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Gary Hesse

IIRC, in our senior year at PHS, I was enamored by several of our most attractive young women on the Drill Team.  I really was attracted to Karen Rawlins, who I have seen only once since we graduated from PHS.  Anyway, she agreed to be my date for the Homecoming Game Dance at PHS, and also agreed for me to escort her from the Rose Bowl to her home on New York Drive so that she could change in order for us to go to the dance at PHS after the game. 

All went well until we got to the car in the parking lot of the Rose Bowl - my Father's 1964 Chevy Impala,  had a dead battery in the parking lot.  LIghts, etc., they were all off, but so was the rest of the night, so after paying a tow truck what was in my wallet to jump start the car, I took her home and we called it a night!! AUGGH!!!

Anyway, this Saturday night is the Turkey Tustle!!  PHS has an over win/loss record of 4/5, with conference victories of 2/4.  Muir has an overall win/oss rcord of 3/6, with conference victories of 3/3.  I hope that we get the Victory Bell back!!

Barbara Brandstetter (Ower)

Modie (Martin) Katz

Wow, 20 years!!  What happened? Do they have a new coach?  Hopefully they will keep it for the next few years so we can have it for our 50th reunion  

Janet Bettencourt (Owens)

For those of you from Wilson, I just got a news magazine from Occidental College and saw that Miss Betty Brusher passed away. She died in July 2015. The obituary mentioned that she graduated from Oxy in '54, taught in the Pasadena Unified School District for 30 years and lived in Alhambra. I did not have her but as I remember she was quite flamboyant.

Stephen Freid

Responding to Janet Bettencourt (Owen) 293... 11-28-15

I remember Betty Brusher. She was my Social Studys teacher in 1965.. 50 years ago, amazing. I live in Oregon but in September I was in Pasadena and stoped by Wilson Jr, High. I wanted to see the 1965 plaque that was cemented in the ground just in front of the steps leading into the schools front doors. There is a box under that plaque with rememberances from that time. They said in 50 years they would dig it up? Don't know if that happened.. BUT I remember thinking 50 years is a long ways off and wondered what I would be doing and if I would be wearing a hat that matched my suit like my grandfather did..lol.....

Back to Betty Brusher.. She had one time told us that she was a 1950 Rose Princess. She was atractive and flamboyant. She was about 32 or 33 when I had her for a teacher. She was not afraid to sit on the front of her desk and cross her long legs in front of us 14 or 15 year old boys..lol.... I remeber talking about that with other guys who had her class at different times. So yes I remember Betty Brusher. Sorry to hear about her passing. I hope she had a good long life....

Steve

Modie (Martin) Katz

Some Great stories and pictures.  I dont have anything that exciting to say except that if we all write down our memories and share them with each other, they will never be lost.

Lets keep them coming...

Barry Chisholm

Hi Everyone,

Been off the site for a while, time to catch up...first of all thanks to Gary Hesse and Stephen Lantz....Gary and Stephen, thanks for the memories of Key Club's activities....I've already shared them with our Key Club here in NH.   Yes I can imagine the apprehension of playing baseball with criminals, youthful though they might be.   Nice for them that they could win!  I'm thinking our school board wouldn't approve that activity today for any of the after-school clubs.

Speaking of things that aren't done anymore, does anyone remember the rifle range in PHS's basement?

Modie (Martin) Katz

I didn't know that there was a basement at PHS. Let alone a firing range. How did I miss that?  Is that true?

Michael Baugh

Hey Modie, I thought everyone knew that PHS had a basement and range.  ROTC used it all the time.

Stephen Lantz

What building was it under? I wonder what it is used for today. 

Judd Kilimnik

It was under Bldg C. Music bldg that also housed ROTC. As of 2011. The NJROTC was still holding competition matches with .177 caliber rifles against other schools.

Stephen Lantz

I spent much of my schoolday in Building C in marching band and concert band, but I don't recall ever being in the ROTC portion of the building, let alone the shooting range in the basement. I guess it proves how compartmentalized our lives were, or that I was a clueless band geek...

Modie (Martin) Katz

Mike if you remember I was not in ROTC and would not of qualified if I wanted to. So no I do not remember knowing that we had a shooting range at school. If I would have known, I would have likely done something stupit as a prank... Like put up some of my teachers pictures on as targets. Anyways I think that is cool that we had it and they are still using it  

Maja Morgan (Knighton)

Altadena Dairy trucks! Before I started kindergarten at Burbank Elementary School, there was nothing to do in the mornings before my parents woke up, so I waited for milk to be delivered to our house on the corner of Glen Canyon and Roosevelt then walked along the sidewalk and talked to the milkman as he made deliveries down Glen Canyon. He never let me cross the street at Grand Oaks but sent me back home.

Helms Bakery. Yes, and what about Barbara Ann on the hill north of the Pasadena Freeway. Since the Beach Boys were locals, think maybe it influenced the composition of their song?!

The Association played for our Senior Assembly. They did such a great job. I was thrilled to have the group who sang "Cherish" play at our school!

Maja Morgan (Knighton)

Margaret, Finally, someone from Elliot Jr High!! I think most of Elliot attended John Muir instead of PHS. 

Miss Vivian Hurd taught PE. Later, I became a teacher at San Gabriel Christian School, and there was Miss Hurd, only she had married and was Mrs Vivian Fithian! Wonderful to be on the same playing field with her (in both cases!) She and I volunteered to bake turkeys for charity at Thanksgiving of 1981. I delivered my turkey to her house and met her daughter. The discussion was all about my "due date" which was Jan 28, 1982. Well, what date would I like if the baby wasn't born on the due date? 2-2-82 sounded pretty cool. Her daughter said, maybe he will be born on MY birthday! When is that? 2-22-82. Oh no! That 's three weeks overdue! But she called it. Our son was born on 2-22-82. (To finish the number story, our first daughter was born on 2-24-84, and our second daughter was born on 8-28-88!)

