The countdown begins...

September 6, 2014, is  more than a year in the offing, but these senior (as in citizen) years go fast and before you know it we'll be converging on the Rainier Golf & Country Club for our 50th reunion celebration.   It's inconceivable in many ways that almost fifty years have passed since graduation, but as I type these words on my laptop to share electronically via a "blog" I'm aware of the enormous change we've witnessed, and helped to bring about, since we headed out into the world in 1964.

As we all approach our seventh decade, we are drawn to reflect on the events and people that shaped our lives, to revisit our past through new eyes, and celebrate the life and memories we've been blessed to be given. Reunions are all about memories--a time to "celebrate and remember"--and this blog will begin the journey, reflecting on the times we shared as we moved through our school years in the 50's and 60's and the events of our time.  Here is the first "Fifty Years Past Blast" published last month on the GHS '64 Facebook page and now available via this blog to everyone with an email address.  More will follow as reminders of life as we were living it fifty years ago. The countdown and the nostalgic journey begin!

FIFTY YEARS PAST BLAST:  HEADLINES -- APRIL 1963

Like a time capsule from fifty years ago, here’s a blast from our past.  We were nearing the end of our junior year and ready to be seniors at last!  The international news of the time was a foreboding harbinger of things to come.  We witnessed, and helped to shape, these interesting times…

News Headlines you might have seen:

• Soviet Union and U.S. agree to install direct "hot line" between the White House and the Kremlin for direct communications to avoid war.

• Explorer 17 attains Earth orbit (254/914km).

• Soviet Union launches Luna 4; misses Moon by 5,180 miles.

• U.S. Marine Corps lost its first aircraft to enemy action in Vietnam when a transport helicopter was shot down by Viet Cong ground fire in South Vietnam.

• Martin Luther King and Southern Christian Leadership Conference kicked off Birmingham Campaign against racial segregation with peaceful protests and marches to register to vote. 

• M. L. King writes "Letter from Birmingham Jail" after his arrest for "parading without a permit".

• The U. S. nuclear submarine Thresher sank during sea trials 220 miles (350 km) east of Cape Cod, killing 112 U.S. Navy personnel and 17 civilians.  The wreckage of Thresher would later be located on September 6. 

• U.S. performs nuclear tests at Nevada Test Site.

• First lung transplant and first nerve transplant.

• Jack Nicklaus, at 23, is the youngest player to win The Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta.

• "General Hospital", a "soap opera", made its TV debut on ABC. (The show is still in production on ABC.)

• The Beatles receive their first silver disc ("Please Please Me") and Beatlemania begins in the UK.
• At the 35th Academy Awards ceremony:  "Lawrence of Arabia" won Best Picture; Gregory Peck won Best Actor for "To Kill a Mockingbird";  Anne Bancroft won Best Actress for "The Miracle Worker"; Patty Duke (at age sixteen) won Best Supporting Actress for "The Miracle Worker", the youngest recipient, at the time, of an Academy Award.

Movies you might have gone to see:

• "The Birds!"
• "Great Escape"
• "Bye Bye Birdie"

Books on the Best Seller List:

• The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan
• Seven Days in May, Fletcher Knebel & Charles W. Bailey II
• Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, J. D. Salinger
• Fail-Safe, Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler
• Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck
• Silent Spring, Rachel Carson

TV shows you might have watched:

• Ben Casey
• Beverly Hillbillies
• Bonanza
• Death Valley Days
• Dick Van Dyke Show
• Gunsmoke
• Lawrence Welk show
• The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (began hosting in 1962)
• The Twilight Zone

Music you would have heard (on your transistor radio?):

• "He's So Fine", the Chiffons

Listen at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vQEy3J_DOQ

• "Our Day Will Come", Ruby & the Romantics

http://www.last.fm/music/Ruby+&+The+Romantics/_/Our+Day+Will+Come

• "In Dreams", Roy Orbison

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Rprvb4IeY

• "I Will Follow Him", Little Peggy Marsh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JVhbusBDi4

• "Call Me Irresponsible", Jack Jones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY2kJHsWchM

Around Glacier as reported in the 1963 spring Avalanche: 

• Glacier Spirit Week was presented by The Pep Club to help jazz the student body with spirit.  Designated themes for each day were tied to a letter from S-P-I-R-I-T.  "S" (Sportsmanship); "P" (Pep); "I" (Initiative); "R" (Rally); "I" (Invigorate); "T" (Team)--from a whispering campaign to wearing school colors, Grizzly spirit was brought to the fore.

• The 1962-63 basketball season ended with 2 wins/14 losses in league play.  A big win against Mt. Rainier (37-65) had Glacier gaining 21 points in the final quarter.  The highest scoring player for the season was our own Garth Steedman scoring 153 points in his junior year of play.

• The Polynesian Paradise themed Tolo, hosted by the sophomore class, had just taken place.  The cafeteria was decorated with palm trees and grass huts; The Nitesounds provided music for dancing; pineapple, coconut and fruit punch were served; the tickets were $2 per couple.

• The Junior Prom, given by the Junior Class (class of '64) in honor of the Seniors (class of '63), was scheduled for April 27 in the school gym.  Jean Mallon was the general chairman; the theme was "Drifting and Dreaming" and decorations were in the senior class colors of lavender and white.

• Elimination of the Senior Cruise and school sponsored recreational activities for the graduating class was announced with the last cruise taking place for the Class of '63.  Reasons given were:  lack of participation, preference to celebrate with personal friends, cost to students.  "It is not a penalty placed on the sophomores (ed: no mention made of the juniors) because of previous conduct."

• The boys spoke out on girls' fashion with opinions about ratted hair-do's, frosted hair and eye make-up.  All comments were generally negative on ratted hair, "unhealthy and unproportional to the human head", mixed responsses on frosting and neutral on eye make-up.  Rod Malone, the only one interviewed from our class, said:  "ratted hair: 'Okay on girls', eye make-up: 'Oky on eyes', frosted hair: 'Okay for cakes?'"!

• The Girls' Club designated Kathy O'Kelly as Girl of the Month for March, the only girl from our class to be selected that school year.

• New office machines were received for the business machines classes.  How old do you feel when you read that "students in the first, fourth and sixth period classes were busy mastering the new IBM electric standard typewriter, two Monroe 10-key adding machines, one rotary calculator and a dictaphone"?

• Mr. Gordon was in his office and all was right with the world!  ;)

Photos below from "The Avalanche, March 1963. Thanks to Wanda Swansby (Jones) for providing her copy.