Endings and Beginnings

We have read that when one door closes, another opens.  As I write, we have just closed the door on another year of life and crossed the threshold of 2014--the year that marks fifty years since our graduation.  This has set me thinking about the major life transition we made then and how little I really understood about the significance of that at the time.  

We've also read that "showing up is 80% of life" and I now realize that for much of that time that's mostly what I did--show up.  I thought I was working pretty hard with studies but life was pretty prescriptive then so it was easy to follow the schedule and go through the motions as we finished our school careers, practiced walking to "Pomp & Circumstance" and closed the cover on thirteen years of life.  With a new job and plans for the future, without so much as a grateful thought for my education or a backward glance at how far I'd come, it was just time to move on. 

I don't know about you, but, for me, graduation was a paradox--a long awaited time that was quickly over.  It seemed graduation couldn't come soon enough, and when it finally did, it seemed to come in a rush. Commencement Day brought life as we knew it to an end moving from thirteen years of going to school every day; associating almost entirely with peers our own age, to the looming, grown-up, diverse and complicated world beyond. Truth be told, most of us couldn't wait to move on, but I remember the poignant feelings the last few days of school in knowing we wouldn't pass that way, see some of our classmates and teachers, or be that young and free of responsibility, ever again.  (Does that explain my recurring dream of wandering the halls of Glacier trying to find my locker--late for class and without a clue about the combination for the lock or my class schedule?!)

Excitement for the future soon overwhelmed the melancholy of the moment, but I remember the emotion when we walked in our caps and gowns to "Pomp & Circumstance" into the gym. It was suddenly real that we were leaving Glacier behind--the friendships, the daily schedules and the familiar insular world we had known would disappear. Everything for us would change. We moved our tassles from one side of our mortar boards to the other, rejoined our families in the audience, and left Glacier for the last time.  

For many of us, we've been lucky to keep in touch with one or two of our Glacier classmates through most of these fifty years, and now our reunions offer the chance to reconnect with old friends and to make new ones too.  In school, we seemed to get acquainted with those who had the same classes, participated in the same activities, or lived in the same neighborhoods.  At our reunion committee meetings, and at the women's lunches, we're delighting in connecting with others from our class--getting acquainted with "old" new friends! Another paradox!  

Now that we've opened the door to this year that brings us all together again, we have a chance to revisit our past with clearer eyes, knowing the value of our education, the teachers' and coaches' lessons that guided us through, the memories shared with childhood friends, the parts of ourselves that began "back when".  Plans are being made and the invitations will soon be in the mail. On September 6, 2014, we will have come full circle to re-open the door from 1964 -- to celebrate and remember!!  We look forward to seeing you there!  Be there or be square!  :) Happy New Year!

“I told her that saying goodbye didn't matter, not a bit. What mattered were all the days you were together before that, all the things you remembered.”   ― Patricia Reilly Giff, Lily's Crossing

FIFTY YEARS PAST BLAST:  
HEADLINES -- JANUARY/FEBRUARY, 1964
Like a time capsule from fifty years ago, here’s a blast from our past:  world news headlines, cultural trends, and Glacier happenings from our senior year.

Christmas Break came to an end with the beginning of school in 1964 on January 2.  We were back at the books with semester end just three weeks away -- January 23.  With a District In-Service Training (no school) January 24, there was no relief from classes until Spring Vacation March 23.  It was Leap Year with February having 29 days, so the wait until spring break would be one day longer. And in the rest of the world...

NEWS HEADLINES 

--January 5     San Diego Chargers Win NFL Championship

--January 8     President Lyndon B. Johnson Declares "War on Poverty"

--January 11  First U.S. Government Report that Smoking May Be Hazardous to Health

--January 11  Panama Severs Diplomatic Relations with U.S.

--January 15  Teamsters Negotiate First National Labor Contract

--January 24  24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution Goes Into Effect:  States voting rights could not be denied due to failure to pay taxes.

--January 25  Beatles' First U.S. #1 Song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (Stays #1 for 7 weeks)

--January 29  9th Winter Olympic Games Open in Innsbruck, Austria

--January 29  Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" Premieres

--January 29  Unmanned Apollo 1 Saturn Launcher Test Vehicle Attains Earth Orbit

--January 30   Military Coup of Gen. Nguyen Khank in South Vietnam

--February 1  Indiana Governor Mathew Walsh Tries to Ban "Louie Louie" for Obscenity

--February 4  FAA Begins Testing  Reactions to Sonic Booms over Oklahoma City

--February 6 France & Great Britain Sign Accord To Build Channel Tunnel ("the Chunnel"  opened 30 years later in 1994)

--February 8  Rep Martha Griffiths Address Gets Civil Rights Protection for Women Added to the 1964 Civil Rights Act

--February 9  First Appearance of The Beatles on Ed Sullivan Show (73.7 million watched)

--February 12  U.S. Female World Figure Skating Champion:  Peggy Fleming; U.S. Male World Figure Skating Champion:  Scott Allen

--February 17  U.S. House of Representatives Accepts the Law on Civil Rights

--February 25  Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay--became Black Muslim Feb. 7) TKOs Sonny Liston in 7 for Heavyweight Boxing Title

--February 27  Government of Italy Asks for Help to Keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from Toppling Over

