TODAY'S NEWS - QUICKIES THAT CHANGE OFTEN

"I WILL NOT FOLLOW WHERE THE PATH MAY LEAD, BUT I WILL GO WHERE THERE IS NO PATH, AND I WILL LEAVE A TRAIL." Muriel Strode -KHS65 class motto.
"The good old days....when we weren't good and we weren't old" Barbara Schwarz Moss 2010
SEE WWW.KHS65.COM FOR 169 PIX FROM OUR 45TH REUNION - CLICK THE SMALL PHOTO FOR LARGER VERSION. See lots of NEW grade school pix!
CHECK THE LABELS, GO TO KIRKWOOD HISTORY ARTICLES & CLICK THE POST ABOUT FRANCIS SCHEIDEGGER'S PIX FOR A GLIMPSE OF A PLACE I BET EVERYONE REMEMBERS - and much more!


We seem to all be suffering a common problem these days, WHERE DID OUR LIVES GO? Our brains seem to still be 18, but our bodies are talking a different language. Sarah Orne Jewett puts it much more eloquently than do I:

“Neither of my companions was troubled by her burden of years. I hoped in my heart that I might be like them as I lived on into age, and then smiled to think that I too was no longer very young. So we always keep the same hearts, though our outer framework fails and shows the touch of time.”

FOR LATEST NEWS BE SURE TO CHECK OUT KHS65 AT FACEBOOK TOO!


Interactive news, reviews, gossip, musings, activities, photos, mysteries, histories, stories, truths, lies & video tapes from & for graduates of the Kirkwood (MO) High School fabulous class of 1965. Email us anything you would like to share to leslieatkhs65dotcom. See photos at www.khs65.com - comment here or on the website to make yourself heard! FIND US ~ www.khs65.com ~ www.khs65.org ~ FACEBOOK KHS65 ~ http://khs65blog.com ~ KHS65 MAKE IT A HABIT!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Paul McCartney - Kennedy Center Honoree

I am sitting at my desk with tears streaming down my face as I watch the Kennedy Center Honors. Paul McCartney has long been my choice for the primo musician of our lives; his works alone and those with John Lennon define our lives in so many ways. Tonight's tribute to him in DC was wonderful. I never hear several of the early Beatles' songs without thinking about the people in my life, where I was when a song was popular, and of course, how many times I've replayed the night they were first on Sullivan's show...I was babysitting, the kids were in bed, I was alone in the living room and in awe. It's a melancholy time - I think New Years probably is for many of us...looking back on the past. At this age, I seem to be looking back more and remembering the details more and more too. Unpacking from our recent move has brought many memories as I unpack boxes of old scrapbooks ~ my mother's, my grandparents' and of course my own. A very close old friend, whom I nearly married, is dying. I can't stop thinking of him, and of course the memories of our time together are leaping to the front of my thoughts. Let's hope we have plenty more happy years to make more wonderful memories. During the McCartney honors, they showed the Fab Four crossing that famous crosswalk on Abbey Road, where I too walked - on my 50th birthday...what a trip that was, literally & figuratively. Happy New Year to everyone! Here's to Paul McCartney!

1/6/11 Just cleaning off my desk and found where I jotted a quote as I watched the Kennedy Center Honors show: "Paul was born with the gift of song, he gave it to us to sing forever." Kind of defines our lives doesn't it?

Sunday, December 19, 2010

CARS CARS CARS - WE ALL LOVED 'EM DIDN'T WE?

From our devoted KHS65 member Rich Mills comes this very way overthetop cool video about vintage cars - yes OUR vintage! It's a must - see - 9 minutes 16 sec long and worth every second. There are 3 parts, so when you come to a pause, keep watching. There are more videos at the end... poor Rich, after sending this to me he had to endure my telling him about all my top favorite cars! You'll see the 1961 Chevy Impala coupe and 1957 Chevy, turquoise, and a whole array of Corvettes...it's just a very very cool video...enjoy courtesy of Rich in frozen tundra IDAHO for heaven's sakes! Go here to see the video.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

GEORGANN DOES IT AGAIN! OH NO!!

If you'll read down to the August postings, you will find that Georgann Meinhardt Vehmeier had to give up her hopes of attending our 45th reunion due to a broken left elbow. So, apparently she got through that, only to send me another photo today of her with a sling now on her right arm, having broken her wrist. Hey girl, this is NOT how we Kirkwood girls get ready for reunions and Christmas! Steve's gonna disown you if he has to keep playing nursemaid to the woman of the house! What a bother, I hope you heal, AGAIN, really quickly and fully. So try Boniva or Reclast!@!!

As a 'get well wish' to Georgann, I've uploaded some gorgeous photos she sent me this summer that I never got around to posting...and I have MORE 'stuff' from her too! Time, my mortal enemy! Check out the links below to see the gorgeous surroundings where Georgann is spending her recuperation - but George, it's hard to enjoy all this beauty one-handed!!!!! This is Georgann and Steve's condo at The Landings, in Dunnellon, FL, on the Gulf Coast between Ocala & Crystal
River. Lately it's better known as the Georgann Recuperative Center! They are only 5 minutes away from Rainbowl River State Park. Sounds like a great place for a winter vacation to me!

Check out these links for more of a beautiful part of the west coast of Florida!
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4
Link 5
Link 6
Link 7
Link 8
Link 9
Link 10
Link 11
Link 12

Our KU Pals must be so proud!

Well, I'm sure all our classmates who are KU alums, or have any KU konnections, and there are many in KHS65, are just thrilled with the recent purchase of the Naismith basketball document, but if you don't know the details, here they are:

The third bit of history [sold at auction recently] was the document that listed the 13 rules for the game of basketball invented by James Naismith in 1891. It sold for the highest price of all, $4,338,500. The money from the sale will go to the Naismith International Basketball Foundation.

The auction results were big news on TV and really caught my attention. My only connection to basketball is that my daughter played it well in high school, lettered I think, and at KHS I broke a finger playing it, thus ending what surely wouldn't have been a stellar career anyway! But I do have lots of KU pals and am just thinking this is really a wonderful thing to have happened for the Basketball Foundation, lots of good will come from that money. Jayhawks Rock!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

It is raining those proverbial cats & dogs this morning, much needed rain for the St. Louis area. Tomorrow is a special day for me, as I have two Mayflower ancestors and it's always a day of thinking of family..I'll have my son, mother in law and hubby for dinner tomorrow, a turkey, pies, cranberry sauce, my mom's Waldorf Salad and mashed potatoes. This time the dining room has a table & chairs, but cabinets are empty, as I'm still unpacking. But the food and family will be great, no matter the messy just-moved-into surroundings. From Georgann Meinhardt comes a gorgeous reminder that other places besides Kirkwood, MO DO have Fall beauty...ours was late but lovely this year, but look at the view in Dunnellon, FL, on the west coast, where Georgann and hubby Steve live. THANKS George for sharing! I give thanks all the time for my wonderful friends, those whom I've just made and those I've had for so long, to ALL, a happy day and GO PIONEERS!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

PIONEERS VS STATESMEN TOMORROW!!!!!




Kirkwood vs Webster Semi-Final Playoff Football Game this Friday!
Join us on the field or watch it LIVE online. Below are several options for fans to GET IN THE GAME:
1. Watch it LIVE online @ http://www.smtlive.com/kvw, VIP Sponsor - Des Peres Hospital
2. Like Kirkwood Football Alerts on Facebook & Twitter to get in-game updates!
3. Listen to the game on KFNS 590 the Fan's High School Sports Caravan via AM 590 radio or live webcast online! The broadcast is scheduled for 7 pm. Pioneer fans outside the St. Louis area can listen via the internet by logging on to www.kfns.com, or by downloading the free KFNS mobile app for Android, Blackberry or iPhone.

The game will also be broadcasted on TV on CCIN (Channel 3 for Charter Cable subscribers) on Saturday after Big 12 College Football and Sunday at 10 a.m.
Go HERE for more Turkey Day game info!
Red & White Sponsors of the ONLINE Video Webcast:

Webster-Kirkwood Times
Mike Duffy's in Kirkwood - Pioneer Special! Buy one get one free 14 inch pizza. Dine in or carry out for your tailgate party or victory part. We can deliver!
Frontenac Bank - Building Relationships...Your Community..Your Bank.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Viet Nam Wall and KHS65

Another of our KHS65 classmates, Russ Jaeger who lives on the west coast of Florida, has noticed the postings I've done about Veterans and our classmate Jerome Rawlings who did not make it home from THAT war. Recently Russ was in Washington, DC and sends these photos for us. When I was at the Wall in 1987 the internet wasn't on my radar, let alone blogging! I did go to the Wall, with a business colleague who had served and lost his best buddy; it was a moving visit and I was glad I had Jerry's name to visit and admire while my friend grieved silently for his friend. Thanks so much Russ for staying in touch with your roots and for sending these images. Russ is also checking out his personal archives to find me some more Pitman photos to post...that project a bit behind due to my recent move, but I'm in my new condo and trying to get my life out of boxes and into order! HA! What an oxymoron THAT is!

Russ explains the photos: "...I remembered his tribute on the KHS65 blog and thought you might add these. I was unable to get the whole page in focus so had to take 2 pictures with his name and hometown and location on the wall (53E line 22). A little glare with the wall photo also but you can see his name midway on the left side."



