Oak Harbor High School – Class of 1958
OHHS 1958 Classmate
Biographies
We intend to put a short biography of each classmate on the
website in the next few weeks. An email
will be sent soon asking each classmate to compose a short biography that can
be used. Be sure to check back regularly
to see new ones that have been added.
Linda Lu
(Bogue) Macaraeg: I was born at home on Bogue (now Sleeper)
road in June 1940. I joined sister Vivian, class of 1955. Since birth, I knew several
classmates well: Claudia Willey Libbey -our dads had
boats at Coronet Bay and our families enjoyed spending
time together. Marv
Lang - his mom, Alice Case Lang Jensen, and my dad, Hoot, were classmates and
graduated from OHHS. Bud Rodgers - our
grandmothers belonged to the same "Cootie" card group. No movies or TV's in those days...He still
calls me my childhood nickname Pete.
Mama, my 2nd grade teacher, thought I should go through school with my
given name, so Pete was dropped and I became Linda "Lu" because we
also had Lynda Mae Hayward and Lynn Weidenbach! It was great growing up in Oak Harbor and having so many friends since
first grade.
I began working at NAS Whidbey a
week after graduation (thanks to a referral by Mrs. Ball) and retired from the
same building (after it and I saw many changes) after 32 years with the federal
government. In 1961 married Ken Kammenga, class of 1951, and we raised two daughters. Kenda, born in
1962, married a neighbor, Pat Chambers, class of 1977, in 1981. They have two daughters and live an hour away
in Enumclaw. Kari was born in 1965 and
is a single mom with three daughters, one granddaughter and two grandsons. She and her children still live in Oak Harbor.
Ken and I separated in 1982. Joe
and I married in 1984 after meeting at NAS Whidbey. I gained a step-daughter, Joy, and step-son,
Jose Jr., and a grandson and granddaughter.
They live in S.
California. We have taken vacations to California (Joe's large family all live
there), Alaska and the Philippines.
We also made many long weekend camping trips around Washington State.
I remained very busy after retirement by babysitting grandchildren,
belonging to the Peninsula Fruit Club (lots of gardening), Masonic and Church
activities, plus all our family get-togethers in Washington and California.
See you at the reunion. Linda
Nancy (Branca)
Lang: After graduation I
moved to Bremerton to work.
Married Bob Lang December31st,1958 New Years Eve (that
way he could never forget our anniversary).
Our son Bobby was born June1960, our daughter Kris May1962, and our
daughter Kelly March 1964. Worked in the Oak Harbor
school dist. as an instructional aid for almost 20 years. Coached
a little league girls softball team, coached the Jr.
Varsity High School team and played women's softball for 10 years. What a great time in my life! Competition trap shooting with Bob since 1978. Shooting in 6 western
states and Canada. Had
a Photography business for a few years. We have done lots of
travel with kids in the R.V's we have owned. After Bob and I retired we traveled south for
the winter (Snowbirds) and again did lots of shooting ,golf
shop etc.etc. Have made so
many good friends in the trapshooting game. We still shoot a
little now and then. Now we are setting
down some, doing some fishing clamming and gardening. We have 7 grand children, 4 boys and 3 girls,
and 2 great grand children. Bob and I
have had 50 good years together come December. In January we went on our
3rd cruise, what fun we have had. Life is good!!!
Vonna Buckner-Wendt: Pat Stroops and I left for WSU in
September 1958. Little did I know at
that time that sunny eastern Washington
would be my home for most of my life. (Just wait until you hear of Pat’s
adventures!) I met my husband, Tom
Wendt, in the library at WSU in 1960. We
graduated and married in 1962. After six
weeks of togetherness, Tom left for Naval
Officer Candidate
School in Rhode
Island and I moved to Seattle
to begin my teaching career. While Tom
spent much of the next 31/2 years aboard ship seeing the world through a
porthole, I moved from home port to home port, worked in 4 different school
districts, wrote lots of letters and gave birth to our first child.
