Whittier Christian High School 60's Decade Reunion - August 10, 2002



 
 
 
 

Read comments from:
Mr. Bill McKinley (Faculty) Bob Albright ('65)
Pat (Reed) Carpenter ('61) Kathie (Miller) Maxwell ('65)
John Schlener ('62) Scott Schumaker ('66)
Linda (Elmore) Reimer ('63) Cathy (Miller) Shoop ('66)
Elane (de Ru) Cross ('63)
Nancy (Neff) Smith ('64)
Janet (Brown) Pearson ('64)
Cherie (Scovel) Whitehead ('64)
Howard Parker ('64)
Judy (Boswell) Frisbie ('64)

Pat (Reed) Carpenter ('61)
- I was unable to attend and it was so much fun seeing faces I had not seen since the 60"s.  I did want to attend and had used up all of my vacation time for this year by the time I heard about the reunion.  Judy Boswell did such a wonderful job of keeping me informed so that I almost felt like I was there.  This has been a wonderful undertaking and alot of work.  I will look forward to being able to attend the reunion next year with great anticipation.
- May God keep us in His hands and protect us so that we can meet this next year for another wonderful time that this time I can enjoy. 
- God Bless You
To top
Elane (de Ru) Cross ('63)
- It's great to see how God has faithfully brought us through the years.  We saw people who are hurting physically, and I know there are those who are hurting emotionally.  But God was there in the midst of the trouble to bring us through it with our faith in tact because of HIM!  Praise God for his faithfulness.  Loved the singing!  That ministered to me as well, and praised God!
- Thanks again. 
To top
John R. Schlener ('62) here.  Man that sure is something.  I will talk more later, but didn't want the moment to pass without expressing appreciation to all the major players.  Good job and thank you very much for the effort you guys put into it.
- You would not believe the way the Lord has led, guided, and protected this individual through all the slogging swamps, critters, alligators, and just hard work, bypassing lots of money, caviar, cigars, and awards, and just sticking to the simple things, as time goes by.  Later.
To top
Nancy (Neff) Smith ('64)
- I want to thank you for coming to the reunion. It was my joy and privilege to get to know you again after 38 years. And I really appreciate what Howard sent out Monday morning, it is so true. God is an Awesome God.
- Sunday morning we sang a chorus that summed up the weekend for me. I had tears joy running down my cheeks as I sang it. It goes like this:
Your are beautiful beyond description, 
too marvelous for words,
too wonderful for comprehension,
like nothing every seen or heard.
Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom,
who can fathom the depth of Your love?
You are beautiful beyond description,
majesty enthroned above.
And I stand, I stand in awe of You. 
I stand, I stand in awe of You;
holy God, to Whom all praise is due,
I stand in awe of You.
- When I look back over the weekend and think about the WONDERFUL time we had together, the tears of joy start coming again. It is hard to find the words to describe the weekend but for me the whole weekend was a blessed spiritual experience. God has worked in wondrous ways in the lives of many of our classmates. I would love for our friendships to continue to grow so, please, lets keep in touch. If any of you get to Sacramento, please call and lets get together.
- Again, thank you!!!!
- If you weren’t able to come, I still feel a sense of closeness to you because of all the memories we shared at the reunion. We did miss you and we thought about you. You missed a wonderful experience; I really hope you can make the next one. Your book will be sent as soon as I get a couple of updates to include. I hope this book will help you to feel a little closer to the rest of us.
- Love you all
To top
Scott Shumaker ('66)
- Great reunion - there just wasn't enough time to get reacquainted with everyone - maybe it should start on Friday night next time!. And I swore I'd never go to one!!??
To top
Bob Albright ('65)
- I was disappointed not to be able to get away for this "event of the new millennium".  I realized that in the 30 plus years since graduation, our class never had a reunion.  As I saw more and more names being added to the list,  I tried to arrange my schedule to be able to get away.  Alas. I couldn't do it.  So seeing the pictures of old friends and classmates, really choked me up.  I am so glad to see plans being made for next year.  I shall start planning now.  God is truly good to have brought so many of you together. 
- May there be more next year. 
- By the way, did any of you quartet guys get together and sing some of the old songs we used to do?  I would love to hear the mature voices lifted in song again.
