Friday, July 31, 2009

John "Jack" Loutensock 1926-2009



Sad news, folks, from Alan Landros today. May the Lord bring comfort to Coach Loutensock's family during this time of loss.

John "Jack" Loutensock
Born - January 16, 1926 - Wilmar, CA (now part of Anaheim)
Passed Away - July 31, 2009 - Orem, Utah

Coach John "Jack" Loutensock passed away suddenly this morning, July 31, at about 9:00 AM at his home in Orem, Utah, at age 83. On July 14, two weeks ago, biopsies were taken from his lungs, which gave the diagnosis of lung cancer in both lungs. On July 22 he went home from the hospital. Being a lifelong non-smoker, it was later definitely determined that the cancer was due to asbestos exposure. This next Tuesday, August 4, Coach Loutensock had an appointment in Salt Lake City at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital for evaluation and discussion of what treatment would be done.

This morning Coach Loutensock was up, and dressed with the help of his wife, Barbara, and son, Brett. His wife suggested he rest on his bed, and as soon as he got onto the bed Barbara and Brett heard him take two deep breaths, and he passed away that quickly.

Jack and Barbara Loutensock both attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Jack held BA and MA degrees. He was also an Air Force veteran. Jack taught in the Burbank Unified School District for 32 years, first at Luther Burbank Junior High, and then for 27 years at Burbank High School, from 1958 until his retirement in 1985. Shortly after retirement he and Barbara moved to Orem, Utah where they still resided. At BHS Jack taught Physical Education, Science, Health and Safety, Driver's Training, and for 17 years from 1958 until 1975 he was the Varsity Basketball Coach.

Until quite recently Coach Loutensock was still very active, and within the last couple of months he and his wife had traveled in their motor home. His passing was sudden and unexpected so soon after his recent diagnosis.

Jack Loutensock is survived by his wife Barbara, of Orem, Utah; son Blyden (BHS '70), of Provo, Utah; son Brett (BHS '79), of Burbank; daughter Wendy Ruff (BHS '80), of Burbank; grandchildren Chelcie, Jason, and Ashlee Loutensock all of Orem; granddaughter London Ruff of Burbank; and great-grandson Paden Roper of Orem. Jack was predeceased by his son, Mark, in 1974 at age 20.

Funeral services will probably be this next Thursday, August 6, at the family's LDS Ward Chapel in Orem, Utah. Burial will follow in Lehi, Utah at the Lehi Cemetery.

Mrs. Barbara Loutensock
182 S. 70 West
Orem, UT 84058
801-226-2329
pampa182@aol.com

Blyden Loutensock
801-979-8282
blydenjl@yahoo.com


Here is Coach Loutensock with his teams 1965-67:

1965 Ceralbus Yearbook


1966 Ceralbus Yearbook


1967 Ceralbus Yearbook


Previous post on Coach Loutensock

August 3, 2009 UPDATE

Viewing - Wednesday, August 5, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Sundberg Olpin Mortuary
495 S. State St.
Orem, Utah 84058
801-225-1530

Funeral - Thursday, August 6, 2:00 PM
LDS Church
114 South 400 West
Orem, Utah 84058

Burial will follow at Lehi Cemetery
1100 North 400 East
Lehi, Utah 84043
801-768-7170


August 22, 2009 UPDATE

OBITUARY
Burbank Leader
Published: Last Updated Friday, August 14, 2009 10:07 PM PDT

John Lamar “Jack” Loutensock, who was a teacher with the Burbank Unified School District for 32 years, died July 31 in his Orem, Utah, home. He was 83.

Born on Jan. 16, 1926, in Burbank, Loutensock received a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in 1952 and a masters degree from Los Angeles State College, now Cal State Los Angeles.

He was a Burbank High School teacher and 17-year varsity basketball coach. Loutensock’s team won the Foothill League championship in 1965 and 1967 and was a California Interscholastic Federation semi-finalist in 1967.

He also served as a tail gunner in a B-17 bomber and physical education trainer in the Army Air Corps.

Loutensock retired from Burbank High School in 1985. Loutensock is survived by his wife of 60 years, Barbara Newmeyer Loutensock; three children, Blyden and Brett Loutensock and Wendy Ruff; and four grandchildren, Chelcie, Jason and Ashlee Loutensock and London Ruff.