Moisio Magic

I can't imagine the fortitude it took for Pat Moisio Reim Ciapciak to attend a fund-raising gala at The Chase with her brother Peter the day after burying her husband Stan. What a capacity for love, sharing and support Pat must have. We all should take a bit of a swig from her gallons of love for her family. Pat you have my admiration and again, my condolences. I have been sending Peter's cards with great joy to my friends and family. Please go here to see the video of Pat and Peter on November 13 where Peter is recognized for once again 'doing good' for our community - he was commissioned by St. Louis Arc to create a painting to be auctioned as a fund-raiser!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

GREG KNOTT'S MEMORY LIVES ON

Greg Knott, who died in January, really made a difference in his way-too-short life. I have posted about him earlier, see older posts, but new information has come my way via Peggy Kramer. Marilyn Kehl was Greg's good friend and right hand woman. Please go here to see a website dedicated to, among other things, Greg's involvement with Gay rights and betterment of the environment relating to life as a gay or lesbian person in our world. Additionally, below is a note from Marilyn to anyone who is interested. Greg certainly is another of our KHS65 members gone way too soon:

"At the time of Gregory's death, Judy Stone, of the Old West End Association, suggested that he should have a Memorial Plaque, similar to Murray Whiteman's, placed in the Old West End Arboretum. Many of you will remember Judy, an OWE Realtor whom I think of as Greg's successor in that field, deeply committed to the community and involved in its activities. In her tribute written at the time of Greg's death, she recalled, among other things, “parties at Lolly Blair's”. Many of you must remember her. We who consider ourselves the “immediate family” who handled all the funeral arrangements, etc. were very enthusiastic.

Pushy woman (not to say “bitch”) that I am, after a couple of months, I started asking questions. I contacted Judy, who told me that the matter was being handled by Michael Murray, yet another OWE Realtor. Many of you undoubtedly also remember Michael. Speaking for myself only, I would not trust Michael as far as I could throw the Refectory at Robinwood and Bancroft where he used to live. (Used to, because it really belongs to his wife. She divorced him and kept it.) At the time of Greg's death, I felt that the only reason Michael came to the Friday night visitation at the funeral home was so he could hand out business cards that said “Michael Murray, Auctioneer, Pamela Rose Auctions”. Michael told me that he had $300.00 in the fund, and had no idea what had been collected from our side, nor had he had any communication from us. He also advised me that the deceased woman who had funded the Arboretum had specified in her Will that no more plaques could be installed, however Memorial Benches were permitted. Attached is a picture of a different bench. Greg's would be similar. [This photo did not come over to me via email.]

I brought this information back to the “family”. There was no objection to the bench. The person responsible for collecting donations on our side said he was under the impression that Michael was to contact him. He had a number of pledges, but only one contribution to date. He immediately started calling in his chips. Sadly many of the pledges had melted away, not uncommon when time passes after the emotional event that prompted the pledge.

At this point, we have $700.00 and need $500.00 more. I'm not aware that any of you are fabulously wealthy, or I'd come after you first. But I am like Barack Obama, no amount is too small. $5.00, $10.00, $25.00 is welcome. Every little bit really does help. Of course, if you're in the position to do so, more is fine. Below are the instructions for making contributions from the man who is handling this on our behalf, followed by his business address.

Checks should be made out to Old West End Association w/ a notation in the memo section for Knott Memorial Bench. The OWE Assn. is being used because of their tax exempt status to avoid paying sales tax on the bench. Given Greg’s fondness (not!) for the current OWE Assn. I have been holding back any checks until we have the entire amount to give them in a lump sum.

Bill Robison
Great Lakes Sound, Inc.
230 Arco Drive Toledo, Ohio 43607
419-534-2260 Fax 534-2261
www.greatlakessound.com

If you prefer, you may send them to me:
Marilyn W. Kehl
3443 Broadway Place Apt. B Columbus, Ohio 43214 (614) 447-9922
broadwaybabes@wowway.com
Unfortunately, your donations are not tax deductible, but Greg's worth it. Love, Marilyn"

I pass this information on to our classmates with no prejudice or preference, but for your information and action if desired.

KHS65 MAKIN' MUSIC THEN & NOW

This week Dave Beardsley, one of our stellar KHS65 musicians, attended a concert at Meramec Community College at which he had the pleasure of seeing & hearing Clancy Newell on drums and Pat Moisio on violin. At any rate, I wanted to share some information Dave sent me in response to my question about who plays in what orchestra around town. Dave plays in the Florissant Community Orchestra, the concert he attended was at Meramec CC, and I didn't know who/what/why this concert took place:

"The orchestras at Meramec and Florissant Valley are open to anybody who shows up and who can play and is accepted, be they a student or an adult who played before and wants to get back into the music for the love of it. I can't speak for Meramec, but at Flo Valley, which I'm familiar with and am president of the 501(c)(3) Friends of the Florissant Symphony Orchestra, there are several CC students, an occasional high school student, and a bunch of adults from their 30's to their 80's who are either music teachers, doctors, dentists, engineers, cops, drop-outs, ordinary civilians and of course, the lowest of the low, liberal arts majors, who played when they were in school and who could never get it out of their system, even if they had stopped for a few years during their career-building and family-building years. At Flo Valley, the adult members (not students) are even assessed $35 dues per semester. The 501(c)(3) does what it can to raise contributions and corporate matching grants, and Flo Valley CC contributes roughly $2,000 per year and pays the director's salary. It costs a lot to run the orchestra, because our rehearsal space is rented from a nearby church (Flo kicked the orchestra off campus several years ago when they got State money to change the orchestra room into some other function), and some of the music people like to hear is not in the public domain and has to be rented from New York or Detroit for anywhere from $100 to $500 for a concert, and we can't charge admission."


ON ANOTHER SUBJECT, Alan Yount has been sharing some memories of his KHS dance band and our late classmate Doug McKelvy. Herewith some of Alan's thoughts, with his permission:

" So sad to hear about Doug. We were great friends in high school ... through the high school band, and of course in my dance band. Doug was a really great tenor sax player and was one of the main supporters of the band. I remember he never missed a job. There were several of us in the band who really wanted to play stage band music, and he was one of them.
Very nice touch that Jack played Taps [at Doug's burial]. I did that several times when I was in the Air Force in San Antonio. Some very grim afternoons during the Viet Nam era. I remember one particular afternoon ... it was cold and pouring down rain. We were all soaked. Only myself and the funeral detail were there ... no parents or friends."

And a bit later:
"Our band played 6 dances our senior year. The kids kept asking for us and many teachers, and I remember Mr. George Beltz especially, liked the band. Doug played all 6 of those dances. Also, after discussion, Doug and all the rest volunteered to play at the last dance, the Coronation Prom. Some of us wanted to go to the dance, but we had so many requests to play. Doug and the rest of us were very pleased to have an article and picture of the band in the Kirkwood paper, talking about its being our "last dance to be played as a band." The band also had a nice write-up in Prom Magazine. [I own some of those but I don't remember this article; next time I am at the Library I'll find this and scan it.] THANKS Alan for sharing these great memories.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

THERE ARE RULES & THEN THERE ARE RULES

During our reunion picnic I was chatting with one of my favorite couples, he a KHS65 member and she a little bit younger, but a KHSer also. We were discussing his going stag to reunion activities and she smiled and said, "Oh, it's okay with me, but I do have three rules about it - first he can't use my car (she has a cute cute red convertible), he can't wear after-shave and he has to pick out his own clothes for the occasion." I cracked up, what a perfect wifely set of rules. The husband in question IS a real charmer, so the equally charming better-half is a very wise woman indeed. This may have something to do with the fact that they have been married for over 40 years!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Celebrating VETERANS - & a Volunteer opportunity

If you are a Veteran or know classmates who are, please comment or email to let us know so we can say THANK YOU. Please continue reading down this post as I am going to add some comments received by our Veterans. And I want everyone to see the opportunity below to contribute your family's Veteran story. All such stories are welcome here too! (See Older Posts for two more posts with Veteran info, one in July 09) Some I know of are:

Rich Mills Bob O'Neill Ken McBride Judge Gary Schmidt Rusty Nelson Linda Stevens
Jack Toman
Paul Silman Alan Yount
Larry Allin - herewith, with his permission, a note received from Larry: "Your post was timely; I am a Vietnam veteran recently returned from the 3rd annual reunion of the unit I served with.
I was a combat medic, assigned to a reconnaissance company in the First
Cavalry Division. In 2008 6 of us "found" each other; phone calls & emails were great but not quite enough. We agreed to meet at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, to pay our respects & get reacquainted. It was a bit awkward at first; but within hours the years
fell away and we were close friends once again. We spent 3 days catching up on the 40 years since our service together & reliving the good and bad of Vietnam experience.

It was cathartic and has prompted us to look for others we served with and to meet again. We have found another dozen of our "brothers" and have met twice more; the search for others continues and planning for the 2011 reunion (in Myrtle Beach, SC) has begun."
Thank you to Larry so much for sharing! Larry is one of our classmates who lives, still or again, right in Kirkwood!
Also, click Linda Stevens' name for a great description of her father's incredible service in WWII. There is more information in older posts (see Snipets from Classmates, July, 2010), but this is a nice write-up I just found, written when he was honored by the Missouri State Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. He had an amazing flying & bombing career!

I just found this on a history blog I follow:
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
A Call to Record Veterans’ Histories

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has issued a call to action to all Americans. During the Veterans History Project’s 10th Anniversary Commemoration Sept. 29, he launched a new campaign asking America to "collect and preserve the story of at least one veteran" and to "pledge to preserve this important part of American history." Time is of the essence, he added: "Help us gather in the accounts of 10,000 veterans by Veterans Day."

Congress created The Veterans History Project in 2000 as a national documentation program of the American Folklife Center (www.loc.gov/folklife/) to record, preserve and make accessible the firsthand remembrances of American wartime veterans from World War I through the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war. More than 68,000 individual stories comprise the collection to date.

