Summer School is in the LAST Week!

Hardly seems possible... only a short time ago I was having dinner with Bo Chapin, and suddenly I am writing comments and evaluations for my Summer School students! Where did the time go?
Well, I have really enjoyed this, now my third summer teaching at Taft, and this lucky shot of the school hints at why it is so nice here in the summer...

Wouldn't Herr Small love this facility?

I had not, until this past week, ventured into the new McCullough Athletic Facility, adjacent to the "new" gymnasium on the hill. To get a sense of scale, the three basketball courts running across are full size, and there are not only three roundball courts but also a volleyball court inside the three lane running track! Cross Country and Track runners could really be ready for spring!

Whatever happened to our new dining hall?

What we remember as the "new" dining hall, complete with the boat-shaped tables that replaced the old heavy dark oaken tables, is actually the pile of concrete rubble behind the ivy-covered fence. A new "new" dining facility, actually three dining units, with the kitchen facilities in the downstairs, will be constructed over the next two years. The "Jig" (no longer in the white building by the steam plant tower) is being enlarged and upgraded to accommodate the full student body. This was taken from the steps leading up to what used to be the classrooms under the "Wombatorium" which building is now the girl's dormitory ("Congdon House")... so far, we have been dining "al fresco" by the pond... in good weather, a good option.

Dinner with Bo

The most enjoyable parts of my summer trips back to teach at Taft are my visits with classmates from long ago. For the second year in a row, I enjoyed seeing Bo Chapin, this time at a grand little Italian Bistro in Fort Morgan, Colorado. As you can see, Bo hasn't changed much... well the mustache wouldn't have lasted long in our day at Taft, but Bo is having fun... he is currently arguing a case in several courts at once, one court suggesting that the case should have been filed in a different court - Bo grinned widely as he told of his adventures.

Nancy's grandson Joseph took the picture, and while our return drive won't take us through Colorado (Joseph says he wants to see Yellowstone!) We will be back, Bo... too good a time to not repeat!

Headed East Again... back to Taft for the Summer

Well, here we are at the "traditional start of the summer season", Memorial Day Weekend. In three weeks, I will take off driving to the East, headed back to Taft for another summer of living in HDT, teaching kids from all around the globe who want to learn... this is a real change from my "day job" teaching kids who not only have "special needs" but who have been expelled from traditional high schools!

This year my route is a bit different: through Colorado, like last year, and a dinner with Bo and Sandy Chapin (and, I really hope, Charlie Angulo)... then across Nebraska, and more or less following the Missouri River to Saint Louis, on to Lexington, Kentucky, and down to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to drop off a 55 year old radio to a friend who wants it far more than I, then up through Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, into Connecticut to drop off some things, and then to Boston to pick up Nancy at the airport.

My (well, actually Nancy's) grandson will fly into Denver to meet me and make the drive east more fun. We'll all visit relatives and friends in New England for a few days before settling into dorm life and summer school...

I am stoked at the prospect of seeing more classmates this summer, and seeing how the "new" dining room is being changed - the "boat" shaped tables introduced in our senior year, and the subsequent changes to the dining areas are being totally made over... Be on the look out for pictures right here!

Later, '61s
Shucks

What a GREAT Way to Spend an Afternoon!

For the third time this summer, I had the chance to meet up with a friend from the class whom I had not seen nor heard from since we graduated 46 years ago! I wish we could have stayed and talked for much longer than the few hours we shared in Jackson, Tennessee, on my way home to California, but this time it wasn't to be... believe me, there will be a next time!

"Skins" can still run, but he says his golf handicap makes him a far better golfer than running back! After he saw the the picture I used of him, he made me promise to use the one of me he sent!

We shared stories of our times in Watertown, of football and track with Coach Poole and Coach Small, and just thoroughly enjoyed our all too brief time together...

"Skins" says he really hasn't heard from anyone until I called him out of the blue... Well, we have now heard from each other, and I hope this trend continues.

Haskins, it was so good to see you after way too long! We'll do this again, and much sooner than 46 years! You looked real good to this old interior lineman... How about some more of you guys hiding in the weeds? Come out and let's get reacquainted! I'll drive, and I'll even spring for lunch, coffee, dinner, or whatever it takes!

A Visit to Roger Kinsey

Nancy and I passed up a day at an amusement park with 143 squealing kids (plus the rest of the world) and drove to Long Island where we enjoyed a marvelous afternoon and evening with a classmate I had not seen in 46 years! (You notice a theme to these mini-reunions? -- Want to celebrate one? Just let me hear from you, and if our travels take us within a few hundred miles, we'll happily make the detour and enjoy seeing you)

Roger Kinsey and his beautiful wife Lynn (who can REALLY cook up a storm!) entertained us wonderfully, in every sense of the word! Roger taught elementary school for 30 who knows how many years, and Lynn taught for several years before moving to school administration, on the way earning a Doctorate... We enjoyed shop talk, but as our time together passed, the Taft stories began to flow, and we laughed until our sides split.

This is definitely the part of being Class Secretary I enjoy the most! Reconnecting with friends from Taft, long apart, but never out of mind and heart. (Well, I may be out of my mind, but that is a different matter for a different time!) Hope we can all enjoy more get-togethers like we enjoyed with Roger ande Bo... 46 years is too long to wait or to hold on to negatives. Give me a call and let's have some fun together!