"Bomber Memories"
September 6, 7, & 8 1998
September 6, 1998
Barbara Kramer Krema
(54)
I am a class of '54 graduate, Barb Kramer, and was the Sandstorm editor (paper kind) in my senior year. I had great peer teachers in Al Parker, Norma Loescher and Bill Witherup who went the year before me. I saw a note from one of Bill's sisters in which she said he is a published author. Hooray for him. Any chance he will someday tell the story of his famous bike trip that made the Tri City Herald News? My dad, as an expediter, was one of the first on the Richland scene but due to no housing yet, our family lived in Walla Walla (dad in a shared room in Pasco) until our "A" house was ready. We were the 6th family to move in to a house. The address was 13 Thayer and sat in a small cul de sac. The "B" house directly on Thayer was occupied by the McCoy family, sons Dick and Pat. Margaret Lyneis ('56) and her family were our "A" house 'partners'. When we were older, Margaret and I would hike to the Indian burial grounds behind the stables and dig for treasures. Margaret is now a professor of archeology at UNLV. Across the street from our first house was an asparagus field and boy did we eat asparagus. Actually it also grew in our yard and in the half basement. Due to no sunlight , it seemed like a strange alien invading our house, or so I told my little sister, Sandy Kramer Baker ('57). No one had pets at first so the stray shepherd that was left behind became the neighborhood pet. We named him Prince. Note to Marilyn Peddicord--I have a book titled Tales of Richland, White Bluffs and Hanford 1805-1943 in which your father is mentioned several times in his capacity as postmaster. The last chapter deals with how the people dealt with the sudden knowledge of having to move. It must have been tough.
Jim Byron (55)
I moved into 1410 Mahan right after it was built (just up the street from 1304)! My mother still lives there 51 years later! There weren't many trees in 1947 but that allowed for the sandstorms to hit our house directly which I liked, but Mom didn't care for sand too much!
Tony Tellier (57)
RE: << thanks to technology and Tony Tellier who gave me his WWI trench periscope, I was able to practice voyeurism at a tender age. Unfortunately, the periscope tended to "expose" my position and more than once I barely escaped without bodily injury.
Greg: Is this comment to be considered some sort of sneaky back-handed accusation of aiding-and-abetting voyeurism and creeping peeping-Gregism? You MAY be forced to register yourself with the local authorities ...
I have been reviewing your convoluted resume ... we have parallel lives and times, it seems. "May you live in 'interesting times'." Musta been in the local water ... or Torbett Street.
Steve Carson (58)
The thing I remember about Clearwater in Kennewick was the Tolo Dance in 58. Norris and CJ Brown were elected Tolo King and Prince. When we showed up for the dance the management noticed that the Brown brothers were Black. As a group we turned around and left, leaving them with an empty hall.
Kathy Rathvon (63)
Grant Ross did sing. I don't remember who the others in the group were. He sang "Peggy Sue." And could he ever move his hips!
Hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes was one of my favorites.
Kathy Rathvon
Mary Sullivan (64)
I was pleasantly surprised to read that someone outside of "The Sullivan" family remembers "The CINNAMON BEAR" !!! Even though we always knew how it would end we faithfully listened year after year!
Anyone remember the "Bomb Scare" at Chief Joe in '60 or '61????? I believe it was one of our own classmates who called it in but can't remember his name. Wonder where "HE" is today???? How about "SPATS" ? at Chief Joe? I can't remember the teacher's name but I was in his General Math class and can recall numerous times that he and a "suffering" classmate would often exit the class door with a board in hand!!!!! Back then I don't think anyone would have even thought of bringing forth a lawsuit!!!!! Re: President Kennedy - I recall that he came in the early fall of "63. I remember that school was let out and that parents and kids alike lead a HUGE one lane caravan -- it was bumper to bumper traffic out to the middle of NOWHERE and they had even set up portable "outhouses". And we waited and waited and then out of NOWHERE there was a helicopter flying overhead with dust blowing everywhere!!! We were quite a sight ourselves!! It IS GREAT to share all these memories.
Carolyn Karns Keck (65)
Bill Craddock there was also Bobby Vee (Night Had A Thousand Eyes ). He wore shoes with elevators on them he was so short and yes it did burn down one of the worst fires because they didn't rebuild. Such a nice place too.
