KAREN KING

My Life and Times:

Where Did Those 40 Years Go?

(Pictured above: Frank's daughter, Valentina del Olmo, received her MSW from UCLA in June of 2005. Her Aunt Lisa Garcia (Frank's sister) and her Mom (Karen King, Class of '66) share the proud moment. Karen said, "We know that Frank was standing with us. You just can't see him." )

I have so enjoyed reading the bios and blogs from my classmates. The lives, loves and accomplishments described are truly amazing. I am honored and humbled to be part of such an interesting, intelligent, and professionally diverse group of high school classmates. As a reunion committee member I have been asked to submit my own bio, and threatened with lifetime detention if I don’t, so here goes.

I have several college degrees and certifications and have used that training to support myself through the years. I have an AA degree in Child Development, a BA degree in Child Development, a BA degree in Mexican-American Studies, and a Paralegal Certificate in Litigation from the UCLA Paralegal Training Program.

From 1970 to 1982 I was married to our classmate, Frank del Olmo. During those years, Frank helped to establish the Chicano Studies Department at CSUN and began his lifelong career at the Los Angeles Times. As a journalist he covered riots, wars, immigration issues (we’ve come full circle on that problem), bilingual education, and gang problems in the barrios of LA. There were days when he wore a bulletproof vest under his dress shirt. That was an exciting, often scary, very intense period of my life and has left me with a few interesting stories about people met and places seen.

Frank and I had one child, Valentina, who currently lives in Long Beach and works at Harbor/UCLA Medical Center as a psychiatric social worker. She is accruing the 3200 supervised hours that she needs to enable her to take her licensing exam. Her goal is to become certified as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Eventually she would like to relocate to the Bay Area and work at Stanford, her alma mater.

I have lived my entire life in California. Cities include Northridge, San Fernando, Echo Park, Silverlake, Glendale, Menlo Park, and Mountain View. My favorite place to live was Menlo Park. I have traveled to various cities in England; Paris, France; and Mexico City.

I like to read and am always asking for book recommendations. Time permitting I like to crochet, do cross stitch projects, and knit. I can easily spend way too much time and money in bookstores and yarn shops. I enjoy a well-made movie, almost any type of musical concert, and community theatre. Valentina and I like to visit antique stores. She has an interest in old glass and pottery. I collect old glass, pottery and metal shoes. They are inexpensive and I always have something to look for when we go antiquing. My best find was a souvenir shoe from the 1893 World Exposition in Chicago – the world fair written about in “The Devil in the White City”.

I am currently looking for a way to exercise that does not aggravate arthritic knees. It is those arthritic knees that remind me that I am 58 years old and, indeed, 40 years have passed since that graduation day in 1966.

(Ed Note: Karen sent this additional message on October 25, 2006:

"I found out over the weekend that LAUSD is naming a school after Frank. I believe the dedication is Nov. 1. I am trying to get more info. Apparently the school chosen for this honor was used in the filming of the movie "Godzilla" and they are also putting a plaque at the school to recognize that. To a person, the family thinks that somewhere Frank is having a good laugh about the whole thing.")

Karen King

Northridge, CA

ROBERT J. "BOBBY" GUERRERO and ARIANNA RAMIREZ (AHS '72) - 2006

Hi everyone: It has been great to read about, and see pictures of all of you. I can't believe how fast 40 years can go by.

After graduation I attended (casually) Valley College for two years before getting drafted into the Army. I signed up for an extra year to get a choice of training, and ended up at Personnel School. I served a year at Fort Ord, a year in Cam Rahn Bay, VietNam, and nine months in Oakland. After two years, nine months, and twenty-one days (who's counting?) I was discharged in July 1971.

I took advantage of my GI Bill and attended CSU-Northridge from 1971-74, graduating with a degree in Public Administration, with an emphasis in Public Personnel, and a minor in Chicano Studies.

I started working in School District Human Resources with LAUSD while attending CSUN. I have since worked for three other school districts (Glendale, Victor Valley, and currently in Poway), the last 19 years as a Director. I also worked for Xerox for two years and for a liquor company, Hiram Walker, Inc, for a year. I’m a little fuzzy on the details about that job, but I think I had fun!!

I met the love of my life in 1984, and was lucky enough to marry her in 1987. Eriana (Ramirez, AHS-72) and I were married on October 17, 1987, and I also was blessed to inherit a daughter, Maricela. We have lived in Oceanside since 1989, and have been moving west since we got to Oceanside, and now live three blocks from the beach. Eriana has worked at Mira Costa, the local Community College, for the last 17 years. Our daughter attended Mira Costa, earned her BA from San Francisco State, and her Teaching Credential from CSU-San Marcos. She just started teaching a Kindergarten class in the Temecula School District. Mari recently became engaged and she and her fiancee are planning to wed in May 2008.

Most of my family still lives in and around the Valley; my Mom lives in the same house in San Fernando where I lived when we graduated! Many of my friends also still live in the Valley, many attended San Fernando or Sylmar High School, as did my brothers and cousins.

I enjoyed my years at Alemany, and enjoyed the opportunity to meet kids from all over the Valley, all the way out to Lancaster & Palmdale! I really wish I had been able to participate in more school activities besides B football and JV Wrestling in the 10th grade, but work was a priority for me at the time. I met my best friend, Tom Lopez, on the first day of Freshman year (I think it was Mr. Diaz's Science class), and we have been friends ever since, and Compadres for the last 35 years.

I have been blessed in my life, with a loving wife and daughter, surrounded and supported by family (I have 4 brothers and about 80 first cousins) and good friends. I look forward to seeing some old friends, especially my fellow Santa Rosa School alums. I hope the next forty are just as enjoyable!

Bobby Guerrero

Oceanside, CA

THE MIND IS A BEAUTIFUL THING

EILEEN (ELLIE) McCONNAUGHY - 2006

Let's see, I've been married for 21 years and have two children, ages 14 and16 (that's right, my kids are in high school!). I am a shrink--a clinical psychologist in private practice. I also enjoy public speaking and acting and I work out at the gym--6 days a week! My kids like to perform. My son, James, plays drums in two rock bands and he was in the high school jazz band and marching band. My daughter, Katie, made her first CD this summer and she also dances and acts. My husband, Ed, is a theoretical physicist and he works as a technical writer and also writes mystery novels.

Now, let's see if I can attach a picture!

