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6/23/01
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PHS Bulldogs On-Line                            Jun 23, 2001
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5 entries today
Sandra Green (Reuther, 1963)
Irma Zacher (Krup, 1960)
Janice Ehrke (Woods, 1960)
Paul Case (1967)
Le'Ann Cherry (McAllister, 1967)

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From: Sandra Green (Reuther, 1963)

Loved the first edition of PHS Bulldogs On-Line and I asked if the Irma that wrote that first 'memory letter' was Irma Kulp. Here is her wonderful response. I was asked to forward it here. I hope more of you will write about who your neighbors were and what your neighborhood and Pasco looked like when you grew up. It would bring back so many wonderful memories forus all. Below is the letter I got from Irma Kulp [PHS 1960] today.

Sandra Green
Boulder City, NV
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From: Irma Zacher (Krup, 1960)

So Hi, Sandra, (You'll be sorry you asked and here goes....)

Yes, it is Irmagene "Irma" Kulp Zacher, PHS class of 1960. No, there were no other Irma's in my PHS '60 class and now that I am thoroughly exposed, let's see what were your other questions?

Residence? I lived at Road 34 and Court Street from '55 to '63. (I married Don Zacher in Dec. '63). My Kulp family lived on the east side of Rd 34, with mostly sagebrush, but some grape vineyards covering acreage surrounding our home and the family Pasco Concrete business. We were considered 'country'. (Sounds like a song, right?).

Mom taught school for 34 years, many of those at the old Whittier (now demolished & replaced with New Whittier at new site). She was there to close the old school. Then she spent a year at the 'New" McLaughlin Jr. High (Road 22 or 22nd Avenue) (in elementary) waiting for the New (Old) Robert Frost Elem. to be finished and so her students could be transferred into the new building. Now it too, (Robert Frost), has been demolished and a new Robert Frost Elem. built on same acreage, different spot). Mom taught first grade at both schools. I took Mom to the open houses (in the past 3 years) at both the New Whittier & the New Robert Frost. It was amazing after so many years, that many of her long ago students recognized her.(She's a beautiful 93 yrs.old, now.) Actually it was a real 'Tear-jerker!" and very touching! Mom's been retired since '71. REMEMBER TO HUG A TEACHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to the past and neighbors: The Heidi House was built in the 60s, on the west side of Rd 34, to the west of us. Right where that sagebrush and sand had been. (Heidi House now relocated at the NW corner of Argent & Rd 68...It's for sale). In '55--My folks owned and operated Pasco Concrete Products, until selling to Tom (class of '59) & Millie Kidwell's relatives Bill & Bev Hartley. After selling, our old concrete home was burned in a fireman's practice, to clear the property for future business construction in the early '70s. Sad to see the old place go, but progress rules. My folks were retired prior to selling the family home and because it was commercial property the taxes were high. The folk's bought a double wide mobile home and a lot, in one of John Keltch's additions...and lived across from Emery & Lydia Carr for more than 10 years. (Jerry & Bob Carr's Folks).

Back to the Court street saga: Shortly after the Folk's sale to the Hartley's, the Hartley's sold to DeWeber's who built a business complex housing the Coffee Break Restaurant and other shops. Remember Shirley (DeWeber) Class of '62 and Ron DeWeber class of '59. It was an older brother of theirs who purchased & built the complex.

Neighbors?! Anyway in the '50s & '60s, our nearest neighbors were Don & Alberta Edwards and kids, Connie (Edwards, Class of '61-married to Glen (Class of about '56) Coppersmith, and Bob Edwards Class of '62. They lived on the north side of Court St. across from our home. This area on the north of Court, is now the K-Mart Shopping center, Hallmark Shop (run by Spence Jilek, Jr.), Payless Shoes, 99 cent Store, Hair Company Beauty Shop, a Bank and a restaurant that was Copper Kettle, then Panda Walk and is now Francisco's North, also locate there is the Flower Basket (sold by the Manfred Gaedeke's last year. By the way, the current owners of the Flower Basket are liquidating stock and will soon be moving the Flower Basket across the road to the back side of the DeWeber complex...so the rumor goes, for cheaper rent.

Anyway Connie's family home stood where the Francisco's Restaurant is today. So, what was 'country' in the '50s, became 'city' in the '70s. The Edward's had 10 acres and some horses. There was alfalfa and irrigation pipes to change, hay to bale, hay to be stacked, animals to feed. What an education! While helping Connie & Bob on occasion with these chores, the benefits...the pleasure of riding horses in the countryside surrounding us, through sand dunes and sagebrush. All that area is now covered with businesses and many residences.

What freedom, we had as kids. We could walk or ride bikes, over the Blue Bridge to swim at the Columbia Park Lagoon (now the Kids Fishing Pond). We even made trips to the fairgrounds during the Benton-Franklin County Fair. We could go nearly anywhere day or night, with no fear of bodily harm. Now it seems those carefree days are very limited for our grandkids, because of strangers, population growth, divided highways, traffic and just plain...big city stuff!

Remember the Drive-In Theaters? Where are they? All Gone! What a concept! How many kids could you get in the car, using every square inch including the trunk. 'Buck night" was a real bargain, if you could get at least 10 in the car!

Anyone remember the Frosty Treat Drive in on Court Street about 18th Ave., in '57-'58-'59-'60? This was another favorite fast food, kid stop-off or gathering place.

Remember the BOOK MOBILE? We 'country kids' used it for fun, relaxation & to further our education, of course. It came by every three weeks. We were allowed unlimited (nearly) amount of books to check out, whereas the Pasco City library had a week check out and limited to about 3 to 5 books.