The funeral service was held on Aug. 6 in Orem, Utah and Loutensock was interred in Lehi, Utah.

In lieu of any flowers, the family asks that donations instead be made to the Burbank Center for the Retarded, 235 E. Amherst Drive, Burbank, 91504.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Facebook

Just read on Linda Mustion's blog:

Burbank High Class of 68 Facebook Group



The Burbank High School, Burbank, California Class of 1968 is now on Facebook. The creator is Sallie Shelton Thomas BHS 68 and so if you graduated with the Class of 68 and is a member of Facebook here is the BHS 1968 Facebook Group. So far they have 19 members.

Thought that was great idea, so went to Facebook and started a Burbank High Class of 67 Facebook Group!

Click here to see the BHS Class 67 Facebook Group and spread the word to others. You can make comments, post photos, videos, links etc.

Let's Connect!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Grandma's Darlings

Had to post this funny pic of my granddaughter Lauren in the tub while big sister Hannah is decorating her!


more pics

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Happy Birthday Dona!



Today Dona Foy Bruckner turned the wonderful age of 60!

May you have a GLORIOUS day, my sweet friend!

A BLAST FROM THE PAST...

Dona, who was a flag twirler in 11th grade, was on the drill team as a senior - GO BULLDOGS!






1966 Shauns
Back: Leigh Rugee, Barbara Bronner, Terri Minor, Cathy Carlson, Sharon Scroggie, Kathy Whitehead, Judy Anderson
Middle: Kathy Musson, Marsha Johnson, Nancy Krough, Kyle McDowell, Linda Newcomer
Front: Sue Lutje, Vivian Blum, Dona Foy, Donna Hall

WEEKEND OF THE 2007 40th REUNION


At Bob's: Cathy Nicholls, Dona Foy, Cathy Palmer and Don Ray (Ripley)



TODAY!
Dona, Scott and Bella

Coach Jack Loutensock


Received the following email from Alan Landros who said I could post it so we all can send Coach Loutensock a card!

I talked to Blyden last night, the 24th, since yesterday marked 10 months since our kidney transplant last September 24. Blyden told me his dad had just been released from the hospital in Provo on Wednesday. Apparently about three weeks ago Jack was having trouble breathing and went into the hospital. A large amount of fluid was drained from one lung. Blyden said Jack's heart is strong, and there is no congestive heart failure. More tests were done over time, and Jack was diagnosed as having lung cancer in both lungs, related to asbestos exposure according to Blyden. (I'm sure all of us know he was never a smoker.) Jack's age now is 83 1/2.

Jack is at home now, but will soon be going to the Huntsman Cancer Hospital in Salt Lake City for evaluation and will probably begin chemo treatments there soon.

Some of you know that Blyden brought Jack to our 35th reunion for the 1970 class in 2005. The 40th reunion is already scheduled for next June of 2010, and Blyden had already told Jack weeks ago that he was invited once again. Blyden said that it doesn't look good, but that Jack is staying quite positive. He told Blyden, "I'm not going anywhere (passing away), I've got to go to that reunion next June."!

I'm listing Jack's address and phone number for any of you who may want to send him your greetings. (I talked to Frank Kallem this morning so some of the other former coaches will know, too.)

Jack Loutensock
182 S. 70 West
Orem, UT 84058

(801) 226-2329

Best wishes to each of you,
Alan Landros

Here are a few photos from the 1967 Ceralbus. We had a great basketball team and I loved to go to the games!







And here's a photo of Jack's son, Blyden with Alan from last year.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Happy 60th Nancy!



Today is Nancy Bridgestock Steichmann's birthday. A few days ago we got caught up via the phone. She currently lives with her husband in a small town on a lake in Illinois, is a teacher looking forward to retirement next year and is a recent grandma.

Besides being buds in high school, we were later roommates while working at Bob's as carhops together - LOTS of memories for sure.




Hope you have a great day, Nancy - love you!

Drill Team '65-'66 Rank 5

(thanks to Cathy Nicholls Coyle for photo)
L-R: Carol Hemmerdinger ('66); Kyle McDowell ('67); Cathy Nicholls ('67); Nancy Bridgestock ('67); Jeani Crichlow ('67); Carol Nicholls ('67); Linda Duffendach ('67); Kathy Rhodes ('66) and Stephanie Scott (67')

Nancy and John Rocke were Class Sweethearts


Jeani Crichlow, Nancy and Cathy Palmer with Nancy's son in background taken in the 80's I guess?

