Myra Savant Says, "Hi."

I was born in Ray in 1944 and can remember most of the elementary school teachers' names.

First grade: Mrs. Smith, second, Miss Holmes, who married and became Mrs. Durenberger. third: Mrs Hubbard, fourth Miss Collins, Fifth, Mrs. Powers, Sixth, Mr Avants, Seventh Mr. Kuykendall and I don't remember 8th grade. Our school nurse was Mrs. Blair I think, and the principal was Mr Case. I seem to remember that the superintendent was Mr. Herbert, but I could definitely be wrong on that.

I have a photo somewhere of our first grade class.

Clarine Brandt Haslag Tells Her Story

I lived in Dudleyville with my two sons and taught school in Kearny and Winkelman until my husband got a job with AMARC here in Tucson. He's an accountant where they keep the old airplanes at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

I presently teach 6th grade math (hard-to-believe I know) and social studies at Gridley Middle School in the TUSD school district. I'm hoping to retire in about three years. With the way our economy and state legislature is going, I might have to work longer.

My oldest son, Bill, is coming home from China in August. He's been there for about three years. He was teaching English at the University of Beijing this past year. He plans to get a Masters in Urban Planning. Tom and I visited with him in China two years ago. I've attached a picture of my tour group with the Chinese military group in front of the Forbidden City (Imperial Palace). Can you find me? (In the red jacket) What a place!

My second son, Matt, is a graphic design artist with Betts Printing in Tucson. I am not a grandmother yet and probably won't be in the near future.

My sister Ellen lives in Winters, California near Sacramento. She is a teacher at a Christian school there where she teaches art and social studies. She is married to a nurse-practioner who she met at NAU (I met mine at NAU too! NAU is a great place to find your future spouse!). She has one daughter who is getting a Masters in theology in Eugene, Oregon and is expecting a baby in December.

Kathy Linsley Farrell Says, "Hi."

Dear all,

I am looking forward to attending the March 20th reunion picnic. I figure that it has been at least 25 or so years since I have seen most of you--except for Charlotte Giroux whom I saw when my father died about that time. Maybe it is age, but have been thinking about those early years a lot lately. Went to boarding school in Tucson from 64-67 before moving to Chicago and graduating in 1969 there. My mother died that year so I think that early life got closed up somehow in memory. Being a high school debater earned me a scholarship and I ended up as a professor of communication and a college administrator at various places but most recently at the University of Iowa for 12 years and now at Saint Louis University. My sisters Judy and Julie (the twins) are both in New Mexico and Patricia the youngest will come with me to the picnic. I look forward to seeing you.

-- Kathy Linsley

PS: I am now married to Julian Long and living in the heart of the city of St. Louis. Anyone driving across the country is welcome to our informal bed and breakfast.

Bob Kelahan Tells His Story

Bob, circa 1969

My dad's first job out of college was at the Asarco smelter just outside Salt Lake City that was later sold to Kennecott, so that's where I was born (in a hospital, not the smelter). Asarco transferred him every few years so I grew up in a few different places. That's a plus in that you get to see new places and make new friends, but on the downside it's difficult to make lasting friendships. We moved from Utah first to the Texas gulf coast, then to near Montreal, and then to El Paso. From all that a Texan French Canadian accent, y'all, ay?

Peggy, circa 1980

My dad was transferred to the Hayden smelter and we moved to Kearny in February of '68. So for my first day at RHS I'm wearing an oversized JV baseball letter jacket from my old high school in El Paso. I was certain it would be a perfect chick magnet. They wouldn't know I was nearly the last picked for the team and got to play in only two games. Sadly, I think they soon figured that out when instead of continuing with baseball I tried out for the golf team.

Tim

After graduating I went to Rensselaer, a technical college in upstate New York. Why? - Mostly wanderlust, plus they sent me a really neat looking college catalog. The Navy would be paying for it all, but that committed me to serving four years after college. By my sophomore year it was apparent that my becoming a Navy officer was not in our mutual best interest. I was also getting increasingly concerned about what a chemistry major would do in the Navy - analyze the water outside the ship? You would think I'd have thought all this through before starting down that path, but noooo. Fortunately the policy
allowed me to bail without penalty before starting my junior year. That immediately led to the next problem - how to pay for an expensive college. My parents had moved back to Texas and I had seen enough of New York by then, so the answer was simple - the University of Texas. At the same time my dad and my brother, both engineers, convinced me to switch to chemical engineering. Turned out to be good advice and a good fit for me. My mom's hope for attorney or physician was shot for good.

