A One-Time History Of the Class of 1951 Kent State University School, Kent, Ohio

50 Years After—September 21-23, 2001

By David A. Smith, KSUS, 1951

Forward:

The Class of 1951, Kent State University School, Kent, Ohio, graduated from high school on June 8, 1951, just over 50 years from this reunion date. Fifty years—a half a century! Quite a "trip." We were born during the depth of the Great Depression, lived through the tragedies of World War II, and graduated into the world during the Korean War. We have lived through a period of great change and challenge. Although our older brothers and sisters sacrificed greatly during the war to save us from Fascism and Totalitarianism, it is our generation that helped overcome Communism and principally built the world we now live in—and we have done a pretty good job!

Our diplomas were signed by George A. Bowman, President of Kent State University and by Michel Hercheck, Principal of KSUS. Leading up to our graduation date, the Seniors of the Class of 1951 participated in the following events, as reflected on the Senior Calendar:

  • Senior Guest Party held February 17 in Moulton Hall
  • Junior-Senior Dinner Dance held May 19 in Kent State Union Building
  • Senior Class Play held May 25 in University Auditorium
  • Baccalaureate held June 3 in University Auditorium
  • Senior Picnic held June 4 at Geauga Lake Park
  • Class Night held June 5 in University Auditorium
  • Graduation Exercises held June 8 inUniversity Auditorium

Our class's edition of the Devils' Diary had the following statement as its Forward:

"The Class of 1951 proudly presents its edition of the Devils' Diary. We hope that you enjoy it now and in years to come, as you look back of the good times and many friends these pages reflect. Therefore continue through this book and enjoy it as you see yourself, and the rest of the 'Devils' at work and play."

This paper is a review, a partial recapitulation, and a celebration of the lives of those students who prepared that yearbook and all of the members of the Class of 1951, Kent State University School, Kent, Ohio.

Web Site:

KSU has provided a web site for KSH classes. It includes a site for the Class of 1951—with the address: http://dept.kent.edu/ksuschool/1951.html. For information, contact Pat Bauer at rbauer4593@aol.com. The Webmaster is Margaret Garmon at mgarmon@kent.edu. This site contains much information—copies of early documents, photos, and newspaper clippings pertaining to the Class of 1951, Kent State University School.

Brief History of Kent State University:

In 1910, Kent State Normal School became a reality after State Representative John Lowry's bill was signed into law. Together with the law was a private land gift from William S. Kent, grandson of the city of Kent's founder, which created the core campus that exists today. The school was later renamed the Kent State Normal College. Subsequently it became Kent State College when authorized to grant additional degrees beyond the B.S. in Education. These degrees were B.A. in Arts, and BS in science. Still later, in 1935, with the addition of a graduate degree program and a new College of Business Administration, it officially became Kent State University.

While the class of 1951 was resident at KSH, in 1950, the University began construction of WKSU-FM, which signed on the air for five hours a day at 10 watts and at a frequency of 88.7. Today, WKSU broadcasts at 89.7 FM, providing Northeast Ohio with its award-winning blend of in-depth news, National Public Radio programming and classical and folk music.

Growth and expansion has continued to KSU during the intervening years, and in 1994 Kent State joined the ranks of the nation's top institutions of higher learning when it received a Research University II designation from the prestigious Carnegie Foundation.

Brief history of Kent State High School:

The Kent State University School was a public school, grades 8 through 12, located on the campus of Kent State University during the years 1914 until 1982. During this period, the name of the school evolved from the Kent Normal School to the Kent Training School, and finally to the Kent State High School or Kent State University School. Similarly, at least three different buildings were used:

  • From 1916 until 1926, William S. Kent hall was the location of the Kent Normal High School. School.
  • After 1951, a new building was built, to house the University School from 1956-1984 (with the high school closing in 1972).

Students for the University School were drawn from several localities in and near the City of Kent. First, children of KSU faculty were authorized to attend KSH regardless of residence. Also, all students living in the Brimfield school district were able to come to KSH. Brimfield operated from 1st through 9th grades, with 10th through 12th grades coming to KSH. Also, Franklin Township, on the North side of Kent allowed their students to come to Kent, although it appears that some also went to Roosevelt High School, the other and larger public high school in Kent. In addition, it seems that some students who lived in the City of Kent could opt to attend KSH. In any case, the student body was quite diverse.

A photo of Franklin Hall, the home of the Class of 1951 is shown below:

The Class of 1951, Kent State University School

It seems that there was some confusion, or at least some inconsistencies in the name of our school. Our diplomas simply state: Kent State High School, Class of 1951. Our graduation announcements and class picture, however, clearly reflect that we were graduating from the University School of Kent State University. Further confusion is indicated in articles in the Kent Record Courier from those years. The names included are: Kent State University School, Kent State High School, and Kent State Training School. It is lucky that we knew where to show up in the mornings!

We have now identified 70 members of the Class of 1951, Kent State University School. Actually, 64 are reflected as graduates, while others were with us during these years, but left before graduate date. In addition, we are probably missing more that were members in earlier years that we have not identified.

Names follow in alphabetical order. Married names of women and identification of those who have died are so indicated. A separate and complete address list is on the KSH web site to include e-mail addresses.

  • Bartholomew, Donald F (Deceased)
  • Bennett, Donald M. (Deceased)
  • Boosinger, Carl H.
  • Bricker, Allan P.
  • Briner, Marilyn (Barnett)
  • Burridge, Glenn P.
  • Byrne, Beverly Y. (Carson)
  • Christensen, Sally Lou (Zimmerman)
  • Clapp, Stanley N. (Deceased)
  • Close, Art
  • Cox, Mary Kathleen (Deceased)
  • Crabb, Norman T. -- Class President (Deceased)
  • Cumpson, James Daniel (Deceased)
  • Darrah, Louise Victoria (Harsha)
  • Day, Albert L.
  • Dietrich, Margaret Jean (Wells)
  • Edmunds, Lora Jean (Reeves)
  • Ferry, Ronald Ross
  • Foster, Robert E.
  • Freeman, Nodra Doreen (Heisser)
  • Gallina, Mary Genevieve (Deceased)
  • Gooch, Gretchen Ellen (Seppelin)
  • Griebling, Alice Louise (Jones)
  • Hall, William J.
  • Hardegree, Donna (Swigart)
  • Hartzell, Richard E
  • Hillegas, Audrey Mae (Brainard)
  • Hinman, Mary Cornelia (Connie) (Wagner) -- Salutatorian
  • Hissem, Dale
  • Horning, Mary Ellen (Hissem) -- Class Treasurer
  • House, Martha M. (Clause) -- Vice President of Student Body
  • Klink, Frances Arlene (Deceased)
  • Laing, James Thomas
  • Leslie, John Paul (Deceased)
  • Loraditch, Dolores Jean
  • Loudin, Virginia M. (Sandy)
  • Lowenstein, Carl David -- Valedictorian, Poet
  • Ludick, Gertrude Ann (Aberegg) (Deceased)
  • Mankamyer, Eleanor Frances (Baer)
  • Maxwell, James B.
  • McAlister, Wayne
  • Metcalf, Ann Lee (Gamble)
  • Meyer, Gary (David G.)
  • Opalenik, Mary Ellen (Gless)
  • Perkowski, Thomas E
  • Peterson, Nancy Lee (Crabb) -- Class Secretary
  • Phillips, Thelma M. (Siefert)
  • Polichena, Rocco Jr. (Deceased)
  • Rankin, Bill
  • Raup, Henry A.
  • Sabine, Jo Ann
  • Schilmiller, Greta Anne (Miller) (Deceased)
  • Serva, Betty Ann (Saffels)
  • Shellhorn, Robert (Deceased)
  • Skinner, David Lloyd
  • Smith, David A
  • Smith, Francis G.
  • Stevens, Lynn Jeffries -- Class Vice President
  • Stevens, Mary Elizabeth (Deceased)
  • Sumner, Mary Alyce (Jones)
  • Taylor, James L.
  • Thomas, Ronald Anthony
  • Thyr, Rebecca Ruth (Nelligan)
  • Trumphour, Philip D (Deceased)
  • Verheyden, Amelie Jeanne (Hughes)
  • Weckerly, Peggy Louise (McGowan)
  • Womer, Patricia Ann (Letwen)
  • Wooddell, Jack L.
  • Wright, Gene (Deceased)
  • Bennett, Eugene (Class of 1950, graduating with 1951).

Reunion Plans and Committees:

By: Louise Darrah Harsha

On Christmas of 1999, we received a wonderful gift from our son. It was a webtv. That's a make-believe computer that uses the TV. Things have not been the same since. The first thing we did was to go to our home town paper in Kent. On the guest page was an announcement from David Smith and Wayne McAlister about getting a 50th reunion together for our class.

After a while David and I started on the trail of our classmates. After sending out 41 letters, Sally Christensen Zimmerman was soon joining us on the hunt. There were 23 letters answered with positive responses. I also made many phone calls, and enjoyed the conversations.