Ellie McConnaughy

Norwood, MA

(Ed Note: Ellie passed the technology test and her picture will appear in the Photo Collage)

Pat Maryon Weihe Critchfield

Keeping HOPE Alive

I have so enjoyed all the e-mails and being thrown back to the days of old. What a nostalgic trip it's been. Unfortunately, I will not be able to be at the reunion - I had planned on it but life takes strange turns and now it is not going to be possible. Please give my regards to all. There's always the 50th!! Thought I'd give you a little bio and a recent picture. Here goes - the abridged version.

After leaving Alemany, I went to Valley State for a year and did a short stint in a sorority (this will be significant later!). My parents decided to move to Goleta to be closer to my sister who had just lost her husband to help with her 5 (yes count them!) kids, the youngest being 6 months, so I went along and did my next year of college at UCSB. I then transferred to UCLA to get my BS in nursing. I did a short stint of working in a hospital and decided to go back to grad school at UCLA to get my MN in community mental health. During this time, I reconnected with Ed Calaba (Alemany class of '65) but I was dating another guy who would later be my first husband, so Ed and I parted ways. I married in 1973 and we then moved to Mammoth for a year. When we returned in '74, I finished up grad school and started working as a director of nursing for a home health agency, which I did for most of the rest of my time in CA. I divorced in 1982 - a very significant year for me - divorce, my father died, and I did 2 marathons. I remarried to my current husband in 1998 and we made the decision to move to Boulder in 1990 as we both were longing for a different lifestyle. Once in Boulder, I got a job as director of the home care department at Boulder Community Hospital where I stayed until '93. I then went to work as a geriatric care manager until I got a job in '97 as client services coordinator with Boulder County Aging Services Division where I am today. I supervise a staff doing care management work and also am in charge of our information and assistance program and a grant funded program called Project HOPE. The picture I'm enclosing is of me and a volunteer who works with me to put on an annual fundraiser - Keeping HOPE Alive to support the grant program which provides services to frail older adults to keep them out of nursing homes.

It is very interesting how life takes the turns that is does. My current husband has a distant relative who I met at a family wedding in the summer of 2005. Turns out he was a coach at Alemany after we graduated - his name is Bernie Kyman. He now coaches in Pear Blossom. He and his wife joined us for Thanksgiving last year and we started talking about Alemany. Turns out he is friends with Joe Dispensa's brother. So then I get out my yearbook and he sees Ed's note to me and says he coaches a girl with the same last name. So he goes home and talks to her and she is Ed's niece. So Bernie connects with Ed and then Ed calls me! What a small world. In talking with Ed, I find out he married one of my sorority sisters that I introduced him to when we were at Valley State - (I didn't remember this at all but I believe Ed!) Thus the connection from my first sentence!!

One of my great losses in life is never having been able to have children so I take my maternal instincts out on our dogs. Currently a yellow lab named Lucy. I still run, but not marathons, work out at a gym and am so grateful to live in such a beautiful place as Boulder - we call it 10 square miles surrounded by reality!

I regret not seeing everyone but please send my regards and know that I will be there in spirit.

Pat (Maryon) Weihe Critchfield

Boulder, CO

PAM (LONGWORTH) PELTON & FAMILY

2006

Here is my life story in short for the wonderful occasion of our 40th Alemany High School Reunion.

Many of you know my husband, Jerry, because we dated through high school. We met the summer between freshman and sophomore year when I was on vacation on Balboa Island with Terri Icardo and Paula Carabelli. We married in 1970 while we were both still students at CSUN and we are still together and having fun!

We lived in the Valley until 1992, however, in 1984 we bought a second home in Santa Barbara and began spending our time between both places. Our daughters both graduated from Alemany, Jennifer in 1988 and Vanessa in 1992. Our son, Jeff was born in 1985, and, we moved our home to Santa Barbara fourteen years ago as he started first grade.

I began my teaching career at Alemany as an English and Journalism teacher from 1973-1975. It was quite an interesting experience to become a faculty member with teachers who were there when we were in school. I even taught one of my brothers and his friends their Senior English. They all passed! After that I taught Adult English as a Second Language part time for LAUSD. Since moving to Santa Barbara I have continued to teach part time for UCSB. I design and teach English as a Second Language and Communication classes.

Jerry began his Commercial Real Estate career with Coldwell Banker in the Valley office as an Industrial Broker. After moving he managed the CB Richard Ellis Offices in Ventura and Santa Barbara until two years ago. Now he focuses on developing industrial real estate.

The most important part of life for Jerry and me is our family time and, fortunately, all of our children live nearby and we spend a great deal of time together. Our oldest daughter, Jennifer, graduated from Antioch University and is married to Tom Gibbons and they have a two year old son, Will. Our daughter, Vanessa, graduated from Holy Names College in Oakland and works as a Transcript Analyst at Santa Barbara City College. Our son, Jeff graduated from Bishop Garcia Diego High School and now attends SBCC and works part time as a bartender at Chuck's Endless Summer at the Waterfront. We also get together with the Longworth & Pelton extended families several times each year and that's a big group with my three brothers, three sisters and their spouses and children and grandchildren!

Jerry and I are getting used to our "empty nest" years and traveling more often. We took a trip to Italy in the summer and a fall trip to the Bay Area. We enjoy long walks on the beach, entertaining at home, dancing and dining and, like I said, we're still having lots of fun! We look very forward to seeing so many friends at the reunion and catching up with everyone.

Pam (Longworth) Pelton

Santa Barbara, CA

Forget About A Steak & Chicken Banquet. Give Us A Bob's Big Boy Hamburger.

from AMothersPerspective.blogspot.com
by Charmaine Haley Coimbra, AHS-66

A wonderful group of 50-somethings have worked hard to make the upcoming Alemany Class of 1966 40-year reunion special. They have put up a blog site http://alemany66.blogspot.com/and a web site of photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/alemany66/page5/. The cyber reconnection has brought us all up to date to the loss of classmates, the triumphs of those still here, the families and the adventures.

When I reach my pinnacle of patience at work, I flip over to these pages for ever-changing entertainment. One theme runs through the photo page: Bob. Big Boy Bob! He's driving cars, he's eyeballing women, he's standing alone. Bob is baaaack.