Carolyn Karns
Chuck Monasmith (65)
Someone already remarked about the large percentage of RHS alumni that are online. Well... Duh! You didn't expect anything less from Bombers did you?
Anyone remember the go-cart track across the by-pass and in back of Acme Concrete? That's where Guy Forbes and his dad supported my fascination with road racing! Now, I can vouch that road racing is the fastest way to go from riches to rags!
Chuck Monasmith
David Shults (70)
The 5 & 10 mentioned earlier might have been "Roscoe's 5 & 10". The store was on the G-Way side of the Uptown Shopping Center, next to McCartney's Optical, now Uptown Vision Center. The old Kaiser's Market name changed in the late 70's/early 80's to the Leprechaun Market and burned down under that name. Those neighborhood soda fountains were nice to have. Just a quick jump on the "balloon tired" hand-me-down bike and you were there in air conditioned comfort (so what if it was just a swamp cooler). My local fountain was called Ray's Drug off the corner of Goethals and Symons. The store later changed to Malley's Drug for some years and sat vacant when the store moved to the G-way location.
Duane
Joy Stanfield Kesel
(71)
Helen Burns was in the gym at Col. High in 1970. Loved her.
Does any one remember War Ball? Strange sport.
Does any one remember Mr. Bennett from Chief Joseph 1968? Loved him.
Getting kicked out of school for short skirts?
Hacks for small infractions?
Does any one remember being kicked out of school if you didn't get a hair cut every week?
Am I the only one with bad memories?
The memories are flowing.
The store next to the movie theater at Uptown used to sell kids high heels. I loved prancing around in those heels in front of my older siblings friends. (One day my heel broke and my heart broke.) Loved you older guys I guess. Always thought I would grow up to wear heels everyday but only put them on once in a blue moon.
September 7, 1998
Millie Finch Gregg (54)
Greetings to the great Green and Gold!
Also haven't heard anyone remember the greatest steno teacher ever ..............."RED" Joyce Redekopp. She really made you work, but it paid off as far as jobs down the road.
Also does any remember (how could we forget) Anastasia Furman!! What a joke.
Millie Gregg
Jim Russell (58)
To Steve Carson (58): Just for the record, the Tolo Week walk-out at Kennewick had to have been 1957, not 1958. Norris Brown graduated in 1957. Dennis Barr was Tolo King in 1958.
And speaking of Tolo Week and other such Saidie Hawkins Day events, do they still have them? I would be surprised. Gender roles are less defined these days. Remember when the gals had to carry their fella's books? I'll bet it would never cross a guy's mind to offer to carry her books, today!
My introduction to Richland schooling came about in 1949, when we moved from Oregon. My first teacher in Richland (Lewis and Clark), was Mrs. Fievez, who I think was ill for an extended period of time that year. Her son Dan Fievez was in our graduating class, but I don't think he had his mother as a teacher.
My 5th grade teacher was Mrs. Brinkman, and her daughter Sandy Brinkman was also in our graduating class.
Miss (not Ms) Westerlund was our 6th grade teacher. I thought she was kind of terrific, because we got to listen to the World Series during class. (Her childhood friend, Wes Westrum was catcher for the New York Giants).
We were pleasantly surprised to find that our homeroom teacher in 7th grade at Carmichael was Mrs. Lindblad. Yep, the same Miss Westerlund had married during the summer and moved up one grade with the rest of us.
Jim
Carol Converse Maurer (64)
Does anyone remember the name of the drugstore that was across the parking lot from CC Andersons? I can't remember, with all these memories, if anyone has mentioned it or not? I remember walking there all the time. Did a lot of Christmas shopping there when I went to L & C.
Carol Converse
Patty de la Bretonne (65)
I'm remembering the ddt jeep in the summer, we used to run or ride our bikes behind it. Loved that smell! Yikes, and I'm still alive.
Patty de la Bretonne
Mina Jo Gerry Payson (68)
Re school lunches: Loved the hamburger gravy, hated the spinach. Remember having "meatless" fridays to accommodate the catholic students? How about the Thanksgiving Dinner when they would take the lunch count several days in advance? It was complete with ice cream bar for dessert. Boy, what a great meal!! Nancy Roy (PE, Carmichael) told me in later years that she was confused about this turkey dinner business, thinking that it meant sliced turkey and stuffing because of the big deal that was made to get lunch counts. She was shocked to see the turkey gravy over mashed potatoes on the big day.