Creative Wedding Idea!


source

Monday, July 20, 2009

Starbucks Giveaway Tomorrow Morning

Get a FREE pastry with your drink at any Starbucks before 10:30 am July 21, 2009.

Thanks Cathy & Carol for the email - too bad I'm on a diet!!!



Print Invitation

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Aerial Espionage Born in Burbank

What Plane?


As suburban secrets go, building an invisible aircraft in the heart of a city is a doozy

by Annie Jacobsen
March 8, 2009
Los Angeles Times
source

If you were to transform this story into a movie and the line at the end of the credits read, “This is based on a true story,” no one would believe it.

Back in the 1950s, there was a top-secret program code-named SUNTAN being conducted at a top-secret facility called Skunk Works. Its objective? To develop a liquid-hydrogen-powered spy plane. Because liquid hydrogen is incredibly volatile, early experiments were conducted inside a bomb shelter with eight-foot-thick walls.

The engineer in charge built what he called his “own hydrogen-liquefaction plant.” At first, tests began in Dixie cups, but before long the place was producing more liquid hydrogen than anywhere in America. “We wore grounded shoes and couldn’t carry keys or any metallic objects that might spark,” he recalls. “We installed a nonexplosive electrical system and used only nonsparking tools.”

Still, storing liquid hydrogen presents a very clear danger. And in the spring of 1959, a stove only 700 feet away from the tank caught fire. Extinguishers were ineffective. When local firefighters showed up, they didn’t have top-secret security clearances, so according to the engineer, the facility’s guards wouldn’t let them on site. Fortunately, the hydrogen tank did not explode, but with the project capable of blowing up the surrounding area, it was deemed too dangerous to proceed. The public was never the wiser, Project SUNTAN met its end, and Skunk Works returned millions in “black operation” money to the Air Force. The thing is, that covert spy-plane project was but one in a long line of secret projects being worked on at the same hide-in-plain-sight location—Burbank.

The facility was Lockheed Aircraft Corporation—now Lockheed Martin—and the engineer, later the director of Lockheed’s supersecret division, was Ben Rich. And all of this really did happen in beautiful downtown Burbank. Colonized by a dentist in 1867, it’s the sleepy L.A. suburb that, a century later, Johnny Carson would immortalize as the picture of normal and nondescript.

Who would have thought that in the 1950s, Burbank was a hotbed of international espionage? “It would have been hard for people to imagine the kinds of things we were doing there,” says Edward Lovick, the 90-year-old California physicist who worked at Lockheed in the Skunk Works facility (also called Advanced Development Projects) and would become known among colleagues as the grandfather of stealth.

After work on the liquid-hydrogen plane was halted, the goal for Skunk Works became developing an invisible aircraft—invisible to radar, that is. With stealth technology, the U.S. could spy on its Cold War adversaries without running the risk of getting caught. These days, the idea of stealth bombers is business as usual—heck, they even do flyovers at football games. But back then, inventing the technology was a strictly clandestine activity.

So it was in Burbank that, beginning in 1958, Lovick and a team of scientists and engineers indeed created the invisible airplane—something all kids dream of but hardly imagine could be happening next door. Even though the 2,000 mph aircraft, code-named OXCART, was developed back when Eisenhower was president, it was not declassified by the CIA until 2007. Like its predecessor the U-2 spy plane, OXCART was a collaborative effort between the CIA, the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed. Eisenhower had expressly put the CIA in charge because the Air Force was under tight congressional scrutiny, while the CIA could run OXCART as a black operation—meaning covert and deniable.

Lovick, sporting a colorful Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants and observing the world through large, wire-rimmed glasses, now offers us his perspective on Burbank through the long lens of recollection. He is seated in his home in the San Fernando Valley, surrounded by books, maps and small-scale models of the spy planes he worked on during his 40-year career at Lockheed. Quick-witted and endlessly full of ideas, Lovick and his wife, Sherre, also a former member of Skunk Works (and the person who, on another project, made the window on the catamaran-like ship called Sea Shadow invisible to radar), have recently returned from a grand European tour.