To top
Howard Parker ('64)
- Thanks so much to all of you who attended the Whittier Christian High School 60's Decade Reunion yesterday (August 10).  If you were not there, you were missed and it would have been even better had you come.  Next year we are doing it again so you have another chance to attend.
- It was a thrill to see so many of you again.  I know we are not kids any more, but it felt like we were by reliving stories, remembering experiences and reminding each other of our growing-up years including WCHS.
- After the reunion I went to dinner with my sister, Lauralyn, and her husband, along with my parents.  I could not stop talking about so many of you.  Wow - it's been almost 40 years, but it seems like yesterday. 
- I came away from this reunion with a renewed sense of awe about God's faithfulness, His willingness to help us through times of difficulty and how important it is to rely on His strength, love and power.  That's what we learned in Bible Class at WCHS and it was right on. 
- No matter what my circumstances, He is faithful.  Whether I am a High Schooler with a wide-eyed view of a future world for me to conquer or a 50+ aging parent and grandparent, with a more experienced view of life, He is willing to be there and help me yesterday, today and tomorrow if I will let Him. 
I learned anew about the "friends" I had in High School - how they are willing to be friends today, in a much deeper sense.  That is awesome, inspiring and convicting.  Convicting because I now feel a sense of responsibility that I did not feel before.  A responsibility to be a friend, praying for all of the faces, lives and situations I have just encountered.  I hope you feel some of this too as a result of being there.
- See the photos: 1) Garland Redd gets my vote for most unrecognizable classmate at the reunion.  2) I nominate Janet Brown Pearson as the one who looks the most like she did at graduation.  3) Judy Boswell Frisbie deserves the highest praise for her dedication, vision and persistence in making this reunion possible.  4) I rate Miss Costley as the person who was able to pound more facts and figures into my head than any other teacher.  5) I thank George and Loraine Link for their confidence that I could amount to something and for giving me opportunities to be apart of their lives in and out of the classroom.
- Some of my photos are now on the website, so check it out at http://www.parkers.net/wchs - Help me with names that I am forgetting. 
- Much more work can be done to the website, but this is a start.  Send me any photos or scanned files of the reunion that you would like to have included.  If they are photos I will carefully scan them and mail them back to you.  If you have a 1967, 1968 and/or 1969 yearbook I would appreciate getting those for a short time so we can finish scanning the photo pages.
- We can all start planning for a follow-up reunion next summer.  Judy will be sending out a notice soon of possible dates for your vote.  Let's not drop the momentum that started this weekend.
- God bless and take care
To top
Janet (Brown) Pearson ('64)
- I just wanted to say "Thanks" to everyone who came to the reunion!! We all enjoyed a very Blessed and wonderful time.  If we were in H.S. now I think we would have much deeper friendships.  But, Praise God we can continue now.
- I should get my pictures back today.  It certainly was a glorious time.   I'm already looking forward to next year!!
I know we are all so grateful to Judy ,who though God's strength and vision, was able to make this all possible.  I think it gave us all a tiny glimpse of what it will be like when we have our great reunion in heaven one day. 
- A very special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Link too for coming and making it such a great musical reunion too.  I love the tape, and listened to it all the way home.  The recording of the record was great!!  I couldn't believe the choir sounded so great!!  What a blessing to have that tape.
- I believe we were all so surrounded by God's love shinning through everyone that the blessing was indiscernible.  So now I'm back in the real world, but looking forward to next year.  I hope my husband can make it next year.  I think he would have enjoyed it too. 
- I know now how to better pray for many of you and I will be doing that.
- God Bless you all - With much love
To top
Judy (Boswell) Frisbie ('64)
Hello all, 
- It was truly a blessed event.  I only wish everyone could have attended, but I will just pray that next year will be bigger and more blessed.  If God is the one directing this how can it be anything else?  I have a comment to repeat one more time.  I was only the bent and twisted instrument in the hand of our God that He used as a key to open a lock.  I am grateful that you appreciate the work that I did, but remember we don't thank the ink and pen or keyboard for a letter, note or message.  We thank the one writing it, and that is our Lord and Savior.  He tells us that the weaker we are the more God is seen and I am definitely weak.
