In Memoriam

THE INDIVIDUAL BIOGRAPHIES

Our histories in a thimble...or, what we did

(but not always why),

our family, progeny, trials,

successes and reflections on time's arrow

since graduation.

To Table Of Contents

Joan (Arrington) McNeely

I won't be able to attend the reunion, but will be thinking of you all.

Just a few facts about my world. I live in the Big Thicket Preserve of Southeast Texas on Village Creek. A beautiful piney woods area of Texas about 35 miles north of Beamount. Yes, Hurricane Rita did a terrible number on us, but unlike whining New Orleans, we got busy and cleaned ourselves up!!

My husband passed away five years ago this month. Trying to occupy my time a wonderful job was open for me at our Jr. High School in Warren, TX. I work with the Content Mastery Dept. and also teach Dyslexia. This is such a rewarding time of my life. I also am organist and play keyboard and piano for special music at my Baptist Church in Kountze.

My three children, six grandchildren and on great-grandson fills the rest of my time. I am no longer in remission, but cured of cancer. Received that wonderful report in Feb. from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. So my health is excellent for just turning 68 today.

I wish I could be with old friends at the reunion, but my job just won't allow it at this time, but will be thinking of old friends and teachers. Have fun !!!!

Joan Baade Arrington McNeely

8977 Call Lane

Kountze, TX 77625

Email: joanmcneely@sbcglobal.net

To Table Of Contents

Ray Asfahl

It has been so interesting to learn from the bios how closely many of us have passed to each other for the past 50 years. Some examples: I worked for Phillips 66 a short time and married a girl in the Dewey, Oklahoma. Don Cone, I had no knowledge that just a few years later you would become music director in the Baptist Church there! Carol Carlberg, we have a cousin in Burlington, VT! Bob Holcomb, we have daughters in Portland and Seattle, and we love the flowers in Victoria. Little did we know that you are there and that your company is no doubt responsible for some of the beautiful landscaping there. Wade, sorry we missed your Bed and Breakfast in Australia; had no idea that you were there. Ken Richardson, we have a daughter in Colo. Springs. Dean and Jane Montgomery, we are sailors, too, and would like to compare notes with you at the 50th reunion. Gail Crawford, we have perhaps walked past each other on the sidewalk in Houston and didn't know it. By the way, I would love to have an RC Cola right now!

Well, here's my bio: After graduating from Okla. State, I got married, had two children, got divorced, got married again, had two more children, got divorced again, and then married a third time and am still married to my wife Kela, whose maiden name was James (Jessie James was her great-great-great-great uncle.) Kela already had two daughters; their father died tragically at a young age, so I am a surrogate father to them also. So, in all, we have six children --- five daughters and one son (the youngest). All are grown, of course, and we have two grandchildren.

My stint in the Air Force and a series of jobs after college moved me around a bunch at first (Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, California, New York, Maryland, Ohio, Arizona, and finally to Arkansas where I have made my home for 35 years) I taught industrial engineering at University of Arkansas until I retired this past year. Kela and I are going to make every effort to get to the reunion next year.

Ray Asfahl

Email: kasfahl@cox.net

To Table Of Contents

Richard and Virginia (Merritt) Autry

Virginia's History:

After graduating from Enid High I attended the University of Oklahoma where I earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance. After college graduation I traveled as a field representative for the Greek organization, KKG. By visiting campuses in all the corners of the continental United States I knew I wanted to live in the south central states. About that time Dick Autry returned to Enid to go in business for himself, and we started dating. We had gone to grade school together, so we had known each other for fifteen years before reconnecting. Within the year we were married and on our way to building his business. In between his involvement at Don-Paul Cafeteria which was eventually replaced by Richill's we parented two daughters. As a stay-at- home Mom I was very involved in our daughters' activities. As young kids they were involved in competitive swimming, so I worked with the state AAU organization which evolved into United States Swimming. I served as Oklahoma's representative to national conventions for several years.