Talk about "back to the future!" What a pleasure talking to classmates of 50 years ago. Our committee of 3 continued on, with David keeping the names, addresses, and phone numbers in his computer. He soon set up a Class of 1951 listserv with the help of Margaret Garmon, the KSU webmaster, where one message can be sent to all with one click of a key. We have 20 on this list at this time. Also a KSUS 1951 web site was put into action. This holds pictures, lists of committee members, classmates, the names of those who are lost, and those who are now deceased.

Soon, the class members living in and near Kent became interested and energized! They set up a "Kent" committee to do the really hard work of actually planning the reunion. The committee members consist of Martha House Clause (Chair), Beverly Byrne Carson, Nodra Freeman Heisser, Donna Hardigree Swigart, Margaret Dietrich Wells, Ann Lee Metcalf Gamble, and Connie Hinman Wagner (as well as others from outside the area). They arranged for the three days of activities we are enjoying. At this time we still have not located 6 class members.

And, the sad part of this is we have lost 15 classmates over the years—a seemingly large number and percentage of the total class membership.

Planning Committees:

The following classmates served on the 50th anniversary reunion committees of the Class of 1951 from Kent State University School, which was planned for the 4th Weekend in September 2001.

Kent Committee:

  • Martha House Clause -- Chair (Boss!)
  • Connie Hinman Wagner -- Communications
  • Beverly Byrne Carson
  • Margaret Dietrich Wells
  • Nodra Freeman Heisser
  • Donna Hardegree Swigart
  • Ann Lee Metcalf Gamble
  • Mary Alyce (Migs) Sumner Jones

Outside Committee

  • Louise Darrah Harsha
  • Sally Christensen Zimmerman
  • David A. Smith
  • Alice Griebling Jones
  • James (Tom) Laing
  • Virginia Loudin Sandy
  • Rebecca Thyr Nelligan
  • Mary Ellen Hissem
  • Pat Womer Letwen

As the date for the reunion approached, others became active in the plans and preparations, and may not be mentioned here.

Histories of Class Members:

This section has short bios or histories of each class member (those who submitted one) that describes their "trip" over the past 50 years. There are some very interesting stories here: (Names are in alphabetical order as at graduation.)

We need to remember that in 1951, men and women had different ranges of opportunities for post-high school careers than available for today's graduates. At that time, women were still few and far between in some professions, mainly being expected to become nurses, school teachers, clerks, and eventually housewives and mothers. The number of women graduating from 4-year colleges were far fewer than men. Men, on the other hand were still expected to obtain a trade or craft, with some smaller percentage going on to college and the professions. It was not until about 1978 that the numbers of women attending college exceeded the numbers of men. Today, in many professions, the numbers of women are actually starting to exceed the numbers of men—such as medicine, veterinary science, and law. Women are even now catching up in the ranks of scientists and engineers.

Therefore, we might find more female graduates of KSH who married and had children, without completing college and entering professions. Some, however, in later time periods decided to pursue college degrees and professions. Still, all accomplishments are to be applauded; college, professions, trades, and parenthood.

Carl Boosinger

After graduation I soon left Kent for California and entered college that fall at Cal Poly-SLO. As some of you have related the folks at the local draft board soon were stirring, so I enlisted in the USAF. In 1953 I went to USAF Aircraft Maintenance school, Jet Engine school, and F86D maintenance school. I spent my tour at Grandview AFB, near Kansas City Mo. I met my wife there and we were married in Peculiar, Missouri, 45 years ago.

After my discharge we moved to California and I took a job with Lockheed, "up in the desert" (recruiter's jargon). We were assembling T33, T2Vs, and F104s and after test flights the military delivery process. This was in Palmdale, near Edwards AFB.

In 1960 I went to work with the Martin Company. at Vandenburg AFB. We moved to Lompoc. Martin was developing the Titan I & II launch pad systems for national deployment. We launched the first Titan I and silo launched missiles. In 1962 I finished the requirements for my degree and graduated from Alan Hancock College. As the deployment of the Titan weapon systems was taking place our launch pads were turned over to the military.

In 1965 I started work with Douglas. We launched Thor missiles that had been renovated after removal from England, Greece, and Turkey. The Air Force had us launch them down the Pacific missile range so the Army could run high altitude intercepts. We launched 31 missiles in 1967 and placed some hardware in polar orbit for NASA off their facilities. In 1968 I was transferred to Huntington Beach to the new facility. We were building DC10s, 3rd stage Apollo, and some R&D space station hardware. I once stood atop the gantry for Apollo 10 and 12 at the Cape. What a magnificent piece of equipment! With all the hardware in the 'barn' work was slowing, so I decided to get out of the aerospace business.

In 1970 I took a position with ServiceMaster, out of Chicago. They provide management services for health care facilities. I was assigned to hospitals in Houston, Texas, Newnan, Georgia, and the Duke Medical Center at Durham, North Carolina. In 1978 we moved to Greenville South Carolina, and I went to work for the Greenville Hospital System.

1986 I retired, bought a fishing boat, joined the country club and started raising roses. Soon after, my wife, Ladelle, incurred some severe medical problems and I needed a job with some health insurance. I took a job with Orkin and ran a night route until 1998 and retired again this time with Medicare intact.

So we have lived here in Greenville for over 20 years and consider it our home. Greenville is 'upstate' Carolina at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains. It is:

Home of:

  • Pegleg Bates
  • Shoeless Joe Jackson
  • Rev. Jessie Jackson
  • Charlie Parker
  • Kevin Garret
Home to:
  • BMW
  • Michelin Tire
  • GNC
  • Furman University
  • Bob Jones University

We are near our two "children." Jonathan, born 1958, lives near Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife Cathy and our two grandchildren. Laura, born 1957, lives in Asheville, North Carolina with her husband Timmy Abell. ( Check out her web site www.lauraboosinger.com I think you will enjoy the music.)

For those of you that have wadded though all this prattle, thanks. Looking forward to seeing everyone in September. Ya'll come!

Marilyn Briner Barnett

Since I chose a non-traditional lifestyle, it is no accident that I should now live in what I consider paradise. I live in Old Town Key West where I walk, swim, bike and enjoy all the water activities and sunshine that comes along!

I raised three wonderful, happy, centered, children, Debbie, Mark, Steven who each earned their collage degrees in their chosen fields and I visit and hang out with them and their families every chance I get.

I have worked developing property in Twin Lakes, at the M'Oneil Company in Akron, where I went through the Junior Executive Training program and became an assistant buyer in Sportswear, to the Mayor's office, water Department, and finally to the Police Department in the City of Kent.

My real challenge was to move to Akron at age 42, buy a house and enroll at the University of Akron, and to graduate with a BS in Dietetics. I passed all the National Boards, and became a Registered Dietitian. It was great to have my whole family come and help me celebrate.

I interviewed for a clinical dietitians position in Key West, was hired, and later promoted to Director of Nutritional Services, and retired from there.

I still visit semi-annually with my mom in Kent, now Akron.

Looking forward to renewing old friendships in September.

Beverly Byrnes Carson

Do you remember whom our graduation speaker was when we graduated in 1951???

After graduation, I attended KSU, majoring in art. In 1954, I married Johnny Carson and we had three children: Lisa, Johnny, and Christopher. John became Mayor of Kent in 1966 (that made me "First Lady," so I decorated the Mayor's Office). He became a County Commissioner in 1972 (I did not decorate the Court House).

Now we have 17 grandchildren and one great-grandchild! John is President of the Portage Count Historical Society (so I decorated the Strickland House). I am better at decorating than pouring at teas.

P.S. Our speaker at KSH graduation was Dr. Lester Munzenmeyer and his subject was "Making the most of what you have." I really took it to heart—that is why I love to decorate.

Sally Christensen Zimmerman

My life so far after graduation from KSH. I went to work at Twin Coach Co. in the receiving department as a typist. In 1952 I married Herb. We have three children, Herb, Bonnie, and Mike.

In the summer of 1966 we decided to make a change in our lives. We bought a 200-acre farm, more or less as the deed reads, in Virginia and this new phase in my life was a town girl learning how to live on a farm. We started out with a Black Angus heifer named Babe, and one summer day the neighbor's bull jumped the fence. The following year Babe had a calf, and that was the beginning of our herd. We now average about 65 head a year. We also had some chickens and a couple pigs for a few years. I had a showdown with a rooster one day and he ended up in the cooking pot. Some days, when by myself, I had to get cows out of the yard, pigs down from the woods, and mend the broken fences. Herb said I did a good job crocheting with barbwire. We have had numerous dogs and cats for pets and some unusual pets also.

When we first moved to the farm there weren't to many wild animals, just the usual ones (skunks, fox, rabbits, ground hogs, squirrels) but slowly deer, fox squirrels, wild turkey, and two years ago coyotes moved in. I'm now waiting to see a bear. At first I would give the farm animal names but then when it came time to sell or butcher them, that was the end of giving them names. It's very hard to sit down at the table and realize who you are eating.