- So, now, we need to start making plans for next year.  My doctor won't let me continue at the pace I was going, so God needs you to help me out.  Many, many of you at the reunion came to me and told me you would be glad to help in any way. 
- Now, I need your help.  I need at least 1 individual from each class to help make the plans and send out invitations when the time comes, to keep a list of all who will be attending and who will not, and make up name tags, for those who are attending for the first time.  (If you have your name tag from this year hang on to it for next year and save your representative some time and money).  Linda (Reed) Drinkward ('63) has the directories that were at the reunion and was the first to volunteer for next year.  Please contact me or Linda if you are willing to represent your class in the upcoming plans.  If this works the way I think it can, it will leave me free to keep searching for our unlocated classmates.
- Another thing, the guest book was over looked by me, when I had the opportunity to ask all of you to sign it.  So, could some of you send me a list of who was there from your class.  It would be nice to have a record of who attended.
- I would also like to take the time here to thank Phil Glenn and Audrey Cook for all their hard work on the food and decorations.  The food was delicious, and more than plentiful,  And, a special thanks for the cakes I think goes to Carolyn (Ness) Cunning.  If I am wrong, please someone let me know.  They were very special, and something I didn't know could be done.
- Praise the Lord God Almighty, He is truly overflowing with a bountiful supply of blessings.
To top
Bill McKinley
Friday, August 9, 2002
To: Judy Boswell Frisbie and those at the reunion
- I have struggled right up to the last minute trying to find a way to make it out to the reunion, but I just can't make it.  I am very disappointed that I won't be there to visit once again with a group of people that remain very important people in my life.
- I am very pleased at how successful this event will be, and I know it will be a special occasion for each of you that will be there. Judy, you have done such a good job at organizing all of this and in keeping the emails flying.  I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all the emails over the past few weeks.  Maybe someone can organize an email newsletter so that we can do a better job of keeping in touch.
- When I taught all of you I was so young and as green as grass, but I look back at it as one of the most enjoyable periods of my life.  You may not know it, but God used you (my students of the early 60's) to affirm that He was calling me into a life ministry in Christian education.  Professionally, those were my formative years, and it was the experiences of those years with all of you that gave me a vision of how God could continue to use me in a ministry to teenagers in a Christian high school setting.  What a wonderful life it has been.
- After 25 years at good ol' WCHS as teacher, coach, Vice Principal, and Superintendent, and 9 more years as Principal of Maranatha High School in Arcadia/Sierra Madre, (plus one year in public school), I am now beginning my 9th year as the Executive Director of Christian Academy of Louisville, in Louisville, Kentucky.  As I begin my 44th year as a Christian school administrator/teacher, I thank God for such an exciting and blessed life. 
- But, I'm not through yet -  I intend to continue on a few more years before I step down.
- My experience back here in my home state of Kentucky has been amazing.  In the eight years I have been here, we have established a system of Christian schools in the Louisville area - six schools on four different campuses, Preschool through high school, with a total of over 2400 students.  I am enjoying the last stop in my professional career as much as I enjoyed the first stop with all of you at WCHS.
- Theresa and I have three children all of whom graduated from WCHS - Jonathan in 1987, Paul in 1989, and Erin in 1993.  Jonathan lives in the Whittier area, is married and has provided us with our only grandchild, Amanda who is 9.  Paul is a doctor and is practicing in the Los Alamitos area.  Erin is married and lives with her husband in Burlington, North Carolina.
- As I have read the emails that have been shared, I am pleased to see so many of you walking with the Lord.  I wish all of you were. I frequently reminisce about the years we shared together - so many wonderful memories, so many wonderful people.  Some of the most important people in my life are from this period.  Al Flory ( I could never say enough about him), the Links, Ardele Costley, Jane Turnquist, and I could mention many more.  I won't even start with student names because I would surely leave someone out.
- We shared the turbulent 60's together, a decade that forever changed life in America, and certainly our lives as well.  You were a wonderful group to have shared those times with, and I am forever grateful for my experiences at WCHS and all of you. 