What's my take? Forgeta'bout the steak and chicken banquet. Give us Bob's Big Boy double decker cheeseburger on a sesame bun, a side of onion rings and a chocolate shake. Whaddya think?

www.laokay.com/BobsBigBoy.htm

BRAD AND TINA KOPP CRUISING TO RUSSIA IN 2005

I saw Danny’s last email about the Alemany blog and he mentioned that a reunion book was being put together. I thought I would contribute. I was very happy to get in contact with Dan a few months ago and of course finding out about the reunion. I went to elementary school, Our Lady of Peace, with Dan, Marty Molidor, Paula Carabelli, Robert Cosgrove, etc. I live in Germany and initially I could not make the reunion, but things have changed where I am able to attend now.

I lost contact with everyone after my senior year because my parents had moved to Simi Valley and I went to Ventura JC for a year. If anyone remembers the big white house across the street from Alemany in the orange and lemon orchards, that is where we (the Kopp family) lived for my sophomore and junior years of HS. My father rented it from the San Fernando Mission and got a good deal on it because of being Catholic and having eight kids. Some of you might remember my twin sisters (Sheri and Sandi). They were a year behind us in school until 1965 when they started school in Simi.

I joined the Army in 1968, went through helicopter pilot training and direct to Vietnam. However, that is another story. I love to fly and stayed in the Army for 22 years when I retired and went to fly DC-10s for World Airways. Flying as a commercial pilot was everything I had achieved to be, but after the military I did not like the separation from my family. In 1990, after a year of being gone flying around the world, I took a job as a GS Civilian for the US Government in Germany. I am currently chief pilot for the US Army in Europe flying helicopters and their fixed wing aircraft over here.

After returning to Europe in the early nineties I received my Masters Degree in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. A half a year later they asked if I would teach for them part time in Germany and of course I said yes and have been doing it ever since. I enjoy teaching a lot and beside the tax free money is nice. The teaching compliments my government job very well and I am happy to be doing it. There is no doubt in my mind that I have the best job in the world.

I have three grown daughters from a previous marriage and one granddaughter. They all live in Houston, Texas and I do see them quite a bit I usually make it back to the states 4 or 5 times a year for flight schools/training and vacation. My wife now, Tina, is a beautiful girl who I have been with the past twenty years.

Here I am in an English pub, on one of my recent trips.
(Ed Note: If you live in Germany, do you still have to go to Great Britain for a good pint of stout?)

This is Robert ‘Bob’ Cosgrove (on the right) and myself at our Alemany graduation. I have not talked to Bob for 40 years and just touched base with him a month ago. What a thrill. I am really looking forward to seeing him at the reunion.

Anyway, I hope to see you and a lot of our classmates at the reunion. For some reason, over the past few years, I have been reminiscing about the good old days more then ever. I also want to thank everyone on the Reunion committee for making this all possible. I know that a lot of time and money has gone into setting this all up and it is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely

Herr Bradford and Frau Tina Kopp
Weinheim Germany

JUANITA (PACHECO) ESCOBEDO

Juanita writes:

I married right out of high school and began my family immediately. I was married for 33 years and was blessed with five wonderful children: Timothy 39, married with two children; Loretta 37, married with three children; Jennifer 27, married with her baby (a pug); Matthew 25, in his last year of grad school majoring in psychology and Jeff 22, is graduating this fall with his Bachelors in History and going on for his teaching credential. To date I have five beautiful grandchildren, four boys and one girl ranging in ages from 17yrs. to 7 months.

YEP, "I'm still working". I work for L.A. County Dept. of Mental Health in the business office. When will I retire?..."WHAT'S THAT?!!" I'm still having empty nest syndrome!
In my spare time (and I have a lot of it) I enjoy reading, journaling, embroidering and spending time with my oldest daughter and family who live in Lancaster also.

My daughter-in-law (Timothy’s wife) is Dr. Jodie Escobedo – Her website is: http://www.doctors-on-demand-online.com/. Who knows someone living in or near Lancaster may be able to use her services.

The Reunion is almost here!

Sincerely, Juanita

Lancaster, CA

JAMES F. "JIM" LAHEY

(1948-1995)

A Tribute: Remembering Jim Lahey & Good Friends

As the years pass by we tend to get caught up in our jobs, families and new environments, whether it be moving to a new city or starting a new profession, and for some of us multiples of each. In all the hustle and bustle, we tend lose touch with some of our friends. It is tough trying to locate old classmates as they move from place to place. This happened to me as I tried to find one of my best boyhood friends, Jim Lahey. We were like brothers and shared so many wonderful times together as kids.

We met as classmates at St. Didacus, in Sylmar, and played little league and Babe Ruth together on the San Fernando Elks. I spent many hours at his home and with his family.

When I enlisted in the Navy, I lost all contact with Jim. I made a few futile attempts to locate him, but to no avail. I hoped that I would see him at our 30th reunion, but again, no luck. As we started to get the lists of classmates from Danny, I thought at last I’d be able to locate him. A few weeks ago I emailed Dan McMahon to see if Jim had responded to the invitation and he replied saying that Jim was listed on Alemany’s alumni roster as deceased. What a shock! It really hit me hard. I regret all the years that have come and gone and that I didn’t try harder to find him.

Fortunately Danny steered me to a web search engine and I was able to find Jim’s mother’s phone number and contacted her. She was so surprised and so grateful that I called. We spent most of the time reminiscing about Jimmy and the good times we shared at their home. I could tell she was so very proud of Jim, his dedication to his family and the good life he led. He was a great friend and she is a very special lady.

I learned that Jim passed away of a heart attack in the fall of 1995. He was a wonderful husband to Kathy and had 3 beautiful children, 2 sons Travis and Brett and a daughter, Tacey. He was involved in the Heating and Air Conditioning trade and owned his own company for many years.

Two of his many loves were surfing and his chopper motorcycle.

Another was the Ford Falcon he bought in his senior year and fixed it up to race at the drag strip where he won many trophies. I know I will learn more about Jim’s past as I talk with his friends and family and will treasure many more memories of him. It’s tough losing a good friend and not knowing it for so many years.

Even though I was too shy back then to get to know everyone in the class, the bond I feel is special. I look to this upcoming event as a chance to rekindle old friendships and re-establish contacts. Gosh, how will we ever have the time to share our stories with everyone the night of the reunion? This grand 40th reunion has helped bring us together through emails and the blog site has been tremendous and thoroughly enjoyable.

I hope we can keep it going and that it will encourage each of us to continue communicating, even after the reunion. It’s a blast seeing photos of some of the classmates and “happenings” at BAHS back in the 60’s.

See you all soon,

Ron West
Alpine, Utah

(Photos courtesy of Jim's Mom, Ellen Lahey with our heartfelt thanks for her sharing)

I LOVE PARIS IN THE SPRING TIME

It has been so wonderful to read about everyone's life journey since our days at Alemany. Here's my own story.

