Zooming with the Aces #5, May 19, 2022

Ace Zoomers

Fred Elder welcomed the Class of 1960 Zoomers. There were no new participants today, so we did a quick check-in to give each classmate’s name and location today. 

The summary below is based on notes. Since a recording was not available, we hope that this is mostly accurate. For participants: please let us know if your contributions need to be corrected.

May 19 Zoomers

Top Row: David Robinson, Fred Elder, Glenna Stearman Park. Middle Row: Skip Granger, Mert Curtis, Dan Tontz. Third Row: Perry Ann Porter, Marilyn Tompkins Bellert, Jane Thompson Olson. Bottom Row: Diane Rusch Zinn

David Robinson is at home in Wichita, where he returned about 20 years ago after living in California.

Fred Elder zoomed in from Madison, Wisconsin.

Glenna Stearman Park joined us from Montgomery, MD, where she has lived for many years except for extended stays in Rhode Island to care for seven grandkids.

Skip Granger  is in Sun Lakes, AZ and noted that May 19 was the first 100 degree day. Accordingly, he is doing his swimming workout very early in the mornings. 

Mert (Mary) Lancaster Curtis zoomed from the farm near St. John, Kansas, where she has lived for more than 40 years.

Dan Tontz is at home in Dallas, his home since 1973, which he says is a delightful place except for July and August.

Perry Ann Porter joined from Poulsbo, WA, on Bainbridge Island, an hour and 15 minutes from Seattle.

Marilyn Tompkins Bellert is in Sycamore, IL, about 40 minutes west of Chicago in corn and soybean country, where planting is just getting started. She has lived in Sycamore since fall 2001.

Jane Thompson Olson just returned to Park Ridge, IL after months of RV adventure. She was happy to report that Dallas Crump Stephens is alive and well; she hung out with Dallas in St. Augustine, FL for two weeks last winter. In May, Jane also visited and had lunch with Kay Brinnon Alldritt in Colorado. 

Diane Rusch Zinn zoomed from rural Lawrence, KS, her home since 1963. She reported that the corn is already 2″ high.

Miscellaneous Back and Forth

Glenna Park had a question for Perry Ann Porter (left):  “Once upon a time, didn’t you have a fishing boat?” Perry laughed and confirmed that she had owned an 1896 tugboat with twin engines but one of the smallest of tug boats. When a nearby airport was expanded, her tugboat moved a house from the mainland to Bainbridge Island. At the time, she was on crutches but could still work in the bilge. “I owned her for eight years, and had a wonderful time with her,” Perry added. 

Small World Stories.  Dan Tontz asked Perry if her family had owned a 1952 Ford. Perry replied that the family had driven a 1957 Ford Thunderbird. Dan remembered buying a ’52 Ford from Perry’s mother. That seemed likely, said Perry, since her family always drove Fords. Perry noted that her mother taught at WSU, and one of her mother’s colleagues, a music teacher, purchased the family’s tri-level home. When Perry was working in the Peace Corps in Belize, she found a music textbook written by that WSU instructor in the local library.

Perry Ann had a question of her own. “Has anyone heard from Wilbur Love?” (photo at left) Fred and Marilyn replied that we have an operable mailing address for Wilbur, but have had no direct contact. Several participants remembered his exceptional talent in theater and music.

Glenna reported that she had talked with Bob Wallick’s wife. Bob suffered a severe stroke a few years ago during a vacation in Hawaii. He is now  functioning fairly well, but has difficulty in conversations. His wife says that he has become an expert at charades. Bob keeps busy on their 15 acre ranchette in Wyoming, taking care of 15 alpacas.

Several of us remembered that Bob operated a flying service in and out of Telluride, Colorado for many years.  

Zoom Formats Discussion

Several of our Zoom regulars have suggested that these sessions vary by allowing  short presentations by classmates, followed by discussion. To ascertain interest, Fred asked two questions: (1) Would you be willing to make a presentation on a topic of special interest to you? (2) Are you interested in participating in this type of Zoom session, or would you prefer to continue with the current model?

Responses on New Ways to Zoom

About of half of this group really enjoys the current model of monthly sessions that allow brief exchanges on a topic and chances for everyone to participate. Most agreed, however, that occasional short presentations followed by discussion would also be enjoyable. They recommended a mix of formats. Following is more detail about what they had to say.

Glenna said that she is interested in gardens. Her niece at Yale is helping indigenous people in international locations replant native trees, and Lee Ayres’s work at Tree Fresno helped to increase tree planting in the city. A discussion on gardening might expand to include city, state, and national parks. Glenna is also interested in specialized gardens, including one that leaches poisons out of the ground; it has proved that you can reclaim soil. Our class has a lot of people who are active gardeners, conservationists, and environmentalists.

Perry Ann asked questions about the types of plants that leach out poisons. Glenna did not have specifics at her fingertips, but added that sea grasses help clean coastal waters. Diane mentioned that cat tails, which grow wild in many places across the country, also help to cleanse water.

Skip has enjoyed past Zooms and looks forward to them each month.  He hopes to see some fresh faces on Zoom and encouraged us to call friends and spread the word.

Marilyn mentioned that she had heard that David Robinson had been invited to participate in an Honor Flight and wondered whether he would be willing to make a brief presentation about his experience at a future Zoom session.

