RIP Mr. Gatto!

Joseph Gatto was found murdered in his home in Silver Lake last night.  His house had been ransacked, and he was found shot, slumped in a chair.  I heard about it first on the radio as I was driving Eve to meet her mom at the dentist.  I thought, "Can that be the same Joseph Gatto who was my Ceramics teacher and yearbook sponsor in high school?"

Unfortunately it was the same.  Such sad, terrible news.

I guess when you read about crimes in the paper, they sound sad and terrible - but they don't really apply to you, because the people are not people you know.  This was a new one for me - someone I knew, someone who had had an impact on my life when I was young and impressionable, someone who was a good person, someone who probably never hurt anyone in his life!

I got out my old yearbook - and found an inscription from him - it ended with "may life be good to you and reward you with the best!"

He always encouraged me to stretch and grow.  To go beyond the comfort zone.  I did not think of myself as an artist, or even as an artistic person.  But he helped me see that appreciating art is as important as being the artist.

I like to think I appreciate art.  I like to think he'd be proud of my progress.

RIP Joseph Anthony Gatto!

50 years - and still going strong!!

This year marks the 50th anniversary of my graduation from high school.  There is a reunion planned for tomorrow night - but I'm not going.  I'm not going for several reasons - cost, distance to name two - but mainly because when I saw the RSVP list, I realized that no one was coming that I'd even thought about once in the last 50 years!!

To explain - I graduated in January - and the class sponsoring the event is the June class after us - so they haven't really focused on the January crew.  And no one on the January crew cared enough to get something of our own together.

But 5 of my high school - and elementary and junior high friends - and I are getting together on Sunday afternoon for lunch - here at my house.

I always enjoy these women - the configurations change some each time we get together because some live out of state - but it's always fun.

I'll be sure and report and post photos!!

High School Stories - Then and Now

There was little diversity in my high school when I attended.  In fact, there was little diversity in Granada Hills itself.  But we did have foreign exchange students - every year it seemed like there were at least two.  I remember this student from Japan, and there was also a girl from Japan.  I believe we had a sister city kind of relationship.

We also had two students from Finland.  I'm not sure what classes they had - they were never in the classes I was in.  

I vaguely remember this incident - it was actually a photo op for something in the local paper - we were probably called to be in it because we were in Girls' League and Student Council - and happened to be home and available that summer day!

When I think about it now, I recall that many of the students at my school were of Italian and Polish descent - and there was a kind of undercurrent of prejudice - but it was mostly the adults you heard it from - not the kids.  I was pretty unaware of what a fellow student's ethnic background was - and didn't much care about it.

There were also a lot of Jewish students.  The San Fernando Valley had large Jewish populations - they still do in fact.  

I wish I had been more aware - I could probably have learned some valuable life lessons.  The Holocaust wasn't that far in the past at that time, and I'm sure there were some powereful stories to be told.

There was a set of twin boys who were Jewish - and really bright and excellent students.  I think they shared valedictorian honors when they graduated.  They went on to high end Ivy-League schools.

Joe and Carl Jacobs.  I think it was Carl who made the cover of Time magazine - a story featuring the tragic loss of bright young soldiers in Vietnam!

The world seems to be coming full circle doesn't it??

Very long ago now!!

If I had graduated in June - like most people do now - I would be getting ready to celebrate my 50th anniversary of graduating from high school.

But  I graduated in January of 1963 - back in the day when LAUSD and other districts graduated students every semester.  I consider it a superior system, but I guess no one else does, because it's been done away with!

Some friends of mine from my high school days are planning an informal potluck this month.  And apparently the June class has something planned for September, and they have invited us.  They also invited us to their 20th celebration, and it was less than satisfactory.  But I may go anyway.

Meanwhile, I am sorting and purging once again - as is my wont in the summer time - and have come across some real treasures.  This isn't

 one of them - but it is a happy note to reflect on - and the photograph was taken by Greg deRoulhac - a school chum of mine that I sometimes refer to.  His full name was Gregoire Blount deRoulhac - always a mouthful - and always gets some attention.

I have no idea where he is or what he is doing.  But now you know he was a real person and not just a name I made up!

"No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's cross-eyed looks . . ."

Last day of school today.  I was thinking about how school has played - and continues to play - a major role in my life.  I have been in a school mode for many years of my life - and that doesn't count my kids' school experiences.  I went to public school for 12 years.  I went to college for a B.A. for 5 years.   I did 2 years of graduate school.  I spent about 5 years getting a teaching credential - while I taught school on an emergency credential.  After subbing for 4 years, I have been teaching for 16 years.