Dan

I had fond memories of childhood vacations to the St. Louis area to visit grandparents and cousins. So when I had the opportunity to start my career there I jumped at it. That's where I met my wife, Peggy. She was a Montessori kindergarden teacher. I don't recall the attraction - kind of skinny, not very tall, no sports car. Oh, towards her? - Well, she was really cute and her personality was a good contrast with mine (no wisecracks please). Amazingly, she even stayed with me as I went on a never ending search for the ideal job. This led me back to college, then to Chicago briefly, a little longer in eastern Kentucky, and then ten years in Houston. Along the way a few critters joined us. Peggy insisted we name them. So first there was Tim and then Dan while in Kentucky, and then Katie and Jenny while in Houston.

Katie

We had always thought we would someday move back to St. Louis, so when an opportunity eventually came we did just that. We've been back here nearly 20 years now. Monsanto, like many big companies, likes to periodically prune out older workers and my time came in 2005. They want to pay me to leave? Where do I sign?

Jenny

I'm not ready to fully retire yet and Peggy has too many undesirables in my job jar, so I continue to do some projects and consulting in process control and simulation. Lately it's been nearly full time developing training simulators for refineries and chemical plants. It's like developing a flight simulator except instead of getting the student to take off, fly steady, and land, all without crashing, the goal is to start up the plant, make good product, and shut it down, all without it blowing up. Good fun.

Bob

Peggy still teaches part time. All the critters are out of the house now. Fortunately they all live nearby so we get to see them often. Tim is an electrical engineer working in process control. Dan is a restaurant manager. Katie and Jenny are occupational therapists working with special needs children. A side interest with Jenny - she dragged us to Ireland three times to watch her dance with the best. Okay, we did go willingly. She doesn't dance competitively anymore but continues to teach Irish dance part time. And no, she did not get that from me. I can't walk and chew gum at the same time - just ask someone from the golf team…

Peggy

Hobbies: Irish festivals and hiking the national parks (no gum); Favorite sports team: St Louis Cardinals (duh!); Goal: climb Croagh Patrick at age 60; Chance RHS classmate encounter: running into Audrey Burnam on the UT campus (what are the odds of that?).

Kearny memory: The smell of a desert rain. The evening I arrived in Kearny it was after dark and either had just rained or was about to. Our apartment was half way up the hill. Looking down at the lights below I could hear a small group practicing music. The smell in the air was unmistakable and unforgettable. I think you can distinguish that of central Arizona from other desert areas. I am reminded of that smell very vividly whenever passing through central Arizona and a storm is nearby.

Alex and Becky Manriquez Say, "Hi."

Alex '69 and Becky (Foster) '70 Manriquez send their greetings, along with a link to their blog. It has pictures of kids and grandkids and dogs and everything! Check it out here.

Kathy Case Kangas Tells Her Story

I am Kathy Case Kangas. My parents were Randolph and Berniece Case.

My dad first was teacher and principal at Washington Elementary School, Sonora AZ. Then he became principal of Lincoln Elementary School along with Washington Elementary School. And he was also a substitute teacher. I was in one of the classrooms that he substituted for. My dad was Principal of Lincoln Elementary until we left there in 1963. My mother was English and History teacher at Ray High School. She came after Mrs. Crowell was librarian (I think) and took it because nobody else wanted to! She was Jr., Sr. Class sponsor, and also Prom sponsor. In the meantime she was also the drama, play director.

We moved to Seligman AZ 1963-1964, then to Ajo AZ 1964-1980. My mother quit teaching in 1980 and Dad retired 1981.

I graduated from Ajo High School class of 1967. I was held back a year in fourth grade due to illness and would've graduated with the class of 1966. Even though I finished high school in Ajo I wanted to stay with my friends in Kearny and graduate with them!

It was the jobs that brought my parents to Ray. They had attended the University of Arizona and were looking for work. They completed their masters of education in 1957, Tempe Normal School, for education.

Tess asked me about some of my dad's trials as principal. The main thing was discipline as it is today. Dad always tried to be fair in every situation. Don't know if these boys in particular remember this scene: During their 8th grade time a bunch of boys were becoming girl crazy and some rather bullish, always picking on someone. So finally my dad had enough and had them box it out in a real ring. I think with the help of Mr. Murchison and some of the coaches. There were some blows and some bloody noses but after that no more fights! Another trial must have been to him to have me as one of his students! Never thought of that until just now. To me I was always trying to keep out of the way.