During the years the girls were in school in Enid I served on boards of the United Way, YWCA, Camp Fire Girls, Enid and Garfield County Public Library and the Methodist Church.

Upon their graduations from EHS, I became involved in the agricultural operation of my family in Kingfisher County. During the first several years we produced small grain, beef, and pecans. We eventually dropped the small grains and concentrated on beef and pecans. My older sister and I operate a retail pecan cracking business which is seasonal but brings in customers from all over the northwestern part of the state. The cracking just completes the cycle of our pecan operation so we have pecan halves which are shipped around the world. If you should be 5 miles south of Hennessey you will notice an orchard of trees named "Pecans of Merritt."

Our daughters are both educators. Amanda is a bilingual speech language pathologist in the Carrollton School District in north Dallas, and Candice is at the Sheridan School in Washington, DC teaching middle school science.

This year has not been a very healthy one for Dick for he experienced an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The word "slow" is not in his vocabulary so he is having a difficult time accepting a recovery period from an extensive surgery. Hopefully he will be in top shape by the September reunion. We both look forward to renewing friendships at this reunion.

Dick's History:

Upon graduation from dear ol' Enid High School, I went to Oklahoma State University to become an engineer. (Remember, Russia had entered space to the embarrassment of the United States. Also it was assumed that all red-blooded American men who had those interests should become engineers, etc.) I soon discovered that I was not cutout to become an engineer. I instead opted to enter the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration at OSU. Needless to say my father did not share my choice, but that is a totally different story.

My first job was with a cafeteria company in Mobile, Alabama. Moving to the South in those years was very much an eye-opener for me. Since I was single at the time, I was moved around about every 4 to 6 months and found this very distracting. At this time, I discovered that I did not like working for a cafeteria company, and if Heaven had one, I did not want to go there, just in case I might have to run it...

I went back to get my Masters in Industrial Management from Clemson University at Clemson, S.C. I really had planned on staying in the Southeastern part of the United States, for I really liked that area of the country. Just about the time of my graduation, my mother called me and said that the old Don-Paul Cafeteria in Enid was for sale and that I should come home and talk to the owners. This was the last thing in my life I wanted to do, move back to Enid to live. But as you can see, I have always enjoyed the taste of my foot in my mouth.

The rest is history, I bought the Don-Paul Cafeteria, ran it for 6 years, then bought the old Zaloudek building across the street after it caught fire and burned down. I built a new cafeteria named Richill's and proceeded to make my life in an occupation I swore I would never do...hmm. In between these times I married Virginia Merritt, and we had two girls who developed as much independence as their parents, God forbid.

I became the classic case of bum-out due to the long hours and constant stress from being your own boss. I decided to sell and found a man whose check would clear the bank and I let the door hit me in the ass when I walked out. My next career pointed me to the same situation that got me interested in the food business at the beginning. I ended up teaching food production in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration at Oklahoma State University for 10 years, doing the 135 mile commute daily. I really liked dealing with young college students as they keep you young and you do not have to deal with older people that cafeterias tend to attract. My, oh my, I told you I liked my foot in my mouth eh??? Funny now that I am the age of those same people I used to put up with, and complain about, I am constantly wiping "egg" off my face. Being your own boss for as long as I was does have some drawbacks...it does not make for happy times dealing with the bureaucracy of higher education. Wow, it is incredible. After some serious eye problems, I quit my job and have worked hard on doing no more than I want to do and thoroughly enjoying every day of it as well.