- I am very sorry I couldn't be there to see personally all of your smiling faces and bulging mid-sections.  But my granddaughter is visiting here in Kentucky (and I get so little time with her) and school starts for us next Monday, Aug. 12.  So I just couldn't come, but my thoughts are with you and I hope you have a great time
together.
- In Christ, your teacher and friend
To top
Cherie (Scovel) Whitehead ('64)
- Thank you so much for the pictures.....they were great....believe it or not I recognized most everyone.....I hope next year will be as good....I'm so sorry I couldn't be there...
- You are soooo right about God's grace....I've received more than I could ever tell....No matter what....He still loves us...
- It looks like you all had a fantastic time....everyone had such SMILES ......Did Josh Henderson make it??? I really would have liked to talk to him about his Daddy....I loved him (Denny), you know......we had a very special thing goin on.....Not boyfriend, girlfriend stuff...but such great friends.....We listened to each other almost every night...
- I'm looking forward to seeing more of your pictures on your website....
- I hope to make next years reunion.....
- Thanks again.....
To top
Kathie (Miller) Maxwell ('65)
- It looked like you all had a good time. I am planning to go next year.  Thanks for sharing the reunion for those who couldn't attend. 
- I will write more later. We have started back to work and I haven't had the time to write something like what Mr. McKinley wrote.
To top
Cathy (Miller) Shoop ('66)
- I KNOW THIS IS LONG, I HOPE MANY OF YOU CHOOSE TO READ MY TESTIMONY :)
- Against all odds I was able to attend the reunion. It was a gift I will always cherish. There were so many of you to visit with, but not enough time
to really share, so I would like to share  my testimony with you now.
-  God had blessed our life with two children, many years of traveling to churches across Canada and the USA ministering in concerts singing my husband's compositions with him, and then when he began to pastor a church I began to work in our small public school near our mountain home. At the age of 49 my life included driving to a neighboring town early in the morning to an aerobics class three times a week before going on to school where I was now the librarian.  One morning in November 1996 when fall and winter had been late in coming, there was nevertheless black ice on a small country bridge. My car spun out and rolled several times down over the edge of the road and out of sight. I was thrown from the car and compressed 3 vertebra between my shoulder blades to the thickness of a dime on impact. If I had been belted into the car I would have surely sustain sever head injuries or have died, so I am very thankful for my life, my mind, and my hands.
- When I regained consciousness, I was on my back and knew immediately that I was paralyzed. In that moment I was wrapped in the arms of God in such a real awareness of His love and presence that there was no words to adequately describe it. I knew that He was the only one who knew where I was in the whole universe, and there was nothing between Him and me.
- I calmly estimated about how long it would be before I was missed and waited calmly until I was found. In that first week I had 3 surgeries to repair and stabilize my injuries. Although my husband said I had sane discussions with everyone that first week, I have no memory of it.
- It took hard work and many adjustments for both of us, but I was home and back to work in 5 months. Although as the years progress pain has become a growing issue for me, I continue to work full time, my husband has built an ADA home and learned to be an excellent caregiver - knowledge that he is now able to use as he also cares for his 91 year old mother who came to live with us several months ago after she broke her hip.
- And still today I can encourage you that God is present and powerful no matter what we must face in our lives.
- I look forward to hearing more stories of how He has worked in your lives over the years.
(\o/) Bless His Holy Name,
 /_\  Cathy Miller Shoop '66
To top
Lynda (Elmore) Reimer (63)
-It was so great to see you all!  I am so thankful I was able to come.  Living so far away, the only way it was possible was because my husband works for USAir. Although that can be a bit interesting - flying stand-by!  It did take us until Monday morning to get a flight home!
-I wanted to share with you all how exciting it was to see how many of our classmates are living faithfully for the Lord.  That is awesome!  I have been working in our Christian school here and it is sad to say but I do not think that the alumni from here would have such a big percentage of graduates who have continued to walk with the Lord.  I realize that today we live in a totally different world, though.  As we have raised our two youngest daughters as compared to their older sister and brothers, there are certainly bigger challenges for a Christian parent today.  Yet, God is faithful and He can keep our children and grandchildren close to Him.  This is why I love working with our teens as much as I can.  They need us to listen and encourage them along their life journey.
-I hope to be able to make next year's reunion - if USAir stays in the air! 

To top