Sebern Rowe

Barbara Sebern

BARBARA SEBERN ROWE met Robert Rowe in New Hampshire in 1984 at a Christmas party. Five years later they married and raised his two daughters together. He worked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. After his retirement they did a little traveling to other states though mainly to his family cottage on Lake Sunapee in the center of NH. They spent a lot of time in his boat and entertaining friends and family at home and the lake. Unfortunately he died in 2007 of pancreatic cancer. The only positive part of that was he was able to stay at home with the help of Hospice and people from their church.

She has two step-daughters. Both are married. Lynette lives just over the border in Maine and has one son now age 6. Severin loves to find out how things go together and how they work. Puzzles keep him busy for quite awhile. Sybil lives in Florida.and has two children. Xander, age 12 loves computers. “If I am ever able to figure out how to use I Instagram I will be able to connect with him more frequently.” His sister, Zoey is 6 and is a water baby—it is difficult keeping her out of the water. At age 2 she squirmed down from her daddy’s arm and jumped right into their neighbor’s pool. No stopping that child.

She had two cats; born wild and caught as kittens. She taught them to trust humans and become friends. They looked almost identical and caused visitors to think she was the fastest cat they had ever seen. Zeebo died of heart failure in 2003 and in 2005 they had to have Rum put down as she had cancer. Barbara has yet to decide whether to get another cat or a dog.

After high school Barbara went to the Fashion Merchandising Institute in North Hollywood. It was a one year school set to prepare a student to work in the retail industry. By the time she graduated she realized the last thing she wanted to do was drive into downtown LA for work everyday. She heard Valley College was looking for someone to make the costumes for “Royal Gambit”. They had been designed but there was no one to put them together. As Barbara had made a full new wardrobe for the designer the year before, she got the job. What she had learned about the history of fashion got her interested in period costuming and “Royal Gambit” sealed the deal.

Barbara is retired as a motion picture costumer for twenty years and moved into teaching costuming at Cal State Fullerton. Once she moved to New Hampshire, she worked at Colby/Sawyer College, University of New Hampshire, and Salem State in Massachusetts. She sings in the church choir, works the thrift store, is a reception coordinator for all church receptions, a Stephen Minister, and works with a quilt group making quilts for newborns in distress. During the summer months she takes care of the turnarounds of the family cottage on Lake Sunapee. She still occasionally makes costumes for period shows or speciality costumes at the local community theate, Garrison Players. Since her husband’s death she has finally downsized by selling her house on the Great Bay and relocated closer into town in a smaller house which just suits her needs. “Now that my house is settled and my health back I am looking around to find out what other mischief I can make.”

Her favorite memory of Burbank High was learning that cooking on a gas stove was much better than an electric one.

“I’m still alive, love life and look forward to living every day.”

Barbara Sebern Rowe

At the 50th Class Reunion, Oct. 6, 2018

 

Posted by on October 9, 2018 in Burbank High School and tagged .

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October 9, 2018

To dream the impossible dream …

Front row: Tom Bennett, Annette Dinolfo Bennett, Michele Bro Paul, Sallie Shelton Thomas, Donna Canzoneri Wray, Kathy Au Crosier, Stephanie Llewellyn. Back row: Bill Vosper, Patti “Trish” Molloy Vosper, Patti Ranshaw, Jim Ranshaw, John Wray

Hey, anyone remember the theme of our Senior Prom? It was “The Impossible Dream”. Some may think that planning a reunion for a class of over 600 was an impossible dream but thanks to the hard work of the reunion committee, that dream became a reality. Everyone had such a good time and enjoyed themselves!

We especially want to thank Sallie Shelton Thomas, chair, who had the dream and vision of this Reunion for nearly fifty years! She was the “Office Manager” who has worked on every reunion. Her concern was details, details, details! She sent texts and emails to schedule meetings, ordered everything for the name tags, talked to the school about the tour and checked with Bob’s Big Boy about reserving space. Someone suggested we do a photo booth, and she rounded up what she could find at home, picked up a few things at thrift shops and you can find anything on Amazon.

Sallie made it happen!

Sallie had an old Bob’s menu that was perfect for the program cover. Getting it copied at a reasonable price was a big challenge, ranging from $130 to over $900. Luckily Patti “Trish” Molloy Vosper was able to have them printed at the Burbank Unified School District for $25! Thank you, Trish and BUSD.

Bob’s Big Boy menu from 1963.

This doesn’t begin to describe all the time and effort from each committee member. Everyone here appreciates their commitment to making this dream a reality.

Here’s what she said about the rest of the committee members:

Kathy Au: Our Queen of email, blogging and all information about the Reunion. Even with traveling about the world and playing the organ several times a month, she still found time to send and respond to countless emails, maintain our website and blog. She is also going to gather all the photos from tonight, produce and distribute the Memory Books. Thank you, Kathy, for all of your time — we sincerely appreciate all you have done to make this evening possible. [Editor’s Note: Click here to view a copy of Kathy’s speech. She was notified TWO DAYS before the reunion that she would be expected to speak at the reunion!]