“In the 1940s, Lockheed produced airplanes like the P-38 Lightning, which helped us win the war,” Lovick says. “In the 1950s, Lockheed designed and built the famous U-2.” In May, 1960, Francis Gary Powers was shot down in a U-2 over Russia, and the CIA knew it needed a better spy plane. “Actually, the Russians had been tracking the U-2 long before Powers was shot down. It was only a matter of time before that happened, and the CIA knew it, which is why they had us working on a successor aircraft at the Skunk Works.” The idea for the new spy plane, originally called the U-3, “was to add stealth as an element from paper to plane.”

As Louis Pasteur once remarked, “Fortune favors the prepared mind,” and this was certainly true in Lovick’s case. He was Lockheed’s radar and antennae expert at the time and had been working on microwave theory, which is an integral part of stealth, since it advanced as a new science after the war. “Back then, few people cared much about this relatively new technology. Most engineers were learning about wiring—how power was generated and distributed. I began lab experiments with microwave theory at Caltech, and it was there I learned how to guide wave energy through hollow pipes to a specific location. My becoming an expert was simply a case of being the first one to know anything about it at Skunk Works.”

As Lockheed’s radar man, Lovick grasped how an intimate theoretical knowledge of radar could help in designing a plane that could fool it. So crucial was Lovick’s work that he accompanied his Lockheed boss, legendary airplane designer Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson, on trips to Washington, D.C., for high-level meetings with the CIA. “Right before Lockheed got the new [spy-plane] contract, we went to a hotel room for a meeting. It was Kelly Johnson, a few science advisers to the president, someone from the CIA and myself. Pillows were put over the heating vents, and the room was checked for bugs before any of us spoke,” Lovick says. “The CIA, who we called ‘the customer,’ was like that. It seemed a little silly to me at the time.”

Before you snicker at the cloak and dagger, it’s important to remember that it was a tenuous time—the height of the Cold War. Both America and the Soviet Union were preoccupied with spying on each other. The CIA required Lockheed employees to report if anyone “foreign born” tried to befriend them. Word was that pay phones just outside the Burbank headquarters were routinely used by Russian spies hoping to eavesdrop on workers’ private calls.

At the same time, each superpower was busy testing nuclear bombs. When considering various forms of espionage available to the CIA—humans, spy planes and satellites (which were then brand new)—aircraft provided a versatile means to secure the most accurate information in determining another country’s weapons capability. Eisenhower’s goal with the Lockheed spy-plane programs was to get more information on the Soviet Union than it had on us, all to prevent nuclear war. The OXCART was able to take photographs showing clear lines in parking lots—from 90,000 feet.

Lovick says he never felt pressure from Johnson, even though making the aircraft undetectable fell squarely on his desk. “Kelly gave me access to all areas. I was a little bit like a professor. I would roam the Skunk Works buildings and talk to various people. Everyone had knowledge. Most of our advances on the low observables [as in, stealth] came from putting together these different ideas.”

If it is hard to imagine the birth of aerial espionage taking place in Burbank, it’s even harder to conceive the materials that helped deliver stealth technology to the world. “There were no computers at our disposal,” Lovick says. “This meant we made all of our calculations on slide rules. We mixed chemicals in vats. We stomped on things like grape stompers.” The results of those hand calculations and old-school chemical trials were astonishing. Not only did Skunk Works create the magic formula that is now known as stealth, but the OXCART flew three times faster than the speed of sound (Mach 3.2), at an altitude 16 miles above the earth. Its state-of-the-art camera could capture 100,000 square miles of terrain per hour. The design was so sophisticated that one of the companies involved remains classified to this day.

It was also Lovick who designed the first anechoic chamber, a shielded, echoless room that allows scientists to test how airplanes will react to radar in the atmosphere. Now standard at all aircraft manufacturers, the one built by Lovick in Burbank was the first of its kind. “It was so quiet in that chamber,” he says, “I could hear my blood flowing through my body.”

As “Cold War-era” as these spy-plane projects may now seem, it’s another key element of aerial espionage born in Burbank that has since become the single most valuable means of surveillance—the pilotless aircraft, or drone, code-named TAGBOARD. Lockheed’s D-21 drone project, classified “above top secret,” was officially kept quiet until 2007. Lovick designed the plane’s antenna, which when it received the necessary signal, would cue the craft to launch off the back of the OXCART.