We moved to Ephrata in 1966 where Tom, an electrical
engineer, began his “dam” career with a public utility district. Grant PUD owns and operates two dams on the Columbia
River. Ephrata was a
wonderful place to raise our son and daughter—sort of like Happy Days. I developed and
taught the H&FL curriculum at the high school while my children were in
high school and college.
After the kids were launched I entered my nature phase--bird
watching, rock moving and Master Gardener classes. I am now an avid amateur landscape
designer. I also enjoy Pilates, National
Public Radio, my women’s group and church.
In between do-it-yourself projects and committee
responsibilities we do some traveling, primarily in our vintage sailboat and
RV. In the winter we escape to southern
CA where our daughter lives. Our
greatest family trip was a week living aboard a sailboat in the British
Virgin Islands. In 2006,
Tom towed our 30’ sailboat to San Carlos, Mexico,
a 4,000 mile round trip. My brother,
Ernie, met him in Tucson. The bachelors spent a month exploring the Sea
of Cortez. I knew that staying home was the right
decision for me when Tom unloaded the unwashed sleeping bag he had slept in for
seven weeks!
Unfortunately, we do not have any grandchildren to enjoy and
spoil. Our son was married in ’02 and
our daughter married in ’04—both at age 39.
We have to be satisfied with grand-puppies and grand-horses.
The bios are wonderful.
I look forward to connecting with each of you in August.
Gloria DeGraaf-Britton: After we
graduated I was married to Al Britton in June of "58", the best day
of my life. We have spent 50 years
wandering around. We spent some time in Oklahoma,
then a short period in Oregon,
then back to Oak Harbor. Al re-enlisted in the Navy in 59 and we were
stationed in Iwakuni,
Japan for 3 years, which
was really a wonderful experience.
We
have 4 children. Our oldest daughter was
born in Mt. Vernon,
our #2 daughter was born in Iwakuni. Japan, our son
in San Diego and we did spent 9 months in Tenn., no little ones there, then on
to Milpitas, CA. where our #3 daughter was born. Good thing we didn't get transferred anyplace
else. Life is good. I was pretty much a
stay at home mom until our son started school and then I went to work for Signetics Corp.
Started out in the production line and then transferred to the
Integrated Circuit Design dept. for 4 years.
I quit and went to work for Hewlett Packard, started in the photo optics
lab and then on to printed circuit board design. Al retired in 74 and we returned to Oak
Harbor for 4 years. While Al went to college, I drove school bus
for Oak Harbor. We built a home out on the north end on Troxel Road. After Al graduated, we sold our home and
moved to Lebanon, Oregon. I once again went to work for H/P in their
integrated circuit area then to research and development. We retired in 1999. In 2000 we bought a new motor coach, sold our
home and traveled for 3 years. We have
spent the past few years in Newport, OR. Nice being by the sea again, but the wind
blows too much for me. We will be moving
back to Lebanon
in August. We have 9 grandchildren and
one step for a total of 10, ranging in age from 2 to 28, and 9 great
grandchildren ranging in age from 3 months to 6 years.
If I
don't make it to the reunion, God Bless all of you. Enjoy and keep safe.
Cheryl (Eggers) Alvear: I was born in 1940 to Paul and Kathleen
Becker. My biological father, Paul, was a Navy pilot and we were sent to Hawaii not long after I was born and lived on Hickum Field in Navy housing. Even though
I lived through the bombing of Pearl Harbor
I can not remember much, but my mom told me
stories about the experience and about the two years we were there and she
kept a scrap book about it.
My mother remarried
when I was around 4 years old and my father, Clliff
Eggers, adopted my sister, Margo, and I. We grew up in Burlington until
the end of the 7th grade, when we moved to Oak Harbor where my dad was working
for the phone company.