I went to Mount Saint Mary's and met my husband, Ed, in December of my freshman year. He was a junior at Loyola, and after he graduated he was accepted to Tulane medical school. We were married in June 1969 and moved to New Orleans. I worked at the med school in the Opthalmology department til we moved back here, and worked in related fields until we started our family. We've lived in the same house in Chatsworth since 1975, and I think there should be an award at the reunion for the person who has lived the longest in the same house and I should win.

We have three children, and they all went to Alemany. Elizabeth is 31 and teaches kindergarten in North Hills with LAUSD. We're having a good time planning her June wedding. Tony is 29, married one year, and is a Math professor at Cal State LA. His dissertation was on Number Theory which apparently has no practical use whatsoever but he is still employed. Go figure. Andrew is 27, got a Philosophy degree at UCLA, and so, natch, works as wine distribution rep in Fresno. He also has a culinary degree, so whenever I know he's coming over I just set out weird, unrelated ingredients and we eat like kings.

After the kids started school, I went in a totally different direction and got a four year, Professional Certification in Interior and Environmental Design at UCLA Extension. It was a heavily architecturally based program, which I really liked, although I enjoy both the decorating and designing aspects of my job. I have a solo business, and most of my work is residential, although I have done some commercial as well.

My husband Ed has worked at Kaiser Woodland Hills in the Family Practice department for 30 years and figured that's enough for anybody, so he's retiring on October 23rd. We are quite excited about this new adventure and hope to travel a little more often now. We've been on several trips in the US and Europe, most recently to Paris with all the kids, which was an absolute blast.

Thank you all for sharing your stories - the joyful moments as well as the challenging. I know that our lives only touched for a few short years, but that time was so precious. God bless each of you, and I look forward to seeing you at the reunion.

Adrienne (Poirier) Shaheen

Paris, France (In my dreams)

actually Chatsworth CA

GYOENGYI (MOLNAR) QUINN AND HER FAMILY SEND GREETINGS FROM NEW ENGLAND

Life has been good - I'm still teaching and loving it, although I do plan to retire soon. My husband and I have decided New England winters are for the young and we would like to start spending more time in Florida where we have a second home. You can golf year ‘round in Florida, or so I am told, but Massachusetts’ winters are not as accommodating.

Our children, Brian and Meg, and their spouses are in the Boston area so we don't plan to move permanently... just when the white stuff is covering the ground.

I know that those attending the reunion will be in awe of what the Committee has put together and will really enjoy it.

I suspect most of the people there will think "who the heck was she ...don't remember her at all!"

If asked to reflect on the past forty years, I would simply say that life has been fulfilling. My greatest joy has been being party and witness to the continual capacity of one's own children to enrich and amaze their parents' lives, as well as producing the occasional premature gray hair. I've also felt a great satisfaction in teaching...children have an infinite ability to evoke the best in us. For the past 37 years I have shared my life with my wonderful life partner, Fred.

Today has been a particularly tough game of Whack a Mole. (Gyng's euphemism for the teaching profession) A three-day weekend (as most teachers well know) and the end of our local Topsfield Fair makes the kids nutty every year when it comes to town. So I am on to another day.

I wish everyone the best.

Gyoengyi (Molnar) Quinn

Ipswich MA
Fort Myers FL

FRANK BONACCORSO (THE BATMAN) REDISCOVERED

(Ed. Note – This bio with photos was so filled with news, humor and nostalgia that it is being included in its entirety)

I have been found by Claudia through the miracles of the internet. I only learned about the details of our 40th Reunion today. Not one to hesitate, I will be searching for flights from Hilo, Hawaii, to LA, and if I can find an affordable airefare, then wild horses won't keep me away from this Reunion. I have thought about many of my classmates over the years but whenever there has been a reunion, I have been working in Europe, or South America, or Papua New Guinea (where I had a wonderful job for 7 years as Chief Curator of Natural History at the National Museum and Art Gallery in Port Moresby).

I am no doubt the blacksheep of the Alemany Family. I have seen very few of my classmates over the years (aplogies guys), and have not stayed in one place too long after earning my BA at UCLA (along with Jim Coffee and John Preble among others) and my Ph.D. at the University of Florida in 1975.

My profession, wildlife biology/tropical ecology has given me special privilege to be paid to explore the world and work among rare animals. I have done most of those crazy things you have you have seen on the Discovery Channel, wrestled with boa constrictors, had the black rhino nearly impale my car, had the sea lions in the Galapagos swim through my legs, had a scorpion nearly hit the family jewels, been bitten by vampire bats. I have worked on all the continents (except Antarctica) and quite a few tropical islands on terrestrial and marine mammals, birds, insects, and plants. Among my great thrills as a naturalist/explorer has been being part of the rediscovery of a population of a rare dolphin (snub-nosed dolphin) in river mouths of Papua New Guinea, also a three week cruise to study sperm whales (whale breathe is bad!) on a 94 foot schooner with fancy echolocation gear, again off New Guinea in the Bismarck Sea, many years of research on fruit bats in Kruger National Park, South Africa, where I have been chased by elephants and rhinos repeatedly......well the list could go on for awhile.

While in Kruger National Park, South Africa. I posed with the tusks of my african nemesis, the elephant, outside the camp called Olifants in Kruger. I take volunteer assistants to Africa if anyone is brave enough.

My research experiences and near escapes from elephants in Africa will form a contributed chapter in a book titled, "Moonlight Reflections", to be published soon by the University of Colorado Press (Rick Adams, editor). Check out my book, Bats of Papua New Guinea, on Amazon.com -- hardly a best seller -- but well received by my "batmen" colleagues. I am best known to biologists for my studies of tropical bats, especially the big bats known as flying foxes and which when raised as orphans are gentle as puppy dogs.

