5/3/02
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PHS Alumni On-Line
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May 03, 2002
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6 Bulldog notes and a contest update today:
Janet Janes Wolf (58)
Jim Boothe (59)
Ann Tingley (62)
Brad Mason (63)
Bob Scribner (70)
Bakyt Azimkanov (01)
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** Contest Update
The contest to increase subscribers to PHS Alumni On-Line has about a month and a half to go. We're up to about 420 subscribers! Some folks are working hard to tell other alumni about this - they really want one of Jeff Jumper's custom CDs of 50s, 60, & 70S music! And the best part is that we're all getting some good stories, memories, and anecdotes to read. Keep `em coming! - Paul
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From: Janet Janes Wolf (58)
I have so much fun reading all the entries. I was interested in Roger Plokelman's question re: how many of us went all the way through Pasco schools. I moved to Pasco in 1945 and began school that year, graduating from Pasco High in `58. All four of my daughters also attended Pasco schools from kindergarten through high school. Teresa graduated in `79; Tina in `82; Eden in `85; and Tiffany in `89. I still try to attend Pasco High sporting events whenever I am in town.
Janet Janes Wolf (58)
Nine Mile Falls, WA
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From: Jim Boothe (59)
Hello to all PHS alums:
I thought I'd share a few memories of growing up in the dust bowl known as Pasco (back before much of the irrigation water was flowing). But we did have some great sunsets!
After a year at Longfellow for kindergarten, it was off to Whittier for three years. There I met up with several of you that would also walk across the stage at PHS in the spring of 59, (ie, Ted Ogata, Isadore Andrews, Connie Minatoya - sorry if I butchered any spellings). What memories I gathered living down by what has been the marina for years now! I had the Hartman's (still do) as friends (Polly--Homecoming Queen of 56??; Barrie class of 54), Bev Dietrich, the Richwines (Ronnie and Larry) who were a few years behind me (both deceased). I loved to go play on the railroad bridge (check with me for the rules on playing "chicken" with approaching steam locomotives while on the bridge), visit with the many hobos in the camps near the bridge and play in the gravel pit. What fun!! But a negative side effect might be the numerous sleepless nights my mother professes to have since I told her of my past activities about a decade ago.
A move of "Gray's addition" (I wonder why my mother wanted to move away from the river - oh, that's right, my little brothers had been born and I might teach them about the fun on the bridge) up to Marie Street meant a new start at Captain Gray in the fourth grade (Good ol' Miss Chess - a fine lady/principal). But then the new Longfellow opened and I found myself trodding all the way down there (you know, in the snow, into the wind and up-hill each way) to finish up fourth grade. Some of your comments about the "patrol boy" belts and badges brought back memories. I still remember where you lived Roger P. and was envious of your short walk home.
Then a kindly priest convinced my mother that the only way I had a shot at eternal bliss (or something like that) was to be educated by some ruler toting nuns - not to mention a Father O'Brien who had a huge set of keys that, for some reason, grew fond of my knuckles. About the only relief seemed to be when Georgia Baker's mother came in to teach penmanship - now that was my kind of academic challenge! I also enjoyed watching John Goulet draw trucks; boy was he good at it.
After three years I convinced my mother I really needed to go to a school with organized P.E. and hot lunches, so off to Jr. high for eighth grade. I had Mr. Mikelson for homeroom and he was the football coach so I figured I was in for the team. What a disappointment when they discovered there were no uniforms small enough for 88 lb frame! There went a great linebacker career.
Maybe I couldn't get a salad burger from the Taylor Maid for lunch but after school it was a frequent stop on the way home. Anyone else remember the poor deer and peacocks in the cage at Volunteer Park?
Then we took PHS by storm - the last class to do four years at PHS - am I remembering this right? Were we the most "underclassmen" two years in a row? That doesn't seem right or fair. I have so many good memories despite being a marginal student. I truly feel I learned so much more from the teachers than my grades reflected. So many names come to mind even without the aid of my yearbooks which were destroyed which that I looked up to while in storage a number of years ago. So many of you were very positive role models that I looked up to and wished I was more like. There were a lot of good people in classes ahead of us that left a challenge for us to match. Now look what the football team has done in recent years for recognition of the "East side of the mountains." My brothers (Dave and Steve) followed me some 8-9 years later at PHS and my little sister Barbara (PHS cheerleader etc etc) some 16 years later.
These are but a few of many many great memories of Pasco and its people. Hope one of two may have triggered a memory for you.