Email: rbautry@cox.net

To Table Of Contents

Albert Avery

I joined the National Guard in 1952, Battery A, 189th Field Artillery Battalion. Then I joined the US Air Force on 14 June 1955 and after boot camp I came home and married Christina Welch. We raised 2 fine sons; Marlin is a contract carpenter here in Enid, and Russel is also a contract carpenter in Columbus GA. We have 3 grown grand kids and 2 great grand kids. I spent most of my time overseas while in the Air Force. I was in Viet Nam from day one off and on until it ended. While stationed on Guam in the 54th Weather Squadron while TDY in Thailand we flew Agent Orange. One of my other assignments in Thailand was to Quality Control and I flew in a C-130 gun ship as a weapons loader. One of my enjoyable memories was when I joined the NAUI Scuba Divers Club. I had over 70 dives as a senior scuba diver. Also I was a South Sea Searcher equipment manager and responsible for pumping air for the divers. One of my experiences was pumping air and diving on a B-52 that crashed off Patties Point while assisting the Navy frog men with the picture taking of the downed air craft. I came back to the states and decided the Air Force didn't need my services any longer. Besides that I was tired of dodging bullets, so I retired in June of 1975. Went to work as a contract carpenter for awhile and decided to open Westside Pawn Shop here in Enid. In January 1989 I was shot with my own 44 magnum during a pawn shop robbery, after that I decided maybe that wasn't for me if I was going to have to dodge bullets again, so went back to doing odd carpenter jobs.

In April,1990 I married this nice, lovable young lady from Medford. We bought this run down house on Rupe Street. I have re-modeled and added on and made it into a nice comfortable home for the two of us and our dog, Misty.

In December, 1994, after a long week-end fishing trip at Lake Texoma, Reeta took me to the Veterans hospital in OKC and I had a five by-pass surgery; came out of it just fine. I still do small odd carpenter jobs but most of them are Honey Do's, since Reeta is still working I help her with laundry and house work. I'm going to be 72 this September and even though I've had my ups and downs I'm just thankful I can still get out of bed each morning and do what ever I want to do.

Well guys, this is about the size of it, now you know as much about me as I do.

To Table Of Contents

Bob Bailey

Education after graduating Enid High School:

Bachelor of Music Education; 1960; Phillips University; Enid, OK

Master of Music Education, 1967; Midwestern University; Wichita Falls, TX.

Beyond the Masters degree, I had more than thirty hours in classes covering the following areas: marching band, jazz improvisation, reading in the content area and computers.

Things I've done over the years:

1956-60 Studio Trumpet Teacher, Enid, OK

1959-62 Protestant Chapel Choir Director, Vance Air Force Base, OK

1960-64 Pond Creek, OK, Independent School District - Vocal,

Instrumental Music Teacher, All Grades.

1962-64 Director of Music, Davis Park Christian Church, Enid, OK

1964-66 Pursued Master of Music Education Degree at Midwestern

University. Graduate Assistant duties included: Principal Trumpet

with the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra; at Midwestern,

Assistant Band Director, Director of Jazz Ensemble, Instructor of

Applied Brass and Instructor of Brass/Percussion Methods Class.

1967-68 Albuquerque Public Schools Washington Jr. High Vocal Music

Teacher.

1967-73 Director of Music, Monte Vista Christian Church

1968-71 Albuquerque Public Schools McKinley Jr. High and Elementary

Feeder Schools Band Director.

1971-85 Albuquerque Public Schools Rio Grande High: Band Director; 77-

78 Fine Arts Department Chairperson: 84-85 Computer Lab

Resource Teacher/Coordinator.

1984-86 Albuquerque Public Schools Computer Literacy Instructor.

1987 (Summer) Albuquerque Public Schools Music Software Workshop.

1985-91 Albuquerque Public Schools West Mesa High Band Director;

Chairman of Performing Arts Department; Festival Director of the

West Mesa Jazz Festival.

1991-96 Office Manager/System Programmer/Notary Public for Creative

Consultants, Albuquerque.

1996 - Temporary assignments with Accounting Solutions: Notary Public

duties notarizing affidavits; clerical work for State Employees

Credit Union, Santa Fe; clerical work for St. Pius High School's

Capital campaign: tagging inventory with bar code labels for APS.

1998 - Long term choral substitute at APS Eldorado High School.