The project relies on volunteers to record veterans’ remembrances using guidelines accessible at www.loc.gov/vets/. Volunteer interviewers may request information at vohp@loc.gov or the toll-free message line at (888) 371-5848.

Here is another account of the story of Linda's father being awarded the Silver Star 66 years late! Thanks once again Linda for sharing:

"Leslie, here is a follow up on my Dad's service. Several years ago Dad started talking about his experiences during WWII. He had never done this before. One incident helped me to understand what a great man, skilled pilot, hero and of course, great father he is and was. My Dad was a B-17 pilot during the war. He flew 38 plus combat missions. In addition, after his crew returned to the US, Dad volunteered to fly bombardiers to North Africa from England, so that they could practice dropping their bombs. He laughed when he told us this story. It appears that by the end of the war, the Germans had learned to trim their planes to look like American planes. This was an attempt to keep from being shot down. Dad said that during his flights to N. Africa he got shot at by the Germans and on the way back from N. Africa, he got shot at by the Americans until they identified his plane. I have many stories about my Dad's gallantry, heroism and flying skills, but I'll just tell you about one. In 1944 Dad's mission was to fly from home base, Glatton England, to France to bomb rail sites. On the way into France, Dad's plane underwent withering ground and air fire and 2 of his 4 engines were shot out and the planes fuselage was shredded. But Dad was determined to complete his mission. One hundred miles into France, Dad's 3rd engine was shot out. Dad determined that flying to his drop site would be impossible. So he dropped his load and turned around back toward England. He gave permission for his crew to bail out as he was unsure if he could get the plane back. The entire crew stayed with Dad and their plane. Dad could only generate enough power to keep him just above the waters of the English Channel. It took all of Dad's concentration and flying skills to keep them out of the water. While telling the story, Dad laughed to himself. He said he had worked so hard to stay out of the drink that he had forgotten the damned Cliffs of Dover. It wasn't until they came into sight that Dad knew he didn't have the power to clear the cliffs. The English coast is very rocky, with very little in the way of sandy beach. But Dad knew that most of his hydraulics had been damaged and he didn't believe that he had brakes that would bring his plane to a stop. His idea was to circle until he located a sandy beach to bury his wheels and bring his plane to a stop. After circling and running low on fuel, Dad finally came upon a very small strip of sandy beach. He again gave his crew permission to bail out. But once again, they chose to stay with Dad and their bomber. Dad set the badly damaged bomber down and buried its wheels in the sand to bring it to a stop. Not 1 man in his crew received a scratch and his plane was salvaged to fly again. While waiting to be taken off the beach the men in Dad's crew decided to count the holes in the plane's fuselage. They stopped at 151, many big enough to put their heads through. This number did not include the 3 dead engines. After hearing this story, I realized that Dad's skills and heroism had been overlooked. So, over the next 4 years, with the help of Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay, MO, I worked to have him recognized. I do genealogy research and what it came down to was finding another eyewitness. Keep in mind this was 66 years after the event. But, as luck would have it, using my research skills I found the only other living member of my Dad's crew, contacted him and he told me the exact same account of that day. I asked him if he would write a letter to verify the event. He wrote not 1 but 2 letters. Sgt. Neelan, thank you! To bring the story to an end, on May 22, 2010 my Dad was presented the SILVER STAR for GALLANTRY over France in 1944. Congressman Clay arranged the ceremony and presented the award. See http://stltoday.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1009779&CategoryID=38578 for a little more about my Dad. He was among the first graduating class of the Army Air Corps helicopter pilots. He later became an instructor. He is proven to have been the 1st pilot to land a helicopter on the deck of an aircraft carrier. BTW, if you should see the movie "The Last Time I Saw Paris", look for my Dad, he marched in the Victory parade shown in the movie!"

Remember, every woman who has served in the US military, was a VOLUNTEER!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

KIRKWOOD HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI HALL OF FAME

As you have read earlier if you're following the blog, the Induction Ceremony & Reception for the HOF were held Saturday evening, September 25th. I've posted the photos I took and pretty much described the evening at http://www.khs65.com/ so I hope you will go there to read all about it. A lovely evening honoring many deserving folks with the Pioneer Award & HOF recognition. The program for the evening included a musical interlude played by Senior Emily Graham who is a double bassist and has already had quite a career. She plays first chair double bass with the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and certainly is a budding young star.

Some other notes I jotted down to share include the fact that KHS has recently scored #1 in Math scores in the State of MO in schools with over 200 students and #2 in the State in English. KHS is considered to have the best journalism program in the State also. This doesn't surprise me as KHS has always had excellent journalism programs, students and teachers. The "Call" and "Pioneer" have always been award-winners; remember Mrs. Conley? She was a real task-mistress! The Missouri Teacher of the Year 2010-2011 is KHS' Chemistry Teacher Roger Becker, a KHS teacher since 1990. (seems like they'd wait til the school year is over to elect the best teacher, what if he messes up?)


Patrick Jackson, the band/orchestra teacher and the one who took the KHS Orchestra to Carnegie Hall, was present at the induction ceremony, introducing Emily and commenting about the caliber of the students. Obviously he's a great teacher too!

The highlights of the evening for our class were of course the induction of our classmate Judge Gary Schmidt who had a stellar career in the judicial system, and has been a staunch supporter of KHS65 for many many years, and the induction of classmate Paula Faulk's husband Rodger Riney, founder of ScottTrade. For me personally another highlight was the posthumous induction of John F. Yardley, a leader in the early space program and a colleague and friend of my father for over 30 years at MDC. One of my best friends' husband's cousin was also inducted, making another treat for me to meet Ted Almstedt and his wife Barbara. Mr. & Mrs. Earl E. Walker (KHS39 & KHS38) are well-known Kirkwood school benefactors and I am told are the parents of KHS65 classmate Tom Walker. I didn't know Tom well at KHS and am still not positive they are his parents, but they are the parents of 4 KHS alums so I don't want to leave them out; whether or not they are Tom's parents, they have done an awfully lot for the Kirkwood School District!

Students gave their time to serve as guides during the inductees' campus tour, to serve punch and hors d'oeuvres and escort the inductees off the stage with their awards after their acceptance speeches. They were all just charming and YOUNG! It was a memorable night, I wish everyone in our class could have been there.

For those of you in St. Louis, you might check the coming year's
Opera Theatre schedule as John McDaniel (KHS79), another inductee, will be conducting 'Daughter of the Regiment' from 5/28 to 6/26 with single tickets going on sale 2/26; and in April he will be conducting 'Catch me if you Can' on Broadway. John is a charming and gracious fellow whom I had the pleasure of meeting at a Symphony concert - he autographed my CD "From KHS79 to KHS65" which I thought was so fun!

Herewith is Gary Schmidt's acceptance speech which I coaxed him into sharing - he had to cut it a bit on stage, some were way too long and he was trying to follow the requested time allowance - but he did get most of this said!

I promise you I’ll be short. Ginger Fletcher threatened me if I went over three minutes, and my family promised to help if I even got close to that.

I am a fortunate child, with much for which to be grateful, and I am truly thankful.

Kirkwood High School was a fabulous educational opportunity. I owe a heartfelt “thank you” not just to the great teachers, but to all the school board members, administrators, and staff. Thanks for your time and efforts, both past and present.

Not only did I get to go to Kirkwood High School, but I had wonderful parents too. Kirkwood residents Arthur and Mittie Schmidt are alive, doing very well, and here with us tonight. If we had a hall of fame for greatest parents, they would be there.

I was lucky to be in a fabulous class in 1965. We had 23 National Merit Finalists and Semi-finalists. State Champions galore, including Jim Olson, the best distance runner of the decade not named Jim Ryun. We had an Olympian who competed for Iceland. We had people of coming accomplishment such as Nelson Wainwright & Larry Ferree. Our unofficial class historian, Leslie Canavan, is here tonight. Truly a person was fortunate to be in the Class of 1965.

For the most part our class was a group of genuinely nice people. Teenage cruelties were far less than they could have been, and those classmates would try to help you when you needed advice on important problems such as should you wear socks with penny loafers.

Today you can still get great advice and counsel from these friends. For me, Tom Holley and the Reverend Joe Marting come quickly to mind.

Many of the Class of '65 have continued to hang out together, drawing hundreds to class reunions.

I told you I was fortunate. Forty years ago I married the best thing to ever come from Webster Groves High School. She has been an equal partner in everything we’ve accomplished. Thank you Chris, for all the help and patience.

I want to report something I have seen to you that has nothing to do with good fortune. The Kirkwood system today is outstanding; and in my opinion better than ever.

A few years ago a group of alumni took a tour of Kirkwood High School. During that tour Principal Dave Holley spoke of future challenges, and what Kirkwood was doing to meet them. I was totally stunned by the incredible vision and forethought of the Administration. I walked away thinking, “Kirkwood cannot be in better hands than the current leaders.” I mean that sincerely.

Ginger Fletcher, thank you for the many courtesies. Thank you to the Committee for the honor of letting us be here tonight. I remain proud to be, and always will be, a Kirkwood man."

Gary's write up in the Program Book:

Gary Schmidt graduated from Westminster College in 1969, where he was an All-American runner & Scholastic All-American. Following military service, including duty in Vietnam, he graduated from law school in 1974. Mr. Schmidt was first elected as a judge in 1978, and he served as a judge for 20 years. He received the Irvin A. Keller Distinguished Service Award in 2007 from the MO High School Activities Assoc. In 2002, Judge Schmidt succeeded U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as the Distinguished American Jurist, an award presented at Mississippi State University. Following retirement from the bench, Judge Schmidt served 4 years as Corporations Counsel for the State of Missouri, and then was the Acting Director of Fraud and Noncompliance for the State. [He lives in Jefferson City.]