I have always felt
that the life I really remember began in Oak Harbor. After high school I spent almost a
year living and working in Anchorage, Alaska. Returning to Oak Harbor for a short spell, I then moved to Seattle with Earlene Perce (now Simich) where we
shared an apartment and worked for a year. Earlene and I then
decided to try California. We moved to the Los Angeles area and found work. Earlene loved it
there and I hated it, so I returned to Washington after a year. Finding work in Seattle, Marietta Murcray and I shared an apartment for
some time. We came to the Island
regularly. I met my husband Al in Oak Harbor. We
married there in 1962 and lived there for two more years until he mustered
out of the Navy. Al was hired on with AT & T in Sacramento where we lived for two years, we then
moved back to Washington to the Bothell area.
Al and I raised two wonderful sons, Isaac (or Ike as he prefers to be called)
and Anthony. Ike has a daughter, Franchesca (Franki) 3 years old and
a son, Joey, 3 months old. Anthony has
two lovely young girls, Maddison, 10 years and Ellie, 7 years. I am sad to say that
my husband Al died of Mylodisplastic Leukemia in 2000
after 38 years of marriage.
I continued to work
until 2004, retiring from the Lake Washington School District after 20 years as a counseling secretary, a
job I really enjoyed. Marietta Murcray Bechthold and I have stayed
close friends over all 50 of these years.
We have been through all the good and the bad that life brings,
together. Barbara Hughes Miller, Nancy Branca Lang, Grace Walker
LaFountain, Earlene Perce Simich and Lynda Hayward Adams are still friends as
well and over the past few years we have really become close friends
again. Old friendships never die they just grow more golden.
I am so looking
forward to getting reacquainted with all of you at this reunion and learning
about your lives as well. So be sure and write a little about yourselves to
share. After all, at our age, it is good to be alive and to be able to
share our lives and our experiences with others.
Sylvesta
(Embleton) Weber: I was born in Coupeville, we moved to Oak Harbor when I was about 4 years old. I
started school with a vision problem that required me to repeat the first
grade, this time with glasses. That was a blessing in disguise as it
enabled me to spend eleven years with most of the people in the graduating
class of 1958. I say most of the people as it's a navy town and some
school mates moved away, others came etc. I made a life long friend whose
dad was in the navy and after 2 years moved. Marilyn Johnston Torsello,
and I are still friends and see one another once a year as she lives in California which enables me to see her when we visit
our daughter living in California.
I quit school in my senior year to get married. I gave birth to
two girls Marilyn and Terri. I knew I wanted to complete high school
which I did and recieved my diploma from OHHS.
I gave birth to a son David and when he was 18 months old I
got a divorce, and married Bud Weber, we had two girls Jill and Estelle.
Bud and I will be married 46 years in November. The 5
children gave us 17 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren. All living in Washington except for our youngest
daughter who resides in Big Bear City, California.
I have taken several college classes, love to garden, and am in two garden
clubs, one of which I'm presently forming in Burlington called Skagit Organic Gardeners. We
also belong to and are involved in a community church, Bud and
I help my mother as needed as she is going on 95, still living in her
own home and doing sewing alterations for people.
We live in the same home we raised our children in and are constantly
finding things to change or repair.
We love to travel, with or without our motor home. Last
year we motored to two family reunions, one in Williamsburg, Va., one in Delaware seeing sights in Pennsylvania before seeing our daughter Estelle and her husband in California. This year we motored to Tucson, Az. then to California.
We've been on tours to several countries in Europe, the British Isles, parts of Mexico and Canada and cruised the Sea of Cortez. We travel as funds and health
allow.
Bud and I are looking forward to seeing you all at the 50th year
class reunion in August.
Sue (Emrick) James:
·
UCSB BA
Economics/Tanning/Partying.
·
1963
Traveled around world, socialite Johannesburg bored became programmer Leo Computers.
Hitchhiked Kenya, Uganda. Serengeti with Dr. Leakey. Cairo. Skied St. Moritz, Orient Express to Istanbul.
·
1965 IBM SF. IT professional/manager/consultant in
US/abroad.