The children grew up, moved away to other parts of the country for a while and then moved back closer to us. Which is nice since they started having grandchildren for us. We have five granddaughters, and one grandson. When our daughter was living in Alaska she took me on a dog sled ride. I was in the sled with the two granddaughters while Bonnie ran or rode the runners and was busy heeing, hawing, and mushing. When our youngest son, Mike, was a senior in high school I was going thru the empty nest syndrome. I told Herb one day that it was either I got a job or end up at St. Albans (nut house).

I went to work at Hubbell Lighting for seven years and then quit to go to work for ATT for ten years. I would probably still be working there if they hadn't moved to Mexico. Instead of collecting unemployment, I went back to school—National Business College, in Roanoke. I was making very good grades and had one more quarter to go which included a couple English courses and so I became a drop out. I'm a Magnum Cum Later. The real reason was that Herb was retiring and was going on a trip and I wanted to go along. Now that I'm in my fun years, I like to read, go fishing (yes, I bait my own hook and take the fish off but don't clean them), work on the families genealogy, yard sales, travel this great country and keep in touch with family and friends by e-mail. I don't know what I would do with out the PC. I'm really looking forward to the class reunion this September, and visiting and seeing everyone. The good Lord willing and the creek don't rise I'll see you in September.

Louise Darrah Harsha

After graduating from Kent State High, I got my first real job as a Nurse's Aide at Robinson Memorial. Hospital. That was a real education! A year later, I married my now husband of 49 years, David Harsha. I worked at the Ravenna Woolen Mill for a while—that was not exciting. Three years later we started an adventure by moving to Houston, Texas—two cars and all our belongings. Three months after that we moved to Whittier, California. Roller-skating was a big part of our lives, doing dance skating in Ohio, Texas, and here in California. Five children later, we moved to a bigger home, with two baths, in Covina, California. We are proud to say that four of our children have college degrees, and one runs her own hair dressing business.

I was involved with the Girl Scouts and PTA for 18 years. I had four daughters in Girl Scouts, and was part of every troop as an adult. I did many things in each troop weekly. Three of my girls reached the highest awards as Cadet Scouts. At that time it was called, "First Class." Three finished as Senior Scouts. I found Scouting was one of the best things I could have ever been a part of with my girls. One of my daughters is now a Girl Scout leader with 15 girls in her troop. She also works and has two children.

I was honored with "The Green Angel" award from the Girl Scouts, and received two Honorary Service Awards from the PTA. I also assisted in the Hospital Teen Volunteers for two years, and worked with the Covina drug prevention program for three years. We now live in Apple Valley, California, where Roy Rogers was a great asset to the town. He was a very nice man. We don't skate any more—miss that. We love stage shows and go to Las Vegas a few times a year for a really different kind of life. We are blessed with great friends here and do lots of things together. THESE ARE THE GOLDEN YEARS!

Margaret Dietrich Wells

I was married June 24,1954, to James Wells. We have 3 children: James Jr. of Pickens, South Carolina, Janet and Peggy, both of Rootstown, Ohio. We have 4 grandchildren: Chad, Mason, Lance, and Brandi.

I worked at Ametek/Lamb Electric in Kent for 37 years. I started in reinforcing, then to punch press, became a set up person, and then went to the tool room where I made jigs and fixtures until I retired in December, 1995.

After we retired we went to Apache Jct., Arizona for 4 winters. We no longer go there, but we have traveled to about 35 states. Hobbies are NASCAR, Sprint Car Racing, reading when I can, and gardening. I have also have bought a computer, which I am learning slowly. My E-Mail address is: Marge3883@cs.com. PS. If you want to know any more, let me know.

Nodra Freeman Heisser

After graduation in June, I married Paul DiCola on December 27, 1951. He had joined the Air Force and knew he would be sent to Korea, so we wanted some time to be together before he had to leave. We had 6 months and during that time I became pregnant. After he left, I lived with my mother in Ellet and had our baby girl, Diana Jean, on our first wedding anniversary. With Paul being away, this was a special gift on our day.

Paul returned in June 1953 and was stationed at Mitchell Field in New York. We lived on Long Island for one year, then moved to base housing for one year. I became pregnant during this time, and our second daughter, Terry Lynn, was born on August 6, 1954. After he returned home in 1955, Paul found employment at Ohio Bell Telephone Company and we were finally able to purchase our first home in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

At this time I taught church school for 7 years, did volunteer work at Children's, City, and St. Thomas Hospitals, and also one summer along with my two daughters, volunteered at the Children's Home in Akron. This was very satisfying for me. Paul and I were married 19 years before we divorced in 1970. Strike 1!

My second marriage was to Dr. Bert Heisser. He had 4 children that we raised off and on. We had a lot of problems, but we had some good times too. We traveled to the East and West Coasts, the Bahamas, and Costa Rica. I also worked at that time for Dr. Dumke, an allergist in Stow and learned a great deal concerning medicine and the medical field. We moved 5 times in our marriage, but finally ended up in Brimfield. I decided to take up ice-skating, so went to the Kent State Ice Arena and took lessons. I then joined U.S.F.S.A. and after a few years entered Club Ice Shows in Kent and the Cleveland areas. This was, and still is a challenging and rewarding time in my life. This marriage lasted 25 years. Strike 2!

Because I don't want a "Strike 3 you are out," I am now living with my dear friend and companion, Karl Keupper of 10 years. We have been together in his condo for one year in Sagamore Hills. We are very compatible and are looking forward to many happy years of skating, going to the theater, traveling, and enjoying one another. We are of the new generation! I now have 4 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

I would like to note that Gertrude Ludick and I were friends over the years. We had some great times together (dining, shopping, and traveling). We were always there for each other for support through our trials and tribulations. She is dearly missed by me.

Gretchen Ellen Gooch Seppelin

Looking ahead, 50 years seemed an eternity; looking back, it seems only a short time since we graduated. I spent 3 years at KSU, anticipating a career as a teacher. When Tom graduated in 1954, we married, and "the plan" was for me to finish my education at a school near Washington, D.C., where Tom had taken a job with the government.

Of course, "the plan" bit the dust with the birth of our son Rand. As most women did way back then, I stayed home—never finishing school—and never regretting it. When most of Tom's agency was moved to St. Louis in 1957, I taught myself to type, and got a typist's job at the same place—the Aeronautical Chart and Information Center (ACIC), which had primary responsibility for Air Force Mapping , Geodesy ,and Charting.. It didn't last long, so back to being a homebody. The next "job" I had was as an Avon Lady—that was OK for a while, and then we moved from Illinois to a small town in Missouri. I was a wrestling mom, a hockey mom, and whatever else was needed. Bored??? You betcha!! Some of us in the neighborhood started taking classes—hat making is the only one I remember—except cake decorating—BINGO!

Eventually, I was doing quite well, and also had a nice income from making flowers from royal icing for a local shop (mostly roses, but also azaleas to zinnias). At the same time, I took up hand weaving—an expensive hobby that Tom's salary could provide. A new house in an upscale area, and I was—I thought—in a nice comfy rut. WRONG—Tom was offered a job in Washington that was too good to turn down. Off we went to a lovely home in Vienna, VA. The cake decorating business floundered as the traffic in the area was so bad I could not risk having to deliver a cake in my underpowered car. Tom's job at the time involved many trips to Europe. So—I finally got an honest job at Baskin-Robins, decorating cakes, etc., because I could go with Tom as long as I paid my own way. I had several very nice trips. Well, all that came to an end when Tom retired in 1988. We came back to Missouri to be near Rand and his family. Our 2 granddaughters are now 19 and 21. We have 7+ acres in a rural area, and a lovely home.

I still make a few flowers, but mostly weave. I do a few craft shows, and make enough to buy more yarn and make more stuff.

Tom is involved in county government, and we both do what we can in our church. Since we always enjoyed cooking, we have some interesting meals, and I make a lot of our bread and pastries. It is a good life. Really looking forward to seeing all of you—I am sure you all look the same!

Alice Griebling Jones

Connie Hinman, Martha House, and I all went to Miami University (in Oxford, Ohio), for our freshman year. I was miserably homesick for the first semester. We three were in all different places on the campus and didn't get together much. I majored in Elementary Education and got over the homesickness and really enjoyed Miami. I graduated and got a job teaching first grade in Cleveland and was there for two years, I think, until I got married to Robert who had graduated from Kent.

We moved to Austinburg, Ohio, where he was teaching at Grand River Academy—a very small boys school near Erie, Pennsylvania, where I also taught for a couple of years. Our first child was born there and we moved back to Cleveland, where Robert taught at University School in Shaker Heights. Our next two children were born in Cleveland. When our youngest was just 1 1/2 we went to Japan for two years where Robert had a Fulbright teaching grant. Our three children were in totally Japanese schools. Peter was in first grade and Anne was in a preschool kindergarten. Susan didn't start until just three months before we were ready to come back home. All three were really good at Japanese by then, and Peter was learning to write it. I had learned what I call "kitchen Japanese"—like the word for chopped beef (hamburger) was "hiki niku." However, the Japanese eat so little meat that I had to go to a special store to buy it—a MEAT store. I was aghast one day to see the butcher put the meat in the grinder and push it through with his abacus!

