Zooming with the 1960 Aces, #1

January 14, 2022    1:00 PM CST

With Fred Elder moderating, sixteen class members joined our first Class of 1960 Virtual Reunion on Zoom. Participants were given two minutes to tell what had happened in their lives since graduating from East in 1960.  We learned a lot of the basics of each person’s lives in that two minutes – predictable info, surprising info, funny info, and provocative info.

To watch the recording of this 60-minute session, contact Fred (elder@engr.wisc.edu).

Participants

Row 1: Diane Rusch Zinn (behind the camera/phone), Fred Elder, Dan Tontz; Row 2: David Robinson, Gerald Fry, Gayle McCune Ganger; Row 3: Marilyn Tompkins Bellert, Ronnie Troy, Linda Soderberg McKay; Row 4: Glenna Stearman Park, Calvin Ross (“owner”), Barb Hammond (whose video worked part of the time). Participating but not pictured: Rich Hayse, Jane Thompson Olson, Ron Haun, Ed Pearson.  Others who planned to join, but had other commitments included Lee Ayres, Charlie Briscoe, Kay Ellen Consolver, and Carolyn Wharton Holloway.

61 Years in Two Minutes or Less (Summarized by Marilyn and Diane)

David Robinson, Wichita KS. David started us off with a big laugh. “Who are all these old people? I don’t recognize any of you from East High.” (A question that was on every mind.) I am your token gay person on this call. I left Wichita in 1964 to join the Army – one of the best things that ever happened to me – and served in Vietnam. It was like being in a fraternity. After Army service, I lived in San Francisco for 15 years and then moved to the suburbs and operated a gift shop, which was great fun, for another 20 years. I returned to Wichita in 2003 and have been very happy living here. I am a volunteer at the Frank Lloyd Wright home in Wichita, a beautiful place. I never attended a reunion, but I loved being a student at East High and am happy to be reunited.

East High Memories: Blanche Lorenz would come into Latin class in the morning, walk up and down the front of the room, and ask, “Let’s see, who didn’t do their translation last night?” We were all shaking. Fortunately, Gerald Fry met me in the library every morning before school and helped me do the translation. A good thing, because I didn’t have a clue. 

More about David: A Dream Job in DaNang?!

Gail McCune Ganger, Pueblo, CO. Married for 56 years, 2 children and 4 grandkids. I was active in drama and journalism in high school.  I worked mostly in the field of education – from kindergarten through graduate masters’ programs. I earned an MA in Educational Administration but ended up in Library/Media Services. More recently, I have specialized in Christian education. We have lived in  many places and enjoyed the travel. The most fascinating places we lived were Tokyo and Honolulu. We retired in Colorado and have moved four times here. We are enjoying our lives.

Rich Hayse, Topeka, KS. Married for 57 years. My wife Linda and I both graduated from Kansas State. She is here with me as my IT manager today. I settled into several occupations but eventually decided to practice law in Topeka. We have been here since November 1975. I retired in 2017 and am loving it!  I want to thank Marilyn, Diane, and Fred for the website and this Zoom opportunity. This is so much more productive than standing around in a hallway with a glass of wine, trying to read the name tag of someone you don’t recognize. Finally, I want to share one wish, that we were handing our children and grandchildren a better world.

More about Rich: Twelve Houses  and It’s a Bird; It’s a Plane; No, it’s Still a Destroyer

Glenna Stearman Park, Montgomery Village, MD. Married, 3 sons, 10 grandkids, 1 great-grandchild. I apologize for the moving picture of me. I’m Zooming on an iPad and my left hand has its own rhythm of life. After high school, I went to WU, then art school in Philadelphia and back to WU. After graduation I married Joel Park. He was in the Air Force and attending grad school. We lived in Ohio and Colorado, then Vandenberg AFB, where Joel shot off rockets. I didn’t pay much attention to the rockets. During our seven years in the San Diego area, we raised three boys and earned graduate degrees before moving to Texas. I thought we were committing suicide, it was so bloody hot. After 17 years in Texas, followed by 2 years in South Korea, we moved on to Memphis, where Joel did research on submarines for the Navy. We moved back to the Washington DC area, where Joel is still working for the Navy, and we are closer to family and friends. At this point, our moderator informed Glenna that her two minutes were up. She responded graciously and then sent the above cartoon.

A prolific artist and author, Glenna has written more than a dozen pieces for this website, most recently, New Drivers and Car Envy and Thesis: Domestic Life Influences Art.