At age 35, I discovered I had some talent at running fast middle distance and entered the world of Master's Track and Field and Road Racing as a member of the Florida Track Club. The FTC club was started by olympic marathon gold medalist, Frank Shorter, in Gainesville, Florida., while I was in grad school. At age 41, I ran a 4:41 metric mile (1500 m on an indoor track), much faster than the 5:00 mile I ran on the Alemany track in PE class as sophomore. Coach Vanni would not believe I ran 5 flat when he was recording times after eveyone finished their run in PE that day until I got Dale (Pat) Dolan who I ran beside all the way to verify. I was really sensitive and hurt by this and as a result I never went out for track at Alemany much as I regret it now. In 1989, I represented the USA running the steeplechase in the World Associaton of Veterans Athletes Games (5,000 athletes in a week of competition) at the revered track at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Our Alemany classmate and my best friend, Bill Danaher and his family, were in the grandstands cheering for me. I finished 4th in that race, however, on the second lap, I took the lead for two laps after an Indian wearing a white turbin hit one of the steeple barriers and crashed on the track. With me in the lead wearing a USA team singlet, the crowd went wild cheering U-S-A for me and stamping on the wooden grandstands. I can still hear Bill Danaher, who lived next door to me in Mission Hills on Kingsbury Street, cheering for me. I have won a few medals competing in New Zealand, Australia, and the USA in various Master's Games including a gold medal in the mile road race down the main street of Alice Springs, Australia. This race occurred in 90 degree heat with 10% humidity and after winning four silver medals in those Games, I decided to go for broke and push the pace in my final race. I led the pack from start to finish, but only barely he! ld on to win.

During a decade of teaching biology at the University of Florida's P.K. Yonge Laboratory High School I coached both girls and boys cross country and track and field with some success at turning out state individual champions in distance running. I also volunteered at the UF Gators track and field meets and as "clerk of the course" got to lead many Olympic champions to the starting line for races at UF meets. I am still running, but little niggling injuries have kept me from training hard the past two years in Hawaii. Mostly, I run for fun now enjoying the scenic landscapes of Hawaii and mentoring young runners. Anyone for a run in Hawaii?

I have great memories of Alemany and many of you Indians in the class of '66. A little known fact, I guess I can tell now, is that the night of graduation, I joined Art Fonseca, Bill Danaher, Tim Jordan, and Dave Nehen (I believe that was the group) on a midnight raid to TP the trees outside the nun's convent at Alemany. We must have thrown 20 rolls of toilet paper that night.

Does anyone remember hearing the Association ("And Then Along Comes Mary" and "Cherish") at Grad Night for Disneyland? I probably was the most shy and backward boy at Alemany when it came to girls -- my first real date was our Grad Night at Disneyland when the stars were finally aligned right for me and circumstances just worked out such that a lovely girl happened to coax shy Frank into ridding with her on Space Mountain. Thanks for a magic night in the Magic Kingdom CH! I still have our photo from Grad Night. Ohhh, what secrets I am revealing. My saddest day at Alemany, was the day President Kennedy was assassinated -- I was in English class with Father Rath when he broke the news to us. It was remembering the strength and guidance of Father Rath through that horrible day helping us sophomores to understand trajic death. More than 20 years later when I was teaching high school in Gainesville I had the strength and perspective to console my biology class about the Shuttle Challenger explosion in part from lessons of example from Father Rath. Gainesville is close enough to Cape Canaveral that by going outdoors to the top row of our football grandstands I could show the students the contrails left by Challenger well after the explosion.

Does anyone remember doing the "Freddy", if I can do the "Freddy" with Grandma Barb Broeski (who I remember loved that dance), I will be at the Reunion.

My current office is 100 yards from the rim of the Kilauea Volcano caldera on the Big Island of Hawaii. If the volcano blows, Frankie goes up with it. I work as a biologist for the US Geological Survey and lead a project to study the ecology of Hawaii's only native land mammal, the Hawaiian hoary bat. I would love to show any of my Alemany classmates a world class volcano and the land and seacapes of Hawaii if you come to the Big Island. I still am having so much fun at biology and trying to have a small impact on saving endangered animals around the world. Mr. Diaz and Coach King were inspirational in leading me to a science career. Coach King, I forgive you for always calling me, "Bonaccorso, you dildo" whenever I became tongue tied in German class -- which was my first period freshman class -- Art Fonseca and I managed to talk our way out of ever taking Latin! How many of my classmates can claim that?? Coach King you are the greatest and like Dan McMahon enjoying being called Capt Dan by you, all of us in German loved being ridiculed by you in your Don Rickles style of humor! Coach K, I apologize for all the times I stunk up the chemistry stock room with crazy experiments when I was one of your chem lab assistants our junior class year.

I have been so fortunate that at every step of my education -- Alemany, UCLA, and Florida-- there has always been a very special teacher that took an interest in me and pushed me to be the best I could be. I have taught classes in high school, community college (including one course in a minimum security prison in Florida), as well as university undergraduate and graduate courses for Maryland, Duke, Florida, Miami, Maine and Wisconsin (told you I get around) and I feel I have had a little impact on many of my students, in part to return the blessings I received from great teachers and in part because it is a great vocation. So here is a salute to Mr's Graci, King, and Diaz, Fathers Rath, Tona and Weber, Sister (I am having a memory lapse -- our chem teacher -- someone help me here) and all the rest for making Alemany in the 60's a very special place.

I especially like to take photos of animals that blend in with the environment and at first glance seem not to be or that show as aspect of the animals behavior as the case with the bulbul (top left) that has just pollinated an aloe plant and in doing so has itself really dusted with the orange pollen across its face, the head of the bird really is black. The second bird is a lilac-breasted roller which is the ultimate bird in pastels. The little steenbok antelope in the tall grass is nearly invisible. These three photos are from Kruger National Park in South Africa.

See ya all in Granada Hills.......wonder if anybody will recognize me? (Ed. Note: They certainly will after this posting,)

Mr. Gardina has died

Dear AHS-66,

I got an email Friday morning from classmate Rex Olliff, and later a phone call from classmate Oscar Rivera, saying that there was an obituary in The L.A. Daily News about Ray Gardina. I called Frank Diaz and confirmed that it was our Mr. Gardina.

Mr. Gardina taught Freshman English on "The Boys' Side" at Alemany.

I phoned Mr. Gardina's Alemany buddy Mr. Smidt, our history teacher, to let him know too. (Mr. and Mrs. Smidt are doing well, and he is now Dr. Smidt. He recently retired from a 41-year career in education.)

