2002 Spring

CLASS OF 1957 45th CLASS REUNION

AUGUST 24, 2002

CORRALITOS PADRES

2:00 PM TO...

$45.00 a person

New addresses:

Deanna Beckwith 1055 Ellendale Dr. #223 Medford, OR 97504

Sue Carpenetti 136 N. Carl Dr. Visalia, CA. 93291

Gene Ortiz 1594 Mesquite Dr. #204 Salinas, CA. 93905

Charles Wygal 3955 S. Stage Rd. Medford, OR 97501

John Bixler" 910 E. First Ave. East Oskaloosa, Iowa 52577

Margaret Marini 12 Shaggy Mane Cr. Vallecito Lake, Bayfield, CO

81122-8776

Jenell Phariss 342 Mesa Verde Dr. Watsonville, CA 95076

Nancy Jean Wolfe 26147 Alantic St. Lauruim, Michigan 49913-2604

Linda Barnes Rt. 5 Box 1409 Muldrow, OK 74948

Don Vines 425 W. 20th St. Long Beach, CA 90806

GOD BLESS YOU,

AMERICA!

PLEASE GET WELL SOON

Our heartfelt prayers & sympathy go out to all who have been directly

touched by the tragedy of Sept. 11th & their families. We pray for wisdom

as our nation responds to this insane act.

News:

We have a new website address for our class. Please note:

http:..www.geocities.com/higakij/ It will come up as Club 1.

Bob Dixon & his wife celebrated 31 years of marriage. They have 6

children & 13 grandchildren. Bob & Judy reside in Carson City, Nevada &

also have a home on the shore at Lake Topaz. Bob owns his own

company, called Redixon. You can visit it on line at redixon.com.

Maury Bye retired after 30 years at San Jose Police Dept. as a lieutenant

in 1991. He was the police chief for their college district for a few years & is

now semi-retired & working for the District Attorney part-time. Their last

(4th) child, Tiffany, started Cal Poly majoring in Engineering. Their oldest

child is 42 & is retired & living in Aptos. They have been raising children for

a long time. They also have 2 teenage grandsons. Maury & his wife live in

Santa Clara.

Sally England's father Neil England died July 29. He was 91. He

attended WHS & Oregon State. He loved sports & played semi professional

baseball. He was a long time resident & local businessman. Mr. England

was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy McGowan England. He is

survived by two daughters, Sally & Nancy; one son, Neil; nine

grandchildren including Sally's three children, Suzanne, Christine & John;

five great-grandchildren.

Janet Pelich's father, Mitchell Pelich died August 12. Cars were always a

major part of Mr. Pelich's life, from driving deliveries for his family's Lincoln

Street Bakery as a youth, to owning Pelich Brothers DeSoto-Plymouth

dealership. Pelich Brothers was a Watsonville landmark at the corner of

East Lake & Lincoln Street until the 1970's. Mr. Pelich is preceded in death

by his first wife, Helen Burr Pelich. He is survived by his wife Clare

Hazelton Pelich; two daughters Janet & Shirley; a son Tom; six

grandchildren including Janet's two daughters, Valerie & Christina; 3 great

grandchildren; 3 nieces including Diane Pelich.

*Surprises cease to happen...Jerry Chin & Maryella Kerns ran into each

other at a mutual friend's wedding in Tiburon. They have a handshake

agreement in the presence of Maryella's two daughters as witnesses to

attend the 45th class reunion in 2002. See you there Jerry & Maryella.

Jane Sullivan is a grandma again. Jane's daughter, Julie gave birth to

Reed Ross Martel on Sept. 14. He joins brothers, Will & Luke.

Gary Costa's daughter Karen gave birth to their second child, Kazlyn

Patricia Williamson, born October 1. Gary is now the grandpa of 4 boys & 2

girls. Gary is looking forward to our next reunion.

Mieko Hirahara's mother, Yoshiko Kimura died October 19th after a brief

illness. She was a native of Watsonville & a member of the Buddhist

Temple. Mrs. Kimura is survived by her husband George Kimura; daughter

Mieko; three sons, Manabu, Kaoru & Terry; seven grandchildren & three

great-grandchildren.

Names out of our past It has been fun hearing from former classmates

who have been lost from our address list. We look forward to meeting

them again at our reunion

Margaret Ann Marini Smith lived in Watsonville until 1949. She attended

Mintie White & Freedom Elementary Schools. There were 7 children in her

family. Margaret graduated from high school in El Centro, Class of 1957.

She married Roy Smith, he went to school in Watsonvillville also. They

have 2 children & 3 grandchildren. They owned a Bar & Rstaurant in El

Centro for 23 years & also a Gift Gallery in Pine Valley. Now, they are off

on a new adventure, moving to Vallecito Lake which is 25 miles northeast

of Durango, CO. They enjoy snowmobiling & crosscountry skiing.

Jenell Phariss went to Freedom School & attended Watsonville High

before marrying Tommy Ragan. Jenell was a hair dresser before her

retirement. She has 4 children & lives in Watsonville. They keep busy

remodeling their home & caring for Jenell's mother.