September 8, 1998
Marguerite Groff Tompkins (54)
Memories?? I guess I start at the beginning (makes sense to me) - we moved here January 20, 1945. I remember the date because my brother, Bill Groff ('61) turned 2 that day and my parents forgot his birthday until they were in bed that night. I don't think he suffered any permanent damage from this - but then again...
We moved into a house at 1528 McPherson and within a couple of years moved to 1530 McPherson. Eight kids from our neighborhood graduated together in 1954. I always figured that was pretty unique. We are still close after all these years. I always felt we moved into the best neighborhood in town. Eventually we moved to a "Ranch" house at 2402 Olympia (so new that dad had to plant the grass - and spent hours and hours watering it). Later we ended up in a prefab on Snow (I think 930) - dad temporarily had gone from Supervisor to bus driver (you know - those buses that carried the workers everyday to the places we didn't know where or why). At the same time, rent went up on the ranch house and dad found someone who wanted to trade up - while we traded down. One more time we traded - and that was giving our prefab to a widower (with one child still at home) and we took his "H" house - which was what mom wanted from the day we moved into town. My parents and then my mom lived there until 1995.
I have lots of memories about growing up here in Richland. All I can say is it was wonderful and to me the most unique place in the country. Because everyone here was from somewhere else, none of us were strangers. No one was ever treated like an outsider. I went to Sacajawea School until January/February of 7th grade and then we moved into the brand new Carmichael Junior High. It was great because we made new friends with kids from Lewis and Clark, Marcus Whitman and Jefferson - was that when the kids from John Ball (North Richland) joined us?. The teacher we brought with us from Sacajawea was Mr. Langford. It was his first year of teaching and after us - it was his last year. It wasn't that we were so bad - he just didn't have what it took - and we probably took advantage. I also remember Mr. Dunton (our chorus director). I remember when he was having a bad time one day and he told us that some days he got so mad at us he would go home and "kick the dog". Also Mr. Jantz. Did he really say how good we were? I've seen him several times over the years, but didn't realize how bad his memory had gotten. Hey - remember our all-male cheerleaders at Carmichael? They were great!! Eventually we were at Col High (can't help but use that name when I talk about the early 50s). Football, basketball, Pep Club, outdoor skating rink, all the fun - Harley Stell (again, chorus director) - Nadine Brown - Ida Mechum - Art Dawald (sports and Government) - Miss Redicopp (typing) - lots of memories connected with these teachers and others. What is so great is all the friends we had then that we still have whether they live here or across the country.
Just a name or a quick memory from someone else's memory and we are transported back to those days. I have so many many memories of those years that it's impossible to put them down here right now. I have a feeling that I'm going to feel compelled to do it now and then when something that someone else says ignites another memory for me.
Ken Heminger (56)
More things to remember...
I mentioned before attending John Ball School in North Richland, All my memories for the most part has turned to syrup for that period. I do remember that the school was made of Quonset Huts, all hooked together by a long hallway. I remember they put two huts end to end and called it a Gym. They had us kids go in on the new floor in stocking feet and slide around in an attempt to shine the floor. I remember that because I drove a big Splinter into my foot. I don't remember who pulled it out, but I remember they used pliers. As for teachers my fondest memory was Mr Harding. He was my favorite even tho we made a couple of trips to the gym for a little corporal punishment. I can tell you he swung a mean Ping Pong Paddle. Any Info out there as to what ever happened to him? I also seem to remember a teacher Miss Hensley. She was a looker as I remember it. Maybe someone else remembers her and can verify that she was there.
To Gloria Falls Evans:
I don't remember the bomb shelters or ditches. All I remember was the Playground in the back. I remember wrought iron sides on the desks as one of my love notes fell through the crack and Mr Harding found it and read it to the class. There were two girls I liked then, neither cared for me. Denise Lamont, and Juanita Wundrow. (Not sure of the spellings) As for Chief Jo. I was fortunate to be in the first Class to attend there. We voted on the school colors, the first Cheer Leaders, etc. I'm not sure about the name, I think it came with the school.