Back in the states we spent one more year in the Cleveland area and then moved to Lawrenceville, New Jersey, where Robert got a job with Educational Testing Service writing the #$$%%$$# SATs. As our children grew older and older and older, out of high school and then out of college, we began to travel. We sometimes visited the children when they were situated in other places for college study, but now that we are retired and have no money and lots of time we have begun to go all over the world, but not back to Japan yet.

Actually, we ARE retired, but both of us have jobs in different local libraries. I am across the street at an elite private school working about 20 hours a week in the Bunn Library. And Robert is a sort of substitute in the chain of local public libraries. It is a difficulty for us—well, not really a difficulty—because we both come home with armloads of books.

Now, in our "sunset" years—we get out to California to visit with two of our children now there, and our third, who is living in NYC, comes here. It seems strange to compact 50 years into so short a space. But there it is.

Donna Hardegree Swigart

I started to work as a Billing Clerk at Davey Tree the week school was over in 1951. In 1953 I went to San Francisco and spent a year living and working there. It is an interesting city and during the time I was there you could walk safely anywhere you wanted. I walked 22 blocks to work in the morning, but rode the bus home because it was all uphill. I came home for my youngest sister's wedding with every intention of going back but let my Dad talk me into staying in Ohio.

I then went to work as a receptionist/claims clerk in the plant hospital at Goodyear Aircraft where I met my first husband, Jim Stover. We had 3 daughters and 1 son. We tried many things after he was laid-off from Goodyear Aircraft. We moved to Southern Ohio to start a little country grocery and auto parts store. We lost our house to fire on a very cold December. 9th, so we returned to Brimfield. We bought Brimfield Motors Used Cars and ran it for a while and then went into the bar business by opening Smokeys Inn. I held various office jobs over the years to help out with all these ventures. Jim and I were divorced after 12 years and I married Frank Swigart. I raised his 2 sons and 1 daughter from a previous marriage and we had a daughter of our own.

After again finding myself in a divorced situation I started my Home Childcare business. I am still doing this and have from 3 to 8 children here during the day, five days a week. I have done this for 21 years and this year four of my earliest charges graduated from Roosevelt High. One thing you can say for children they keep life interesting and ever changing.

At the same time I was a sighted guide and "gal Friday" for a blind woman. We were together for 22 years for 12 hours or more a week. She is now living in an assisted living facility near her oldest son in San Diego. She will be 89 in September.

Audrey Hillegass Brainard

Married to Ralph Brainard for 47 years. We have 3 children; living in Wyoming, New Jersey, and Kansas, and 7 grandchildren. Nine years ago we moved from New Jersey to our retirement home on the Chesapeake Bay.

After teaching for 14 years I started my own consulting business and presented hands-on science workshops for elementary teachers in 32 states before retiring in 1999. I wrote two books integrating science with children's literature.

At present I am Editor of the Northern Neck Audubon Newsletter, active with SAIF Water (providing indoor plumbing and water to less fortunate people), Garden Club member, docent at the Fishermen's Museum, volunteer at the local library, and a founder and member of the local Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. We were active backpackers and sailors but in our old age we do less of that. We travel extensively, having visited all continents except Australia. Probably our most exciting trip was doing two weeks of research with the Albatross on Midway Atoll—but Antarctica and Africa were outstanding wildlife trips.

We will not be at the reunion because of Ralph's health. After returning home from a seven-week and seven hundred-mile-trip through the southwest he came down with an undiagnosed illness. He is still in the process of identifying the problem and regaining his strength. We both feel precious time was wasted looking for an exotic illness, due to our travels in developing countries, rather than seeking a common sicknesses.

Best wishes for a very successful reunion.

Connie Hinman Wagner

The fall of 1951 found me a freshman at Miami U., majoring in English in the School of Education. While at Miami I met my husband-to-be, Dick Wagner. In 1954 we were married. Dick had planned to become a Naval Aviator through the NavCad (Naval Aviation Cadet) program, but flunked the eye test. His next choice was to join the Army and the Officer's Training Corps. He decided against that, and just put in his two years and got out. The final year was interesting, as it was spent in Japan. In the meantime, I went to summer school and graduated early, in January 1955.

I took a job at a Cleveland middle school (no picnic, even then), and shared an apartment with Martha and Alice. What a "trip" that was—many laughs (but I'll never forget the time Martha gave me a home perm and my hair fell out in bunches)!

When Dick came home from the Army and Japan in the summer of 1955, we returned to Miami so he could finish his degree in Organic Chemistry. I taught 3rd grade (a pleasure) at a nearby school. In 1957 we returned to NE Ohio. Dick took an R&D position with Standard Ohio in Cleveland. I had a baby boy and became a full-time mother. I liked this so much I had a baby girl in 1961. No more teaching for a while.

We soon outgrew our tiny house in Stow, and built a home in Richfield, where our children grew up. Thanks to Sohio, we saw much of the western USA as part of Dick's job, testing fuels and vehicles in the desert southwest. After our children finished elementary school, I returned to teaching part-time, and worked on my certification in the field of Special Education.

In 1980 I took a full-time position, teaching children with learning disabilities, grades 1-6. I remained in this position until I retired in 1999. Dick had taken an early retirement offer in 1995 from what is now British Petroleum (after BP bought out Sohio in the mid-1980s).

We both love being retired. I keep very busy with various volunteer groups, and we travel frequently, mostly to Florida, Maine, and Europe. Life has been good to me, and we expect our first grandchild on Sept. 23!

Mary Ellen (Horning) and Dale Hissem

Dale and I were married one year after graduation (October, 1952). Dale enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1953, at which time I was working as a secretary at Kent State University in the Air Force ROTC Office. In 1954 I moved with him to Arlington, VA where he was stationed at the Naval Annex. I was employed in Washington, DC as a legal secretary while living there.

In 1955 our high school friends, Chris and Herb Zimmerman came to VA and helped move us back to Ohio at the home farm where we lived, worked, and had two daughters. In 1977 we moved the entire dairy to southeastern Ohio (Cadiz area) where we purchased 330 acres of very hilly land. We dairyed there until 1984 when Dale was hired to manage the Dairy Research Unit at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

In 1985 I was hired as a secretary (again) in the Dairy Science Department. Miss Richards would be proud to know all her skills as a shorthand and typing teacher were not in vain! In April 2001, after 16 years of gainful employment with the State of Florida, we retired and moved to North Carolina to be closer to our daughters and their families.

Our new home is not completed as of this writing but hopefully will be ready for occupancy by June 15th.

Martha House Clause

Story of my life:

    1. Went to college, 1 year at Miami University, 1 year at KSU
    2. Went to work--
    3. Got married—
    4. Had five children—one at a time
    5. Don't remember the next 35 years!
    6. Went to work—
    7. Retired—
    8. Now I'm old and I do just about what I please!

Life is good!

James (Tom) Laing

After high school, I attended KSU where I received my B.A. in sociology with a radio/speech minor and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force. I continued my interest in sports by becoming sports director of WKSU-FM and doing play-by-play of football, basketball and baseball for 3 years as an undergraduate. I postponed active military duty for 12 months and received my Master's degree in sociology.

In the Air Force, I was stationed in San Antonio, Houston, and San Francisco area where I flew for 3 years as a navigator throughout the Far East—Hawaii, Wake Island, Guam, Enewetok, Kwajelein (Atom bomb test sites) and Japan. Included was a trip on the Bob Hope tour. In 1959 I left the Military, and the prospect of teaching at the then brand new Air Force Academy, in favor of civilian life.

I was married prior to graduate school and divorced in 1976. My two children are graduates of Notre Dame and live in the Chicago area. My son is a vice president of a large national commercial real estate firm. My daughter received a Master's degree in music from Northwestern, then graduated from law school and is now a trial lawyer. We have two grandchildren, 8 and 12 years old. My career as a professional with United Way spans 39 years with moves to Lorain and Canton, Ohio; St. Joseph, Missouri; South Bend, Indiana; and Pontiac, Michigan. I retired in October 1998. My wife, Barb, and I were married in 1981 and we have one golden retriever. Barb received a B.A. in elementary education with a fine arts major and math/science minor, and a Master's in language arts from Michigan State. Her second Master's degree was earned at Wayne State in library science. She retired in 1999 after both classroom teaching and working as a school library media specialist in elementary, middle, and high schools.

My strangest hobby notoriety comes from involvement, nationally, with bluegrass music. I currently serve on the Executive Board of the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky and "book" talent for concerts at our local community college, arts council and two municipalities. I am also Vice Chair of the Board of the United Way Retiree Association nationally.

Our primary residence is Michigan but we also own a "golf" home on Fripp Island in South Carolina near Hilton Head. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

Virginia Loudin Sandy

After high school graduation, I continued on at Kent State University and received a BS in Education in 1955. I taught primary grades in Solon, Ohio, four years prior to accepting a teaching position with Exxon in their expatriate school system in Venezuela.