David said yes. Encouraged by pressure from a friend, he joined a Kansas Honor Flight very recently and had an extraordinary experience. He was one of 148 Kansas veterans who were flown to Washington DC for a two-day visit to view the veterans’ monuments. Local businesses and other organizations pay all expenses for the veterans on Honor Flights. David, a Vietnam veteran, said he wouldn’t have traded it for anything and would love to share more about it.

Jane likes to learn about what other classmates are doing and would be interesting in a mix of formats. She would also be willing to attend two Zooms a month – one in the current format and one focused on presentations.

Dan likes the current format, but also likes the idea of presentations by classmates. He does not think we should have two Zoom sessions a month. He likes to reminiscence and would like to talk more about our time in high school. 

Diane asked what topics we would like to have for future Zooms. She announced that for the June Zoom, Linda Soderberg McKay will moderate discussion of how our grandchildren’s teenage experiences are different from ours.

Jane responded that this topic seems like an excellent choice. Her grandchildren often ask about what things were like when she was young.

Perry said she loves the Zoom sessions.

Participation in Zoom Sessions

Dan Tontz noted that our numbers were smaller today, just 10 compared to 17 last month. What can we do to increase numbers?

Glenna Park and Jane Olson pointed out that many of our classmates are not comfortable with technology. Some do not use computers at all. Glenna has recently talked with Susie Smith, Helen Moore, and Debbie Snyder Tucker, none of whom are proficient with computers. Jane reported that Dallas Crump Stephens and Kay Brinnon Alldritt were similarly disinterested in communicating online.

David Robinson observed that if we had a real reunion, non-computer users would be much more likely to participate.

Mert Lancaster Curtis noted that her internet connection is very slow, virtually a no-man’s zone. Nothing can be done about that in her rural area. Some classmates may lack the capacity to utilize Zoom.

Favorite Memories of East High

David launched some reminiscing. He still thinks about the city high school rivals playing basketball. In particular, North High’s war cry and the cheerleader with the massive headdress. It was innocent but thrilling. So much fun, however politically incorrect it might be today.

Mert said she had nothing against looking back, but basically, she is always looking ahead and moving forward. Just this week her 31 year old grandson called to say he got engaged. She is more interested in that and is pleased for her kids, grandkids, and great-great-grandkids. Nonetheless, she called up a high school memory – the bottleneck in the East High hallway. Living in a county of 4000, near a town of 1300, with a graduating class of 25 at the nearest high school, she finds people can’t understand what a high school with 3000 students was like. Moving from Wichita to St. John County was a life-changing experience.

Skip stated that Wichita East was the third largest public high school in the U.S. at the time when we were there.  

Perry Ann remembers the girls’ gym. “”The lockers were small, so when we dressed for gym, we had to stuff our petticoats and hoop skirts in the space above the lockers.” Bobby socks and saddle shoes were commonly worn with the skirts. Perry added that the hoops could be troublesome, since they sometimes came apart. Glenna mentioned that a girl needed to learn to sit properly in a hoop skirt, so that the hoop did not flip up. (This memory set off a good deal of back and forth about skirts and hula hoops.)  Dan remembered a party at his house where a girl from Southeast left her hoop. His mother made him deliver it to her the next morning. 

Glenna remembers when Jane Darrah brought Lady Chatterly’s Lover to Senior Corner. “We begged for our turns with the novel. Jane had marked the special sections. If you were going to study hall, you got it for an hour.” (More back and forth about racy subjects)

Dan asked to be reminded where Senior Corner was located. Answer: By the library on the second floor in the northeast corner of the main building.

Jane remembers fantastic assemblies. “You went to 1^st or 2^nd assembly, because we could not all fit into the auditorium at once. We saw many excellent presentations.” (Others chimed in about the superb drama department and outstanding music department.) 

Skip remembers Bob Timmons and Bill Foster. (In addition to Skip’s stories about favorite faculty, this website contains a number of other stories about these two exceptional teachers.)

Glenna especially appreciated the music assembly when Judy Pease played a wonderful piano solo with the orchestra. Dan Tontz remembered that the piece was Rhapsody in Blue, and that the orchestra’s score was 35 pages long. Jane Olson mentioned seeing Judy Pease several years ago in Denver and recalling that outstanding performance.

Diane is grateful she got to attend East for senior year.  She was living in the South High School district but was allowed to go to East because of the special courses she was taking that were only available at East.

Fred added that East High offered many significant classes of excellent quality. They were well-taught. A student could fly high. The choice of foreign languages was extensive.

Marilyn remembers the pep club uniforms, which were designed by Glenna. The mass of 500 girls in those uniforms cheering at basketball and football games was impressive. The uniforms provided a sense of connection as well as motivation to attend games. Glenna added that Susie Smith played a key role in making the new uniforms happen. As a model for Innes Department Store, she knew the Bobbie Brooks representative and took Glenna’s sketch to her. With such a large number of potential sales, the brand agreed to manufacture the blue sweaters and short pleated skirts for the uniform.

Final Comments to Wrap Up this Session

Skip to Marilyn, Diane, and Fred– “What you have done with this website is incredible. Has any other high school class done what we have done?”  Answer: not that we know about.

Glenna commented that she has shown the site to a number of people and has heard suggestions that we should check with “soft news” media in case there is a story of national interest. 

Perry Ann wished everyone a great tomorrow.

Jane was happy to see us.

Fred encouraged us to call friends and encourage them to join the next Zoom on June 16 at 2:00 p.m. Wichita time. Watch your email around June 14 for details.