John MacLeod

Larry Epstein.........Good to see that you are checking in occasionally.  I hope that retirement is is going well for you.  I know that Chelan can get pretty cold in the winter and the summer scorching hot, but spring and fall are just riiight.

Sandra Smith Hanson

I think that somewhere I have a Girl Scout Troop photo with Kathy Grovac in it.  Merilee (McElroy) Watson might have it too, since her Mom was a leader.  Nancy, your Mom was a leader too, do you remember that photo?  It was taken in about 1958 or 1959 at Merilee's house.  I'll try to dig it out.

Debra Moore Murga

John

Didn't Kathy Grovac die from phenomia? For some reason thats sounds right to me.

John MacLeod

Debra....

I truly do not know what caused Kathy's death.  I seem to remember that she died at home.  It indeed could have been pneumonia.  Maybe some who knew her better can let us know.

John

John MacLeod

John, Johnny Hein.........Nice update.  I see that you are still doing life without the possibility of parole on Camano Island.  I imagine that area has changed, a lot, in the time you've been living there.

Now that you got my attention.  Who the heck is Robin???

John MacLeod

If I had known the site was going to show my picture everytime I made a posting, I would have done a little cutting and pasting.  I am thinking I will take my handsome good looks and paste it onto a photo of Christopher Reeve in one of his Superman poses.  As always hindsite is 20/20 with the help of time and lasik eye surgery.

Debra Moore Murga

When I was working as a temp for Philips I took a small picture of Marilyn Monroe and put her face over mine on my badge. We both had blonde hair so no one even noticed. They knew who I was so no one ever looked at my badge.

Nancy Raetzloff Groth

Many thanks to John Hein for the year of death additions to our In Memory section.  I hope I got them all in correctly.  Thanks for all the help on pictures of Kathy Grovac.  I will take whatever I can get since I don't personally have any pics that I know of.  As far as I remember, Kathy died of pneumonia as Debra also remembers.  Sandi, if you find anything, let me know.  I do have one box of pics that came from my mom's but I didn't see anything of Kathy there.  My class pics from Whitworth and Sharples don't include Kathy so I am assuming that she had some other class for her home room.  I had Mrs. Lewis at Whitworth so if anyone had Mrs.  Bray or Mr. (some Japanese name that I have now forgotten) let me know.  If you still have your home room picture, Kathy may be in it.  It is only 93 degrees here today which is very unusual with summer officially beginning on Monday.  

John MacLeod

Susan..........Did you get up early or stay up all night to watch Fravashi run in the Golden Jubilee Stakes at the Royal Ascot Raceway??

For those who don't know or remember, Susan raises and races horses in her spare time.  As if any of us have spare time. That goes hand in hand with spare change.  Anyway, Fravashi is Australia's horse running in the race today (06/19/10) in England.  If he wins and if Sue put enough money down with the bookies, maybe she will have some spare time and spare change.

Hope springs eternal..........

John MacLeod

Susan.......As I am sure know by now, it was indeed an Aussie horse that won at The Royal Ascot.  Starbangledbanner was the big winner.  As the favorite to win I don't think there was much money to be made in the betting pool.  I wasn't sure if Starbangledbanner was an Australian or not.  What with the name and off training in Ireland for the past year.

Maybe I should stick to sawing wood and drinking coffee.  Most days I do a pretty fair job at both.

John

Sandra Smith Hanson

I also think Kathy Grovac died at home of pneumonial.  If memory serves me correctly, I think her parent's were Christian Science and did not believe in medical intervention.  I also seem to remember that her Mother had gone to the kitchen to make (or get) her some chicken soup and when she came back Kathy was gone.  How sad for everyone involved.  I think she hung out the most with Marsha Gross, Chris Lazara, and Susan Marino, but I'm not certain about that.  Maybe they would have more information.

Nancy, I won't have time to look in the next couple of weeks, but I WILL look for those photos.  Somewhere I have the 6th grade photo from Whitworth (I know I ran across it not too long ago), and also a 4th grade photo from Mr. Duane's class and 5th or 6th grade photo from Mrs. Bray's class (she kept the same class for 2 years - just moved up with us). 

Today is the first day of summer and we're having mediocre (low to mid-70's) temps.  It will probably be scorching hot about the time the kids return to school near the end of August.  That's usually what happens when we have a wetter than average winter and a cooler than average spring.

Debra Moore Murga

I remember also the fact that Kathy's family was christian scientists and did not believe in medical intervention as well.

Nancy Raetzloff Groth

Thanks to everyone for your input and for looking for photos of Kathy Grovac.   Phil Anderson had a few which he sent and I emailed the photo from our '66 annual.  If anyone finds any others, let me know and I will send them on.  Anna is thrilled to finally see what her aunt Kathy looked like.  Perhaps one thing that we could do is think of a memory of Kathy and put it on her profile which is in the "In Memory" section of this website.  I think it would be great if we did that for all of those classmates that we have listed "In Memory" .  It would not only be fun to read but would be a great tribute to our classmates.

Susan Niven

As of yesterday, Australia has a new Prime Minister.  Kevin Rudd out Julia Gillard in.  Only time will tell how long that will last - politically all is not real well Down Under.

John MacLeod

Marlene Souriano...........Nice update to your profile.  Sounds like all goes well for you and your family.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Fourth of July.  Safe at the least.  Sane is in the eye of the individual.

Hoodsport was rocking this weekend.  We had our 25th annual street fair and festival, culminating in a fireworks display at the end of the town pier.  One of the few community fireworks displays left.  We have a raffle, auction, tee shirt sale and donations in order to pay for everything.  The town fills up with 4 to 5 thousand people.  Lots of fun and lots of work.