Because it flew without a pilot, the D-21 was designed to fly over territory where the U.S. was denied access and to take photographs of weapons facilities from altitudes as low as 1,500 feet. But the project was canceled on July 30, 1966, after a fatal accident at sea during the drone’s first official launch. CIA test pilot Bill Park and flight engineer Ray Torick were flying the OXCART 150 miles off the Malibu coast. A follow airplane and rescue boat were nearby. The drone was designed to launch up and off the spy plane at Mach 3, but on this night something went terribly wrong. During separation, the drone pitched down and split the aircraft in half. Park and Torick were trapped inside as it fell more than 20,000 feet. Both managed to eject and fall though the air tethered to their parachutes—remarkably escaping the falling debris—and both made successful water landings. The rescue boat located Park, who was fine, but Torick apparently opened his visor upon landing, which caused his suit to fill with water, and he drowned.

Scientists and engineers at Skunk Works were devastated. Lockheed canceled the program, and the CIA/Air Force continued to hone the technology in other programs. But where would Lockheed flight-test its covert aircraft? Designing and building spy planes and drones in beautiful downtown Burbank may have been one of the century’s best-kept secrets, but there was no way to fly an oddly shaped, Mach-3 aircraft over the San Fernando Valley without causing public alarm.

For that reason, the CIA had arranged for flight testing to begin at a secret military facility in the Nevada desert—the place the world has come to know as Area 51. Find out more about that in next month’s issue of LA (link).

ANNIE JACOBSEN writes about aviation security and the intelligence community. She lives in Los Angeles.

Wanted: Alumni Picnic Helpers

Hi Everybody...

For the past 9 or more years, Jon and I have been on the Burbank/Burroughs Alumni Picnic Committee that organizes the Annual Reunion Picnics each summer. We have been basically custodians of the Burbank "pop-up tent" used to house the "BHS check-in center" at the picnics. We also organize the staffing of the BHS check-in center with BHS Alumni Volunteers. We are looking to turn over this position to other BHS'ers, as we are stepping down.

There really isn't much else required other than corresponding via email with the chairperson, Linda Melton Damarjian(who is a really wonderful gal) JBHS '61, getting to the park early on Picnic Day to set up and taking down the check-in tent at the end of the day. We make up the sign-in sheets for the various decades and put up the "Who Let the Dogs Out" banner in the BHS Picnic area. We try to help out with collecting a few donations for door prizes too.

If you know of anyone who would like to assume this position, please email us at pamkirkwood@yahoo.com ...We will be glad to turnover the BHS tent and banner to them...

Thanks for your help...

Pam and Jon


Event committee members, from left, Pam Kirkwood, Trudie Hentze, Linda Damarjian and Patti Hallowes welcome former Bulldogs and Indians to Johnny Carson Park for Saturday's reunion.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Dining at Darios

What a great pic! Looks like ya'll had a GREAT time too!! Thanks Cathy.


l-r: Dona Foy Bruckner, Scott Bruckner, John Coyle, Jon Peterson, Cathy Nicholls Coyle and Marilyn Williams Peterson

Hey CP:

John and I had a great time with the Bruckners and Peterson's at Darios Restaurant in Santa Clarita tonight. In sharing stories about our high school days, we found out how truly small the world is. It's hard to believe how our lives were all interwoven in one way or another...... Always great to spend good times with good friends!

Cathy Nicholls Coyle

Linda Ronstadt

Staying up tooooo late to watch youtube vids of Linda Ronstadt from the 70's. Saw her first time in late 60's at a small club in Hollywood - she came running on stage barefooted with her tambourine and sang up a storm - amazing voice! Been a fan ever since.


source

More of Linda's songs

Monday, July 13, 2009

An Inspiration!

Since many are living longer, we may as well work towards good health in the process. This morning, found the following article in my local paper and am inspired!


Since moving to Santa Rosa in 1994, Dick Lewis, 80, has rarely missed one of his four-times-a-week swims at the Airport Health Club pool. (CHRIS CHUNG / Press Democrat)

Aquaman at 80

By PHIL BARBER
Press Democrat Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:28 p.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 8:28 p.m.
source

The training lanes at the Airport Health Club swimming pool operate on the same principle as an interstate freeway: faster swimmers in the far left lanes, slow-moving traffic to the right. Everyone works out regularly with a pace clock, so the instructors have a pretty good idea where to line people up.