So classmates, we are batting 1000, (Jim Olson was inducted last fall in the Athletic HOF.) let's nominate another of our stellar athletes for the Spring 2012 Athletic Hall of Fame - send ideas, talk it up with your friends. Wouldn't it be GREAT to have another KHS65 member in the next HOF? Nominations open in January. Let's MAKE KHS65 A HABIT in the HOF!


Thursday, September 30, 2010

October 1 - JOIN THE KHS CELEBRATION

TOMORROW NIGHT, OCTOBER 1, THE NEW TURF WILL BE INITIATED AS THE PIONEERS FACE THE PARKWAY CENTRAL COLTS AT 7:00 PM. Lots of activities are planned for the night, so click here for all the scoop on how to join in the fun! When the formal dedication of the track and new Chopin entrance takes place, you'll see it here!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

MUSICIAN & GENTLEMAN, DOUG MCKELVY DIES AT 63

VISITATION: KUTIS - LEMAY FERRY & BUTLER HILL, SUNDAY 10/3 4 TO 8PM; FUNERAL NOON MONDAY FOLLOWED BY BURIAL AT JEFFERSON BARRACKS - JACK TOMAN WILL BE PERFORMING TAPS AT THE BURIAL. Please see my post of 10/19/10 with a tad more about Doug.

I appreciate Leslie Bright Wainwright's just now telling me of the death of our classmate Doug (real name Steven D.) McKelvy. He attended our KHS65 Reunion picnic last month and was looking frail, awaiting the results of recent tests. Doug was a musician and many of you might remember his sitting in with Jack at our reunion picnic last time, in 2005, at the Park. As a kid in grade school at Robinson he sat behind me, and when studying Morse Code for Scouts he'd tap out the various codes on his desk, and with his book in front of me, I'd shake my head sideways if he made an error, but he rarely did, he was a quick learner! We will miss Doug's friendly emails, his musical talent and his always calm, thoughtful demeanor.

So long old friend, rest in peace and love

I just reviewed some old emails from Doug and here is a cute quote he once sent:

As for the groundhog, if he sees his shadow, we'll have 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow, it'll only be another month and a half.


Doug did his student teaching at KHS and North Middle, and taught for some amount of time at North. Here is a little ditty he sent when we were exploring the idea of a band appearance at a reunion:

On the other hand I have my ugly bari sax, my better tenor has been repaired (I'm still not ready for a lot of solo work with it :-[ ), I have a pretty good alto (I'm a little better on that than tenor), and I'm best on bass guitar (I have a Fender with a Bassman amp 8-) ). I also have flute and clarinet. I have an upright bass, but it needs some work, and my hands are woefully out of shape, so the Fender is a better option.

Now I don't know about you all, but I think a man with the ability to play all those is amazing! One more from Doug, the signature on an email I received from him in July:

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua 1:9


Doug's obituary from The St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
McKelvy, Steven D. (Doug) Sat., Sept. 25, 2010. Beloved husband of Deborah Ann McKelvy (Steiger); dearest brother of Kathy (the late Gene) Kosek; dear son of the late H. M. Mack and Mary McKelvy; dear brother-in-law of Bill and Pat Stevens; dear uncle of Lisa Cleary, Michael Stevens, Vince Kosek, David Kosek and Kevin Kosek; honorary grandfather of Ashley, Josh and Zach Spindler. Mr. McKelvy was a 20+ year employee of Ameren UE and was also a private electrical engineer consultant. His special interests included music. He played in the Jefferson College Band. He was a graduate of Kirkwood High School, Webster College and Washington University, with degrees in Music & Engineering; was a former member of Southside Assembly of God Church, attended Twin Rivers Worship Center and loved his Alabama football team Roll Tide. Services: Funeral at KUTIS SOUTH COUNTY Chapel, 5255 Lemay Ferry Rd. (at Butler Hill), Mon., Oct. 4, 12 noon. Interment J. B. National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials to the Jefferson County Rescue Mission appreciated. Visitation Sun., 4-8 p.m.

PAT MOISIO & BROTHER STORY, VIDEO & GREETING CARDS

MY CARDS ARRIVED AND THEY ARE WONDERFUL!!!! I HOPE MANY OF YOU WILL CHECK THEM OUT AND ORDER SOME TO SUPPORT PETER AND HIS EFFORTS, TO SAY NOTHING OF PAT'S EFFORTS TO SUPPORT PETER AND THE UNITED WAY AGENCY PARAQUAD, WHICH DOES SO MUCH TO HELP SO MANY! THANKS PAT & PETER! I've just ordered some greeting cards from Pat's brother Peter, about whom you've read before on this blog. Peter has started selling cards he designs himself, donating the profits back to Paraquad, a United Way organization which helps people in need of assistance. Peter is doing really well with Paraquad. You can go to the link below to see a short but great video featuring our pal Pat and Peter, and you can order Peter's cards, all fully illustrated on the website. Click their link to read more about Peter to see the video, send an email to order the cards. I got Poinsettia for Christmas cards (I'll probably order more, but I don't get into Christmas this early!) and Flag to send to my patriotic group pals...

Here is the link. ENJOY, say hi to Pat, get some nifty cards and feel great about helping all with one little click!!

Monday, September 27, 2010

TIME MAGAZINE - CATHOLIC WOMENPRIESTS - KHS65

In the TIME MAGAZINE of today, 9/27/10, there is an enlightening article about the Roman Catholic Womenpriests, a group which includes our stellar KHS65 classmate Jane Via. They have received PR, good and bad, in the past in local newspapers around the country and on TV, but this is the first mainstream publication of which I am aware that is hitting the subject of the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church head on. The link above now gives the full text of the article since that issue is no longer on news-stands. Thanks a bunch to Lou Gossett for alerting me to this great press for our great friend Jane Via, another member of KHS65 making our group look good as we barrel through our lives!


And from National Catholic Review, comes this article, sent to me by Jane, it's long but if you are interested in the subject worth the time:

On Behalf Of NCRonline.org
'Claim Roman Catholic,' says woman priest
Sep. 21, 2010
By Tom Roberts




In a 2006 file photo, Jane Via of the Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community says Mass, assisted by Rod Stephens, a laicized Catholic priest. (Newscom/ZUMA Press/Jim Baird)

SAN DIEGO -- As a 5-year-old child of Presbyterian parents, Jane Via was deeply attracted to the 1950s Catholicism of her friends in her St. Louis neighborhood. That initial allure, however, was the start of a journey of faith that ultimately led her to a position of deep conflict with the authorities in the church she had grown to love.

The 62-year-old Via converted to Catholicism as a young adult. Decades later, she was ordained, first as a deacon in a 2004 ceremony on a boat in the Danube River, and then as a priest in 2006 on another boat, this time in Lake Constance, which has a shoreline shared by Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

Church authorities, of course, would say she is not ordained but rather self-excommunicated. She would reply otherwise, as she did in a July 19 interview here with NCR.

While the situation reaches the “either/or” stage rather quickly in conversation, the reality is something more complex and considered.

It is no little irony that the woman who now leads Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community of 150 members (she makes her living, by the way, as a lawyer with the San Diego district attorney’s office) was smitten with the “concrete” reality of the Catholicism of her childhood.

How did she get the inclination, at age 5, that she wanted to be Catholic?

She said she grew up on a block where there were a lot of little Catholic girls “who ran back and forth, up and down the street, a little pack of girls who all played together. In those days, Catholics couldn’t go to Protestant churches, but Protestants could go to Catholic churches. So if I spent the night at a friend’s house on Saturday night, I went to Mass on Sunday morning. That’s how I was exposed to Catholics, through my friends who went to Catholic schools, played on Catholic baseball teams in the summer, went to confession every Saturday.”

Catholicism’s balance

It sounds like a contemporary argument for renewed emphasis on Catholic identity. But the attraction back then for the budding scholar and daughter of two well-educated parents was a balance to what she perceived as the “very intellectual” approach of the Presbyterian church. “I need spirituality to balance out my kind of spontaneous, intellectual approach to religion,” she said. She found in Catholicism a “balance of symbol, ritual, gesture. ... So I don’t know if it was so much Catholic identity as it was that it filled a huge gap in my life.”

Asked if the 5-year-old on the same block today would feel the pull, she said she didn’t know. “I guess it would depend on the 5-year-old. ... The world has changed so much. I mean the Presbyterian church has changed a lot, too.” She believes that the future of the church will be “not just ecumenical but much more transdenominational. There’s going to be a lot of moving in between -- people will tend to worship perhaps out of their historical tradition or out of a tradition that they choose.”

Her early fascination with Catholicism never went away. In a reversal of the usual go-to-college-and-leave-the-church routine, she went to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and became a Catholic. She didn’t tell her parents until she graduated and by then, she said, “I was 21, I was off to graduate school, I was leaving home.” Her parents weren’t happy, she said, but her father, “really the person of faith in our family,” wrote her a letter saying he honored her choice even if he wasn’t happy with it.

Having earned an undergraduate degree in Spanish language and literature, she went off to Marquette University in Milwaukee for a five-year program for a doctorate in theology.

But a turning point occurred before that, during her junior year of college, when she spent a semester in Spain studying theology with Jesuits and living in an Opus Dei household. While one can hardly expect Opus Dei to cheer the direction she’s taken, she said she found “many wonderful things about the structure of Opus Dei,” while simultaneously gaining new and progressive theological insights from the Jesuits who taught the theology courses at the college she attended.

Following Marquette she got a teaching job at Mercy College in Detroit, at a point when she also decided she wanted to be a lawyer. But she couldn’t afford the tuition on her teaching salary.