Dan Tontz, Dallas, TX. I was married, but my wife died 15 years ago. First, I want to thank my daughter, my IT consultant today, for getting me on this Zoom call. I left Wichita in 1965. Soon, I was living in South Korea; Ft Sill, OK; and San Antonio, all courtesy of the U.S. Army. After military service, I stayed in San Antonio for 5 years. One Christmas, when we were sitting around the swimming pool, I realized that I had just enough Kansas left in me to think that we should have cooler weather. So, I moved to Dallas and have lived here ever since. I am a season ticket holder for the Dallas Cowboys and am a fan. After tomorrow, I’m hoping the Cowboys are on their way to the Super Bowl.

East High Memory: Miss Shellenberger! How many of you were in Miss Shellenberger’s English class? Answer – 10 hands went up. How do you send her a birthday card? Answer – The address is in Barb Hammond’s story, “The Divine Miss S.”  Miss Elfrieda Shellenberger, Sedgwick Plaza, 2455 N. Woodlawn, Wichita, KS 67220.

More about Dan: Dan Tontz #3, Playing the High School Band and WWII Navy Survival Story

Diane Rusch Zinn, Lawrence, KS. Married, 4 children, 7 grandkids. I have the dubious distinction of being one of the few Stanford drop-outs.  After 5 quarters, I married Dick Zinn. We moved to Lawrence, KS in 1963 and are still here, with Dick continuing to practice law. We had four kids spread over 14 years. Sadly, one of my girls died in 2012. Basically, I was a stay-at-home mom, but also an extremely active community volunteer involved in many civic activities and charities. We live on 15 acres in the country outside Lawrence, where we enjoy the quiet and beauty of this rural area. After a Pandemic break, I am back working at a local food bank. Otherwise, I spend my time gardening, reading, playing racquetball, traveling, and enjoying family and friends.

 Links to a few of Diane’s stories on this site: Christmas Memories and Captain Leonard Rusch

Gerald Fry, Minneapolis, MN. Married, one son, two grandsons. The geography of my life is in four sectors. Like Diane, I started out in Silicon Valley at Stanford, which had a fantastic impact on my life. Next, I lived in Eugene, Oregon, the center of Ecotopia, where I watched East’s best-ever athlete Jim Ryun run. Third phase, I lived in Asia – in Thailand 10 times, but also in Vietnam, Laos, Japan and the big island of Hawaii, which contains 23 of the world’s 24 climates. My final segment is in the Siberia of the USA at the University of Minnesota. I have been mostly employed as a college professor, but have also worked as a journalist, writer, activist, practitioner, and a consultant with companies such as Nike, the Asian Development Bank, UNESCO, and the Ford Foundation. Most recently I did gigs at universities in southern Spain and in Barcelona. 

East High Memories: (1) “The King and I” at East High, starring Brett Hesser and Connie Miller.(2)  Watching the great quarterback Calvin Ross throwing beautiful passes to Lee Ayres and Floyd Watson, who made long runs, and making slick handoffs to Dan Kinney and others who scored touchdowns. 

Gerry has written six stories for this website, including a series on My Life as a Sports Nut. 

 

Barb Hammond, Wichita, KS. 2 daughters, 1 grandson. I was almost incredibly disappointed today. Here I am wearing lipstick for the first time in two years, and my computer camera would not link to the Zoom call.  I finally had to restart my computer to get in. I totally love this website. Many thanks to Marilyn, Diane, and Fred for keeping it together. Like many of you, I have reinvented myself many times over the past 60 years. I earned a couple of degrees and raised two wonderful daughters. After living all over the country, I returned to Wichita to spend a few good years with my aging mother. I have loved being back in Wichita. My most recent job was with City of Wichita in the Office of Historic Preservation, where I wrote applications to the National Register for Historic Places and learned a lot of interesting Wichita history in the process. I retired in 2011. Yesterday, I talked with Janice Collins Bailey who also lives in Wichita and sends her regards. 

Barb’s “Coping with the Pandemic” blogs, stories, and artwork have been very popular with our readers. Samples: December 2020 and We Were There: Saving the Little House

Ron Troy, Wichita, KS. Married and coming up on our 55th anniversary. I went to KU, but unlike Diane, I did not drop out. I was asked to leave. Since I was on academic and social probation, they probably had cause. I then joined the Air Force, which was the greatest thing in the world for me. Europe and Japan are just a few of the places I worked in the Air Force. After my discharge, my younger brother and I took over my dad’s company and built it into a large, successful construction firm. Since retiring (on my 66th birthday), I have served on several boards. Currently, I am secretary-treasurer of the Riverside Health Foundation and on the board of Kansas Health Sciences Center. We have been involved in developing a College of Osteopathic Medicine in Wichita, which was just approved for accreditation, with partners in Chicago and elsewhere across the country. Our first class will graduate in 2026. If I’m still here, I’ll retire again at that time. Many thanks from me to the 1960 website team. As a vocational student, I was not in  classes with some of you. I knew that East High had a lot of talent, but this website has showed how many talented and just plain good people are in our class. 