When I think about our kids, the years really add up.  6 kids who went through 12 years each of public school.  5 kids with bachelor's degrees at about 4 years each.  3 kids with master's degrees at 2 or 3 years apiece.

Now we are also involved with our grandchildren and their school experiences.  And I haven't even counted Harry's "school years!"

When school is part of your daily life, summer vacation is too!!  That's the plus in the equation.  School is out - this last week was wearing - I had been gone for 2 days,  and there was lots of work that needed to be done before I could sign off and turn in my keys!  But I got the work done - and even left school today at 4 - but school had ended at 11:30, so I had a few hours.  

Every year I plan to use the "packing up" time to sort and purge and streamline things in the classroom.  And every year I reach the point where I just start stuffing things into cupboards!!

So August will find me having to do more sorting than I'd like to.  But until then I will just function in vacation mode!!

(I was noting that for an activity that really consumes a lot of my life, I really don't have very many "school" photos!)

Long ago and very far away it seems!!

Monrovia High School has had a Teacher Honor Guard at their graduation ceremonies for the last few years.  Students are asked to invite teachers who have made a difference in their lives to attend the festivities.  This year a former student chose me.  There was a little reception beforehand, and then we donned robes and marched out ahead of the students.  We sat on the field and were part of the action, up close and personal you might say!!

I generally eschew graduation ceremonies because they seem to all degenerate into rowdiness and other less than enjoyable affairs.  But now I am thinking that it's because I am in the audience.  Being down on the field is a whole other matter!!

The Camarata Singers did a fine job.  The speakers were pretty good.  The band played well.  Only one beach ball was confiscated.  I saw 8 former students of mine graduate.

And I wasn't anywhere near the audience!

(The above photo is of my high school graduation in January of 1963 - that's right folks,  over 50 years ago!!  I am with my Grandpa Clayton and my Grandma Connie.  And she is wearing a hat!)

My cousin Chaz posted on FB about a comment a band teacher had written in his yearbook.  And it piqued my curiosity,  so I pulled out one of my old yearbooks - the first one I came to in fact - and the comments there were amusing, to say the least.

Let me digress here with some info:  I went to LA Unified Schools - back when they were pretty great schools I might add - and one of the routines they followed was to have students start and finish at the semester.  I started school in February when I was almost 5, and graduated in January, when I was almost 18.

That said, students elected to student body offices served just one semester, and then a new election was held every semester.  We changed our classes every semester too - teachers, students, the whole enchilada.  I frankly think the semester system is superior to the year plan - but I'm in a distinct minority.  I remember being appalled when I discovered that our children would have the same teacher - or teachers - for an entire year!  What if you didn't like the teacher - or the class? 

Back to the point I had in mind when I started this - some of the quotes from the old yearbook pages.  The reason I had to explain is because I had been elected Student Body President in June - and would serve for my last semester in high school.  It was a close race - I won by 17 votes!!  And I ran against the captain of the football team!  (Who wrote:  "Barbara, Women have no place in government and furthermore you're a dodo.  Drop dead!  Bad luck!")

I will acknowledge that I was not the first girl elected at my school - there had been one a couple of years before me.  But it was quite a few years after me before another girl got elected.  Hopefully I didn't ruin it for the other girls, and it was just a quirk of fate that no more girls got in the "Oval Office" at  GHHS for several years!

So here are some random selections:

"Barbara, I can't believe that next semester will be so wonderful.  Let's bring our usual vice and corruption into student council politics."

"Barbara, I agree with Anne, keep our politics dirty, it's the only way we'll get anything done!!  Good Luck PRESIDENT!!"

"Barbara, good luck and best wishes in your big job next year."

"Good Luck in the coming semester as president Barbara.  Do as good a job as those before you have done and add your touch."

"Barb, Lots of Luck always espicpally (sp) with your High Office.  Your real neat."

"Barbara, To a real good joe.  I want you to get me a lot of favors next semester when your (sic) Queen Barbara.  Best of luck next year and forever."

"To the future Student Body President.  Best of luck "Bossing" the school."

And this one - which puzzles me - the things we forget I guess:

"Barbara, 

Beautiful Blond.

Famed Student Body Officer.

Fan of Roi Tans

May you always be happy."

Roi Tans???

People save the darnedest things!

I came across this sketch in my "stuff" as Mom calls it. My friend Laurie drew it back in 12th grade - we were bored to tears in Mr. Pitkanen's Econ class - I usually had a book hidden in my econ text to pass the time.

Laurie sketched! Click on it to see that she drew me reading Conscience of a Conservative - the one by Barry Goldwater. My politics have certainly changed over the years.

And so has my waistline!!

An anniversary of sorts

48 years ago this month I headed off for BYU! This is an old BYU i.d. card.