She taught there for three years before taking a job at the University of San Diego, a Catholic institution, teaching religious studies. One of the attractions that sealed the deal was when she learned that she could attend the university’s law school for free, and she did.

That turned out to be a good decision because, as she tells it, she was an early casualty of the political culture wars. In 1984 she signed a New York Times ad supporting vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, who had drawn fire from the late Cardinal John O’Connor because of her support for legalized abortion. “There were priests who were threatened and nuns who were threatened” for signing the ad, she said, “but I was the only academic who was told, ‘Either retract your name or you’re done.’ ”

By then she was practicing law and teaching part-time and she told the school, “I’m really sorry, but I can’t take my name off.”

‘Radicalizing’ research

The stint at the University of San Diego, however, contributed to her future in ways other than a law degree. When she took the job she was told that she had to teach scripture because her emphasis had been in New Testament studies. “Little did I know how it would radicalize my life, because the contrast between what I learned in graduate school in a Catholic context and what I learned when I had to teach myself how to teach the New Testament was radicalizing.”

She was becoming increasingly aware of women’s issues and recalled that at Marquette, at one point, she had been introduced to a group of people as “This is Jane Via. She’s the ornament in our department.” She said she was probably the youngest female in the department.

The comment was made by “one of the Jesuit guys who I went to school with and liked very much, but that’s how they perceived my place there. I was not really perceived as someone who could probably go on to become a great scholar, and I carried that with me.”

When she began teaching the New Testament, she said, she realized that “what we’re taught as dogma does not come from the New Testament in many, many cases. Specifically with regard to women.” She said what she discovered was “that Jesus was essentially a feminist in his own time, that he traveled with women, he supported himself from their possessions, he ministered to women, he taught women. It was just mind-blowing.”

In 1982, she earned her law degree and was married that same year to Philip J. Faker, a financial planner and investment advisor and “Jane’s biggest fan.” Faker has his own Catholic story. Via describes him as “a driven-away Catholic,” largely because of an incident of deep betrayal of one of his family members by a priest when he was a child.

He missed all of the Second Vatican Council era in the 1960s and refers to his membership in a parish as a child as “kind of a community forced upon me by my parents” until he dropped out. He said his involvement with the Mary Magdalene Apostle Community began by helping Jane set up the church. He said he enjoys the people “and I’m into it for reform. Jane has the talent and the ability and the skills to move the reform movement forward and to actually accomplish some things. I don’t have those skills, but I have the skills that she needs to help her do these things, so when it came time to start the church, I did the legal and the tax and the financial and all that stuff.”

If the church of the ’50s lured Via, she no longer has any nostalgia for those days. The future, she hopes, holds the possibility of “more parishes like the one that I am part of, where Catholics can find, as I like to say, worship with integrity.”

She won’t shrink from the Catholic tag. “Be Catholic,” she says. “Claim Roman Catholic, say, ‘We are Roman Catholic.’ You can say that we’re schismatic, you can say that we’re criminals, you can say that we’re heretics, you can call us anything you want, but we’re not going away. We claim Catholic, and we claim Roman Catholic, and yet we do it differently.”

She said her congregation strives to live Catholicism in a way “that allows us to have integrity about social justice, about equality, about gays and lesbians and their place in human culture, about our connection as Americans to the reality of our impact on the rest of the world.”

The difference, she would say, stems from the discoveries she made when she was preparing those New Testament courses. The central difference from institutional Catholicism as most of the world knows it is the direction in which “we think the Gospel of Jesus demands that [we] go” -- a direction that is “radically inclusive.”

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

JOHNNIE BE GOOD JOHNSON - A Movie and your participation


Those of you who attended KHS65's 25th Silver Anniversary Celebration will no doubt remember that Johnnie "Be Good" Johnson played for our entertainment and enjoyment that night, through the efforts and courtesy of our own Jack Toman Kent. It was a memorable night for that and other reasons.

Now Johnnie's considerably interesting and often controversial story is being made into a movie by St. Louis newscaster and film-maker Art Holliday.
Please read the article and go to the bottom to learn about a fund-raiser to help with money for the film, to be held here in St. Louis SOON - September 19th 7pm at The Sheldon! Tickes are $20 to $30 and can be purchased through MetroTix 314 534 1111 or metrotix.com. Also check out http://www.johnniebegoodthemovie.com/

Thursday, September 9, 2010

FRED LYON FOUNDER OF KATY RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Who knew? Awhile back [sorry for being so slow Alan!] Alan Yount sent me a most interesting and timely article about an aspect of Fred Lyon's activities that few of us probably knew about, well maybe you runners and train buffs did! Seems like coincidences just keep popping up in my world all the time! How about yours? Heck, there are no 6 degrees of separation in MY life, maybe two! Anyway, here's from Alan, then be sure to go to the article link:

"Here are a couple of small world stories. I joined the Katy RR Historical Society & just a couple of days after our lunch [in Jeff City, see post] I got my first newsletter. I was very surprised that Fred Lyon was the founder of the Society & very active in it. It has been so long since college [no kidding Alan] but when I saw Fred's picture & read he grew up in Sedalia, I remembered something. Fred & my mother's only brother, H. W. Harris, not only graduated from Smith Cotton High School the same year, but were very close & best friends. In the late 1960s "H.W." came over to Central Methodist University & Fred, H.W. and I had lunch at the Student Union. How about that for a small world story." This is a timely story, as this year is the 20th anniversary of the Katy Trail, and of course, just last year Maxine Lyons Henty was in our midst at the KHS Athletic HOF induction [see earlier post on this]. THANKS Alan for sharing this -
read the article about Fred here.

UNITED WAY St. Louis 2010 Kick-Off Features OUR OWN!

This just in - our own Pat Moisio Ciapciak and her brother Peter help the St. Louis United Way kick off this year's annual giving drive. In this economy their goal is a hefty one, but with cheerleaders like Pat & Pete they have a chance. Check out the pix of our pals Pat and her brother Peter! You GO guys!!! And GO United Way of Greater St. Louis! Well, the link I had here went to 4 darling photos on the St. Louis United Way Flicker photo album, but each time more were added the older ones were pushed down, so difficult to find and no way to identify them other than the page number, which kept changing. I tried lifting the pix but they are gif files...so if I can figure out how to get them back here I will! Needless to say Peter and Pat were at the United Way Kick Off for this year's campaign and it was obviously a fun party! Pat has been working with the United Way to publicize their efforts and helping her brother Peter publicize Paraquad. Stellar KHS65 member once again contributing to her family and her community in a big way!

You can still go here to see the pix, you just have to go thru the pages to find Pat with her great smile and Peter in a red shirt with thin white stripes. If I can find a way to capture the pix I will!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

DEATHS IN OUR COMMUNITY & one bright note

I am sorry to report that Frank Rodman died yesterday. There will not be an obituary at Frank's request, gone and in the ground was his wish according to Jim Day. Frank was well-known to many of our classmates as the owner of the Geyer Inn on Geyer Road right across from Kirkwood Park as well as the notorious restaurant The Fireplace. Some of you may remember we had one of our Christmas parties at The Fireplace in the late 80s if memory serves. The Geyer Inn is notorious just for being The Geyer Inn! Their beer kegs watered us at several KHS65 reunion picnics, but I KNOW there are many more interesting stories resting in that bar! Thank you Jim Day for telling me about Frank's passing. THERE WILL BE A PARTY TO REMEMER FRANK ON SATURDAY, 9/11 FROM 2:00 PM AT THE FIREPLACE RESTAURANT.

Also I have learned that the father of Cathy Graf Leonard (Bob Leonard's wife who is also a KHS alum) has recently passed away as well as the mother of Rich Rychlewski. You can see those obits on www.stltoday.com. Our sincerest condolences to the families of our classmates.

On a bright note I just learned that the DVDs of all 4 of The Beatles Ed Sullivan Show appearances are on the market starting today! I want 'em all!!!

All of the Reunion Pictures are now posted at www.khs65.com - if anyone has any more to send I'm happy to get them.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

HARK BACK TO 2000 & OUR 35TH REUNION - VIDEO

If you can stand seeing us ten years ago, so much younger!, check out the video that Jack Toman so graciously made for us - Jack has been hiding it all these years! But here it is for your viewing enjoyment. If it stops, just let it sit and it'll start up again, on slower internet connections the bits and bytes have to catch up with themselves. It's about 4 minutes long - Thanks a BUNCH Jack! If you want to know who the players are, go to www.khs65.com to the 2000 reunion album, the bottom one, and review the photos - you'll probably recognize more that way. Thanks to my webguru son for converting this to allow it to play here, he always makes me look SO good!