·
1967 Sausalito married Bill Kelley, commercial insurance
broker. Daughter Kassandra. Divorced. Attended Bill’s
65th.
·
1979
Steve Castoldi, Marketing Director, Washington State University. Backpacked, white water rafted Salmon River, Cougar Club.
·
1989 NY
Eve Hotel Laguna married Roger, political activist/Social worker, my tennis
coach.
·
2000s.
-Skied St Moritz, English relatives.
-Road warrior AZ, OH, TN, NC.
-Toured South with husband or daughter - she converting systems
throughout US. “Steel Magnolias” tennis leagues.
-Chattanooga Tennessee River Gorge waterfront house. (Like
“Deliverance”). Tornado took boat house. –
-Became Obese Southerner--due to ability to fit in—Atlanta look good—but San Francisco humongous. Working with
Personal Trainer fitness/tennis/diet.
Donna (Jordan) Todd: After spending the first grade through my freshman year in Oak Harbor, we moved to Omak, Wa. I was very active in school
clubs, sports, choir, church, etc. At the end of my senior year I was
chosen 1958 Omak Stampede Queen and had a great time representing
Omak! Worked in Omak a few years, then
attended Kinmann Business University in Spokane only to return home to work for the
Okanogan County Highway Dept. as secretary to the Engineer. "Hi
Mom and Dad, I'm home again!!!!"
In 1961-62 I
went to WSU - interior & fashion design then moved to Seattle and worked for a couple mortgage companies,
then a property management firm where I met my first husband. He was an
architect in the same bldg. We moved to Shoreline, then Edmonds. I enjoyed ten years with an interior
design/furniture store "Pierre Lieurance
Interiors" till 1983. I needed a real job so I could ask for a
divorce. I ran into a former working buddy who offered me a job with
Continental Mortgage Company just one mile from home! That career move
brought me to working as an escrow closer after passing the test from hell to
get my license as an "LPO". I had my own company after working
for others for several years. Escrow was an exciting, but most
mentally stressful 12 to 14 hour a day career that I loved and became
addicted to and do not recommend to anyone who cares about their sanity or
their blood pressure.
I met a
wonderful man in 1998 soon after he retired from a career in college
administration and public information. We celebrated our 9th anniversary
in May of this year. We sold my house of 25 years (in Edmonds) in 2000 and moved to Skyline in
Anacortes. I worked with a wonderful group of ladies here
in a much less stressful Anacortes for Chicago Title & Escrow Company and
retired two years ago. We love living here! I joined and
am active in the Skyline Garden Club, took art classes, we go to all
the small town events we can take in, including OH. Terry was heavily involved in light opera in Olympia when he worked for the state and we enjoy
all sorts of theater here and in Seattle. I love home improvement/decorating
and constantly finding things to do. Now that we are both home we
are starting to entertain more, so please give us a call!
Leonard Fairfield: After graduating from Oak Harbor I stayed in the area for a year and decided
to join the Navy. In June of 1959 I went to boot camp in San Diego, California. Then, after that, on to Jacksonville, Florida for aircraft electrical
training. Early in 1960 I finished my training and was
transferred to NAS Whidbey Island. I
guess the phrase " Join the
Navy and see the world" is not always true. I spent the rest of my Navy service with VP-1
Patrol Squadron with two deployments to Kodiak
and Adak,
Alaska.
Just prior to being discharged in 1963 I married a girl from Butte, Montana. We have been married for 45
years, have four children ( two boys and two girls)
and five grandchildren. After leaving the Navy in 1963 I went to
work for the Boeing Company. In 1995
after 32 years I decided it was time to take the "WORK" phrase out of my vocabulary and
retire. I had a wonderful career with
Boeing and have traveled to many parts of the world including such places as England, Germany, Japan and several others places including various
assignments within the United States. My
wife and I spend our winters in Sun City, Arizona. Just a note today the forecast
high is 110 which means we will be heading to the
Northwest for the summer. See you at the
reunion. Leonard
Jerry Haralson: I am the one who showed up just in
time (spring ’58) to join this class!