DM

~~~~~~~~

In a message dated 10/6/2006, Rex Olliff writes:

Friday's Daily News obits contained an entry for Raymond Gardina. Birth year (1930), Catholic funeral arrangements, mention of a long teaching career and likeness on photo make it almost certain the person is Mr. Gardina who I believe taught English to all sections in our freshman year. (Maybe not suitable for a eulogy or formal remembrance, but I remember with love "Big Ray Day" sometime during our freshman year.)

Rex

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Obituary from L.A. Daily News

RAYMOND E. GARDINA

Born July 1, 1930 in Pennsylvania; entered eternal life October 1, 2006.

Raymond worked in education for 34 years, and was active in Marriage Encounter for 15 years. He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann; daughters, Carla (Don Pestana) and Celeste; son, Mark (Danielle); five grandchildren, Cody, Anderson, Marianna, Isabella and Priscilla; brother, Jack Gardina (Jean) of Davenport, Iowa; and sister, Janet Ruscio of Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Services will be held Wednesday, October 11, 2006, 11:00 a.m., at Mission Hills Catholic Mortuary, at Rinaldi and Sepulveda.

Donations may be made to Habitat for Humanity, or Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, 1 Elmwood Ave., Kansas City, KS 66103.

Directors 818-361-7387

(Published in the Los Angeles Daily News on 10/6/2006)

~~~~~~~~~

Online Guest Book for Raymond Gardina

http://www.legacy.com/LADailyNews/Obituaries.asp?Page
=Lifestory&PersonId=19500901

October 6, 2006

Mr. Gardina was an important part of Bishop Alemany's history. We will keep each of you in our prayers and enroll Mr. Gardina in our morning prayers. God Bless each of you.

The Bishop Alemany High School Family, Mission Hills, CA
JoAnn Schnelldorfer
Director of Alumni

~~~~~~~~

In a message dated 10/6/2006, John Barreiro writes:.

I remember Mr. Gardina well. At the time my English wasn't very good [big understatement!] but he was patient and encouraged me to develop good grammar habits.

I also had Mr. [Dr.] Smidt for history and I have him to thank for the extensive vocabulary that I have today.

It was he who suggested that I procure an English dictionary and read two or three pages a day, trying to deduce the meaning of the unknown words by further search within the same dictionary instead of resorting to an English / Spanish dictionary.

Needless to say, it worked. --Does anyone know how many pages the "Unabridged" OED has? ;-)

John Barreiro

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a phone call on Sunday, 10/08/06, our classmate Terry Bowles recalled that he used to see Mr. Smidt and Mr. Gardina tossing the football around up on our football field from time to time. That's a sweet thing to picture, the two good friends who are teachers at the school, playing catch on the football field at lunch. DM

THE LAPORTE-CULLUM FAMILY

October 6, 2006

Mary Jo writes:

We are a little proud of our kids, can you tell? This was taken at Brian's graduation last December. The cast of characters are: our adorable daughter-in-law Katie, our son David (the married one), Brian our firefighter, me and my hubby Chuck.

Chuck and I are well. We celebrated our 37th anniversary this past June. Our twin sons will be 33 yrs. old this month and both live in Castle Rock, Colorado . David is married (2 yrs. this mo.) and Brian is a firefighter. No grandchildren yet, but they say next year is the plan. We miss them terribly and have made several trips to visit. We hope to make the move next year ourselves.

As for me, I'm still a pediatric medical assistant, great job, I get to play with babies every day, and Chuck is a mortgage loan officer with Chase Capital Group.
Well, that's a brief update from here. I'll look forward to hearing how the reunion went. Give my regards to our classmates. I'm sorry I haven't responded before now, but I was waiting to see if we could get out of another engagement for the same day, unfortunately we can't. I'm sorry to be missing this one, I'm sure it will be great fun.

Mary Jo
Mission Viejo , CA

Daria Shanks Jackan, RIP

10/5/2006

Joann in the Alemany Alumni Office confirmed today that our classmate Daria Shanks is no longer with us.

I used to get emails from Daria, but I hadn't received any in a few years. She hadn't responded to any of our Reunion mailings. But when her Reunion invitation was returned to us, we really started to wonder about her.

After I made an inquiry about Daria, Joann contacted Daria's older brother John Shanks (AHS-65), who said that his sister had passed away a little over two years ago. Joann said John was sorry that his class didn't have a reunion, and he knew Daria would have enjoyed attending hers.

I last saw Daria at the new Alemany campus. It was in the daytime, so it must have been Alemany's anniversary celebration in 1996, when they were giving tours of the earthquake-damaged original Alemany site. She had an advanced case of MS, and drove herself in a van that I called her Ironsides Van (referring to the TV show "Ironsides" starring Raymond Burr, in case you don't watch TV), because her van had a motorized ramp in the back for her electric cart just like Ironside's van.

I was deeply touched by what I saw in Daria that day. I really admired her because she was very friendly and warm and still had her great sense of humor, despite her condition. Daria had gone to Our Lady of Peace Grammar School with us, so I knew her a long time.

God bless Daria Shanks Jackan.

Danny McMahon

THE ROMERO FAMILY

October 5, 2006

Here is my contribution to the Alemany Blog!

This is my Family. My husband Victor and my sons, (left) Nick, 25, on the right, Mario, 23. Nick is single and works in the world of mortgages, as well as sales with Victor's company. He's a basketball and sports fanatic who will travel anywhere to see a game. Mario, also single, is an Associate Broker at Swett-Crawford, downtown Los Angeles, he lives in West L.A. and is also a die-hard drummer. Emily is our beautiful cancer survivor who is now a healthy 7th grader.

My life since high school has been a journey of joy and surprise. We married in 1975 while I worked at U.C.L.A. clinic in the admissions department. Shortly after Victor who was working for Pac Bell at that time was transferred to No. California and we settled in the town of Walnut Creek, only to move back to the valley one year later. By then my first son was on his way and so we stayed near family for the time being until 1987 when we moved back to the No. California town of Danville. This was a great time for us as we explored the Bay area with our young boys. By mid-90's we were blessed one more time with our daughter Emily. She came into our lives healthy and beautiful with two doting brothers at her side. At the age of 10 months she was diagnosed with a form of childhood Leukemia and our lives were forever changed.

Today she is a healthy young lady who loves everything any 12 year old girl would like, she plays piano and enjoys theatre arts. By the end of her treatment we moved to Orange County and have been here since 1997.

I look forward to seeing everyone on Oct. 28th. Thanks to your help I've been in touch with some long lost classmates. It's so great to find friends again. You have all done a great job with all this reunion stuff, so I'd thought I'd join the online party with my own.

Teri (Arteaga) Romero

Yorba Linda CA

Email Interview with
Coach Mike King

One of my favorite teachers at Alemany was Mike King. He was my "B" football coach in 9th and 10th grades, and then I had him as a teacher in German in 11th grade and for Chemistry in 12th grade. Obviously he was a man of many talents and much knowledge, and a man of deep dedication.

My claim to fame is that I was one of the captains on the "B" football team in 10th grade, something of which I was very proud. (That was the only year in my four football years that I didn't "ride the bench.") I got in touch with "Coach King" about eight years ago after I attended a conference in Irvine and met a nun from Sebastopol, CA. I knew Mike King had lived in Sebastopol and asked if she knew him. Did she! I got back in touch with him then, and I've had a very enjoyable email relationship with him ever since.

He continues to have a wonderful sense of humor, or "Sinn für Humor," as we German scholars used to say in his German class. He calls me "Captain Dan," which always makes me smile. I call him Coach. He is retired, and he and his wife Jan live in Oysterville in Washington State.

Danny McMahon