I have a complete set of annuals from Ray High School that I would like to be able to scan somehow. Would also like to keep in touch with everybody.

Carol Dierking Burlinson Tells Her Story

I moved from California to Arizona in fifth grade, when my divorced mother died and my dad was given custody. When I transferred from Hayden to Ray in 1965, sophomore year, I missed the first day of school. The next morning, first thing, I blew a pop quiz in Mr. Taft's class. I was mortified. I was a Smart Kid, I didn't flunk tests. Taft told me, "you'll be okay." I was inwardly focused, reserved, quiet, hard to get to know, but he encouraged me. I liked him a lot.

After high school I earned a BA in anthropology and a Master of Library Science from the University of Arizona, married in '74, and in '75 moved to College Station, Texas, for my husband's job at A&M. Two years later we moved to Austin and we've been here ever since. I worked 14 years at university libraries and the Texas State Library; some of these jobs I liked, but others? They were just for the money. Contrary to image, most librarians are people oriented, but me - I was an introvert in a social profession. Then in 1989 I got my dream job in the research library of Radian International, an environmental engineering firm. That was my "bliss" work experience - challenging, absorbing, and most important, I believed in what I was doing. When it ended in a buyout in '99, I began working part time for the school system, subbing in school libraries. It's worthwhile also, but I'm winding it down now.

We never wanted kids. Then, in our thirties, we decided we'd go for it after all. That's how, in 1985, we came to adopt a four-month-old son from Korea, Jake. Do I even need to say he's been the light of our lives? He's 24 now, currently at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, training to be a medevac pilot. When he finishes that, he'll be joining the Texas Department of Public Safety and flying for the Texas National Guard. He says he wants a family of his own someday, but he's too busy right now. So I hope grandkids are in the future. That's what you get for putting off parenthood :)

Over the years my hobbies have been reading (of course!), ballet, voice, and guitar. I once took acting and auditioned for a bit part as a killer in a low budget film noir, but that was the end of my movie career. Nowadays, I've given up ballet and guitar due to injuries, but as an amateur mystery writer, I spend a lot of time thinking up ways to murder people.

I've been a lifelong learner and in addition to writing I read mysteries, fantasy, humor, and nonfiction such as history, religion, politics, and the natural sciences. I do some yoga, a little gardening, birdwatching, collect perfume, and enjoy going out with friends. Unlike me, my husband of 35 years has not slowed down much. His job with the state health department is as demanding as ever, but if we're lucky, we get away for the occasional day or weekend trip. Austin is a unique city for Texas, and while the "Keep Austin Weird" bumper stickers are probably wishful thinking, it's still weird enough for me. I love this town.

Dumbest thing I ever did? Not selling when the Dow was at 14,000. Smartest thing? Hooking up with my two fellas - marrying John and adopting Jake.

Russ Cooper Tells His Story

Except for a stint in the army, my dad was a lifelong Kennecott guy. He and Mom were both only children who grew up in Hurley, New Mexico, where both of their dads also worked for Kennecott. My brother (Paul '72) and I were both born in Salt Lake City (more Kennecott) a few years before we all moved to Hayden. When the house we lived in there found itself in the way of the long conveyor belt that now runs between the crusher and the mill, we moved to Kearny to avoid being bulldozed off the hill. That was in either late 1958 or early 1959.

Kearny (a planned community!) was brand new then, with streets of mud, no fences separating the lots, and a hopeful little mulberry tree in each front yard for landscaping. A bunch of us went to third grade in a portable building that also served as a Baptist church. A real school, paved streets, chain link fences, and many acres of bermuda grass all followed soon enough.

One of my more interesting high school memories is from the very first week or two of my freshman year. That was the first year that the kids from Dudleyville and the other communities south of Hayden were bussed over to Kearny to go to school. So suddenly, instead of everybody already knowing everybody on day one because we had all grown up together, there was this odd "us" (the Kearny kids) and "them" (the Hayden kids) thing going on that none of us had ever experienced before. Obviously, "they" were going through exactly the same thing, except that they must certainly have had "us" and "them" totally backwards!

This whole thing was especially strange for me because I had gone through first and second grade in Hayden with some of some of "them." So a handful of these foreign invaders were actually my friends from a few years earlier. Audrey Burnam, Clarine Brandt, and Art Young come to mind. Long after any notion of "us" and "them" had been forgotten completely, Art and I wound up in the same chemistry class at the university in Tucson. I also remember running into Audrey at some sort of farewell shindig when we were all about to graduate. That was kind of cool.