For more about Ron, see Ron Troy, U.S. Air Force and Ron Troy, One of My Heroes.

Marilyn Tompkins Bellert, Sycamore, IL. Married, shared family of 6 children and 11 grandkids.  I attended college in Minnesota and grad school in St. Louis, where I taught high school English for three years. While raising 3 kids who make me proud and happy, I worked in the community, specializing in environmental issues and then in education policy, I served for 20 years on education boards as an elected and then as an appointed board member. It was utterly thankless but always fascinating. After almost 40 years of marriage ended in divorce, I went to work in university administration. During 20 years at Northern Illinois University, I led a group of highly creative young people who developed partnerships with schools. I finally retired from NIU in 2018. In 2007, I re-married to a guy who shares my enthusiasm for cooking, music, traveling, reading, movies, and our extended family.  Most of the professional success I enjoyed resulted from my being able to write well, and I am especially grateful for learning those skills at East High. Working on this website with Diane and Fred has been great fun, especially getting to know so many of you through your stories.

Two of Marilyn’s favorite stories: Christmas 1949 at Grandpa’s Farm and A Family in Wartime

Calvin Ross, Johnson City, TN. Married, 3 children, 9 grandkids; 5 living in the area. I started college playing football at Stanford. A severe football injury and following surgery resulted in my deciding to pursue the ministry. After graduate school at Princeton, I served as a campus minister at U of Pittsburgh and Carnegie-Mellon and then in church ministries in Wichita and other places. I earned a PhD, taught at Emmanuel Christian Seminary in Tennessee, and worked in hospital ministry and as a bioethicist, while my wife Nancy taught at Milligan University. We both retired 12 years ago. When our kids were little, we took family skiing trips to Colorado and other high spots. I still ski some in western North Carolina with my grandkids, but I ski more slowly and carefully. I want to extend my great appreciation to Marilyn, Diane, and Fred for their wonderful hard work on the website and for providing this opportunity to Zoom today.

Two of Calvin’s stories and poems on this website: Finding Purpose in Pastoral Care and Ethics and It Happened with Myrna and Me in Her Garage

Linda Soderberg McKay, St. Louis, MO. Married during freshman year of college, widowed two years ago; 4 daughters, 15 grandkids. We moved frequently: transferred to Kansas City, then New York City,  back to KC, and finally to St. Louis. At one point I worked in Washington, DC as part of a national non-profit organization. My most important work was raising four daughters. They and my 15 grandchildren are now located all over the country. I retired six years ago, but have continued to serve on three boards connected to my life’s work in character education. I started as a volunteer and eventually served as the executive director of the non-profit, Character Plus.  I was blessed to have a wonderful husband for 60 years. Life without him is certainly different.

East High Memory: I remember in sophomore and junior years that I was always looking for my car after school in the East parking lot, because someone, males I suspected, would carry it to some place like behind a post where I couldn’t get out. It was a Nash Rambler Metropolitan convertible, a car so small that young men could move it. My parents got fed up and sold it because it was such a nuisance. I believe Bob Bascom’s dad bought it for him, so it stayed “in the family.”

More about Linda: Women in the Workforce: Linda McKay

Ed Pearson, Wichita, KS. Married. I retired a year and a half ago from Friends University, where I was a professor of Business and Information Technology. I was the first Black professor hired by Friends. After East High, I served in the Marines and later worked as a detective in the office of the Brooklyn District Attorney.  I was blessed to be married at 40, and we have been very happy. I don’t remember the faces and names on the Zoom screen, but I do remember East High. I played basketball with Cy Sickles coaching. He was one of my first mentors. Mr. Thompson, my band and orchestra director, was one of my most important mentors. Those two East High faculty members were great blessings in my life. l played French horn in the Marine Corps Band in Hawaii and other international locations. Thanks to God’s grace and mercy, I celebrated my 79th birthday a few months ago and am so glad to be in the land of the living — on this side. Last, I want to send a shout-out to my basketball teammate Dick Zinn.

Diane promised to share his greetings with Dick. More about Ed: Ed Pearson Honored by Friends U.