Exxon engineer Dick Sandy and I were married in Kent in 1960. We continued to live in Venezuela where our three sons were born in 1961, 1963, and 1965. Although I did some substitute teaching, I was basically a stay at home Mom. Our sons attended boarding school at Culver Military Academy (Indiana) and then graduated from Texas universities.

After many years in Venezuela, Dick finished his 30-year overseas career in 1985, working the last three years in Saudi Arabia. Living and working in these foreign countries was exciting and educational. It also provided us with excellent travel opportunities similar to the six week round the world trip in 1984.

We retired in 1985 to Kingwood, Texas, where we are close to our three married sons who have a son and daughter each. We are blessed. Family, friends, travel, volunteer work, and golf keep us busy.

Carl Lowenstein

In the fall of 1951 I started at Case Tech in Cleveland, to be a Chemical Engineer. After one year I realized that I would never be a chemist. After another year, it seemed unlikely that I would be able to graduate from Case. So back home to Kent State U. Diligent application enabled me to graduate in 1955, with dual majors in physics and mathematics. During that time I also spent two interesting summers at the National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC, as an engineering trainee ("summer kid").

In 1955 I went to Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts, as a graduate student, working toward a Ph.D. in Applied Physics, specializing in acoustics. The National Science Foundation helped to pay for this. I finished the required courses, and started my research in what would now be called Digital Signal Processing. Toward the end of my research the computation to be done seemed like it would take forever on a desk calculator, so I got my first introduction to computers. After several months of learning and a few minutes of computer time, I was ahead of that game. I finally finished my thesis work in 1963.

Interesting side experiences during this time included a summer at Sandia Laboratory in Albuquerque, where I worked on a hydrodynamic problem related to the testing of a nuclear explosion. I got to watch the test but never learned whether my predictions bore any resemblance to the actual measurements. I also was able to take two short European trips to present papers at the International Congress on Acoustics, 1959 in Stuttgart, Germany and 1962 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Travel courtesy of the Office of Naval Research, which sponsored the work.

After a year as a Postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, I was ready to move on to something else. At the time there seemed to be two interesting jobs in Signal Processing, one in New London Connecticut, and one in San Diego California. From Cambridge it was easy to drive to visit the USN Underwater Sound Lab in New London. After that I decide to take my chances in San Diego, at the Marine Physical Lab (MPL) of Scripps Institution of Oceanography (part of the University of California at San Diego).

Off across the country to San Diego. The first day on the job I discovered that the Signal Processing project had folded up, but there were many other things to do. There was a research group investigating fine-scale details of the ocean bottom and this became the focus of my career for the next 30 years.

Nearby to my office I found MPL's resident computer installation, and met Claudia, the lab's computer programmer. A while later, I met her impish charming 6-year-old son Matthew. A year later, she and I were married and Matt became my adopted son. Some time later, we had two more children, a daughter Joanna (1971) and a son David (1974).

The middle 1960's were an interesting time for underwater work. The US Navy started a program for the design and development of a Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle, and I became a member of one of the design committees for this. Associated with this was the development of undersea search and navigation equipment. So I became involved in developing both bottom-mapping sonar and also acoustic navigation systems. To support the acoustic navigation, I purchased what became the first of a sequence of computers small enough to be moved onto a ship. The software, which I started to develop in 1965, has evolved through about 6 different types of computers, and can still be recognized in the sea-going work we do today.

I have also been involved in computer image processing, to make mosaic maps of the areas that we have worked in. The most interesting computer application I worked on was teaching the computer to drive the ship. Or at least to make the ship stay in one place over the ocean bottom while the wind and waves tried to move it somewhere else.

A side effect of working with sea-going oceanographers and geologists is going to sea on ships. Thus I have been to many exotic places in the course of my work. A quick list includes Hawaii, Pago Pago, Guam, Midway, Yokosuka Japan, across the Pacific. Port Said Egypt, and Cadiz Spain in the Mediterranean. Reykjavik Iceland. Also a variety of US ports in the Pacific Northwest, and along the Atlantic coast from Woods Hole MA through Charleston SC down to Miami FL. A couple of West-coast South American ports, and Fortaleza Brazil.

Besides investigating ocean-bottom geology and other terrain features, I have been on a variety of search missions where we didn't find things ranging in size from a small Navy remote underwater vehicle to the Titanic. But I could put my hand on our search map for the Titanic at the spot where it was later found. Other things I have done: I spent 5 years teaching computer systems programming to UCSD undergraduates, about 1000 per year. It was the course that convinced some of them that they really didn't want to be computer science majors.

In 1991, after 27 years at MPL, I was able to take an early retirement. Since then, I have been working 1/2 time or less, except for occasional episodes of panic, when nobody remembers how things are supposed to work, and a sea trip is about to take place.

Meanwhile, back at home, what has happened to all those other people? Claudia went to work at the UCSD computer center, where she was a programming consultant. After a few years off for raising Joanna and David, she worked her way back into computer programming, ending up doing data preparation for the annual CDROM edition of the World Book Encyclopedia. She also works part time as a library assistant at the San Diego City Library. Matt worked his way through night school and into CPA and MBA degrees, and is the financial comptroller for one of the major automobile dealerships in San Diego. Joanna followed both of her parents as valedictorian of her high school class, graduated from Cornell University majoring in Linguistics, and is a graduate student at the University of Chicago where she is nearly finished with a Ph.D. in Phonetics (acoustics of language). David has found a field where he enjoys the work and they even pay him, as a computer systems manager for Pacific Gas & Electric, in San Francisco.

Eleanor Mankamyer Baer

High School graduation ended "school" for me until I worked in the college Placement Office for a year. I decided to get a degree in elementary education and attended KSU for three years. I then taught at Brimfield Elementary School for three years.

I married in 1957, had a son in 1959, and moved to New Jersey in 1961. I finished my degree in 1964 at Glassboro State College (now Rowan University). I taught 4 and one-half years in Vineland and became a stay-at-home mom when my girls were born in 1968 and 1971.

I am active in the South Vineland United Methodist Church. I taught children's Sunday School classes and now teach adults. I organized the Mothers' Day Banquet for 28 years. My husband prepared the meals. I was also a Junior Girl Scout leader for 15 years. My youngest daughter went through Cadettes and Seniors and I would help with her troop.

My girls are now married and live nearby. My son had a heart transplant three years ago in October.

I am retired now and enjoy my grandson and family activities.

James Maxwell

I completed a B.S. in Music Education from KSU in 1955, and an M.E. in Music Theory in 1957. I taught two years part-time at Kent State University School while working on my master's degree. From 1957 until 1997 I taught elementary music, junior high chorus, and general music in Cuyahoga Falls. I retired in 1997.

Since retirement, I work at the Kent-Ravenna Wal-Mart store. I married Susan Acker in 1974. Susan has a B.S. in elementary education from Bowling Green State University (1964) and a Masters from KSU (1968). We have no children.

I sang in the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus about 12 years—10 with Robert Shaw. I sang in Carnegie Hall 7-8 times, at the Casal's Festival in Puerto Rico 2-3 times, and at the United Nations. I have a picture in Time Magazine.

Wayne McAlister

After graduating from high school, I started in an apprentice machinist school at Goodyear. A year later, I married Pat Stark, and we're still married! We have 3 kids, 2 daughters and a son, that are all doing fine. We also have 9 grand children and 3 great grand children. We had 2 homes in Kent, 2 homes in Kissimmee Fla., and 2 homes in Newark, Ohio.

After the apprenticeship at Goodyear, I started to work in Bedford, Ohio as a tool room machinist, subsequently becoming a draftsman and Jr. engineer. I was there until the company moved out of state, along with my career. At that time, I didn't have enough experience to continue on, so I started to work for the Lawson Milk Co. and spent the next 20 years there. I started as a store manager and finished as a beer and wine buyer for 550 stores. After this, we bought a franchise with the Open Pantry convenience store chain that Pat and I ran for 3 years.

At this time, I received a call from a VP at Lawson's, who owned Rolling Green Golf Club in Huntsburg, Ohio, and wanted to know if I was interested in managing their semi private golf club. So we moved to Huntsburg in 1980 as operations manager and later became a part owner of the club. We were there for 8 years and decided to move to the Sunbelt.

So we moved to Kissimmee, Florida, where my parents lived. I started working for Lowe,s Home Centers there and stayed for 8 years. We then decided to move back to Ohio to be nearer to our daughter in Newark. So I transferred with Lowe's and have retired twice from there and was called back both times. I still work about 20 hours a week where I make their in-store sales signs.

We work a little, travel a little and are now enjoying restoring an old farmhouse that we bought in August, 2000. Actually, I bought a big lot, with a 60 x 40 pole barn on it that just happened to have a house and another garage on it. I have the barn full of old cars and car parts which has been my life-long hobby and spend a lot of time out there. I rent car storage space in the winter for other cars. Other interests in my past 50 years have been golf too. When I started at Rolling Green, I started to go to the PGA school to get my professional golf card, but the club got too busy, and I had to give it up, which was one of my biggest mistakes in my life.

Today, I try to go to as many car shows as possible an d travel from here to Tennessee to see my Mother who is 87 and lives by herself. Pat has a little job at a bakery here--just enough to keep her in play money and from getting too old. We've been blessed with good health and a good family. Not a lot of wealth, but a very happy life.