BILL PAPE RIDES THE DOG TO 45TH REUNION -RUMINATIONS ALONG THE WAY

I don't think I knew Bill at KHS, but through our reunion activities I've come to like him a LOT. What an interesting guy! Of course he was a runner at KHS, then he rode a bike from New Jersey to our 25th reunion! NOW, I learn, by accident while roaming on Facebook, that he rode a bus to our recent 45th. It sounds like he had a real adventure on the way home. And juxtaposed with the story of the ride home, we find some romantic ruminations...probably reminiscent of the type of memories many of us have! To wit:

To get to high school reunions this year, and distinguish myself from successful classmates in doing so, I road the Dog this year to St. Louis, not a bike as in a previous reunion year. It was an interesting trip both ways. On my way back East, I found myself riding with a group of convicts, whom the bus driver labeled, “The Committee.” Whenever she got on the loud speaker to chastise them through Illinois and Indiana she addressed them as “The Committee,” I think because they talked so much, so loud and so continuously during the long miles of our ride. I guessed them to be convicts because as we pulled out of St. Louis, I heard the words “half way house” in one of their comments, and because, after they got finished displaying for several hours an encyclopedic knowledge of sports, which included discounting, in two sentences, a 12-page 'New Yorker' article on boxing I showed them, they moved on to various discussions of what one rap song I like summarizes as “blunts and broads……, ” (“Hypnotize,” by the genius, Notorious B.I.G.). They showed me, as I listened in, that they certainly knew more about drugs than I had learned in 30 years as a probation officer, and more about women than I learned in 60+ years of relationships with that gender. I was also prompted to guess they came from somewhere in common because they all had a uniform of sorts, white t-shirts and white crew-top socks in sandals. At one stop, our tough-as-nails driver had the police take one of them off, which I thought a little unfair, since his crime, hogging two seats, was one she charged me with just before yelling at him for it. I guess his release from a short stint of fed time was starting out badly, because he had to renew his travel by some other means than the Dog in the middle of Ohio. One of the committee members took the attached picture for me, showing our bus. Attending this year’s reunion was one of three women I fell in love with between kindergarten and 6th grade, “affairs” that decreased in intensity and time-span unfortunately over time, until the one with Cynthia lasted probably about 20 seconds, by the drinking fountain behind Tillman, perhaps completely in the imagined, instead of real, world, since she had no knowledge of it to recollect when I mentioned it to her. All that I remember happening in this last affair was my liking her and our having a few words together. The first “affair” lasted at least a couple years, from pre-K in Berkeley, MO, until I moved to Kirkwood in the middle of second grade, devastating at least me, and it included a lot of drama, most times real, once interrupted by the cleaning lady. The second affair, slightly tamer and less emotionally intense, involved my being summoned into a bedroom closet by a girl who became a KHS beauty (in another grade) for examination of our under-garments, after both our mothers inexplicably consented to a suggestion we two enjoy a sleep-over, at her house, in her bedroom, after which I would have to wait some ten more years for an invitation so excellent. Cynthia, my third and least actual affair, also turned out to be a very beautiful woman, as can be seen in the attached picture, so at least there was nothing wrong with my eyesight in those years.

Bill, hope it's okay that I put this excellent article here, I figure if you're willing for it to be on Facebook, you won't mind it here! Stay in touch!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

KHS BICENTENNIAL TIME CAPSULE

Pete Nardie, KHS64, is a long-time friend of mine so my curiosity was aroused when I was walking the KHS campus during our reunion weekend & spotted this bronze tablet right outside the building where the office is. What really first caught my attention was that it says MR. Pete Nardie, and the others were just listed with an initial and surname. I knew Pete had been a KHS teacher, so I asked him about this & was thrilled to learn about this project. I'll let Pete's own words tell the story.The list of contents is at the end.
Kirkwood High School 1976 Time Capsule

These items were collected and deposited in a time capsule at Kirkwood High School for the US Bicentennial in the spring of 1976 as part of a class project in Mr. Pete Nardie's Contemporary Issues Class. Principal of KHS was Don Duchek. He was a graduate of KHS prior to WW II and served in the Marines in WW II. He gave Mr. Nardie a job in 1974 partially because Mr. Nardie had also served in the Marines in the War in Vietnam. The collection is as eclectic and haphazard as a group of teenagers can be. The project was covered in the St.
Louis Post Dispatch by writer John Archibald a few days before the capsule was lowered into the ground. After Mr. Duchek retired he was replaced by Franklin McCallie. He retired and was replaced by David Holley. All of them have been made aware of the whereabouts of the time capsule which is just south of the principal's office in a bit of a garden. There is a bronze plaque above the capsule. The funds to buy the plaque were raised by the students named thereon by selling candy to fellow students. The capsule is in a burial vault donated
by a vault company. The vault is/was red, white and blue with stars on it. The capsule is approximately 3 feet wide, 7 feet long, two feet deep and buried about 8 feet down. Mr. Nardie's first born son, Gabriel Nardie, KHS 94, was born less than a month after the capsule was buried. His son, Mr. Nardie's grandson, Pablo William Nardie was born in Boston July 3rd, 2009. It is with high hopes from Mr. Nardie that Pablo will be invited to attend the opening of the capsule in 2076 . Mr. Nardie's other son, Joshua, KHS 96, was born in 1978. If he should have any children it is hoped that they too will be invited to the opening in 2076.


I love it that Pete had the foresight to include the names of his sons and grandson in this document, which I assume is held in the offices at KHS. Pete is VERY proud and happy to be a grandpa, so it's not really surprising that he thought to include young Pablo. You can see Pete in the Nipher Band photo, he did a lot of the identifying of students in the photo, check the website and further down on this blog. THANKS Pete for sharing! Herewith the list:

A Rawlings football; A St. Louis Cardinal's Baseball bat
A pair of girl's roller skates, white
1976 Mississippi River Festival Calendar of musical acts
A General Electric steam iron; A Khoury League baseball bat
Time Magazine, July 4th, 1776 commemorative issue
June, 1975 edition of the St. Louis Yellow Pages
1976 Ford Motors Buyer's Guide; A pack of Winston Filter Longs cigarettes
A soft pack of Kent Cigarettes; A soft pack of Marlboro Cigarettes
An imported Italian relaxer pipe; A St. Louis Cardinals batting helmet
Kirkwood HS lunch menu for the week of March 22-26, 1976
A wall lamp; A handbook on abortion; A bottle of Germaine Monteil
Colonial Bank book of matches; A can of diamond gloss automotive enamel paint
The Holy Bible, Gideon's version from a motel; Program from the play “Anything Goes”
TV Guide magazine from week of May 16-22, 1976; Savings account passbook # 019376-9
A Schick 3-speed razor; A bar of Camay soap; A Guidebook of US Coins, 1973- 26th ed
KHS Letter Awards for sophomore sports of baseball, basketball, football, soccer, track and field, wrestling, and tennis
Teacher's Edition, Text and Test Booklet for Rise of the American Nation, standard text for teaching American History; Gillette Lady's razor
KHS Principal's Bulletin
KHS Course Description booklet for school year 1976-77
1969 Southeast Missouri State College Yearbook (Mr. Nardie's school)
Preliminary drawings for the Time Capsule; Hill Behan Lumber Company buyer's guide
1976-77 Salary schedule for teachers; Pair of Levi Bell Bottom Jeans;
St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper issues for May 17-23, 1976
KHS Bicentennial Carnival poster;1975 Missouri hunting permit;Recruiter's card USN
Acid Rescue, phone card; Publicity poster US Dept. of Transportation
Invitation to the 1976 KHS Junior-Senior Prom; 1975 Missouri Fishing license
Magazine of the Hare Krishna movement; Six Flag Amusement Park parking ticket
DECA membership card (Distributive Education Club of America)
Receipt for tuxedo rental for the Jr. Sr. Prom; Free Car Wash or Wax coupon at Gas and Wash
Receipt from Sears Roebuck at Crestwood Plaza
4 Attendance slips for recording absences and tardies in KHS classrooms
A hair brush (Mr. Nardie said historical sites always have a hair brush)
A Bic lapel pin; A Bic key chain
A ticket to the 1975 Kirkwood-Webster Turkey Day Game
Two passes to Kirkwood Ice Rink on Geyer Road
Earn a free Whopper sandwich punch card from Burger King on Manchester
A Mo. Birth Certificate; 5 KHS ID Cards;A KHS excused absence slip
2 KHS grade cards; A 5 cent US stamp for 1st class mail
A pair of pierced earrings; Patchouli coke snuff
A wallet size calendar, 1976
A football helmet used by Mr. Nardie while playing freshman football in 1960 at Nipher Jr. High school on Kirkwood Road. (Includes face mask for wearing glasses)
A Planned Parenthood Sex Education pamphlet; 1975-76 Pioneer yearbook, The Pioneer
1975-76 issues of KHS newspaper, The Call; A coaster from Sambo's restaurant
A Whitbread beer coaster
The classroom flag from Mr. Nardie's classroom in the east building
A US Social Security card; A copy of George Orwell's 1984
A copy of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
A Spalding basketball from the KHS basketball team; An official KHS baseball
A KHS A Capella Choir 33 1/3 record from the choir in 1973-74
One bed pan made into a planter; A windshield scraper and brush for snow and ice
A JC Penney Fall/Winter catalog from 1975; December, 1975 White Pages telephone book
Oversize book, The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey
1 box Virginia Slims matches;1 pair of dice
1 copy of The Bill of Rights for Little Boys,
& a copy of The Bill of Rights for Little Girls by KHS history teacher Bill Diffley
Booklet, The Official Rules for Khoury League baseball
3rd Quarter Honor Roll spring '76 KHS;Baby & Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock
A silver souvenir spoon from St. Louis, MO; A package of Party Tyme Daiquiri mix
A conversion chart for metric system to conventional measures
A copy of The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
A pack of matches from Gravois Bank; Pioneer Power button from KHS athletics
A week's daily bulletins from KHS; A pack of matches from Colonial Bank
The Testament of Freedom printed by Color Art Company of Kirkwood, owned by former Kirkwood Mayor Bob Reim
A copy of The People's Almanac by Wallechinsky and Wallace
A General Electric toaster; A copy of Webster's 7th New World Dictionary
US Mint issued coins for the Bicentennial- Dollar ($1), Half dollar (50 cents), and Quarter Dollar (25 cents)
A group picture of the 4 members of rock and roll band The Beatles
Automobile license plate, April, 1976, Missouri
Flyer of coupons and ads for National Food Store on Kirkwood Rd.
May 20, 1976 issue of Rolling Stone magazine; Pack of playing cards
A copy of Playboy Magazine for Me; A copy of National Lampoon Magazine
A copy of Seventeen Magazine A crescent wrench
A week's issues of St. Louis Globe Democrat newspaper A pair of pliers
A screwdriver; A KHS button
Flags of the states of the Confederacy from the American Civil War
A copy of Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
A passenger train ticket from the Missouri-Pacific Railroad
A set of tags removed from clothes; A Missouri Voters Handbook
An Eveready battery; A zipper; A scarf; Pitch-in Trash bags
A copy of The Babysitter Guide
A schedule for Amtrack passenger trains
A copy of Missouri Conservationist magazine, February, 1976
A copy of National Lampoon magazine from April, 1975
A copy of High Fidelity magazine, May 1976
A copy of U.S.News and World Report, Jan., 1976
A copy of Tennis magazine, April, 1976
A copy of Time magazine, April ?, 1976
A copy of Life magazine, June, 1976
A copy of Better Homes and Garden magazine, June, 1976
A Super Pro Frisbee; A hockey puck; A Six Flags Amusement Park button
A whistle; 1975 Missouri Tax forms; 1974 US tax forms
A train ticket from the miniature train ride at St. Louis Zoo
4 cans of Falstaff Bicentennial Beer (Mr. Nardie drank the other two out of the 6-Pak the night before!)
1 Olympia beer can; 2 old Coors beer cans
A letter to the class of 2076 from Senior Jessica Dowell
A picture of the St. Louis Arch also known as The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial,The Gateway to The West
A World war II ration can opener; A toy Volkswagen car
A copy of The Better Homes and Garden Cookbook
A term paper on medical malpractice; A copy of The Book of Mormon
A paper kite; A box of women's panty hose; A McDonald's ash tray
A McDonald's license plate; The 1975-76 KHS Buzzbook of phone numbers and addresses
2 copies of Newsweek magazine, January 12, 1976 and February 2, 1976
A Sears Roebuck catalog; We Land on The Moon coloring book
A Bicentennial flag; A 50 star United States Flag; A roll of Charmin toilet paper
Please don't squeeze the Charmin, says Mr. Whipple
A list of the top 63 records of 1975; A Missouri Drivers Guide handbook
2 Road maps of Missouri; A US road map/atlas; A St. Louis road map
Wizz Bee (?)
A pair of football shoulder pads worn by Mr. Nardie in 9th grade at Nipher Jr. High
An old pair of desert boots; A Confederate flag; black light bulb; A planter
A book about books (?)
A box (hard pack) of Winston filter cigarettes
A skateboard; A copy of The Guinness Book of World Records, 1971-72
A year's issue of Life magazine; A finger nail clipper; A boy's swimming suit
A list of endangered species of 1976; A number of poems; A book of Airplanes
A pair of glasses; A bumper sticker from the TV show Mary Hartman
A Bicentennial parade poster; A box of drugs (?);Crayons for coloring
A 45 rpm record;I Am Woman
A bottle of finger nail polish; A kit containing curlers, thread, buttons
A Flicker Lady's shaver; A hairbrush and comb for a baby
A handbook from Southwest Texas State College
A 1976 membership card from The St. Louis Press Club - courtesy of John Archibald who did the story on the capsule
A 1976 KHS Graduation Announcement; 7 KHS Misconduct reports
1 Missouri Uniform Traffic Ticket
1 box of God Bless America Festival Candy from the Reverend Moon's cult
A coupon for a gift of 1 dozen doughnuts from Dunkin Donuts
A bicentennial shopping bag from Jeans West store in West County Mall
A Boy Scouts of America Explorer Post membership card
A business card from Randy Bopp Motors; A Crime Blockers membership card
A National Safety Council Driver Improvement Program
A 1974 Missouri Combination Hunting and Fishing License; 1 Blue hair comb
1 Bicentennial can and bottle opener; 1 KHS bus pass; 1 Burger King Punch Card
2 McDonald's Gift Certificates; A business card from Gan Shell Gas station
2 KHS notice of failure slips; 1 KHS Unsatisfactory notice
1 sanitary hand wipe from Kentucky Fried Chicken; 1 KHS Locker combination tag
1 combination paint can opener and bottle opener; A Steak and Shake place mat