Related Links:
Skating through life
More Photos:
Dick Lewis: 80-Year-Old Swimmer

When Dick Lewis joined the club 15 years ago, he was 65 years old. He was an accomplished master’s swimmer, in good shape, and he was placed in Lane 2, second from the left among six lanes. Now Lewis is 80, an age when many of his contemporaries are happy to be able to walk around the block a couple of times without wincing.

And he’s still swimming in Lane 2.

“He’s very stubborn in the pool,” said Karen Chequer-Pfeiffer, one of the Airport Club’s three master’s swim instructors and Lewis’ prime taskmaster for the past 15 years. “He doesn’t want to demote himself. He’s a tough old bird.”

Lewis doesn’t act or look 80, and the explanation for his longevity is clear, at least to him. Lewis has never smoked — though his parents, sibling, frat brothers and Army buddies all did — and he swims approximately seven miles a week.

“I enjoy the practices, I enjoy the company of the people,” he said. “And I sort of enjoy the challenge. It may be an ego thing. I want to keep up with the people in my lane. And I get sort of exhilarated. If I don’t get the chance to swim — like illness, or I couldn’t swim when I had my back operation, or my knee operation — my wife says, ‘You’re getting grouchy. Go get your gills wet.’”

At Washington High School in San Francisco, Lewis won the 50- and 100-yard races at the city swim championships in 1947. He swam at Cal, too, and played on the Bears’ excellent water polo team from 1947-1951. But after getting discharged from the Army in 1952, Lewis left the water for two decades. Eventually he decided he needed to get back into shape. He couldn’t really run, because a Chinese shell had gouged out part of his leg in the Korean War in October, 1952.

“That’s my souvenir,” Lewis said recently, pointing to the welter of scar tissue on the side of his left knee.

Lewis, a first lieutenant, was rushed to a MASH unit, and wound up spending seven months in stateside hospitals, waiting for the wound to heal from the inside.

It healed, and Lewis got a Purple Heart, but the leg remained a bit misshapen. The high school social-science teacher knew that if he wanted to shed his love handles and gut, he would have to return to the water. He joined the San Mateo Marlin Masters in 1972, a time and place that would prove to be the big bang of masters swimming. Lewis captured five sixth-place finishes at Masters Nationals for the successful Marlins, medaling in the 200 butterfly and the 400 individual medley.

Lewis and his wife, Anne, moved to her hometown of Santa Rosa in 1994, and he almost immediately found the Airport Club. Since then, he has rarely missed one of his four-times-a-week practices, even when the lip of the pool is icy.

Sure, Lewis took off a little time for surgeries (he had his left knee replaced in 2006). But even the stroke he suffered at 58 was treated as a minor setback. He was out of the pool just two weeks for that one.

Along the way, Lewis discovered another niche: open-water swimming. He competed at Lake Berryessa, Lake Sonoma, Spring Lake and Aquatic Park in San Francisco Bay, among other wavy bodies, and won his age group every time. Yes, sometimes he was the only person in his age group, but he sometimes beat everyone in the next-youngest group, too. Pacific Masters Swimming ranked him No.1 in the men’s 75-79 division.

“I’ve been coaching for over 25 years, and I’ve never seen anyone his age who is able to swim as fast as he does,” said Chequer-Pfeiffer, a long-time triathlete.

Lewis stopped entering races a few years ago. He just didn’t care to invest any more time (he prefers to watch his grandchildren play Little League baseball on weekends) or money.

“When I was in San Mateo, I swam a lot in the pool races,” Lewis said.

“I got a couple shoeboxes full of ribbons and medals. I have a coffee mug that says ‘Open Water Champion’ and gives the age group. It was made in China, and it cost me $500 to get it. Why bother?”

So Lewis is content to swim his 3,000 yards a week and compete not against the world, but against his own times and the other swimmers in his lane. And though he is modest about his accomplishments, Lewis remains an inspiration to the youngsters who swim alongside him.

“Both my parents died in their 70s,” Chequer-Pfeiffer said. “I always say to Dick, I want to be like you when I grow up. If I live to 80 and can be that fit and mentally sharp, I’ll be happy.”