Anyhow, it was a great transition for me….doing things like baseball,
then track which I’d never before attempted.
I moved on to Pacific Lutheran/Tacoma for college ending up with a
business degree. The best outcome there
for me was meeting up with my wife (Carolyn) of now 44yrs.
Then, military ‘called me’ to Navy service
as a communications officer on service ships + a little short-term reserves
activity. Following active duty I
attended U. of Oregon
for another year of study. We then
settled next in Tacoma where I
worked in the business office at PLU till we moved on to Yakima. That’s where our first of 2 sons, Dave was
born in 1970…..in 1972 moved back to west side to live in Bellevue (still do)
when I took a shot at public accounting, soon became a CPA which I still work
away at part-time these days! We
added Jon in 1974………and, now have the joy of grand-parenting one each for them,
ages 2 and 4 + another coming this summer.
They live in Seattle and Vancouver, WA
area which allows for seeing them fairly often.
We’ve had a good life; Carolyn retired from teaching
elementary school; I’ve had some great and loyal business & individual
clients, some for close to 35yrs. We
hope to have a few more years to continue traveling, etc. And now I look forward to this momentous
occasion!
Chuck Henderson: Cookie & I
have been married for 21 years now. This is a second marriage for both of
us. Between us we have two daughters and a son, all married, giving us 5
grandsons. I retired from my 2nd career at the end of 2007
after 12 years as a self-employed financial planner. Prior to that I
worked for a couple of large companies, mostly in software development,
planning, marketing and other crazy things they asked me to do. The great
part of that first 31-year experience is that all of it involved working with
computers and seeing the wonderful evolution of computing technology. The
last 12 years gave me the freedom to work out of my home, have a very flexible
work schedule and work in a close personal relationship with a lot of really
wonderful clients. So, now as a retired couple we are enjoying camping, hiking,
travel, our yard and home maintenance and a little volunteer work. And
like a lot of retired guys I’ve been bitten by the golf bug so I scratch that
itch about twice a week because without a doubt, golf is the greatest game
mankind has ever invented. Cookie & I are both fairly healthy.
We work out regularly and enjoy our evening strolls after dinner around the
neighborhood. So the quality of life for us living here in Northern
California in the heart of Silicon Valley is really sweet.
Barbara (Miller) Hughes: I
was born in Seattle, lived there until I was almost eight then
the navy transferred my Stepfather to Guam.
A very interesting tour of duty. Even as a youngster it was a large learning
curve. We were there 16 MOS. before being shipped back to the States, Whidbey Island to be exact. Started school in OH in
Jan. 1950 and was there until we were transferred to Kodiak, Alaska summer of 1954. That was another experience as I started High
School there. We were there for two years and I have very fond memories.
(I returned in August 2000 and August 2005 for KHS school reunions).
After our tour there we returned to Whidbey Is. and I graduated there with all
my old classmates from before.
I married Don Hughes 'OHHS Class of 52' in February 1959. Have two children,
Ken born February 1960, and Dawn born March 1961. They are both single
parents raising 2 children each. Ken works as CFO for a Construction
Company in Woodinville, WA, and Dawn is a Legal Secretary for the Attorney Generals office in Everett, Wa. Ken has two boys, Kyle age 20, and
Tanner age 17; Dawn has two girls, Emily age 20 and Nicole age 18. They
are all the love of my life. We lived in La Habra, California for 26 years where we raised our family. After they were in JHS I went to work for
Beckman Instruments in Fullerton, Ca., in Data Processing. In 1990
Don was transferred to New Jersey, which was a big cultural shock for us. We did enjoy it
though. When Don retired in 1996 we moved back to Washington and built a home on Camano Island. We are enjoying being back in
the Pacific
Northwest and
having our family and friends close by. We feel very blessed.