After my epistle to the Bulldog line last night, I got thinking about the Old Navy Base indoor swimming pool, the Pass Port Plunge! Anyone remember that? Of course, it too, has been demolished for progress, long ago, but thinking about it brought back fond memories. Connie, Bob Edwards and I (and many other friends) spent many happy, water logged hours swimming there. It was a little spendy, tho'. (chuckle). The downtown Pasco pool was about 25 cents to get in and the Plunge was 75 cents, but it was worth it! The pool was a big, quiet, roof covered (so no sunburns playground. It had a diving platform about 10 feet above the water. You had to scale a knotted rope to the platform. You could swim 50 laps and never run into anyone. Whereas the city pool, you were lucky to get one lap without drowning a few bodies or yourself. It was at the Plunge in the '50s, that I first met Dick Mueller, who was teaching scuba diving there. I was to see him many more times through the years. He has had a couple of pools in Kennewick through the years where he taught swimming lessons at night and in the summers. My children took lessons from him several summers. He also was a P.E. teacher in Pasco. He was the P.E. teacher at Emerson School when my children went there in the '70s. (also saw Em Morgan as P.E. Teacher at Emerson). Now that I am teaching in Kennewick at Vista Elem. I have seen Dick make visits to my school to tutor "at risk" students (I believe he is retired from teaching, now). He is a close relative of the Mueller Funeral Home family and a community fixture. I think of Em Morgan, Robert Gregson, Dick Mueller with fond memories and I applaud them for all the hats they have worn and all the energy they expended for the children of our community. There are many more people that fit this catagory, but those three come quickly to memory, as our paths crossed so many times. They were all doing good works for the children and our school district.

Did you know that Robert Gregson, Sr. made two story doll houses for nearly all the Pasco kindergarten classes. They are beautiful houses. I know, because I was a receipient of his kind gesture and have one of his houses. One day while I was talking with him, (Remember, I teach in Kennewick.) he said, "Now when I am through making houses for all the Pasco K-teachers, I will make one for you!" (I was teaching kindergarten at that time). One day long after that talk, I had assumed he had forgotten, I got a call from Mr. G. and he said, "Come get it!" And so we did. It took both my husband and I to load it into our pickup. What a prize! Mr. G. said, "Remember this is yours, not the districts, to use anyway you please!" My Kindergarten students loved it, and now my grandchildren are enjoying the doll house, too.

Now, Sandra this chapter is done! Can you forward this to the Bulldog online, as I am computer impaired and don't know how to forward. Besides you asked for this, don't you wish you hadn't?!

Irma Zacher
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From: Janice Ehrke (Woods, 1960)

To: Irma Zacher
So fun to read your memories. Purple and White Fight, Fight! Hey, say Hi to everyone will ya?

Janice Woods Ehrke '60 Bulldog, from Sunny and
Warm San Francisco!
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From: Paul Case (1967)

A few vague memories still lurk in diluted (or is it polluted?!) brain cells . . .

Does anyone remember the Bob-A-Lou drive-in? It was near (what was then) Lyndale Street and Court. I think my older sister, Linda (1961) worked there at one time.

I remember the Pass Port Plunge, but I don't ever remember going there. Seems to me that there may have been an age limit.

I never had the pleasure of attending McLaughlin Jr. High - ours was the first class to attend Stevens Jr. high - only 7th graders the first year it was open.

The Liberty Theater used to be the place to be on Friday nights. No problem walking there and back home. I'm not sure I would want to do that today, especially at night. There was also a disco-type place called Mario's near 3rd & Lewis in the mid-60's. That's the first place I ever tried espresso. I guess Mario must have been from Seattle.

A lot of us also walked across the (now) blue bridge to swim at the Columbia Park lagoon. Most of our names were painted on the bridge, when it was still green - it was a popular "jumping off" spot on the way home from Columbia Park. I made the 6 0'clock news one night - doing a swan dive from the railing near the first pier on the Kennewick side. My mom wasn't too thrilled when she found out. The Kennewick side, out to the first pier, was low enough so nobody ever got hurt. But I remember one person jumping off the Pasco side, which is considerably higher, and he had a painful walk for a few weeks!

It seems a shame that the Bulldog inlaid in the PHS foyer was removed. Having several big guys guard it during basketball games was quite a ritual - kinda like trying to "borrow" the RHS bomb or burn a large "P" on the KHS football field.

Remember the drag races? Most of them I watched were out near Ice Harbor dam, until the local law enforcers had a big ditch dug in the middle of the "strip." Don Story's t-bucket, Lon Fricke's 409 - muscle cars were big back then. Heck, when gasoline was 25-cents a gallon you didn't worry about economy! I seem to remember races near a spud house somewhere, too. Does anyone else remember that?

Yeah, this used to be a small town. Smaller, at least, than it is now. The 1900 block of Lyndale Street was just about the edge of town. The 410 apartments had not been built, there was no Columbia Basin College, and the sand dunes were in another county. Until high school, that is. That seems to be the time everyone discovered it to be a great place for parties! More to come later on that!

Paul Case
Back in Pasco after a few days in beautiful Priest Lake, ID
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From: Le'Ann Cherry (McAllister, 1967)

The class of '67 class reunion committee members have not received enough response to plan next years 35th get-together. We decided it would be better to wait and have a large and memorable reunion on our 40th ...We will decide at a later date to plan a small informal get-together for those of you who would still like to meet and have some fun with old classmates in Pasco. We would probably meet at the Bulldog Inn and have some food and drink and talk over old times and just enjoy the night. If any of you out there have a better idea, please, this is the time to share it. I hope you all enjoy this site and share any thoughts you have on this page.

Le'Ann McAllister Cherry
Kennewick, WA
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