I learned enough vocabulary at U of A to get an engineering job with Honeywell in Phoenix. Then I learned enough engineering at Honeywell to eventually set myself up as a freelance nerd for hire. That kept me about 110% busy writing embedded microcontroller firmware and PC programs right up until 9/11. Things kind of slacked off starting on 9/12 (literally), and I've been exploring the distinctions between semi-retired, retired, and just plain unemployed ever since. I like "semi-retired" the best. Fortunately, that's the way it's been going for the past few years.

In mid 1978 I bought a brand new Ford Mustang II. It was bright orange with a white top, black interior carpet, and black, orange, and yellow plaid upholstery on the seats. Whoa! Talk about your understated style and grace. That car was it. Well, far too soon after I got this fine vehicle, the girlfriend got somewhat more friendly and we wound up getting married later that year. That very strongly reinforced my great theory that you gotta have great wheels if you want to get the girl. Mysteriously, though, she continued to hang around even after we got rid of that car. Imagine that. I guess either my great theory was completely wrong, or else the Mustang wasn't so hot after all and what she really liked was my boat.

Carol was a music teacher when we met. Then she got a computer science degree and worked for Intel for a while. Then she got enough credentials to be a pastor for a while. Now (2009) she's just finished up a program to learn ASL interpreting. I don't know what she wants to be when she grows up.

Progeny: None. Hobbies: Flying (no longer) and woodworking (more and more). Ridiculous websites: http://www.ibab.org. Residence: Phoenix.

Bearcats Tell Their Stories

So, what's your story? Everybody has one. And believe it or not, other folks are every bit as interested in yours as you are in theirs. So, why not take a few minutes and tell everyone what you've been up to, like these folks have done already:

• Carol Dierking Burlinson
• Russ Cooper
• Kathy Linsley Farrell
• Clarine Brandt Haslag
  
• Kathy Case Kangas
• Bob Kelahan
  
• Steve Kuykendall
• Alex and Becky Manriquez
  
• Jim Porcher
• James and Nola Rupert

Yeah, I know, it's tough. You're looking at a blank piece of paper and saying to yourself, "Where do I start?" Well, here are a few questions just to get you going. Use any or all or none of them. And feel free to add other stuff you think of that's not here.

• Where did your parents come from?
• How did they (and you) wind up in Kearny?
• What is your first memory of Ray High?
• What did you do after high school?
• What was your best job?
• What was the smartest thing you ever did?
• What was the dumbest thing you ever did?
• Where do you live now?
• What are you doing now?
• How 'bout those good looking kids and grandkids of yours?
  

Got your story all written up? Good--send it! Got pictures of yourself or your family or your prize-winning '78 Bonneville restoration? Send 'em! Got a link to a website or a blog of your own? Include that, too! Where to? rrrmac@gmail.com. Thanks.

Bearcats Yak It Up

Want to leave a note for your fellow Bearcats? This is the place! Leave a comment here to ask a question, tell everyone how life's been treating you, or maybe just say, "Hi!"

General chit-chat is fine, but you probably don't want to include any contact information in your comments, lest the spammers rain their torment upon you for the rest of your days. For that (contact info, not torment), shoot an email to Tessie Ozuna '69 at tsozuna@cox.net. She'll add you to her growing list of alumni, and/or help you find someone you're looking for.

The Ruperts from Kingman Say, "Hi."

James '67 and Nola '65 Rupert send their greetings, along with a link to their own blog. It's worth a visit just to see exactly how your back yard should look.

Steve Kuykendall Says, "Hi."

Steve Kuykendall '66 sends his greetings and a picture. Here's what Steve has to say:

I graduated from Ray in 1966. My father (same name) taught at Ray and then at Kearny (Jr High) from 1955 through 1967. My brother Danny and sister Janet (known in the family as Twink) moved to Tucson before they graduated but had many friends in their age group. Danny was in the class of '69 and Janet in '71 or '72.

The Kuykendall kids at San Carlos, Mexico, Christmas 2008: Danny '69, Janet, Steve '66.

Jim Porcher Says, "Hi."

Jim Porcher '69 sends his greetings, along with this picture of himself and a horse named Boomer. That's just so much less confusing than a horse with no name.

Jim has a website, too, where you'll find full contact information in case you want him to make up a cool name for your horse. Or, if you prefer, Jim can even set you up with a new horse that already has a name. That might be better.