~~~~~~~~

From: MCMAHONDAN@aol.com
To: janrex@pacifier.com
Date: Fri, Sep 29, 2006, 6:59 AM

Dear Coach,

Did you deliver newspapers while teaching at Alemany? That's what Brent Poirier (AHS-64), Adrienne's older brother, said.

How many children do you guys have? I know it was a lot more than 2. I don't know how you did it on a Catholic school teacher's income.

Do you still keep in touch with Coach Vanni?

Capt. Dan

~~~~~~~~

In a message dated 9/30/2006 10:53:52 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, janrex@pacifier.com writes:

Hi Capt. Dan.

Funny you should ask! It's been a couple of years since we visited with Coach Vanni. He was quite broken up over the loss of his oldest boy, Dave, who collapsed after finishing his daily workout. Dave was a super son and a fireman in the Oakland area.

Both Coach Vanni & myself had a night job part-time at the L.A. Times, where we loaded up several hundred bundles of newspapers, and trucked them to the different dealers for delivery.

Jan & I have five girls and 4 boys, and 17 grandchildren. Fortunately, they are all College Grads and have good jobs.

Have a great reunion, & I sure wish we could come, but the timing is off! Please give our best to everyone. So sorry to hear about Fr. Chris – he'll be in our prayers.

Coach Mike King

From Big John Stigmon

9/30/2006

Life continues to be a grand adventure!!

I am really enjoying all the communication about our classmates from Alemany.

Attached is a picture of my family. Its ok for Dan and Bob the Scan Man to post on the web. The two little ones are my boys 7 & 10. I had children late in life and it has been a fantastic experience. After my children were born I gave up the corporate life and traveling all over the world all the time. In 2000 I sold the company I co-founded and moved to the mountains of Northern Arizona. I wanted my kids to experience living in a small community and having their dad around. My wife Kathleen works at Northern Arizona University. We met when I was with Ben & Jerry’s.

Today I keep busy doing a little real estate, some business brokerage, as well as, executive coaching and consulting in the franchise industry. Over the past 10 years I have become involved in Indian Economic Development. I have advised many tribes on the value of supporting their tribal members through entrepreneurial ventures. Since I am in Flagstaff I have had the opportunity to work with the Navajo Nation, two Apache tribes and some others teaching about business ownership. I also do some work with the Center for American Indian Economic Development.

I love being in my fifty’s and having little kids. My 10 year old has really taken to music. He plays about six instruments and is always asking me about the old rockers like Led Zeppelin, Jimmie Hendrix, the Beatles, Elton John, Etc. They both like to invite me to their school on grandparent’s day because they kid me about being older than some of their classmates actual grandparents!! We love to travel as a family and usually spend some time every year at the Grand Tetons in Wyoming.

The only person I see from Alemany is Kathy Dunlay. Her brother Jerry owns a home here in Flagstaff. She comes through town about once a year. All she ever talks about is Bob Orlando or was that Bob Johnson (just kidding!!). It will be fun to see everyone at the end of October.

All the best,
John
Flagstaff, AZ

2006 Alemany Homecoming !!

From Alemany's Alumni Office to the Class of 1966 ...

Join us for Bishop Alemany's 2006 Homecoming Celebration!!

BAHS HOMECOMING IS FRIDAY NIGHT SEPTEMBER 29TH.

ALL ALUMNI ARE INVITED TO COME AND JOIN IN THE FUN.

FLOATS, CROWNING OF THE HOMECOMING QUEEN, FIREWORKS AND MUCH, MUCH, MORE ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EVENING.

THE FUN BEGINS AT 4:00 P.M. WITH THE JV GAME AND THE HOMECOMING PRE-GAME SHOW STARTS AT 6:30 P.M.

THE ALEMANY WARRIORS (must be a typo) TAKE THE FIELD AT 7:30 PM WITH A 3-0 RECORD AS WE GO FOR WIN #4 AND THE BEST SEASON START ALEMANY HAS SEEN IN MANY YEARS.

THE ALUMNI OFFICE WILL COMP YOUR TICKET. JUST CHECK IN WITH MRS. SCHNELLDORFER AT THE MAIN GATE TO PICK UP YOUR PASSPORT TO A FUN EVENING.

SEE YOU THERE!

JoAnn Schnelldorfer
Alumni Director

Ned Ryan Remembered

9/28/2006

Leonard DiTrapani writes:

Thanks for posting that pic of Ned Ryan. He was also a friend back at Alemany. I read of his passing on the list you had first sent out. He was also one of the guys that made me take a deep breath.

Every time he comes to mind, it's always of a Science class with Mr. Diaz. In Mr. D's pop quizzes, he often included the name of one of our classmates in the question. This time it was Neddleton "Broomface" Ryan..... I can't remember sharing a laugh that hard with the rest of the class as Mr. D read it out loud.

I still laugh when I think about it and that's always a great way to remember someone.

Leonard

David Surges

When I graduated from Alemany, I went to Loyola for four years. After graduation I was drafted (lottery #143 – the highest number was 146) and spent time in Hawaii and Vietnam. I never saw any action except for trying to get a seat at the NCO club on Saturday nights.

I married Linda Nye while overseas, and we had one son. After 9 years I made the biggest mistake of my life by leaving her. At the time I was in banking and spending a good part of my life in drinking and partying. I also used your tax dollars to go back to school and receive an MBA!!

Three years later I married my current wife Vicki. Together we have 6 children, and 3 of our own still living with us. I haven’t been back to the Valley since 1973, but I know it has changed. Vicki and I followed one of dreams to escape SoCal so we went to Flagstaff AZ. Banking was not my passion, so I tried teaching at Northern AZ University. I found out I was having more fun teaching one night a week, than working over 40 hours.

Vicki is not only the smartest person I have ever met, but she is the most resourceful. She found an opportunity to teach business and accounting in Carson City Nevada in 1986. I taught a variety of management and finance courses for 13 years. Then we opened a new chapter in our lives. Both sets of parents had passed away, so we really had no reason stick around the West. At this time is when we both discovered a personal relationship with Jesus.

In 1999, I found a job teaching finance and strategy courses for a small Benedictine college in Northern Minnesota. It is the most beautiful country I had ever seen. We are nestled right on Lake Superior (which is my substitute for the oceans). We all extremely happy here. We are joined by our daughter Veronica; age 22, Vinnie; age 19 and little Madeleine (11), AKA God’s surprise 7 years after a vasectomy!!!

People sometimes ask why Duluth??? The health care is superb, we have no fires, earthquakes, or poisonous snakes (or other critters.) Also, our oldest 3 children were busy playing hockey. In fact two years ago the local HS was the only one to have home schooled goalies starting for the men’s & women’s teams.

I wish I had some more exciting things to offer to the best class ever from Alemany. Guess you will have read between the lines. Life is an exciting adventure when you have the Lord as your guide, and you trust his leadership.

God Bless you all.

David
Duluth, MN
09/26/06

Bob Orlando

This picture of me and my daughters Anna and Christi was taken on a Mexican Riviera cruise in 2005 to celebrate my dad's 92nd birthday.

After Alemany, I went two years to Antelope Valley College, then a year and a half to old San Fernando Valley State College (CSUN), when in my senior year the draft ended (1970) and the lottery began. I was #77, was called up in March, but joined the Coast Guard for four years+ so that I would not have to go to Viet Nam.

Ended up in Southeast Asia anyway; was stationed in Thailand for a year during the WWIII; made it back, was discharged in San Francisco where I finished my degree in Geology at San Francisco State Univ. Went to work for the US Geological Survey as a marine geologist conducting environmental studies offshore Alaska for five years; actually working out of Menlo Park but lived in SF and Fremont.

I complete my masters in Geology at San Jose State Univ and went to work for ARCO Oil & Gas Company in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, New Mexico, London, and Texas; then I was transferred back to CA, to Bakersfield, in 1987. When I got back to CA, tested for and received my state license as a registered-professional geologist, and left ARCO in 1989 after nine years to move into the environmental industry that made better use of my registration..

I live in work in Santa Paula (2 mile commute). The company is PW Environmental, been around for 27 years, I'm a VP, probably because I'm one of the elders, and by state law, a registered professional must be an officer of the company to do what we do. I was married for 20 years and have two wonderful daughters by my first wife. My oldest, Anna, 28, is married, lives in San Diego, a UCSB grad, working for the Irvine Company. My youngest, Christi, 24, is a realtor in Bakersfield, and almost engaged (I'm not a grandpa!).

Becci and I have been married for 10 years and we live in a 1882 Italianate-Victorian that we have been slowly restoring since 1998. Becci has three kids; we still support the youngest, Clint, 23, who graduates this December from Cal Poly SLO with a masters in mechanical engineering. I'll probably work for five more years mainly because of Clint and because I like it. For fun, we sail to the Channel Islands; we have CJ5 Jeep that we use to abuse off road.

We try to visit Puerto Vallarta at least once a year; we like camping and cruising. In 2003, my brothers, sisters, and our spouses, when with my dad (nine of us) for a 16-day trip of Europe for my dad's 90th birthday. Part of this trip was a 10-day Med cruise that ported in, among other cities, Palermo, Sicily - my dad's home country, and Dubrovnik, Croatia, my mom's home country (my mom died in 1995); we visited family that we had never met at both stops. Fabulous time.

Dad now wants to take an eastern Caribbean cruise for this 94th bd; 11 of us depart next March for 8 days. As long as my dad wants to travel, we travel.

I really look forward to seeing all of you again and thank you for your emails and pictures.

Bob Orlando
Santa Paula, CA
9/24/2006

Fr. Paul Nourie writes from Chula Vista, CA

John Christenson, Alemany's "Fr. Chris," has died

9/25/2006

I just wanted to pass on to you the message that (Fr.) John Christenson died this past week.

His services will be held on Saturday September 30th, at 11 a.m. at the Cemetery Mortuary of Mission Hills cemetery, located at the corner of Rinaldi and Sepulveda. He is cremated for the services, and I believe he will be interred after the services.

The family has asked me to officiate at the services and I have been able to find myself able to go up to do so.

I am sure that all know that John had left the priesthood many years ago. I had kept some contact with him over the years, of course, at a moment like this, I would say, not as much as I would have wanted, but I guess we all do what we can.

I am sure that his family would appreciate having friends or appreciative fellow journeyers present.

Caringly,

Fr. Paul Nourie, O.M.I.

paulyvonnourie,omi