Jim Boothe (59)
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From: Ann Tingley (62)
My brother Bob (`59) has been bugging me to check out this website. Friend Barbara Bailey Kniveton (`62) also turned me on to a website just for `62ers this morning. I wonder what karma is it that may be causing me to reconsider the importance of my past. Maybe the fact we have a reunion coming up? I was sorry to see on our website that many of our graduates have died too soon. It as also interesting to read people's stories with the same past I have. Maybe I have roots after all! Salud to all!
My claim to fame, along with Bonnie Roberts, is as a river rat. We were probably in 9th grade. We had a couple helpers building the raft at the edge of the river near Rd. 52, but when it came time to go, they chickened out. One called her mother, who called the coast guard, who called my dad, etc. We had a great time floating, reading magazines. After the bridge, we decided we should jump off. Thinking like teenagers, we didn't want to be on the Kennewick side even though we were closer to it, so we swam across to the Pasco side. As we walked up over the dike a sheriff car was driving on the frontage road and asked if we just got off a raft.
Meanwhile, there were hydro boat racers down river practicing who were enlisted in the search for 2 girls, along with my dad out on his boat. They all saw the raft float by, but without us.
When I got to my house, my brother Bob called and said my dad was really mad and I was in big trouble. Turned out, my dad wasn't mad at all. He thought it was funny. My mom, who'd been away at summer school, was though. He was supposed to watch us.
We reveled in our new name "The River Rats", as people called in to the local request program. I still live in water as much as possible. I swim in the Columbia River still whenever I can.
Ann Tingley (62)
Suisun, CA
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From: Brad Mason (63)
If I recall correctly … Mister Seibert was the teacher that had survived the Battoon Death March during WW2 … hence the dark circles under the eyes.
P.S. Wasn't there a teacher who had a prosthesis as a right or left arm … or was that mister Seibert? Didn't have the gentleman or men … just remember those dark, profound eyes and the prosthesis; can't remember if I have juxtaposed both on one individual.
Brad Mason (63)
Mentor, OH
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From: Bob Scribner (70)
Recently traveled through Pasco and noticed a neon sign on Sylvester Street by the bowling alley for this website. What a great idea!
I remember with fondness my high school days at PHS. My sophomore year was the year of numerous bomb threats the first couple of weeks of school. Imagine my surprise coming from Isaac Stevens Junior High. I wondered if this is what high school is about, not having to go to class all day long, then why did I have to wait so long to get here. I remember having "guards" at each entrance to the school to check bags and purses for possible bombs being carried into the building. What a crazy time.
I also remember being in typing class and watching with amazement a protest march right out in front of our high school between Civil Rights activists and the local police. If you thought watching television was informative about current events, this was way too up close and personal. It was, to say the least, a turbulent time.
But I also remember the crazy, fanatical times we had at basketball games, especially between our hated rivals, the Richland Bombers. And, of course the officials could never be right in calling a violation against our beloved Bulldogs. I also remember Coach Don Monson throwing temper tantrums that included a chair throwing incident (shades of Bobby Knight). But we always went to the playoffs. Going to the playoffs and state during our senior year was the best of times. Unfortunately we came up one game short that year, losing eventually to Snohomish in the state final at old Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
I also remember some of the great teachers we had at PHS. Since I loved history, Mr. Dong during my senior year was my favorite. It was so interesting to hear from a person of Asian descent describing world history. I also remember being in Mr. Fleischman's math class. Right after lunch, in the warmest room in the building, for a student who struggled with math … it was the kiss of death. I struggled to stay awake.
These and other memories have stayed with me ever since and have been a reason that I have been in education for the past 27 years this coming June. I have been a basketball coach in the Vancouver area for 22 of those years, with the last eight years being at the high school level. In 1994-1995, I was an assistant coach at Mountain View high school for the girls' basketball team. We played for the state championship that year, knocking off Kamiakin in the quarterfinals, but losing in the final by three points. It reminded me so much of my senior year when our basketball team lost to Snohomish. By the way, one of our assistants on our coaching staff for MVHS that year was from Snohomish. It sure is a small world. We also made the state playoffs the following two years. There is nothing else like it in high school sports than to make the state playoffs. And I always keep track of the Bulldogs to see how they are doing and speak with great pride that Pasco continues to do so well at the highest level of competition in sports.
Thank you for letting me rekindle fond memories of Pasco High School. Now it is time for other class of 1970 alumni to speak up and be heard.
Take care and hope to hear more great memories from the past.
Bob Scribner (70)
Camas, WA
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From: Bakyt Azimkanov (01)
I was an exchange student, and someone could pronounce my name hardly. Mostly people used say something like pocket but with the `B' at the beginning.
Bakyt Azimkanov (01)
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
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