Please contact me anytime and we can talk over old times and new. bahughes@wavecable.com or 360-387-0534
Marietta (Murcray) Bechthold: Hi
everyone! Boy, it sure doesn't seem like it has been 50
years does it? That is, until I look in the mirror and I see my mother
smiling at me! I'm so anxious to see everyone and catch up. As for
my bio, I'm afraid I did just like everyone else; I just lived my life with it's ups and downs. After high school, I went to Seattle University for two years
and taught them everything I knew. Notice it did not take long.
Then for 3-4 years, I worked various jobs in Seattle and OH. While living
back in OH, I started taking classes at OHHS to get back into college.
Well, that never happened as the first night of class, I met
Bruno. We became engaged and were married in Nov of 65. As he
was career Navy, we immediately moved to Norfolk, Va where we
lived for three years. While there, our son Karl was born. Next
duty station was Honolulu and we were
there for three years. While there, our daughter Ann-Marion was
born. Notice a pattern here? Then Bruno did a one year tour in country in Viet Nam. No new
kid that time but it was a scary time for all. I lived in OH while that
was happening.
Next
we went to San Diego. We
raised the kids and had all the usual things go on. In 1980, Bruno
retired from USN, took his uniform off and went back to the same desk as a
civilian. Meantime< I finally did get back in school and after 4-1/2
years of class time and 26 years of calendar time, I graduated with a 2 year AA
in Medical Office Occupation. Nothing slow about me.
From then until Bruno retired for good, I worked
as a medical transcriptionist.
Sometime
around 1978, I took up quilting as a hobby. Since then, I
have been mainly working on baby size quilts for charity, (no
grandkids). Working through my church, most of my stuff now goes to
Whidbey General for needy moms and babies. Very fulfilling .
After
32 years of San Diego and it's constant, boring sunshine, the decision was
made for these two small town raised people to try living that way again.
I won the coin toss and in Nov of '05 we moved back to OH. Bruno misses
his 5 day a week golf game with all that sweating but we both enjoy the
small town lifestyle. I am really happy to be back where I learned so
much and "re-up" with the best of friends, old ones. I feel so
grateful to have been raised in a place where we all knew each other and cared
about each other. I never forgot those times or people and even with the traveling we have done and the great
friends we have madeover the years, I am happy
to be home.
Les Roodzant:
After graduation I attended college for a few quarters then enlisted
in the Air Force and earned a commission and my wings; I returned home to marry
Pat Harmon. We are now coming up on our
48th anniversary. We have traveled
extensively to all the States, Canadian Providences, and Mexico; have lived in South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Alaska, and Washington. I was a pilot for 29 years driving C-141’s
worldwide and O-1 birddogs as a forward air controller in Vietnam. Pat worked in surgery as an Anesthesia
technician. After the Air Force, I
worked as a simulator instructor. In
1997 we moved to Cornet Bay
to build a “retirement home”, no lawn to mow, just 150 Rhododendrons to look
after. Our passion is camping, fishing,
boating, children, grandchildren, our home, and church activities. We take pleasure visiting remote areas in our
motor home or boat and enjoy the great outdoors in general. Several of our many trips took us to Southeast
Alaska in the boat, Prudhoe Bay and Newfoundland
in the motor home. We have three married
daughters and nine grandchildren, two of them Chinese.
Trudy (Shepherd) Brooks:
After graduating from high school I attended SVC for awhile. I
moved to Burlington to live with my grandparents and worked at Norman's Pharmacy until I met my husband and we
were married on September 12, 1959. We will be celebrating our 50th
wedding anniversary in 2009 and have made plans to cruise to the Panama Canal in April of 2009.
I will be attending
the 50th class reunion of Mount Vernon High School on August 23 and 24th. I
attended school in Mt. Vernon through my sophomore year and then moved to
Oak Harbor.
I have worked as an
Interest Center Aide at Fidalgo School in Anacortes for 9 years and then decided
to do something different. I went to work on the Washington State Ferries
working in the Duty Free Stores sailing between Anacortes and Sidney, BC. I loved that job as I met people from all over the world.