It's not very exciting as some bios, but you have it. Getting anxious to see everyone again.

Ann Lee Metcalf Gamble

I graduated from KSU in 1955, with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education. Although I always planned to get another degree, too many activities interfered along the way. After graduation, in 1955, I married Roland Gamble, another music teacher at Hudson, Ohio. Using my education, I taught music in Hudson for five years, to both junior and senior high students. For the next ten years, I was a "stay-at home" mom, with two sons: Mark and Scott. However, over the years, I kept up my music interests by playing the French Horn (for 20 years), 3 years at the Akron Symphony, as well as with church and civic groups. I also taught piano and French Horn in private lessons for 10 years and taught elementary music classes at Cuyahoga Falls schools for 24 years (loved it!). On the vocal side, was a soloist at church, civic groups, and with the Akron Choral Society.

Music—Music—Music—even played the guitar a few times. My Dad was Band Director at Kent State for 28 years, and there is even a Metcalf Hall there now!

For relaxation, I sailed a 20-foot Highlander sailboat with my husband. Raced often and have trophies—several 1st and 2nd, and places!

Presently for Ann Lee:

A widow, my husband died from Cancer in 1995. I still have a big home in Stow, Ohio, and my sons live close by. I stay with, often, and play with 2 grandchildren, Justin and Amanda. I enjoy dinners out with friends, concerts in the park, Riverfront Festivals in Cuyahoga Falls, church and KSU concerts, and line dancing. I have many wonderful memories and wish I could go back and do it all again. There is NO "growing old gracefully." Illnesses come and go (thankfully!). My stomach is my worst enemy. I am still a "skinny-minny," and will order carefully at the Rusty Nail. Call me, Write me! I love mail. (Also Kleenex and napkins—watch me at the Rusty Nail. My son says "What's with all this Kleenex around the house? It's all over the place!")

Tom Perkowski

I entered USAF. pilot training in 1953, after 2 years at KSU. I received my Pilot Wings and was Commissioned a Second Lieutenant, USAF, in 1955. Subsequently in 1955, I completed Jet Fighter Pilot Instructor School, and served 3 years as a Jet Fighter Pilot Flight Instructor.

In 1956 I married Virginia Lee Vest in Mississippi and got right down to the business of starting a family that ended up with 8 children and 13 grandchildren at last count. We moved back to Kent, Ohio, in 1958 and I worked at Kent Mold & Mfg. as a machinist while returning to KSU in pre-dentistry.

I entered Case Western Reserve University in 1960 in the School of Dentistry and received a D.D.S. degree in 1964. I completed Residency Training in Orthodontics in 1966 and entered private practice in Dover, Ohio, in 1966.

Our home along with the homes of 3 of out children are just outside of the Dover City limits on 85 acres where we grow 90 percent of our own food including our meat, which comes from the deer herd that get fat on our corn and soybeans, and regrettably sometimes on our vegetable gardens. Three of our sons do the hunting. I also farmed at one time in the past, about 250 acres but have sold some of the land and now only farm about 90 acres of tillable ground. I plan to retire from farming next year.

I also plan to continue my orthodontic practice, Lord willing, for about 10 years yet until one of my grandsons finishes his training and takes over my practice.

Henry Raup

Four years at KSU, with a geography major and biology minor. The week before graduation, the former Ann Harbourt (KSHS 1950) and I married—a union that must have astonished colleagues in both classes. We continued to the University of Illinois for five years, where I acquired a Ph.D. in geography and Ann got her Master's in biology.

In 1960 we moved to Kalamazoo ("Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo"), where I taught in the geography department at Western Michigan University, retiring in 1998 after 38 uneventful years. Ann taught part-time in the same department for many years, both of us specializing in conservation with an emphasis on the national parks.

In time, two boys arrived—Tim in 1961 and Bruce in 1966 (planned parenthood in action), both now married (Tim with two daughters) and living in Rhode Island and Boston respectively.

Fortuitously, when we married we decided we would not wait for retirement before we started traveling. So every summer was spent away from Kalamazoo, particularly to various national parks and to the British Isles (where we also lived during a 15-month Sabbatical in 1968-1969). Since we taught a popular course on the physical geography of the national parks, we eventually thought we'd be better teachers if we saw the National Park Service from the inside. Starting in 1975, we spent 17 summers as Park Rangers, four at Cape Hatteras National Seashore on the coast of North Carolina, followed by 13 summers at Acadia National Park on the Maine coast. Tired of living in a 17-foot travel trailer, we finally bought a house, in the woods at Acadia, which became our intended retirement home.

Ann also planned and escorted dozens of trips overseas (I carried the luggage and held her hand when things weren't running smoothly), so we visited England and Scotland often, as well as many other destinations—Belize, Iceland, the Galapagos Islands, Egypt, etc.

But in 1986 Ann was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, starting a 13-year battle, which she finally lost, in late 1999. Now I spend half the year in Kalamazoo, with the other half at our house in Maine, although eventually it will be my year-round home.

David Skinner

Just before graduation, I joined the Ohio National Guard, along with several classmates. The pay from the Guard helped pay for 4 years at KSU and allowed for an uninterrupted education. I graduated with a BS in chemistry and went to work for Lubrizol in the lab in Wickliffe.

In 1955, I got married and moved to Mentor. More education seemed like the thing to do, so I started graduate school at Western Reserve U. I was also commissioned a 2nd lieutenant and became the executive officer of a 90mm anti-aircraft artillery unit.

My boss at Lubrizol and a professor encouraged me to apply for graduate school at the University of Florida. I was awarded an assistantship and was off to Gainesville in September 1957. I also enrolled in a US Army Reserve school unit in Gainesville and took the officers basic and advanced courses in artillery there. After another graduation, this time with a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, I found that I had educated myself out of the labor market in Florida at the time. We went back to Ohio and I joined the Procter and Gamble Research Labs outside of Cincinnati. The military was still around and I was now a Captain on the faculty of the USAR school at Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, teaching the officers career course in artillery. At P&G, I got the opportunity to design a new high-pressure lab after someone else blew up the old one. I continued doing research and supervised the high-pressure facility until another opportunity popped up to go with Jim Walter Research Corp. They were moving to St. Petersburg, Florida from the Chicago area. I was involved with building, staffing, and project design for a new research facility.

During my Jim Walter Research days, research in polymer insulation foams, glass fibers, plastics additives, and low flammability materials provided lots of interesting projects. I attended and participated in the Society of Plastics Engineers meetings and served as chairman of the Plastics in Buildings Division several times. Also, I attended and spoke at Gordon Research Conferences and was selected to serve as chair at one of them. During those years in St. Petersburg, I was the scoutmaster of a local troop for 10 yrs and took the Pinellas County troop to the National Scout Jamboree as Scoutmaster in 1977.

Big things started in 1978 with a divorce and then remarriage in 1979. Corporate life had become frustrating. Joyce and I bought a house on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands while on vacation there in 1980. We hoped to work about 5 more years, then go to the V.I. and start a business. Of course an opportunity showed up and we left the world of research 6 months later and started a property management and rental company on St. Croix in 1981. We were in business, managing 8 homes for off-Island owners. Island Villas Corporation was on its way. During our tenure on St. Croix, the business grew to 80 properties under management with about 18 employees. We bought a vacation home in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and traveled there often for R&R. We were members of the US Navy League on St. Croix and I served a term as chapter president. Island Villas was sold in 1987 and we were "retired".

In 1988 we were in Jamaica when Hurricane Gilbert leveled the place. We survived along with our staff and house. It took us a week to get off of Jamaica. It turned out that Gilbert was just a practice as we were struck by Hurricane Hugo on St. Croix one year later. Category 5 hurricanes are very educational, but two of them are way too many. We spent 12 years on St. Croix, then bought a place on Belleair Beach Florida and started going back and forth to St. Croix. Finally we settled in Florida, as the trips to St. Croix were just too much with 2 German Shepherds in tow. The St. Croix and Jamaica houses were sold, but our love of Islands caused us to buy a home on Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys. We had lots of enjoyment in remodeling and decorating. We started square dancing before leaving St. Croix and are now dancing 3-4 nights a week. Travel became our new adventure. We started working as Guest Staff on cruise ships in 1983 with Joyce teaching arts and crafts and sometimes I lectured on astronomy. Between Guest Staff trips and other travel we have now done 32 cruises and have also visited a lot of fascinating places around the world. We became interested in Costa Rica about 10 yrs. ago and have enjoyed extended vacations there. Well, you guessed it! We bought a vacation home in Costa Rica on the Pacific Coast near Playa Hermosa. So, we are looking forward to making the place comfortable for rental and our own winter stays. We are off to Costa Rica soon after the reunion. To be continued.

David Smith

I started at KSU in business education the summer after graduation, planning to finish in 3 years. During that first year, however, I decided to try to shoot higher and took the exams for the U.S. Naval Academy—failing all of them! As a result, I dropped out of KSU in the summer of 1952, and went to a special school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to learn what I should have learned in high school—an intense learning experience! In 1953, I passed all the tests, and entered the Academy, from which I graduated in 1957, proudly—"With Distinction,"—and a B.S. in engineering.

