Celebrating My 50th High School Reunion

"Caldwell Cougars, Who Are We? We're the Class of '63!" 

What is this?

Another Pipes of Pam?

My journalism teacher, Mrs. Homer Hooban, 

gave me the name idea for my music column 

that I wrote for the school newspaper 

when I was a junior. 

Funny, what comes around full circle.

When I was trying to think of what to name my blog, 

Pipes of Pam popped into my head.

Above are the only surviving copies I have of said column, 

which I happened to have saved and pasted in my old scrapbook.

Alas - more brilliant pieces of journalism (ha!) - lost!

This is my senior pic in Cougar, 1963 yearbook.

 

But I get ahead of myself.

After Roger and I returned from the Balladier Reunion 

late Monday afternoon, 

I called Dana to plan when 

the Quartet could get together and practice, 

which we determined to be Wednesday afternoon. 

We had been asked to sing at the dinner on Saturday night, 

but Ronee had a gig in California that night, 

so we sang at the picnic on Friday afternoon.

Kay (in the Quartet) called to invite me to a luncheon on Wednesday with other girl classmates at Joe Momma's in Eagle, saying Ronee would also be coming late, and Dana already had a lunch commitment she must attend and couldn't come.  But we determined to practice after all of us were through lunching.

Sooo, I swallowed hard, and gathered up my courage, 

and decided to go to the lunch.  

I figured I might as well break the ice 

of seeing some of those gals after 50 years 

and get it over with!

It actually worked! 

It took the edge off of that dreaded moment 

when you walk into the room, 

not having seen anyone for so long, 

feeling quite naked.

Roger came in with me to get these pics of all of us,

(he was on his way to meet John to golf at Purple Sage, 

and he dropped me off) 

and of course, he made a hit with his charm, 

getting up on a chair like a mountain goat 

and choreographing everyone so he could get us all in.

They loved him and I was in like flint!

(I don't even know what that means, 

but it was a definite ice-breaker!)

It was actually wonderful seeing my friends again!

I hadn't realized that I missed them until I chatted with them, and it was like we were back in high school . . . except much better!

Three more girls came after this pic was taken.

Blast from the Past

Our quartet was formed by Mrs. Dorothy Waggoner, 
our choral director, 

in the 9th grade, 

then we sang together through our senior year.

In the bottom pic, I had just gone from being the shortest 
in my class in the 9th grade 
to my limbs growing out of control. 

Yikes!

10th Grade Moonlight and Roses Quartet performance

Senior year pic

Missy's home was the closest to where we would all be after lunch.

She was a hostess with the mostest!

She came out, with Claire on her arm, to take pics of us rehearsing, then brought us to go cups of ice water.

The quartet was very impressed with her graciousness and, 

of course, her great beauty.

Dana MayStafford Collord, Ronee Sue Blakley, Pamela Gabrielsen Stratford and Katharine Louise Dunlap Overton, 50 years later

Kay gave us all a silk scarf from South Africa, 

where she now lives with her husband on their yacht.

It was kind of surreal, being and singing together again.

We have such fun memories of hanging out together,

and we always chatted more than we practiced.

Nothing has changed!

More Blasts from the Past

Ronee Sue and I are at a Senior Girls' Party in the home of Janet Davis.

I am talking to Marilyn Johnson and Anne Flower at that party.

Dana invited Ronee Sue, Olivia Williams and I to her summer home in McCall.

This photo was in our senior year yearbook.

Back to the Present

On the day of the picnic, 

the Quartet met at Missy's again to run through our numbers.

We went outside to sing, 

because we knew we were going to be singing outside.

One of the first friends I spotted was Sharon Vertrees Kyle, 
one of my two best friends in high school. 
We were so tickled to see each other!
We have so many happy memories together, and we have sent Christmas cards to each other all through the years!

My other best friend was Donna (Misa) Joo Doolittle.
She was there for me at a critical time in my life,
and I adore her!

So many happy, happy memories!

The picnic was in a classmate's backyard in Meridian.

Jaymie Abrahams Felt is telling me about how important 

my dad was to her parents.

He was their doctor, and he is what "kept them going."

I didn't know that.

So nice to hear!

Dick Weed was one of my dates to a school dance,

He is retired now, 

but he was a research chemist in Genetics in New York.

So smart!

Blayne Christensen is one of the small handful of LDS kids in my class. He was my very first date - 

to Mutual's Gold and Green Ball.

He is a twin, and he and his brother 

started a bank in Las Vegas and they are said to be 

the wealthiest in our class!

Mike Jones is so likable!  

He was the Valedictorian of our class.

He joined the Peace Corps after college, became a political activist, publisher and organic vegetable farmer.

Doyle DeMond thought he was the heart throb of the school.

I sat by him in a couple of classes, 

and he teased the heck out of me!

Good guy.
And he married my friend, cute Verna Demaree, in our class.

In the pic below,

of course, Jim Blacker was the ultimate teaser of my life!

He was our next-door neighbor, and we were actually best buds!

He is very active on the City Council in Caldwell.

Beth Williams is on the far right, and she was Mike Jones's girl, the smartest girl in the class and a good friend.  She is an internal medicine doc in Las Vegas.

Kenny Sayler, on the left, 

was probably the most popular guy in our class.

This guy was sort of a little pip-squeak in high school 
(look who's talkin')- 
Dennis McJunkin.

I wouldn't have recognized him!

David Stewart is Aurelia and Loris Stewart's son.

They were some of my parents' best friends.

He was kind of wild and crazy, 
a definite womanizer, and likable.

George Slane was a crush in grade school and Pete Jensen, 

who was Mom and Dad's eye doctor, 

was my date to a few dances. 

Pete is a great guy and one of my favorites in our class.