During the past years
I have been in the Anacortes Arts and Crafts Festival for 2 years and also was
in the Coupeville Arts and Crafts Fair for 3 years. During that time I
was into Macramé. We currently attend the Lavender Festival in Sequim in
July and I have sold baskets and dried flower arrangements. My husband
has made many wine cork birdhouses and that is what he sells. We have
many people saving us their wine corks. I have also sold fused glass
jewelry and art pieces I have made. I am currently weaving baskets and
enjoy that very much. I find it hard to part with them as a lot of work
goes into each basket I make. I am also taking card making classes and
will be attempting to sell them in Sequim.
As you can see I enjoy Arts and Crafts. It is something to do while
I am retired.
We own a recreation
lot at Whatcom Meadows and find ourselves there most weekends. It is nice
to get away from the phone and computer.
We have traveled to Alaska, Hawaii, the Oregon Coast,
British Columbia. and Mexico. My favorite place is Lincoln City, Oregon at Thanksgiving time.
We have 3 boys and
1 grandson and 2 granddaughters. They are now living close by so we get
to see them frequently.
Glenn Smith: 1958: I went east to go to
school and ended up in North Dakota, ..School, State School of Science,
started out with Junior College, ended up in Tech. School, (printing). Took three years to graduate, one year Junior collage, two years Tech. School, ended up in Army, for three
years.
Went to
work in Minneapolis for the Star Tribune, (newspaper) (what else). Met my
wife, 1977, we were divorced in 1997. One child, Kari, she is 30 now.
Worked at the paper till 2000, when I retired.
Got
tired of "you lived on a island, what was it like" "Oh, we had a
bridge on one end, ferry of the other, when my folks took the car away from me
(as punishment) I would take the boat into town"
See all
of you in August........................Glenn
Jerry Smith: I live on Camano
Island and life is good. The love of my life, Helen,
and I have been married 39 years and we have 2 daughters and 2 1/3 grandkids
(Grant=5; Jack=2; Unnamed=1/3). Our
daughters live close by so we see them often, but not often enough. We enjoy the summers here at the beach and we
like to get away for a couple sun breaks in the winter. We love to travel. I play tennis every other day to have fun and
get some exercise. I received my BA in
Math at Western right after college, then onto the UW graduate school in
Statistics (which took away the excitement of gambling at Vegas). I retired in 1997 after 32 years in the
computer field, which makes me a computer pioneer, guru, or relic (or all
3). I had a computer consulting business
in Seattle for most of my career
and now I am the Computer-MD on Camano (part time).
Dr. Bob (Robert)
Vanderpol: I attended OHHS for 2 ½ years and in 1957 my
family moved to Seattle to be closer to the main office of Oak Harbor Freight Lines. I continued my undistinguished career,
graduating in 1958 from King’s High School in Seattle (Edmonds). I
then attended Seattle
Pacific College from 1958 till 1961. Then I attended the University of Washington and obtained a straight A
– 4.0 GPA (that was because of only 1 class taken). In 1961, I went to the Cougar school, WSU,
and graduated with a degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.O in
1965). Then I was paid to go back to
school at the University of Minnesota and completed a residency in Medicine &
Surgery at the Veterinary School there.
Next, I attended the Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota 1972-1974. I then went on to
serve the Latin America Mission and World Vision in Costa Rica and then in Columbia, South America.
I adopted my
youngest daughter in Columbia, South
America in
1978. By this time I had 3 boys and 1
daughter. In 1980 I returned to the Pacific Northwest. The
Muppets had a TV segment called “Veterinary Hospital”. It
came on right after “Pigs In Space”. Kermit the Frog played Dr. Bob the Vet and
Miss Piggy played Nurse Piggy. After
that, my nickname became “Dr. Bob” and I have been Dr. Bob every since. I am married to a school nurse nicknamed,
“Nurse Peggy”. Her 2 boys are all grown
up and live in California. My daughter lives in Bellingham. I
have 2 boys in this area and a son in California. Nurse
Peggy is presently a school nurse at Maywood Hills Elementary in Bothell. I have a Veterinary Practice just 4 blocks
south of Safeco Field. Dr. Bob
PS: No, Mr. Ingram would not be proud of my
typing skills. He wasn’t very proud of
his either.