Assorted pamphlets on Venereal Disease, Tubal Ligation, Birth Control furnished by St. Louis County Health Department

A lifesize statue of NBA Basketball star Wilt Chamberlain used as a display at B. Dalton Bookseller to advertise his biography

The sign that warned students and faculty to not come to close to the hole being dug for the time capsule

A tape recording of all students and Mr. Nardie saying what they wanted to say for posterity along with a tape recorder to play the recording.

Also, as the capsule was being lowered into the ground many KHS students tossed a variety of items into the hole ahead of the capsule (they would be underneath the capsule, Included were roach clips, prophylactics, marjuana, ID cards etc.

It has occurred to me that it would be fun to wonder what OUR class would have put in that vault! Anyone wanting to make suggestions please comment! But we'll have to use our 1965 high school mentality! Can we remember that well that far back??

Monday, August 9, 2010

45th REUNION NOW A MEMORY BUT PIX LAST FOREVER

If you attended our Reunion and took photos that you'd like to share with the world, please send to me for posting. You can email them right off your camera, please don't edit down the size. Or you can print, scan and email or you can mail hard copy pix which I PROMISE you'll get back if you ask. There are now 169 Reunion Weekend pix in the 2010 Album at www.khs65.com. I have already moved all the grade school photos to their own album to make them easier to find, and I have MANY to add, thanks to generous folks like Bill Watts, Bill's cousin Kathy Watts, Mike Caldwell, Ardy Goodman, Jeannette Klein, Kathy Kenner, Pat Moisio, Georgeann Meinhardt, and probably some more! There are already several there, with more coming. If you have class photos to share, wait a bit to see what I end up posting then check to see what you might have! - THANKS- I'll post when I have them all finished! Email me to figure out the best way to send photos. Feel free to add comments to any photos too! Especially if I made an error, or said something you think isn't just quite appropriate! OR if YOU can think of a better caption, I'm always open to improvements! As of 9/6 I am not aware of any more pictures coming my way from the reunion, but I welcome more if you have some!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

REASON #1 FOR NOT ATTENDING KHS65 REUNION

WE WERE SUPPOSED TO TAKE OFF FROM FLORIDA FOR STL & THE REUNION TODAY!
OBVIOUSLY I'M DOING SOMETHING ELSE.....

IN THIS PICTURE I'M SITTING ON OUR CONDO PATIO DECK IN DUNNELLON.
MO-INLAW SENT A CARE PKG DUE TO MY INJURY SO I'M DRAPED IN THE EASY
ON/OFF SHIRTS, HOLDING BOOK, ETC. ....I'D PLANNED TO INCLUDE THIS
PHOTO IN A TKU CARD TO HER, BUT IT'S ALSO USEFUL TO "SHOW" & "TELL"
MY STORY, ALBEIT ONE HANDED & IN ALL CAPS. I'VE ALSO FOUND
SLIP-ON-SHIRTS ARE GREAT - NOTE HUSBAND'S SOFT V-TEE SHIRT - AND SO
ARE PULL-UP PANTS......FORGET BUTTONS, MAKE-UP OR STYLING YOUR HAIR.
MAYBE I'M IN TRAINING FOR MY SENIOR YRS??? OPPS, THAT'S RIGHT, I'M
ALREADY THERE....ANOTHER SENIOR MOMENT.

I FELL & BROKE MY ELBOW; SUBSEQUENT SURGERY INCLUDED 2 SCREWS, 1
FIGURE 8 SPRING, & 18 STAPLES. I'M TO BE IN THIS SLING/HALF CAST FOR A
MONTH, THEN BRACE & PHYSICAL THERAPY 4-6 MONTHS. I KEEP HEARING THE
SONG IN MY HEAD, "IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME...".

I WILL MISS THE REUNION ON SEVERAL LEVELS! I'M GOING TO BE LOOKING
FORWARD TO ALL THE PICTURES YOU ALWAYS POST SO I CAN PRETEND I WENT.
TO ALL MY CLASSMATES, PICTURE ME THERE!

HAVE A GREAT TIME REMEMBERING OLD MEMORIES & CREATING NEW ONES,
GEORGANN


GET WELL QUICK GEORGANN!!! WHAT BAD TIMING!!! :-)
As Georgann pointed out to me, we need to include the pic of her hubby Steve Vehmeier, to honor his nearly 43 years of tending to her. He's nursed her back to health before, but wasn't expecting this! Check out the view of the WITHLACHOOCHEE River from their condo deck in Dunnellon! When I have time, I'll post some more photos of it, paradise on the west coast of Florida for SURE!
Georgann has sent me a big envelope of wonderful classmate photos and articles, which I will get posted as soon as I can, am running out of time to get ready for the reunion weekend! Thanks again Georgann!!!



Wednesday, August 4, 2010

KIRKWOOD HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI HALL OF FAME PRESS RELEASE

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE SPRING, 2012, ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME WILL GO OUT IN EARLY 2011 - BE THINKING OF WHO YOU WILL NOMINATE, CLASS OF 1965 NEEDS TO MAKE IT A HABIT TO BE IN THE HOF!

Press Release from Ginger Fletcher at Kirkwood School District:

I also need to share some sad news with you. Marion Brooks suffered a stroke. I talked to her niece, Minnie Pearl Chinn, late last week. Minnie said Marion is having difficulty speaking and has some paralysis. I will keep you updated on the situation. I know your thoughts and prayers will be with Marion.

Kirkwood School District Hosts First Alumni Hall of Fame on Sept. 25
August 04, 2010

The Kirkwood School District will host a reception and induction ceremony for its first Alumni Hall of Fame on Saturday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. in the Keating Theatre of Kirkwood High School, 801 W. Essex Ave. The district will induct 23 honorees into the Hall of Fame, which recognizes men and women who have achieved success and who serve as appropriate role models for Kirkwood School District students. The inductees include entrepreneurs, musicians, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, an opera singer, an Academy Award winner, a Golden Globe Award winner, educators, aeronautical engineers, magistrates, and civic leaders.