I chose the Air Force for a career (this was before the AF Academy opened!), and was assigned to Wright-Patterson AF Base in Dayton, Ohio, where I worked on developing technical intelligence collection devices. This tour provided me with some interesting opportunities, such as visiting Berlin before the Wall went up, helping "borrow" a Sputnik II satellite for us to look at, getting close to and inside some of the Soviet Union's newest transport aircraft, and seeing President Eisenhower meet Nikita Khrushchev at Idlewilde Airport (now JFK) prior to Khrushchev's visit to the United Nations and his "shoe pounding on desk" episode.

My second assignment was at Newark, Ohio, in 1961, where I was a member of the team that helped construct and operate the Air Force's inertial guidance repair depot. As the missile race heated up, we had the job of repairing and calibrating the guidance systems (gyros and accelerometers) in the Atlas, Titan, and Minuteman missiles). After 4 years there, I attended and graduated from Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, with a Master's of Science, emphasis in Operations Research. From graduate school, I was sent to the Pentagon, from which I never really escaped, and after 3 years traded in my regular commission to become a reservist, and took a civilian job in the Defense Department in Secretary McNamara's Systems Analysis office!

In total, I spent 13 years on active duty in the Air Force, followed by 10 years as a Federal civilian executive, and then 7 more years back on active duty as a full Colonel. I finally retired in 1988. During those years in Washington, I was twice assigned to the Executive Office of the President. The first for six months under President Ford on his Clemency Board from the Vietnam War, and the second for two years under President Carter, to work on his Government Reorganization Project. These experiences gave me opportunities to meet, know, and work with some rather interesting people, such as John Poindexter (before he got into trouble), James Webb (author and Secretary of the Navy), and Colin Powell (when he was a Lieutenant Colonel). (No, I never met Ollie North! But, yes, I did meet Linda Tripp!)

Since 1988, I have been a consultant, specializing in manpower, personnel, and training issues for the Department of Defense. I am now Vice President of a small, fast-growing consulting group, The Wexford Group International (from 4 to 30 employees in two years).

I met my wife, Mary Diane Wildt, at Wright-Patterson, during my first assignment. She is from Parkersburg, West Virginia, and a WVA Graduate (French and English majors). We were married in 1962 and have two sons, both having graduated from Virginia Tech. Mark is an engineer and web site developer living near us, and Greg is a banking specialist, doing consulting work in international banking in Beijing, China, where he has lived for the past 6 years. Both have MBAs, but no children yet (although our oldest son and his wife are now expecting—December!). Diane has owned and operated an antiques shop in Clifton since 1970. Needless to say, we live with a lot of "old stuff" in an early American style home on 6 acres of woods in the far reaches of Fairfax County, Virginia. We also like to travel, trying to get somewhere special every year, even though we both continue to work—much too hard.

Lynn Stevens

I am married to my wife June, and have been for 45 years. We have three children, Kathy, Scott and Mary. We also have 10 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. Our oldest child lives in Anchorage, Alaska, and my other children live in Florida. We have lived in Florida for 41 years. I retired from First Union about 10 years ago and have worked for our local Chevrolet dealer during those last 10 years as I do currently. Look forward to seeing you soon. We will be moving to a new home before going to Kent.

Mary Alyce (Migs) Sumner Jones

I graduated from KSU 1955 and taught primary grades for 16 ½ years, and then substituted for a while. I married Bob Jones who graduated from Ohio State University in Pharmacy and is still working some. We have 2 children. Daughter Kim works at KSU, is married and has one daughter who graduated in Nursing in December 2000. Son Kirk was a teacher, and now works for Met-Life, is married and has two young girls 9 and 7. Both of our children live near us. We have enjoyed boating for 39 years and still go to Lake Erie in the summer.

Rebecca Thyr Nelligan

The first year after graduation I worked at Lamb Electric doing cost accounting and evenings and weekends at Lee Drugs in Kent. The following September I enrolled at Asbury College, a Methodist college in Wilmore, Kentucky, with a major in pre-med. While there my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I returned home, enrolled in Business College, and worked for American Bakeries in Akron, and later for Phillips Petroleum in Kent.

In 1956 1 married and moved to New Jersey. In 1965 1 found myself alone with three small children. I enrolled as a part-time student at Newark State College with a major in secondary education and got my substitute-teaching certificate. For the next eleven years I worked at a variety of jobs.

In 1976 1 moved my family to California where I went to work for the Federal Government - first for the Navy at the oil reserve, then for the FAA in Palmdale at the Air Route Traffic Control Center where I met Ray Nelligan, a systems engineer, a native of Montana, and career FAA.

In 1978 Ray and I were married and I accepted a position as a draftsman at the Long Beach Navy Shipyard where I helped design the women's officers quarters on the Norton Sound (the first Navy ship to go to sea with women sailors on board). From then on whenever Ray was transferred or promoted we moved, and I found a job with the federal government. When Ray was promoted to Assistant Sector Manager in Lancaster, I went to Edward's Air Force Base where I had the opportunity to be out by the dry lakebed when the first space shuttle came back to earth—what a wonderful experience! When Ray was promoted to Sector Manager in Riverside, I worked at March Air Force Base. First at Fifteenth Air Force Headquarters, then the Office of Special Investigations, and at the SAC Manpower office where I was Suggestion Program Manager for five years. While there one of our suggestions saved several million dollars, and received awards from SAC, the Air Force, and the combined US military forces. The last two awards were presented at the Pentagon and I was invited to attend the ceremonies. Also, while at March, I had an opportunity to fly the simulator—not quite an SR71, but fun.

In the fall of 1990 Ray received a job offer in DC with Operational Technologies Services, Inc. (OTS), based in Vienna, Virginia. We moved back East and I went to work in DC for the FAA in Research and Development. We bought a house in Maryland by the Chesapeake where we lived until 1999 when Ray decided he was tired of commuting. We then moved back into our house in Palmdale, California. I am retired, and keep busy with church work and am on The Friends of the Library board. We travel some and occasionally go to New York City to the theatre. Ray still works at home on the computer for OTS and travels to DC for meetings once or twice a year and I usually go with him.

Ronald Thomas

I am married. Linda and I have three children, and eight grandchildren. I retired from Goodyear, live in Orlando, Florida, and we spend most of our time golfing and traveling. Hope to see you at the reunion.

Amy Verheyden Hughes

After high school and college at Kent State, I went to Paris for summer sessions, in Washington for some translation training, and in Mexico City for summer classes. To better my Spanish, I taught in Akron, in Ravenna, and then in Streetsboro when it was still just a small bedroom community for the Euclid Tractor workers.

My son, John, was born in 1959 in Washington, D.C., before I came back to Ohio to teach. At that time a State Department man told me in a private interview at the Department that if I were to follow my son's father to Romania with our child, that "it would be a one way trip for the child and a round trip for you, and that we would do nothing about it!" You can imagine that that did not sit too well with me—the idea of a child growing up in tyranny when I had Hitler's tyranny for my childhood! America is a much better place to grow up and live, none of the super totalitarian stuff!! Thank God!

But, I was confused about how to keep freedom in my own life for my son and me. I must confess that my husband (who had been in a military school as a small child while his mom was off with the Red Cross and his dad off to the Second World War) was a great freedom lover intellectually, but not in every day life for a wife and child. He was more controlling of our lives than he would have wanted for his life. I'll leave it at that. Hindsight is all knowing. Only the very wise and very secure in their own heart and mind do not mess up a marriage in some ways. I was not enough to hold my own and get the relationship that strengthens all parties in a family—well that is my introspective session with my old school chums and I hope you have held your lives and hearts in more secure hands and that your "senior" years are more comfortable and more harmonious than mine.

I live with my son in a "cottage" (small two stories) in the back of my property. The main house sustained a fire 4 months after the mortgage was paid off, but also 4 months after I had been convinced by my husband to drop the insurance! You can all guess the results. No insurance of any kind to use to repair the house and no savings, my health going bad from all the stress—I ended up with cancer! By the way, to all of you and your loved ones: if some jackxxx of a doctor treats you for hemorrhoids ever, go get a second opinion so that the hospital doctors gathering around your bed don't ask you "why did you wait so long?" That was a few hours after the second doctor had told me it was cancer! Don't be trusting in the first doctor or the first family authority that tells you it is only hemorrhoids, or that it is safe to drop the insurance on the house. Get a second opinion for one and put up one hell of a fight for the other—that much I've learned! Mighty late in life, but now I can go on lecture tours!

Well, KEEP HEALTHY, HAPPY AND SUFFICIENTLY WEALTHY AND WISE. Best to us all. May God bless us.

Peggy Weckerly McGowan

50 Years, Green to Golden! My "50 years" really started about a month after graduation, with my marriage to Jerry. And we celebrated our 50th anniversary last month. In between was: three children, boys, in our first 4 years; and they blessed us with 7 grandchildren; and who have recently blessed us with 2 great grandchildren.