You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com

Update from Kent

Thanks Kent! (Who is that scary guy next to you??)

Hi Cathy,

We had a great time along with the work for "Flag 2009" and are still recovering. And now the Hourigans inflict destination envy upon us. Congratulations on your forty years together, Dawn and Dave. Is Terry Minor in the family that operated the Major-Minor-Loma theaters in Burbank?

Your blog is one of the great human developments in the last thirty years, along with wrinkle-free grandmothers.

In the attached photo I'm not Lurch. More photos linked to my Facebook page: facebook.com/UncleKent

Hugs, Kent and Beverly

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Terry Minor '67

Recently found Terry Minor on Facebook and asked her if I could post her photo here. She replied: "not a problem good to hear from you would love to get together thank you so much for doing what you do"

Thanks Terry! Hope to see you next summer if not sooner.



Dave & Dawn's Alaskan Cruise

Received today the following email with photos from Dave and Dawn Moselle Hourigan '67 who just returned from Alaska. Thanks D & D for the update - it looks wonderful!



Sadly we had to come back from our cruise to Alaska where we celebrated our 40th anniversary. Can you believe that Dawn has put up with me for so long?

Alaska is breathtakingly beautiful!!

We had wonderful weather for all of the trip except for a 1 hour light rain in Bouchart Gardens in Victoria.

We visited Glacier Bay which has 4 glaciers that we saw. We were able to watch the "calving" of the glaciers. This is when the pieces of ice break off into the water. You have no doubt seen this in video clips dealing with global warming. However, this is a normal process, and is not related to "global warming". Glaciers move at the rate of about 8 feet a day. So when they get to the water they break off. (youtube of calving)

We also visited Juneau, where we went whale watching. The attached pictures show a "baby" humpback whale jumping and a group of 12 adult whales (20 tons each) engaging in "bubble net feeding". Google this. It is a very rare occurrence. The guide on our boat said she has only seen this 4 times in 8 years. While in Juneau we also visited Mendenhall Glacier (that is Mendenhall in the picture behind Dawn and I). (youtube of Humpback Whales Bubble Net Feeding)

Our cruise also stopped at Sitka Island, Ketchican and Victoria.

For those who have not yet been to Alaska, it is well worth it. The only bad thing about the trip was that it ended. Dawn has been in a severe state of PVTS (Post Vacation Traumatic Syndrome) since we got back home.

We will be able to remember our trip by looking at the 732 pictures that we took (thank goodness for digital cameras).

Love

Dawn and Dave







Saturday, July 11, 2009

Visted with Jackie Today

Jackie (Hayes) Steen '68 was in Novato visiting her daughter and family today, so I drove over to meet up and visit. After lunch, we had fun holding baby Caleb, Erin and Rob's first child. This makes 3 grandchildren for Jackie and Steve, plus another one on the way!


Grandma holding baby Caleb who will be 6 mos old August 1st - what a cutie!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Mrs. Carol Gregory/Dr. Le Blanc

Remember one of our BHS teachers, Mrs. Gregory? She started teaching at Burbank when we were in 10th grade. So just now, received the following email from Jeanne Barron Aikman - thanks, Jeanne!

Hi Cathy,
I'm in a cafe w/only 34% battery so I hope this works. I hope I attached a photo of Cathy Nicholls Coyle and me with Ms Gregory/Dr. Le Blanc. WE MADE CONTACT yipppppeeeeeeee!! What a wonderful visit it was in Newport Beach where she lives and has a Chiropractic business.

I will get more info to you as is possible. At my mom's still. The rooms have been stripped and reconstruction in on the way. Very exciting.

I made it to the BHS luncheon. Wish I had more juice to write. I'll send along her email address. Forgot to bring it with me.

Gotta scoot.
Love you
Jeanne



Mrs. Carol Gregory - photo scanned from '67 Ceralbus

Dan Harris - BHS '67

Just received Pam and Jon Kirkwood's monthly LOOP email newsletter (anyone can subscribe for free - email pamkirkwood@yahoo.com) and saw a recent photo of Dan Harris with Bob Carter '66 at Bob's daughter's wedding, so had to post it!



l-r: Dan Harris and Bob Carter

More Picnic Pics

Here's some of Vicki Peters Stigile's photos from the 2009 BHS/JBHS Alumni Picnic - thanks Vicki!