Jim Russell (58)
If as many of us were in the mosquito fog, I'm surprised we didn't trample each other to death! The Downwinders haven't even taken this recreational activity into account to determine the effects on our health. Radio-active fallout can only be part of the exposure problem. Foot/shoe X-rays at C.C. Anderson's, mouthsful of irrigation ditch water, mosquito spray, lead paint! Thank heavens for the spudnut antidote!
Jim
Earl Bennett (63)
Mary Sullivan: The math teacher with the awesome "spat" board was Mr. Barnard. The shop teacher had an impressive one, too. I had one personal experience in Mr. Barnard's class, based on failure to complete the penalty (500 times write "I will not talk in class," or some such) imposed for talking too much with Barbara (last name lost until I can dig out my annuals). As I recall he was slender but solid. I think he liked to use the phrase "apply the board of education to the seat of learning." Barbara also failed to complete the assignment, but she was wearing about 3 inches of petticoats or something under her skirt that day, knowing what was coming - grinned like crazy walking back to her seat, while I squirmed in my one layer of polished cotton and Hanes. Vivid, tactile memory! I made a paddle like it once, but and my wife was afraid it would do our kids permanent damage, so it was quickly scrapped.
Later. ecb3
David Rodriguez (69) and
Linda Barott Rodriguez (71)
Hey, does anybody remember the dances at the community house with Skinner and Hexum doing the gator or how about the dances at the West Richland community house doing the limbo and the watusi. I also remember enjoying chile and cinnamon rolls or pizza as my two favorite meals at school. Anybody remember those dare devil snow rides down the face of Flat Top, it hurt so bad you can still feel it today if you think about it.
Keeping in touch,
David Rodriguez and Linda Barott Rodriguez
Susy Rathjen Whitney (71)
I remember on the Christmas and Thanksgiving lunch days, at Lewis and Clark, if you weren't going to be having the turkey hot lunch, you had to go eat in Mrs. Teats' music room. Now, it sounds absurd, but back then, nobody thought a thing of it. I was in Mrs. Thompson's 2nd grade class and had a friend, who never got to have hot lunch, only a peanut butter sandwich everyday. I remember being concerned about her being in the music room. I told my mom, who remedied the problem. She fried up a batch of chicken, packed it in a lunch sack with hard boiled eggs, bread and butter and I'm sure a dessert and sent me to school that day. When it came time for lunch, I went to the music room and holding up the bulging sack, informed the teacher that "I had accidentally picked up my dads lunch". I still remember my friend and me, sitting on our knees, with our lunch on the folding chair, sharing it together. Had I had a turkey hot lunch, I would never have remembered that day.
Susy Rathjen Whitney
Margaret (Peggy) Hartnett (72)
Thought I'd say that I am beginning to worry that this collective consciousness experiment we've got going here may turn us into the Borg.
The classes of the 50's and 60's are much better represented,
I'm sure those of us in the 70's envision ourselves "sooooooo terribly busy!" And a few comments:
Denis Sullivan asked about a movement to remove the mushroom cloud, he's right. It was either the '70 or '71 state meeting of all the high school student body officers (don't know if that occurs these days). There was an overwhelmingly strong feeling that given the times the bomb cloud was outdated, inappropriate, tasteless, sick, etc. Well, the reaction at Col Hi was a resounding, Pshaw (or something to that effect), hey you want to be a Beaver, be a Beaver, we're sticking with the Bomb. Having said that, I have to admit, going though life trying to explain the bomb, ( it was in The New York Times 3 times in the decade I lived there), was/is not particularly easy . There is a fundamental alienation that I feel about Richland, absolutely a great place to be a kid, grow up and everything that shows up in the memories we share, but in my heart I wish it hadn't all been about weapons grade plutonium. It seems to me that there is a reluctance to mention the aspects that not all of us feel were positive. Yes, weindeed we a bit of a "classless" social experiment, we were also a big biological experiment, no one ever questioned why we were being put on whole body counters and what ever happened to the data. It may seem quaint that our dads might not come home from work and you didn't ask why, now wouldn't we consider that reaction naive at best. All that said, we are what we are A-city Youth.