We lived in Ohio until l984, traveled many miles in our motor home, spent 20 years doing Western Square Dancing there and here in Florida, and across the U.S as we traveled. Early retirement was our goal, and in 1984 brought us to the Bradenton area of Florida where my mother still lives. We built a home north of Bradenton in l989.

Raising children, and the joy of grandchildren in their early years, the owner of a yarn shop, teaching classes, plus being active in Christian Women's Club and church work kept me busy. It was not long before I became very active in church work here at Parrish United. Methodist Church, and in 1994 I was on the building committee for a new half million dollar church. I spent the remainder of that time as building chairperson for the new church. I do not take any credit for this job, just a position that the Lord put me in, and guidance through those months. I thank Him for continued good health, (just the ache of osteo everything in my back) and a line of excellent doctors here in Florida.

Jerry, after a severe heart attack in 1992, and 5 by-pass surgery, is in very good health, works part time, two days a week at a auto auction, and enjoys the guys he works with. Social life is very strong, and card playing a great pastime evening-event in Florida. It keeps the mind active, and opens our home to friends here. After a trip to Branson in 1998 we came home and picked up our newest member of the family, Sean Lee, an active Shetland Sheepdog, (miniature collie). He loves to travel with us to Ohio or anywhere, and gets me up early every morning for our two-mile walks. This replaces all the square dance miles of the past.

Give everyone my love for them, I will send Donna money for a picture, and include a couple snap shots taken. Was good to talk to Louise Harsha and get some news from her. Best to all, God Bless.

Pat Womer Letwen

Paul and I were married in October 1951. He was called up in the National Guard and sent to Camp Polk, Louisiana, in January. I joined him in February and stayed until he was sent to Germany in the summer. He came home in 1952 and we built our first house in Cortland, Ohio. Our twin daughters were born in 1954. I was in scouts with them as a leader, organizer and day camp leader, until they got to be seniors. Our son was born in 1965. The love of my life, our granddaughter, was born in 1986.

Paul retired in 1991, and when our son moved to Arizona, we became snowbirds for 6 months of the year. I love it.

Jack Woodell

After high school I spent 2 years at Harvard and decided that that was enough for a while. I then went to Alaska and worked until it got cold, when my friends and neighbors decided that I should spend some time serving my country. I maintained tank radios in the Mojave Desert for two years. A big moment was being present at an atom bomb test in Nevada. Harvard started looking pretty good again, so I persuaded them to give me another shot at it. After a year I decided on another vacation and went to work for ITEK (in Mass.) for 5 years making electronic crystal filters. During this time Dorothy and I got married. She finished her senior year in college (on time) and started teaching. We had Jennifer a year later (she is now 40!).

The crystal business shut down in 1962, and I went to MITRE Corporation where I was a technical aide working on air defense simulations. I once got lost inside their XD1 computer that occupied an entire floor of a good sized building. MITRE is an MIT spin-off, and they let employees take courses for free. After taking several courses I decided that it was time to shoot for a degree so I went full time and got my BSEE in 1967 at MIT (not quite on time).

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) then offered me a job designing digital subsystems for spacecraft in California and we moved to La Canada. JPL is the lead U.S. center for robotic exploration of the solar system, managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology. It is located about a mile north of the Rose Bowl. I've been working there ever since except for a 5-year period in the 1970s when I worked for 2 small companies designing special-purpose digital circuits. I helped design a lot of the deep space hardware at JPL including a Voyager computer (which will probably run longer than I will) and the Mars Pathfinder Lander. We still live in the house that we bought a year after coming to California. We did a major addition 8 years ago. I retired in 1999 but I still work 2 days a week at JPL as a contractor. Dorothy retired from her job as a 3rd grade teacher last year but is back for 3 months as an interim head of the lower school.

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion.

Memorials to those deceased:

Migs Sumner Jones led a memorial to the 16 classmates of KSH that have died. This represents nearly one-fourth of the members—a very high percentage. The following is what is known about three of these classmates who have died before their time:

James Daniel Cumpson (1933-1977) (By his son Tod)

After finishing high school, Jim joined the United States Navy and served for four years during the Korean War. He was stationed in the Pacific. It must have been quite unpleasant when he went out to sea because he was quite prone to seasickness.

He returned to attend Kent State University on the GI Bill, wanting to be a teacher as his mother had been. While at Kent State, he was a member of Sigma Chi and worked part time at the old Terex plant south of Hudson. Best of all though, he met Eleanor Freas. She was from Lakewood, Ohio, and was also going to Kent State to become a teacher. They would both graduate from Kent and were married in 1958 in Lakewood.

Jim built their first and second houses in Stow right next to each other. Both taught school at Betty Jane Elementary in Akron. They had two children. Amy was born in 1962 and Tod (unexpectedly soon thereafter) in 1963. Jim went to Akron University for his master's degree and continued to teach school in the Akron School system until 1970. He was hired as the principal of Plain Center Elementary in the Plain Local School system in North Canton, Ohio. Jim was well respected and admired by his teachers and fellow administrators. Ellie also worked in the Plain Local School system as a kindergarten teacher at the same school the kids attended.

Jim's family had roots in the Akron area and in Southern Ohio. In the early 1960s, he purchased the farm near Graysville, Ohio, where his grandfather had lived as a boy. It was 75 acres of rolling wooded hills. He loved to go there on weekends to work on the place and planned many trips around estate auctions in the area. He loved antiques and the auctions were full of bargains. Amy still has the player piano he paid one dollar for.

He took his family on vacation every summer, usually to St. Petersburg/Treasure Island, Florida, and also to Colorado, Oregon, Texas, and New England. The trip to New England was really a disguise to go look for antiques.

Jim passed away on December 7, 1977, from accidental causes. Ellie remarried in 1980 to Paul Tomlinson and lived in Uniontown, Ohio, until her death in 1994.

Amy married Tom Waples, from Suffield, Ohio, and they now live in Mogadore, Ohio, with their two children Sean and Erin. Tod married Tracy Loesch, from Colorado, and they now live in Highlands Ranch, Colorado with their two children Caitlin and Cierra.

By: Tod Cumpson
9691 S. Sterling Drive
Highlands Ranch, Colorado 80126
303-470-0364
Tcumpson@aol.com

Gertrude Ann Ludick Aberegg (her obituary)

Gertrude Ann Aberegg, 67, of East Summit Street, Kent, died Saturday, June 17, 2000, at Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital. Born April 20, 1933 in Brimfield, she was the daughter of Joseph T. and Helen M. (Overholt) Ludick. Mrs. Aberegg was a member of the United Methodist Church of Kent and the Brimfield Girls Club.

Survivors include her son, Edward (Gina) of Valencia, Calif.; daughters, Pamela (Stephen) Jacobs of Rochester Hills, Mich., Karen (Michael) Gray of Strongsville, Marcia of Irvine, Calif., and Helen of Kent; five grandchildren; mother, Helen M. Ludick of Kent; brothers, Dale of Littleton, Colo., Tom of Novelty, and Richard Ludick of Lafayette, Tenn.; and sisters, Marie Cannon and Carolyn Stevenson of Stow. Her brother, Glen Ludick, died in 1994.

Calling hours will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Bissler & Sons Funeral Home in Kent. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at the United Methodist Church of Kent, with the Rev. Dr. David Palmer and the Rev. Kay Dunlap officiating.

Memorials may be made to the Glen Ludick Memorial Fund in the name of Gertrude Aberegg, Kent City Schools, 321 N. DePeyster St., Kent.

Mary Stevens Elliott (her obituary)

Mary Stevens Elliott, of Lynn Haven, Florida, died Wednesday, August 16, 2000, in her home. She had been a resident of Bay County since 1964, moving here from Cleveland, Ohio. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jim Elliott. She was a member of St. Dominic's Roman Catholic Church.

She is survived by three sons, Mark and Jimmy, both of Panama City, and Billy Elliott and his wife, Sharon, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; six grandchildren, Elizabeth, Sarah, Christopher, Aaron, Andrew, and Alexander Elliott; four brothers, Lynn of Daytona Beach, Florida, Larry of Panama City, Florida, Steve of Cordas Lake, Arizona, and John Stevens of Kent, Ohio.

Funeral services will be held Saturday at 10 AM in St. Dominic's Roman Catholic Church with Father Peter Zalewski officiating. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 6 to 8 PM, Friday.

Those desiring, may make a contribution to the American Heart Association in memory of Mary Elliott.

Lost Classmates:

The following list of classmates appear to be lost our otherwise out-of-touch at this time:

  • Allan P. Bricker
  • Art Close
  • Albert L. Day
  • Dolores Jean Loraditch
  • Jo Ann Sabine
  • James L. Taylor
Pictures:

Retutn to this website to view a few select pictures from the early days!

Written by David A. Smith, with personal biographies contributed by individual members of the class.

Website posted November 17, 1999.

Updated September 26, 2001.

Webmaster:
Margaret Garmon.

School of Journalism and Mass Communication

mgarmon@kent.edu