Philip Anderson

All:

I sent Tim Grovac two pictures of Kathy, both annual pictures, one from 9th grade that is a pretty good picture and the in-memory picture from our sophomore year book that I know some of you also sent. I know I have several others including one from a birthday party of mine and several Whitworth class pictures including one from second grade, will need to do a little digging to find those. 

I will be in D. C. on a work related trip in August and hope to see Tim and his family. I have talked with him by phone and he seems to be doing well. You are right, Kathy died on a Monday after a brief illness that started over the weekend, I had walked her home on the Friday before her tragic death. You are also correct that no doctors were consulted regarding her illness.

Hope this finds you all well.  Phil Anderson  

John MacLeod

Phil........

Thanks for the update.  I know it was quite a shock to all of us at the time it happened.  One of life's lessons that has stayed with many of us.

On a brighter note.  Congratulations on your promotion to Director of the Washington State Department of Fisheries.  Not bad.  From bait boy to top dog(fish) in 50 short years.

John

Nancy Raetzloff Groth

Thinking about the Department of Fisheries brings to mind Sherrie Diane Jones Emerson of our class who lived at the Seward Park Fish Hatchery.  One time during the summer I was invited to spend the day and overnight with Sherrie.  Her mom made homemade donuts for us which was quite a treat for me as my mom was more into arts and crafts than cooking and baking.  Sherrie's dad let the two of us swim in one of the ponds that had been cleaned out after releasing the fish into the lake.  It was incredible fun for me since I was far from ever having a backyard swimming pool.  On a hot summer day it was really a special time.  Simple pleasures can really make for great memories.  I suspect that there would be some law today preventing such an activity.

John MacLeod

Nancy...........

My first Seattle Times paper route included Sherrie's place, as well as the snack building.  Fortunately the Jones' had a paper tube at Juneau St. and Seward Park Ave.  However I had to go out there to collect.  Not too bad in the summer but a real pain in the winter.  I'd hop on my bicycle and peddle out there to collect the $2.25 for the month.

Somewhere I have a photo of the waterfall at the hatchery all frozen.

Tony Volchok

  I am sorry to say that another 1968 grad has passed away. Steve Muscatel passed away early this morning.  His funeral servie will be held Sunday July 11th at the Washelli funeral home.

John MacLeod

Sorry to hear about Steve's passing.  I found his obit online and will try to post it here.  As we all know tomorrow is promised to no one and all of our tomorrows are growing shorter.

 

Steven M. MUSCATEL Steve Muscatel, beloved husband, father and son passed away unexpectedly July 8, 2010. Born to Sue and Sam Muscatel in Seattle on July 31, 1950, Steve is survived by his loving wife of 37 years, Debbie Muscatel, daughter Samantha Searles (Trapper), son Taylor Muscatel, mother Sue Muscatel, sister Lynda Horowitz (Don), sister-in-laws Wendi Portnoy (Louie), Shari Altchech (Jeff), in-laws Cookie and Elazar Behar, Ron and Jan Weiss, numerous nieces, nephews and cousins, and his favorite dog Chloe. He was preceded in death by his father Sam and his brother Alan Muscatel. A longtime member of the Pike Place Market community, Steve and his family owned and operated the Metro Parking, Inc. for more than 50 years. He was a lifetime member of the Seattle Sephardic Brotherhood, of which he was a board member, and Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation. All who were lucky enough to know Steve know that he lived life to its fullest. His incredible zest for life was contagious to everyone around him. If he met you once, he considered you a part of his family. He loved good food, traveling with his family, keeping his car clean, Costco (and its generous return policy), collecting watches and pens, and was always on the hunt for the perfect corned beef sandwich with the best Russian dressing. Services will be held Sunday, July 11, 2010 at 11:30am at Evergreen Washelli, 11111 Aurora Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98113. Internment will follow at the Sephardic Brotherhood Cemetery, 1230 N. 167th Street, Shoreline, WA 98133. In honor of Steve services will start promptly five minutes late. The family suggests donations be made to Medic One or the charity of your choice. Steve will be missed by all who knew him.

Nancy Raetzloff Groth

Thanks John for posting the obit for Steve Muscatel.  I have added it to Steve's profile in the "In Memory" section as well.   We are family and we will miss Steve.  Our prayers are with the family, and I would apprecite it if those who knew Steve well would add their own memories and comments to his profile.

Karen Kummerfeldt

I was so shocked and saddened to read the paper yesterday and see that Steve was gone.  My memories of so much of high school are beginning to fade, but I do remember Steve as a really good guy. 

Are any of you able to go to the service tomorrow?  I would like to attend, but feel a bit shy about it because I didn't know his family.  Please let me know.

Steve Condiotty

We lost a great friend and classmate. Steve was the kind of guy that lightened up a room every time he walked in. My wife and I vacationed alot with Steve and Deb throughout the years, and I can only say that the memories will help with the sorrow we all feel. Rest in peace my dear friend...

John MacLeod

Good News!!

According to an article I read this morning, uh, I think. ".....new research suggests that the memory and mind improve as we get older, peaking as late as in the 60's."  Oh boy, there is hope yet.  Evidently this is one of the conclusions drawn in a newly released book "The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain".  Some of the research comes from the "Seattle Longitudinal Study", which has tracked about 6,000 individuals since 1956.  I don't think I am in that study.  I am fairly sure I would remember, uh, I think, uh maybe.