Tom Veach:
I came to Oak Harbor from Canada when I was almost 15 years
old. I learned how to be an American in Oak Harbor, using most of my classmates as
roll models in one way or another. You taught me to talk without saying
"Eh!". Thank you.
Memories
of OHHS are great, the Roller Barn, sock-hops, proms, etc.
After
high school, I worked in Anacortes for 3 years, Port Angeles for 2 years, Roseburg, Oregon for 2 years doing various jobs
from fish canneries, plywood mills, sawmills, paper mills, to logging and
construction.
I
married in 1959 and have 2 sons. We divorced in 1965 and I raised my
sons. In 1965, I was living in Longview, Washington and remarried, adding 3
step-children to the family.
I
managed to go to Lower Columbia College where I studied welding and
metallurgy. In 1968, I was hired by Reynolds Metals Company where I did a
variety of jobs from laborer, equipments operator, lead man and safety
director. I retired in 1998.
In
2003, I moved to Arizona, after getting divorced. Retirement was Ok, but I prefer to be
employed, so I returned to the work force in 2005, holding a variety of jobs
from Sales Associate at Home Depot to patching roads for the county.
Currently, I am a seasonal employee for Taylor Farms. I mix cabbage,
carrots, radishes, etc. into lettuce which is then packaged and shipped to
restaurants all over the U.S. and Canada. It is hard work,
physically, and I need that.
When I
am not working, Jan and I travel around in our 5th wheel, enjoying the beauty
of the world.
Grace (Walker) LaFoutain: After
graduating from Oak Harbor, I got
married to Thomas LaFountain, moved to Bellingham, had a son,
moved to California, had another
son. Became real
involved with the schools while my boys were young. Went to work for the phone company (ATT) and
was in management for them for twenty years.
During that time went through the divesture of the phone company. On our twenty fifth anniversary
we took 6 weeks & drove from California to Maine for a lobster
dinner. We went through 36 states and
saw points of interest that we both wanted to see. It was like we were dating again! What fun that was. After retiring from the phone company, I
formed a Corporation and opened an auto repair shop in California. We ran that for 12 years and sold the
equipment and closed the doors and retired for good. We have 6 grandchildren and 3 great
grandchildren. We moved back to Oak Harbor in October of
2007 and are currently living in my niece’s mobile home. We will build or buy a home of our own in
2008 or 2009. We plan on the location
being anywhere from Stanwood to South Everett. Our boys and our grandchildren are in Roy and Olympia, so we will
be between my family here and the kids down there. We just got back from a cruise to Alaska for our 50th
anniversary, for some reason we were not as exuberant as we were on our 25th. Old age is my guess! It was sure a beautiful trip though. I am looking forward to seeing everyone at
the reunion and talking to all of you.
Former Teachers:
Tom & Jean Burrows: Jean
and I came to Oak Harbor in 1956. We had some of you in our
classes when you were in your Junior year. Jean
only taught that first year, and then she became a "stay-at-home"
Mom, although she did substitute both part time and full time for a few
years. As the years went by I gradually moved into administration, and
when we left Oak Harbor in 1989, I was Vice-Principal. We
moved to Missoula, Montana, where I worked as Vice Principal at Hellgate High School until 1995, when I retired. I began
substituting in the Ellensburg and Cle Elum School Districts in 1995 and am still doing that -- I
finished my 52nd year of working in the public schools this June and am
planning on working this coming year. I still love working with teens and
probably always will. Some of you caused that to happen -- you were a
great class!