The honorees to be inducted into the KHS Alumni Hall of Fame include:

Theodore Almstedt, Class of 1953
Scott Bakula, Class of 1973
John F. Briggs, Class of 1939*^
Marion Brooks, Class of 1932^
Robert E. (Bob) Frederick, Class of 1958*
Michael R. Gibbons, Class of 1977
Herbert (Herb) S. Jones, Class of 1951
Maria Kanyova (Mary Jane Posegate), Class of 1984
Thomas Kenyon, Class of 1973
John Korty, Class of 1954
Doug Landis, Class of 1975
John McDaniel, Class of 1979
David Pratt, Class of 1962
Rodger O. Riney, Class of 1963 husband of Paula Fauks KHS65
David Sanborn, Class of 1963
Gary Schmidt, Class of 1965
Courtney Shands, Class of 1923*
Jim Talent, Class of 1973
Myrtle Agnew Walker, Class of 1938, and Earl Walker, Class of 1939
Harold Whitfield, Class of 1956
Jennifer Quinn Williams, Class of 1984
John F. Yardley, Class of 1943* [My father's good friend and colleague whom I nominated, I'm thrilled and know my dad would be also.]


*Honorees who are being recognized posthumously.
^ Until the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court Brown vs. Board of Education decision, public schools throughout the country were segregated by race. In the Kirkwood School District, African American students attended the Booker T. Washington School (1869-1950) or the J. Milton Turner Elementary School (1929-1975). African American students were required to attend high school outside district boundaries until 1955, when Kirkwood High School opened its new campus on West Essex Ave.

Two Pioneer Awards will be presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to the Kirkwood School District. These honorees are:

H.L. Hall, a nationally recognized journalism teacher and publications adviser who taught in the Kirkwood School District for 34 years—26 years at Kirkwood High School and eight years at then North Kirkwood Junior High School—before his retirement in 1999.

Dory Poholsky, Class of 1951, who has devoted countless hours as a volunteer and is a champion for the children of the Kirkwood School District and the greater community.

For a complete biography on each inductee, please visit the Kirkwood High School Alumni website. For more information about the Alumni Hall of Fame, please call the district’s Community Relations and Development office at 314-213-6123.


KHS65 DOES IT AGAIN, THIS IS THE SECOND HALL OF FAME AND KHS65 HAS A MEMBER IN BOTH! LET'S MAKE IT A HABIT, BE THINKING OF THE ATHLETE YOU WANT TO NOMINATE FOR THE NEXT KHS ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME IN SPRING, 2012! THANK YOU TO THOSE OF YOU WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS ACTIVITY!!!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

VISIT FROM THE MAESTRO 13 DEC 1964

Dave Beardsley shared another article with me quite some time ago. It is from the old St. Louis Post Dispatch PICTURES section, remember that? It's too large to simply scan and post, so I've typed the text of the article & you'll see the picture links below, the captions to which are with the photos

Do you remember getting all dressed up and getting out of school in GRADE SCHOOL to ride a yellow school bus, or was it a regular St. Louis bus?, to Kiel Opera House to hear the SLSO play? I do...it was quite an event. I think I originally delighted in going at my mother's insistence because I got out of school, but miraculously I came to love the music! I also remember attending their concerts at KHS in the old auditorium. I have to admit I have more than once been in a situation amidst Symphony Volunteer Association members at various functions when someone was crowing about his or her Symphony experiences and I've thrown out the fact that I began attending SLSO concerts in 4th grade...it's a great conversation-changer, if a bit devious.

Visit from the Maestro - De Carvalho conducts practice session of Kirkwood Senior High School orchestra

The 60 students of the KSRHS orchestra practice the "Oberon" overture under the hands of Eleazar de Carvalho, conductor of the St. Louis Symphony. The setting is the stage in the school auditorium on a weekday morning. De Carvalho delayed a vacation trip to Brazil in order to visit the orchestra.
[KHS was making orchestral history way back then too!! Those kids playing at Carnegie Hall have nothing on OUR era musicians!]

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra had just concluded a concert at Kirkwood Sr. H S, and its conductor, Eleazar de Carvalho, was walking toward a door with Burton Isaac, music director of the Kirkwood public schools. As they parted, Isaac jokingly suggested that DeCarvalho return to direct the high school orchestra. The response was "Why not?" A few days later a date was arranged.

The maestro made his appearance at a morning practice session that was attended by every boy and girl in the orchestra and several members of the St. Louis Suburban Music Educators' Association. De Carvalho did not lecture sternly, exclaim loudly or rap his baton sharply. Discipline with humor and a streak of easy, Latin exuberance was the mood for the hour, which was all the time that the school could allow for de Carvalho's tutelage. In careful English overlaid with a thick, Brazilian Portuguese accent, he began by explaining basic positions of the baton. Aiming the shaft at the orchestra is a signal to play, he said. Pointing it at the ceiling tells you to stop. "When I point the baton halfway between the orchestra and the ceiling, that is the time for a little conversation" he jested. "The only problem is that I never point it that way."

Moving up and down on his toes, de Carvalho guided the young musicians through the overture to the opera "Oberon" by Carl Maria von Weber. At measured pauses he would mumble syllables that marked time to the rhythms of the composition. This was his stratagem for emphasizing the overture's rhythmic undercurrents. He reminded the awed instrumentalists that failure to follow the rhythms leads to chaos, with players arriving at the same oint in the score at different moments. Another warning was not to neglect even the shortest, faintest note in a score, for each was written with a purpose.

Bells sounding the end of the practice session came as a shock both to students, who had played as never before, and to de Carvalho, who departed reluctantly."

Photos by Arthur Witman of the PICTURES staff
Text by Richard M. Jones of the PICTURES Staff

Please click these links to see the photos from the article that actually have faces you will recognize. A couple photos show the classroom & students, but not enough faces to make the pix worth the bits & bytes. Click here, here & here.

Our sincere condolences to Jane Kelly Robert

Jane Kelly Robert lost her mother (Virginia) this past evening (8/2). She had a stroke the end of May. Initially she made some improvements but finally succumbed to that which comes with being 89 years. Bopp Chapel will be handling the arrangements. This is a sad time for Jane and her siblings but all find comfort in knowing she is peaceful now. Jane has long been a faithful KHS65 correspondant and friend. Thank you to Karen Schurig for alerting me to Jane's mother's passing. FUNERAL at BOPP Thursday AM at 10:00, see obituary at www.stltoday.com.

Dave Beardsley, musician - & his KHS souvenirs

I've decided to do some Featured Student frames, and my first 'honoree' is going to be Dave Beardsley. Dave and I didn't know one another well at KHS, but we've become friends thru our reunion activities. We had a mutual friend in our class in later years who has since died, thus giving us something more in common. Dave is a man of many interests and talents and generous with his memories and his memorabilia - any time I ask he shares. Mind you, he's not the ONLY generous person in KHS65, but certainly a faithful one. In June when some of us trekked to Jefferson City for lunch, as Dave drove I went through some boxes of 'stuff' I found - fodder for blogging about our past for YEARS to come! Additionally Dave brought along some 'stuff' - nothing I already had in our archives! Dave's musicianship garnered different souvenirs of KHS than others might have, we all have our souvenirs don't we? So, I'm going to share some of Dave's that he graciously has lent me. I will probably put some on the website too...Dave & I both certainly invite and request your comments here and on the website, a great way to let people know YOUR thoughts about the past.

Dave was a member of the Nipher Band and KHS Orchestra, a DeMolay member and of all things, a congregant, and President of the Senior High Youth Group, at Delmar Baptist Church. My jaw dropped when I learned that - my parents lived in the Central West End as young marrieds when they came here for dad's career with McDonnell Aircraft Corp. and they attended that church even after we moved, my first Sunday School experience. My mother was the grand-daughter, sister, niece and grand-niece of Southern Baptist ministers. Here are some of the souvenirs of Dave's life. PLEASE VISIT THESE LINKS, THERE ARE MANY MANY KHS65 MEMBERS' NAMES AND ROLES IN OUR KHS65 EXPERIENCE TO BE FOUND IN THESE DOCUMENTS. SORRY DAVE, THIS ISN'T ALL ABOUT YOU!

Clayton Chapter, Order of DeMolay, Installation of Officers 12/28/64
Remember Beard Growing permits guys?
And Kirkwood Kettles?
Dave & Crystal Kreitzer at the 12/19/64 Christmas Formal - jeez we were young and beautiful!
and many of us were SMART too!
Dave and the late Kay Boucher at 4/25/65 Junior Senior Prom; picture taken by Sid Ashen-Brenner III, a student at KHS, a Kirkwood Call photo - all info stamped on back of the photo.
The Kirkwood Call 2/5/1965 - and another article
KHS Symphonic Band 2/19/65
All Suburban Orchestra & Quill & Scroll - from The Call of 2/5/65
The Importance of Being Earnest 4/30-5/1/1965
Night Must Fall 11/13 & 14 1964
KHS Orchestra 12/11/64
KHS Orchestra 5/7/65
KHS Vocal Music Department Spring Concert 5/14/65
Pat Hammer reports for the newspaper about Vocal & Orchestral concerts
Christmas Concert KHS Choruses & Choir 12/22/64
Kirkwood R-7 School District "A Salute to 100 Years of Education 1865-1965" 6/5/65 - how'd these folks have time to study or get ready for graduation or play on Senior Skip Day???