So many things were different then - everything was done by hand - computers may have existed, but they didn't do the registration. We all pooled our money and cooked meals together in Heritage Halls. We walked everywhere we went. The Wilkinson Center (always the Y Center to me!!) did not exist. Women wore skirts - pants were not allowed. And we wore hose to school - and they weren't pantyhose either - we had girdles to hold them up!!

But I suspect some things were the same. The sense of fun and adventure and trying something new. Meeting new people. Having great experiences. Staying up late studying. Hanging out in the library. Making friends for life.

Meeting your one and only!!

Ah, trust me - time flies!!!

Remembering Seminary

I've told the story before, but when I went to school in LA Unified, students started and ended each semester. I was a winter student, meaning I started school in February and graduated from high school in January. We also had a junior high format, so high school was only 10th, 11th and 12th grades. For that reason, I started going to seminary when I was in the 2nd half of 8th grade, because that was the fall start of the school year - and Salt Lake had no clue about the way they ran our system.

This photo is from our A-9 Pin Day - which would take a lot of explaining - suffice it to say, we all got pins that we proudly wore through the 2nd half of 9th grade, setting us apart as role models I suppose!

But I digress - as is my wont - we had the Seminary Sacrament Meeting program today, and it got me thinking about seminary.

Seminary then was quite different from seminary now, but it was a good experience for me nonetheless. I think I would have thought I'd died and gone to heaven if they'd had Scripture Chase - I would have aced that one totally!! But we didn't, so there's no point in bemoaning the fact. We also didn't have donuts, let alone Seminary Breakfasts or Morningsides or Scripture Mastery.

That first year of seminary was in the San Fernando building - a 20 to 30 minute drive - for a 5:45 a.m. class - so you know how early we had to get up. And then my dad had to take us to 3 different schools! He would bring a blanket and sleep in the back seat of the car while we were inside. Don't ask me why - I'm sure he thought it was the best use of his time - and it probably was!

A funny story about that year - I was sure my dad had awakened me - I was dressed and pressed and ready to go - I went in to tell him I was ready - and he said, "It's 4 a.m.!" Some how I'd gotten up at 3 I guess and back then, getting ready meant I'd taken the curlers out of my hair and was wearing an ironed cotton full skirt with a full-petticoat underneath. It 's kinda tough to go back to bed in that regalia, let me tell you. Not sure why I didn't notice that no one else was up!! Maybe I was sleep-walking!

My first seminary teacher was Sister Ina Easton. She had had polio as a child and walked with a very noticeable limp. She would stride back and forth in front of us, limping the whole way. We met in the Cultural Hall - the chairs were in a semi-circle - and she read and talked and exhorted us daily.

She was a powerful teacher - and kept us all spellbound as she spoke about the Book of Mormon. She didn't have visual aids and there were no slide shows or recordings to listen to - I don't even think we had a blackboard. She had a testimony, and she bore it with great emphasis. We had some big Samoan boys in the class who were football players. If they weren't prepared, she could light into them fiercely - and they cowered at her upbraiding - and didn't do it again!! She was my teacher for 2 years, and I count it a great blessing in my life to have been taught by her.

After San Fernando, we were meeting at the Institute Building across from what is now Cal State Northridge. My teacher was Sister Ida Ellis. In retrospect, I'm thinking she was in the beginning stages of pregnancy about mid-way through the year. She would lean on this grand piano that was in the room where we met and have us go around the room reading. It was somewhat mind-numbing. My heart goes out to her now, thinking about getting up early when you are nauseated - and then facing a room full of teens - some of whom were not excited to be there. I don't remember too much about that year, but in later years I would run into Sister Ellis in the temple. She always made it sound like we'd had a fine time - so I went along with her!

My last year of seminary was taught by Brother DeManranville. He was young and handsome - and married of course, but that didn't stop me from having a major crush on him! He was more like what seminary teachers are now - lots of activities in class, slide shows, visual aides, and he always had stories to tell. He also challenged us to read the scriptures every night - and you need to understand that it hasn't always been a given that someone would feel incomplete at the end of the day if they hadn't prayed and read their scriptures.

I immediately took the challenge - and I remember him saying that I wouldn't last a month reading every night. I kept it up all year - and then he moved to New Zealand to teach in the church schools there - so I kept reading, thinking that he'd be back and I wanted to say he was wrong and I was still doing it!!

I've never seen or heard anything about him - but I kept up my every night streak for about 5 years before I faltered - and it's been a challenge ever since!! (I wax and wane with my diligence, I'm afraid, although I've done better the older I get!)