Jane Thompson Olson, RV camp on James Island, near Charleston, SC. Married, 2 sons, a stepdaughter and 7 grandkids.  Thanks very much to Marilyn, Diane, and Fred for working on the website, which is great fun. I am very proud to be a graduate of East High School. After East, I graduated from KU, and I taught school for 28 years in 5 states. My husband and I traveled a great deal and even lived on a sailboat for 9 months. We definitely had adventures on the high seas. We also lived in Argentina for six months, where we learned to tango. I loved Nancy’s story about dancing the tango. What a different way of life. You don’t go out for the evening until 10:30 or 11 p.m! In 2020, after trying to entertain ourselves with Netflix, reading, and games, we decided we needed a new adventure. We bought an RV about the size of an Amazon delivery van, 26 feet. So far, we have visited 28 states. I’m Zooming with you now from my RV on James Island off Charleston. In February, we are going to Jacksonville, FL to hang out with Dallas Crump Stephens. Then, we will travel on to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado before returning to our home in Park Ridge, Illinois. We have family, 3 grandkids, and friends near our home in Park Ridge. 

East High Memory: When my dad died, Miss Shellenberger came to the visitation. I had been teaching for some years at that point and appreciated her even more than I had in high school. I was so thrilled to see her and talk with her and tell her that she had made a difference in my life, especially in my teaching. I was able to tell her what a marvelous, wonderful teacher she was. She was just as elegant then as she always was in class at East High. I hope everyone sends her a birthday card.

More about Jane: New Life as a Teacher  and Jane Olson and Dallas Stephens: the RV Life.

Ron Haun, Aurora, Co. Married; four daughters, including twins; one grandson, who lived with them for nine years and is now 16. As Fred mentioned, I keep Floyd Watson’s stories honest on the website. Fred and I are having trouble with Danny Kinney, who doesn’t like computers or cell phones. After East High and college, I didn’t know what I was going to do. My number came up, however, and I was drafted in ’64 and joined the Air National Guard. And I married Colleen! In 1966 I was fortunate to get into computers. At Wesley Hospital, I worked on the computer systems. Then, I went to San Antonio to design hospital systems. Ross Perot came calling, and I worked at Electronic Data Systems for 23 years. Colleen also worked at EDS.  We moved around Texas, to London, then Houston, and Denver, then we both retired in 1999. I retired from computers, period, and am just now learning to do things like Zoom. Since retiring, I have played a lot of golf and served on several boards. We spent 21 great years in Gunnison, Colorado, a town with only 4 traffic lights. Now we are back in the big city of Aurora, CO. We think this is our last move.

More about Ron: Floyd Watson Remembers and So Does Ron Haun  and  Serving on the Home Front

Fred Elder, Madison, WI. Two sons, five grandkids.  After East High, I went on to KU and played football, which went well. I worked for Southwestern Bell in Topeka for a year and picked up some graduate credit in engineering, but that required driving to Kansas City for class. Back to Wichita and doing graduate work at WSU, I received an invitation to teach. I agreed, but I wasn’t sure what that meant. Teaching turned out to be a  good fit. My professional work has been in two areas – teaching at the university level and directing my own engineering consulting firm. Both have worked well for me. I am still teaching adult learners. 

More about Fred: An Early Life Journey  and  Coast to Coast, First Half and Second Half

Throughout this session, many participants weighed in with support for their favorite pro football teams moving on to the Super Bowl. We now know fans for the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Denver Broncos. Calvin Ross finished that discussion with “Remember the Titans!”

Responses Sent After the Zoom Session

• Barb Hammond:  That was fun!  Good idea and thanks for organizing
• Glenna Stearman Park:  Quite fun being on the meeting.  Amazing to see everyone and some I did not know.
• Jane Thompson Olson: Success!!!!! Fun and interesting! Thank You!
• Gerald Fry: Many thanks for arranging the virtual “mini-reunion.”
• David Robinson: First of all, I did enjoy our mini-reunion, but I want to apologize…for asking “who are all these old people?” I think we all looked pretty darn good, and I prefer to say that we are older not old! You, Diane, and Marilyn are all doing a fantastic job, and I think you handled us all very well, Fred.
• Calvin Ross: Glenna and I phone each other nearly every Sunday afternoon. Today we were talking about how we enjoyed the Zoom session—thanks again. We both felt a nice manageable rhythm for it would be a two hour meeting once each quarter.

Future plans:  Under consideration is the possibility of holding an open Zoom session once a month. Calvin and Glenna suggested quarterly meetings of two hours. Calvin has agreed to moderate one of those and to suggest a topic. So, we are looking forward to a mix of Zoom formats in the future.

Volunteer are needed to moderate the monthly hour-long sessions as well as suggestions for topics to discuss. The mix of participants is likely to be different every time, so some introductions will usually be needed. Let us know what the most convenient day of the week for Zooming would be for you. The time of day will have to accommodate classmates from Hawaii to Europe. 

We hope to see and hear from you soon.

Marilyn, Diane, and Fred — who had not worked on a website, much less participated in a Zoom, until very recently!