Nancy Wolfe attented Aptos Elementary School in the 8th grade &

Watsonville High freshman year. She moved to Elgin, Illinois. Nancy has 5

children & 16 grandchildren. She was a stay at home Mom. One of her

daughters served in the Army & a grandson is a corporal in the Marines.

Nancy lives in Lauruim, Michigan.

Steve Siebes writes that his sister Joan, class of '56 died April 12 due to

bone cancer. Joan & her husband lived in Astoria, Oregon. They had 6

children & 5 grandchildren. Steve's sister Sandra & her husband live in

Warrenton, Oregon & his brother Jerry & his wife Pat live in Colorado

Springs. Steve & his partner have been together for 31 years & live in Palm

Springs. After Joan's memorial service in Half Moon Bay, Steve drove thru

Watsonville many memories, very nostalgic. Steve is planning on coming

to the reunion next year.

Linda Barnes lives in Muld Oklahoma. Linda married a military man, so

she lived in many places for 20 years. He died in 1977 & Linda stayed in

Oklahoma, their home at the time. She has been with her friend for 14

years.

Don Vines lives in Long Beach. He works driving a truck for a tanker

company, hauling chemicals & plastisizers. He is thinking about retiring but

still only in the planning stages. He has bought property in the Prescott,

Arizona area. He sends his greetings to everyone.

Thanks for your letters. Good to hear from our former classmates.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Bill Osborn writes that his youngest son found his princess. They were

married in Maui on the beach at sunset with crashing waves as the

background music, Oct. 5th. Bill was the Best Man for his son David. They

wore Hawaiian attire sandals, matching Aloha shirts & shorts. Upon return

to the mainland a reception was held Oct. 20th. So getting "Mauied" on

Maui is "some ono"....Hawaiian for good. David has a twin sister, Laurie.

Bill has another older daughter, Heather & two handsome grandsons,

another baby on the way.

Carol Tarkington was on vacation in Italy with her husband, Ray Bailey

during the 9/11 attack. They had a great time...wonderful food, beautiful

scenery, friendly people & crazy drivers. On that terrible Tuesday, they had

left early for L$ke Como & spent the day sightseeing. When they got back

late that evening, they could tell something had happened because small

groups were gathered in the streets speaking in hushed voices. They were

also watching the stock market reports with terrified looks on their

faces..otherrs tried to tell them but they couldn't understand "towers, boom

terrorists"...some good those little books are when it comes to learning

Italian in just 2 minutes a day! Finally they found an English speaking TV

channel & watched for hours in disbelief. The next day, there were posters

that expressed solidarity & sympathy to the USA & to visiting Americans.

Fortunately, they still had 2 weeks to travel before returning home as there

were no flights to the USA. They also visited Milan, Verona, Pisa, Venice,

Padua, Florence, Pompeii, Naples, Capri, Siena & Sorrento. They

experienced that horrid road to Capri where you pass oncoming traffic by

inches, business women riding scooters while talking on the cell phone,

yummy bakery goodies, & all the AutoGrills.Glad you two are home safely.

Ed & Adrienne Marmo Fagalde celebrated their 40th wedding

anniversary, Dec. 23rd. The gift??? A 1957 red & white Chevy.

Congratulations.

Frances Tanimura is retiring Jan 3rd. She & her husband Gary have been

teaching in Japan. They first went to Japan in 1975 but were transferred to

Pusan, Korea, La Maddalena (Mediterannean Island between Sardinia &

Corsica), & Clark AFC in the PI, plus several bases in Japan from Misawa

(Snow Country) to Okinawa. Riqui was born in the PI & is Japanese

educated. He just returned to CA & expects to continue his education.

Frances & Gary went to Japan to teach but also to research their roots,

very difficult, even though they speak the language. Fortunately they have

very kind & helpful cousins there, most Japanese are not interested in

family beyond first cousins, if that. Frances has a like the movies/Japanese

drama story to tell about finding a maternal aunt just several weeks ago.

We welcome her back to the States, & would like to hear that story,

Frances.

Mary Ann Edward's mother, Anna Belle died Dec. 13. She had lived in

our area all her life. She is survived by 3 sons, George, Ernest, Alan; 2

daughters, Isabelle & Mary Ann; 2 foster children, Brian & Mark; 25

grandchildren; 39 great-grandchilren; 13 great-great grandchildren. She

was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years, Burton Edwards & a

son, Albert.

Ken Gray's son, Matthew announced his engagement to Melanie Kahwaji.

Matthew is a graduate of WHS & Cabrillo College. He is employed as a

wardrobe consultant at Men's Wearhouse in Capitola. The wedding is set

for August, 2002.

Wishing you all a healthy & happy 2002. We all look forward to seeing you

at the reunion. Mark your calendars.

Please send news of your family to:

Betty Sue Henry Bjur

190 Bjur Drive

Watsonville, CA. 95076

email: GTObjur@aol.com

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