Miss Halleck (sp) also taught PE. She was shaped rather like a duck. I didn't see how she could develop athletes! But she sure taught me how to grip a tennis racket correctly and play a good game of tennis!. Elliot had a great set of tennis courts, eh?!

Maja Morgan (Knighton)

I just tuned in to the forum recently. Either the Santa Anita or Huntington sound great. I had just moved from Tampa to Colorado Springs around the time of our last reunion so it was too hectic a time for me to attend. We just moved to Edmonds, north of Seattle, but I plan on attending the 50th! I'll see if there is a way I can contribute.

Judd Kilimnik

Welcome to reunion site Maja! I went to both Burbank and Eliot. I live in Apple Valley, California and am retired from Edison. So far I think you are third former Burbank students on site. There are more former Eliot folks but most went to Muir.

Cheryle Thompson

Hello Maja!  Nice to see your smiling face again!  I went to Allendale grade school and Eliot.  Yes, most Eliot attendees went to Muir.  I live in Joshua Tree now and am fully retired after my husbands death.  I see you have moved to the Pacific Northwest.  Its beautiful there.  I am still using the bag I got from you several years ago.  Beautiful material and workmanship!  

Judd Kilimnik

Hi Cheryl. I lived in 29 Palms while I was in Marines there. Have been in Apple Valley since 1980.

Maja Morgan (Knighton)

Thanks Judd!

Cheryl, So good to reconnect. I'm sorry to hear that you have lost your husband. I pray God supports you daily through his Spirit, his word and the body of Christ around you!

Thank you for buying a bag from me! That's how I was able to teach in Rwanda for 4 years! The last year, Doug came with me, taught the English classes so I could teach sewing!What a fabulous experience. Being able to go 4 years in a row estabished a great reputation among the students at IWE. They knew I wasn't just coming as a tourist! 

Now I have Grandma duties! Joel David was born 30 Oct, which is why we moved to Edmonds. Elizabeth, our daughter-in-law, must teach two days a week or she will lose her teaching certificate! I'm sorry for her, but not for ME! I will take care of him every Monday and Friday so she can teach orchestral music in the Seattle school system. She is a fantastic teacher. I will also watch Joel when she goes for practice on Wed nights at the Northwest Symphony where she is second chair violin,

In the meantime, I have sewn two baby quilts, a corduroy baby suit, a flannel shirt for Doug, two pajama bottoms for a brother/nephew, a bench pad...  ok, you get it! I hope you can come down to Pasadena for our 50th reunion. I would love to see you and catch up!

Barry Chisholm

Hi Everyone,

Thought I’d offer a perspective on your message forum comments.

After not thinking much about high school for decades, I was fortunate to begin a second career as a high school teacher here in a rural section of NH.   Some time after that, I found our PHS Reunion website and this message forum and started reading everyone else’s experiences and recollections.  So many of your writings have made me realize that our time at PHS was truly a memorable and rewarding three years.  Reading your contributions on this message forum, I’m amazed at recalling all of the learning and personal growth opportunities that PHS offered us…..plus all of the fun there was packed into those three years!  (Might have been too much fun and not enough homework I suppose, but I blame the SoCal beaches, mountains, Disneyland, and other distractions for forcing me away from the books). 

Even though I retired from that teaching job a few years back, I’m still the advisor for our high school’s 105-member Key Club…they’re an amazing group of conscientious and goal-oriented kids, who work hard to raise many thousands of dollars each year for their charities.  They typically plan and/or participate in about 60-65 community service events each year in our local towns.

And recently, I’ve found that after months of reading the many contributions on our reunion website and message forum, I’ve added a new dimension to my club advisor duties:  I now look for opportunities to help ensure that those Key Club kiddos can, to the greatest extent possible, have much of the same fun, memorable, and rewarding high school experiences that so many of us had.  Finding these opportunities is a challenge I enjoy.  I guess that my desire for the Key Clubbers is that in 50 years they too can look back with great fondness at their high school years.

So thanks to all who have contributed to this forum, thus fueling my newfound perspective on how I work with these young people.  I look forward to reading more of your recollections.

Best wishes, see you year after next!

Camay White (Arad-Tullis)

Barry!  What a wonderful inspiring contribution this morning to our PHS Message Forum and paying  it forward to your Key Clubbers is great.  I just love reading posts and how diverse our perspectives were/are on our days at PHS.  I wish I had known many of our classmates better after reading the various posts - guess I was too caught up with being a cheerleader back then.  Can't wait for the 50th and hope to see many again.  Keep on Posting

Marta Fuchs

Hi everyone -- Some of you may remember that I played piano, gave concerts, and accompanied fellow PHS musicians at music festivals and competitions. I recently wrote the following as homage to my beloved piano teacher, Irénke néni, who had a poignant request for my brother and me for her funeral:

"Hungarian Legacy: Holocaust, Revolution, and Irénke néni"

http://madeintoamerica.org/hungarian-legacy-holocaust-revolution-and-irenke-neni/

Some of you may also remember my brother, Henry Fuchs, who inspired me to write the following piece when he received a prestigious professional award:

"Fuchs Family: Grateful Survivors" - Featured in Made Into America: Immigrant Stories Archives

http://madeintoamerica.org/fuchs-family-grateful-survivors/

I've enjoyed reading your updates and look forward to seeing folks at our 50th Reunion!

Marta

Barbara Brandstetter (Ower)

Joe Silver (Silver)

What wonderful woman, Marta is.  Im very proud to say I know her.  She is a MENSCH!!!!  a dpoer of good deeds.