I had a semester of high school left, the fall semester, but I was finished with the 4 years of seminary instruction, so my last semester meant I had to find a ride to school every day!! I don't recall "missing" seminary - mostly I missed the automatic ride to school - most days I could time it so I went with my dad when he went to pick up my siblings and take them to school - by now we were having seminary in a local Granada Hills Ward building and we all went to the same school.

I don't have lots of specific memories about seminary, but I'm pretty sure it was a good influence in my life. They also had Senior Seminary Day - something I looked forward to and was not disappointed when it occurred. Many stakes combined for a day-long event on a Saturday - my year it was in Long Beach - classes, lunch, and a testimony meeting that I still remember to this day. There was probably a keynote speaker too.

All of our kids have gone to seminary and had good experiences. You might say we are a Seminary Family. (Dad didn't go to seminary as a youth, but he has taught seminary more than enough times to make up for that!)

It's good to remember those early mornings.

The Beauty of Friendship!

Tonight was our ward Relief Society's Birthday celebration. We had a lovely dinner, and some fun activities. For starters, they had the tables set in a kind of square. Those sitting on the inside stayed put, and those on the outside rotated for each course. With each new group came a new assignment of something to do. One of them was to find as many things as possible that everyone at the table had in common - besides the obvious, as in we are all Relief Society sisters, we're all LDS, we're all women, etc.

Our group came up with 21 things we had in common - things like we'd all read GWTW, we'd all ridden a horse, we'd all worked outside the home, we all had gray hair, we all like chocolate, you get the picture. Marcie was our scribe, and she ended it with "We are all sexy ladies!!" Gotta love Marcie!

It got me thinking about friendship, and the many friends I have and have had over the years. The above photo is of me with three high school friends. In fact, I went from kindergarten through 12th grade with these women. We do go "way back!"

I had not had any contact with any of my high school friends since we'd graduated together in 1963. Twenty years later in 1983, there was a class reunion - and I went! It wasn't much to write home about, but I did connect with Carol, the girl on my right in the photo. We began to correspond and to get together for lunch. It was worth going to the reunion just to re-connect! She then organized another, smaller kind of gathering, in her back yard in the summer of 1985. It was a lot of fun, and many more came than had been at the other reunion that had been held in a country club.


(An important note here is that when I went to school, you started and stopped every semester. Every semester you changed classes and teachers. Kids started in February and September, and they graduated in January and June. I personally liked the system better, but it ended many years ago. I'm pretty sure it's not in place anywhere these days. The winter class was always smaller - mine had 90 kids in it - while the summer class was larger - maybe 300 or more. The first reunion had been for the classes of January and June of 1963 - the one Carol organized was for just the January class - probably why it was so much more fun!)

The above photo is my Young Women class from probably 1958 or 9 - probably before high school - but then our high school started with 10th grade. I have re-connected with only two of the girls in the picture - the two on the other end than the end I'm on. In fact, we are in regular contact - and neither one of them knows where the other two are. Both of the women I am in contact with went to BYU - one was even a roommate for one semester before I got married.

Before I digress any further, I want to note that whenever I re-connect with a friend from the past, I find that the intervening years don't seem to make much difference. With LDS friends we ask about kids and missions and callings. We find lots in common even beyond the church connections. With non-LDS friends, we talk about jobs and school and kids and husbands and family members. And we find that we have lots in common.

More significantly, however, we connect on a level that has to do with coming from the same generation. The same songs and movies and traditions and trends are like invisible ropes that connect us. (This is what connects us with other church members - the shared experiences and expectations.) I can even meet someone for the first time who is from my era and we connect very quickly. It's not impossible to connect with someone from another generation, but I often note that the connection I make with someone young enough to be my daughter often involves connecting with that shared time frame. Same with younger children - who are the same ages as my grandchildren - I find a connection related to their era - the one they share with my grandkids.

But the overriding conclusion I come to each time is that we have much more in common with one another than we have differences.

An idea that is indeed meritorious and deserves our support and consideration!!

Days of Yore!!

While looking for my old junior high yearbooks, I came across this yellowed and brittle newspaper clipping from 1962!!

I had the dubious distinction of being Student Body President of my high school. I did lots of odd things as a result. For starters, I attended the monthly Rotary dinner at the Knollwood Country Club. I conducted assemblies at school. I went to conferences in exotic locales like Long Beach - and one time even stayed overnight in a hotel room - by myself. It was high adventure, believe me!

I also "cut the ribbon" for the grand opening of a Thrifty Drug Store in Granada Hills.

And got my picture in the paper!!

It all seemed so important back then!

"Senior" Supper

There's a bit of irony here in noting a photo of me and my good friend and old college roommate Joy - at our "Senior" Supper in January of 1963.

They may not even have Senior Supper's anymore - especially in the cafeteria!!