1999 - Music substitute teacher for APS

1999-Present: Director of Music for Sombra del Monte Christian Church,

Albuquerque, NM

Professional Organizations:

National Education Association (national, state, local levels)

Music Educators National Conference

New Mexico Music Educators Association

American School Band Directors Association

New Mexico Council of Computer Users in Education

International Council of Computer Users in Education

Phi Delta Kappa

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia

Kappa Kappa Psi

National Association of Jazz Educators- NM

Offices I've held and major musical activities I've participated in:

NMMEA District 7: Band Vice President; President

NAJE-NM: Vice President

Ensembles under my direction participated in music festivals at local, state,

and national levels at:

Tri State Music Festival, Enid, OK

Greater Southwest Music Festival, Amarillo, TX

West Mesa Jazz Festival, Albuquerque, NM

University of New Mexico Jazz Festival, Albuquerque, NM

New Mexico State University Jazz Festival, Las Cruces, NM

Albuquerque Academy Fiesta Jazz, Albuquerque, NM

Pageant of Bands Marching Competition, Albuquerque, NM

Parade of Champions Marching Competition Las Cruces, NM

UNM Zia Marching Competition, Albuquerque, NM

Cavalcade of Music, Colorado Springs, CO

My wife, Bobbie, and I have been married for 32 years as of August 1, 2006. She was an early childhood specialist with APS as a kindergarten teacher and clinical support teacher. She continues to serve early childhood as Administrative Coordinator for the New Mexico Association for the Education of Young Children. I serve NMAEYC as Registrar for their annual Conference each March which draws 1000 registrants. My daughter, Tamara, is here in Albuquerque, with her daughter Makenzie, age 8. We have a son John and his wife Diane who live here in Albuquerque. Their son, Justin, is a junior at New Mexico State University. Our daughter, Shari, and her husband, Seth, live in the Manzano Mountains on the east side of Albuquerque.

For relaxation, we go to our "cabin" (a 60' dbl wide mobile home w/4 bedrooms, 2 baths, all the amenities – we like to "rough it"!) in the Jemez Mountains (elevation 8600 ft.), 9 miles east of Cuba, NM, and tool around the mountains on 4 wheel drive Yamaha 450 ATV's. I also still ride my 1976 Yamaha 125 Dirt Bike. We did a two week cruise thru the Panama Canal with Bobbie's cousins in 1998. Her class of 57 did the Caribbean for their 45 year reunion. And we just did San Diego/Ensenada/Catalina with her cousins this past July.

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Bob Bailey

Email: rrbailey2@aol.com

To Table Of Contents

Gloria (Baltzer) Janzen

Dwayne Janzen and I have been married for almost 37 years - amazing! We have a son, Mark, 34, who is a salesman at the Janzen GMC-Jeep auto dealership; his wife, Tammy is a full time student at OSU. We have two grandchildren, Mimi, 15, and a sophomore at EHS, and Tristen, 8, at Emmanuel Christian School.

I retired as executive assistant to the Wing Commander at Vance AFB on 3 May 04 and am having the time of my life, finally doing what I want to do! It was a very exciting job and I loved it but it was time to do something else. I am a board member of the Enid Symphony Orchestra as well as an auxiliary member; and belong to a Red Hat group of ladies who really have a good time. With our dear friends, our church and family activities, we keep pretty busy. Dwayne retired from Autry Vocational Technical School as a computer-aided drafting teacher and is operator/bookkeeper for two rural water districts, plus he does a little farming. We moved from the country to a townhouse about a year and a half ago and just love the city life once more. We recently joined Vital Signs Fitness Center and try to exercise at least six days a week. Probably not as exciting as some of the rest of you who've traveled around the world, but we're happy and that's what counts!

Email: dooglo@cox.net

To Table Of Contents

Patricia (Barnes) Burya

I will not be able to make the trip to Oklahoma to attend our 50^th reunion. I will be having a knee replacement that week instead. I would have loved to be there, but I will enjoy reading everyone's bio's.