He and Mike Jones were the MCs at our dinner on Saturday.

Yucking it up with Ronee and Kenny Sayler.

Ronee Sue and I go back as close friends 

since the 5th grade, 

when we moved to Caldwell.

In the 6th grade, she, Ann Flower and I formed a trio - 

The PARS -Pam, Ann and Ronee Sue -

and we wrote those initials with peacock blue ink 

(the rage at the time)

on our little white sailor hats that we wore 

with our sailor dresses when we performed.

  

I have a story about Kenny - 

I embarrassed myself in front of him Big Time.

I doubt if he even remembers it, but I sure do!

The Quartet was introduced, 

then I introduced our Hootnanny idea, 

telling them to sing with us like we used to do in someone's car, 

out at The Curb or in front of someone's house.

This is one side of the yard; they were gathered in, all around us.

We wailed out, 

one verse of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", 

one verse of "The Seine," 

which we sang at the Junior Prom in 1962, 

one verse of "The Cruel War," 

and the entire "Hammer Song."

"If I had a hammer, Id'd hammer in the morning . . ."

Ronee had been asked to sing some of her songs she wrote.

She first read this poignant poem she wrote for the occasion, "Reunion."

Leo Jeffres is on the left and he was in Yearbook with me, and, you guessed it, he also teased the heck out of me.  He thought it was so funny that my initials were PG.

Dyke Nally, our SBO, is on the right.

He is a charismatic guy.

One last hug with Sharon until tomorrow night

Saturday night, and Roger and I are ready to party!

Missy took some shots in her living room.

Another Blast from the Past!

Another fun party

My wonderful friend, Donna (AKA Misa)

The dinner was held at the Elk's Lodge.

It is really about the only choice Caldwell has for big events.

It was kind of cool, though, 

that Diane McGarvin Pohrman's parents 

bought and remodeled it when we were in high school 

and it was our Teen Center then.

We held our Senior Class Party on Graduation Night there.

This is Wayne Christensen, Blayne's twin, 

who wasn't at the picnic.

Laughing with Darrell Sibert and Mike Warwick

Dinner was salmon or prime rib, which was surprisingly good!

Donna's lovely daughter, Maki, came with Donna to the reunion.

Tom Neary got a special award.

He was an Air Force Major General.

Pete Jensen and Mike Jones did a great job as MCs.

Jim Blacker gave a Caldwell, Then and Now, presentation.

It was clever and informative and brought back lots of memories.

Classmates attending our 50th Reunion Dinner

Recalling happy days!

Our SBOs and Senior Class Officers

A fun memory for me was being on the drill team, 

the Caldwell High School Cougarettes.

This is the emblem I wore on my school sweater.

These are the Cougarettes who were at the dinner.

These were the athletes.

They called up all of those who had been in the choir or the band.

And they took a pic of all of the Girl Scouts.

Being a Girl Scout was kind of a big deal in Caldwell?!

Voted Most School Spirit in the yearbook,

Donna Joo and Tom Wilson

Sherry Farmer was our Drill Mistress.

"Sherry" by Frankie Vali and the Four Seasons 

was a big hit my senior year.

Guess what Sherry had us march to in practice 

every morning before school!

Gail Coltrin was the only other Mormon girl in my class 
(no, there was one more, but she didn't come to the reunion)
and we were really good friends.

They split our ward when we were in junior high, 

and we hung out with different kids in high school,

but we always were buds.

Anne Ballantyne was the Class Clown and is so funny/fun.

We were good friends in junior high 

and used to play on the phone together.

Diane McGarvin was a fabulous dancer; 
her parents taught dance classes and were a familiar sight 
at many of our class dances.

Diane put together our Reunion Memory Book 

and was a tireless Reunion Crew member.

They all worked so hard and the reunion was a smashing success!

I love Dana!

 Her hubby passed away a few months ago,
and she has been bravely carrying on.

This reunion was good timing for her.

Leo Jeffres has been a Professor of Communications 

at Cleveland State University.

We had fun recalling yearbook memories.

Sharon and Doug Kyle live in Lake Tapps, Washington.

She was a medical technologist and he is an attorney and CPA.

Standing in the middle of the pic below is Randy Towery.

He was SBO Chaplain 

(how sad that they don't exist anymore in schools).

He is a musician extraordinaire, playing first trumpet for many famous acts including The Temptations, Lou Rawls, Helen Reddy, Little Anthony, Anita Bryant and many others, besides playing other instruments including organ and piano.

Someone told him to make a list of the famous people he played for to show his children and grandchildren.

He said he did, and the kids only knew The Temptations.

They nodded their heads and said, That's great, Dad!"

He said his kids are polite.

The grandchildren have no clue, but he said,

"They love us anyway."

Randy said, 

"There are a lot of things that we accomplish in life,

 which, in the end, don't really matter very much."

I must add here that Roger and I got to hear the stake choir he put together and directed in John's stake on Sunday morning 

in the stake conference when they released 

my brother, John, from being Stake President.

Can a stake choir sound ethereal?

It did!

Using his wonderful talent in this such a way

matters very much!

Here is the guy who took all of these great pics 

throughout the reunion.

Doug Kyle just sent this one, 

and it's the only pic of Roger at the reunion.

Thanks, Doug!

Toward the end of the reunion, 

some of us took balloons outside, 

representing classmates who have passed away.

We took turns saying a little something 

about the one we were remembering

then we released them.

I spoke for Hall Burrup.

He was a good guy.

We're giving final hugs as we are winding it up.

Age is the Great Equalizer.

There was none of 

the pretense, 

or the classmates dissolving into cliques; 

 there were none of the barriers, 

or the feelings of inferiority.

There was just the feeling 

that we are all in this life together, 

and all we really need to recall 

is the fun ride we had - 

together.