--February 29  President Lyndon Johnson Reveals U.S. Secretly Developed the A-11 Jet Fighter

MOVIES you might have gone to see: (source: Wikipedia #1 U.S. Films by week)

• The Sword in the Stone, Walt Disney (#1 All 4 weeks of January) with Sebastian Cabot, Norman Alden

• Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick (#1 3 weeks of February) with Peter Sellers, George C. Scott

• Dead Ringer, Warner Bros., (#1 4th week of February) with Bette Davis, Karl Malden, Peter Lawford

Books on the NY Times Best Seller List:  (top five a/o February 23, 1964)

• The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John le Carre

• The Group, Mary McCarthy

• The Venetian Affair, Helen MacInnes

• The Hat on the Bed, John O'Hara

• The Wapshot Scandal, John Cheever

TV events and programming: 

• Combat

• Wild World of Sports

• Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom

• The Ed Sullivan Show

• The Dick Van Dyke Show

Music you would have heard (on your transistor radio?): 
(Source: Billboard #1 Singles 1964)

• "There! I've Said It Again", Bobby Vinton (#1 all four weeks of January, 1964)

• "I Want To Hold Your Hand", The Beatles (#1 for seven weeks beginning February 1)

Around Glacier:
( gleanings from "The Avalanche" and "Student Handbook 1963-64")

JANUARY:
(click on photos to enlarge)

• Ski School began January 5 & 12 running every other weekend for six weeks under direction of Ski Professionals, Inc. at Ski Acres, Snoqualmie Pass.  Mr. Aliment was the Ski School Coordinator.  Total cost, including bus transportation:  $28.

• Basketball Season was in full swing with games nearly every Tuesday and Friday in January and February.  

• GAA (Girls' Athletic Association) hosted January 10 Dance following the Highline/Glacier Basketball Game at home (Highline won in OT, 66-60).

• Semester Ends - January 23

• Glacier hosted the Seattle Symphony Orchestra January 29, under the direction of Mr. W. Siegel.  Also present were students of Sunset, Glendale, and Puget Sound Junior Highs, and students from Highline College. The Avalanche reported "Of the selections played, '1812 Overture' by Tchaikowsky seemed the most popular with the students.

FEBRUARY

• Father-Daughter Annual Banquet -- This event always maxed out the 300 person capacity for the event scheduled February 13.  The main dish was steak.  Event Chair was Kit Kleinz, assisted by Linda Schnoor, Ann Alexander and Carol Platt from our class.  Entertainment included the Junior Chorus Line and solos by Evelyn Colella and Gwen Cox.  

• Rehearsals began for the Drama Program's: "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," by Mark Twain

• GHS Music Dept. held its annual Pop Concert in the auditorium February 19 with performances from The Choir, Girls' Glee and Band.  The band, under the direction of Mr. Earl Cosbey, played selections from "Westside Story" as well as a few marches. The Choir, directed by Mr. Norman Owen, sang selections from "Music Man", and other selections including "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child".  A Barbershop Quartet consisting of Jim Brown, Bruce Chapman, Dana Dalton and Bob Warren sang "Ghost Riders in the Sky".  

• The YMCA Youth in Government Pre-Legislative Session was held at the University of Washington, February 8.  Maureen Young was elected to serve as Reading Clerk of the House of Representatives.  Other girls attending the session from the Glacier Tri-Hi-Y were:  Sue Austin, Gail Wynn, Joyce McGregor, Patty Peterson and Barbara Roedell.  

• Valentine's Day, Friday, February 14 -- Was it remembered with a card, candy, flowers, a date with a special guy or gal?  Under "Valentines Glacier Needs" in an "Avalanche" column: --

 "From our builder:  Boxed in walkways to keep out wind and rain."  "From Mt. Rainier:  Another leg of Ram, along with both horns."  "From the Woodland Park Zoo:  A real live Grizzly bear."

• Tennis Club held an after-basketball game dance "Tenni-Runner Stomp" February 21 following the game with Evergreen (Glacier romp:  52-41).  Price:  40 cents without tennis shoes and 35 cents with them.  And.....Avalanche publicity indicated a "mysterious new dance will be taught".  (Editor:  Anyone remember what dance that was?)

• Grade Prediction Test was scheduled February 22, from 8:15 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. at Glacier.  Required by all Washington State institutions and a predictor of college success, the test predicted a GPA in 43 fields including the high school grade transcriipt as part of the score.  

• "The Avalanche" February edition included a thoughtful article on freedom by Jerry Cavanee.  

Here is a photo of "The Avalanche" staff from our Senior Annual.  Did they have any idea they would be providing historical archives for our 50th reunion blog?!  ;)  Belated thanks to the staff for covering all the Glacier news!

And so we went in January/February fifty years ago.  Hope this brought back some memories of our senior days and life in 1964.  Please watch the mail for your reunion invitation (to be mailed January 6) and note the request for your bio information from the Memory Book Committee and submit your photos and information as indicated by March 1.  The Memory Book will extend the reunion beyond the few hours we are able to be together, and will be available if you can attend the reunion or not.  It won't be a class memory book if all of us aren't represented there, so please submit your auto-bio so we can catch up on one another's lives.  

Thank you for following our reunion blog!  Happy New Year!!

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Submitted January 3, 2014

Diana (Stillwell) Carew

GHS '64