Jim Ranshaw: our sleuth — stalked the Internet to track people down and make contact with classmates to let them know about the reunion. He also printed out the photos for the name tags. He and his wife, Patti, hosted many meetings at their house. We usually had a potluck dinner and Jim flipped many burgers while we lounged by the pool in his back yard. Who said working on a reunion isn’t fun? Sometimes we even managed to get a bit of work done.

Annette Dinolfo and Tom Bennett: Our Social Butterflies — they know everyone! They let classmates know about the reunion and encouraged them to be here tonight. Tom ran a mean laminating machine.

Michele Bro Paul: Our Cheerleader. Her move to Canyon Lake last year made getting to meetings difficult, however, she still gave us moral support and encouragement.

Stephanie Llewellyn: Our quiet one. While still working full time, Stephanie researched Burbank Parks, contacted the school to get our reunion posted on their website and had several wonderful ideas to help make this weekend special.

Trish (Patti) Molloy Vosper: The decorator. We have Trish to thank for all the decorations. She took over the task and the results are beautiful! Her husband, Bill, a 1967 Burroughs graduate, also pitched in. Thank you both!

John Wray: the Money Man, and Donna Canzoneri Wray: who were always cheerful and ready to take on any task. John took care of all the financial details and visited several venues for our consideration. Donna was always there, bringing delicious food to our potluck meetings, tried to get some of the cheerleaders to be here tonight, bagged and tied the candy on the tables, and more.

Michael Katzman produced the video and also designed the program inserts. Thank you for the countless hours it took you to put together the videos and program. [Editor’s Note: It is our plan to distribute a link to the video to everyone in our database after Mike finishes encoding it for the various Internet browsers and formats.]

The program insert was designed by Mike Katzman.

Thank you for all of your support. Keep dreaming and remember nothing is impossible with help from others!

Reminder: Send your best photos of the reunion to burbankhigh1968@gmail.com by October 15, 2018 for inclusion into the Memory Book!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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October 9, 2018

If anyone had asked …

Kathy Au Crosier

In 1968 if anyone had asked me what I would be doing in 2018, 50 years after graduation, the absolute last thing I would have imagined was that I would be standing up here and giving a speech!

After all, if you look in our Ceralbus, you’ll find that I was named the shyest girl in our class! I was so self-conscious that I never wanted to raise my hand, even when I knew the answer.

Some of us have wonderful memories of our high school years. One of my favorite memories was accompanying the choirs under Mr. Regnal Hall. When the Burbank High administration found out I played the organ, I ended up playing the Alma Mater at every assembly.

Yet for others high school was a time of pain and uncertainty. I have a horrible memory of playing the processional for Baccalaureate and learned the hard way that my music wasn’t long enough for 630 people to march into the Starlight Bowl! I played the same piece over and over and over—I think I stopped counting after about 50 times!

Some people were popular and others were wallflowers like me.

But here we are, and I have somehow become the lightning rod for connecting all of us through the blog and the website.

The real miracle is that we are all here 50 years later and that WE ARE SURVIVORS.

school reunion, We are never sure in life what may happen in the future, but I love being in the present, and that means embracing the past, and looking forward to the future, and maybe finding a few old friendships along the way.

After tonight is over, I will continue to maintain the website and blog, so this is a reminder to please fill out the Reunion Questionnaire so everyone can find out what you’ve been doing for the last 50 years.

At this time I would like to recognize some special members of our class, people who have come a LONG way—please stand up as I call your name.

Deanna Dugger Bergman, Easton, PA 2,709 miles away
Myself from Honolulu, HI, 2,557 miles away
(and please give me a call if you ever come to Hawaii!)
John Ferguson, Raleigh, NC, 2,548 miles away

Susan Parker Easley, Milton, FL, 2,094 miles away<

Please stand if you have been married 50 years or more.

Diana Morris Hawkins and Bill Hawkins ‘65 married in April 1968 and

Kathy O’Rell Schaedler and Gary Schaedler ‘65 married in December the same year.

Now, will all the couples who have been married 45 years please stand? Next, if you have been married 40 years? How about 35? And lastly, all those who have been married for 30 years? [Editor’s Note: The vast majority of people in the room had been married at least 30 years or more. Congratulations!]

Who has the most children? Anyone have five or more?

How about grandchildren? Anyone have ten or more?

Anyone have Great-Grandchildren?

At this time I would like to call up Tom Tanksley, who has come to the reunion from Las Vegas. Tom is offering ten hardback copies of his novel, Tainted Visions. He calls it fast-paced but complex women’s historical fiction, with themes of real world survival and a touch of sexual harassment. Tom has spent the last thirty+plus years as a civil litigation attorney and mediator. He opened his own office in 1998, but prior to that he was involved in many cases, trials and appeals including multi-million dollar matters covered on the pages of Las Vegas newspapers.

Thank you. I will now turn things over to Sallie Shelton Thomas who will recognize other members of the Reunion Committee.

Posted by on October 9, 2018 in Burbank High School and tagged , .

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