~~~~~~~

9/26/2006

Bob Orlando, AHS-66, writes:

So very sorry to hear about Fr Christenson.

I'll never forget the day, November 22, 1963; I was in his history class when the news about Kennedy was announced. We all went to the gym for prayers and Mass, remember?

I've thought about him often, because of how that day impacted our lives and how he solemnly handled the situation and how he reassured us that we would be okay.

Thanks,

Bob O.

~~~~~~~

9/27/2006

Tina (Cross) Huchting writes:

I am sad to hear about the passing of (Fr.) John Christenson. I knew that he had been sick for years and that he suffered greatly.

I had the opportunity to see him again after graduation and to meet his wife. We were at the Valyermo Celebration many years ago. It was a pleasure for me and he was so gentle and responsive. He was one of my favorite priests at Alemany and was so supportive when my mom died.

I also remember the daily noon Mass in the chapel at Alemany. He actually let me be an altar server. Way ahead of his time as far as allowing women to be present on the altar.

Steve and I plan to go to the service on Saturday. It will be good to see Fr. Paul also.

Thanks for passing this on.

Love, Tina

~~~~~~~

10/2/2006 Rex Olliff writes:

Fr. Nourie read Bob's remembrance of Father Chris during the funeral and he also mentioned John Christenson's work making ILAP a reality. From the various remembrances given on Saturday, John Christenson touched many lives in a profound way. I was glad that his connection to the class of '66 was noted. Although we were not all in Fr. Christenson's class the day Fr. Weber made the announcement, Bob's remembrance about Fr. Christenson's assurance that we would be OK captures exactly who he was. I am glad John Christenson was part of my life.

Thanks, Bob.

Rex Olliff