After graduation in 1956 I attended Enid Business College. I married in 1957 and we moved to the beautiful state of Washington. We had four children, Debbie, Sheryl, Ginger and Doug. Doug passed away in 1999 at the young age of 34 from complications of diabetes. After 21 years of marriage we divorced and I returned to college and graduated with a business degree. I worked for the Colville National Forest Supervisors Office and then later at our own electrical business.

I met a wonderful person and married Gene Burya in 1984. Gene has three children, Gary, Diane, and David and we have thirteen grandchildren and one great granddaughter. We also have two darling and spoiled Shih Tzu dogs. We own B&W Electronics and retired from that business December 2005. We now are retired part time and work only three days a week We have done stained glass as a hobby for many years, and now have a stained glass business, B&W Stained Glass, where we teach classes and make beautiful items for others to enjoy.

We live a few miles out of Colville, Washington. We have a lovely home with a pretty creek running along one side of it, where you can fish all summer, and a beautiful yard and flowers where I enjoy spending a lot of time in my garden. Of course the deer love our gardens too. They wander through our yard every day. We are located in the northeastern corner of Washington bordering Idaho and Canada.

Pat (Barnes) Burya

334 Aladdin Rd.

Colville, WA 99114

509/684-2298

Email: buryagp@wildblue.net

To Table Of Contents

Mary Helen (Bogert) Iselin

After graduating from EHS in 1956, I enrolled at Oklahoma State. In the spring of my sophomore year, Mark Ritchie came by my sorority house to see if I could help him with a love life problem. Mark brought with him a fraternity brother of his from Oklahoma City, and that is how I first met my husband, Dennis Iselin. It must have been a good match, because we have been married for 45+ years.

After graduating in the spring of 1960 with a BS in secondary education, I accepted a teaching position at the metropolis of Morrison, Oklahoma, because I was planning to get married at Thanksgiving, and Dennis was finishing his degree. At Morrison I taught 7^th, 8^th , 9^th, and 10^th grade English, English Lit, Speech, and I was the Librarian. Also I directed the plays. The next year we moved to Cushing, OK, and I only taught sophomore English. We stayed there for three years and worked on Masters Degrees at night and in the summer. We both completed our Masters Degrees in 1964, and we took jobs in the Kansas City, Missouri, school system.

In the fall of 1966, we returned to Enid to teach and to help my parents on the farm. I taught one year before our daughter, Amy, was born in 1967. I retired from teaching and stayed home. Dennis taught at EHS and then became an assistant principal. In 1974 he became Principal of EHS, a position he held for 15 years.

After Amy went to college, I returned to teaching. I started an education program at the regional juvenile detention center, and then finished my teaching years at Longfellow teaching ninth grade English.

Dennis and I both retired 3 years ago. I do not know how I had time to work. I enjoy playing bridge, working in the yard, and doing what I want to when I want to. I recently completed a Master Gardeners' certification course, and I am looking forward to using the knowledge I acquired.

Our daughter Amy is a chemical engineer with Conoco Phillips in Ponca City. We have one granddaughter, Jessica who is 8. We, of course, love being able to see her quite often and to attend her activities.

We also enjoy being able to go places when we want and not have to wait for weekends and summer. We have especially enjoyed several short trips with Autrys. All in all, life is good and enjoyable.

Mary Helen (Bogert) Iselin

Email: mhiselin@cox.net

To Table Of Contents

Sally (Bonham) Crain-Jager

I retired from 30+ years of teaching art at Tennessee Tech University 4 1/2 years ago, and my husband Robert Jager and I have been doing lots of traveling...mainly to see children and grandchildren, but some traveling of our own, too. Most recently, we spent the month of September in a Chalet just north of Taos, N.M. Bob is a composer. We taught in the same Music/Art Dept. at Tech, and 3 years after my divorce from Bob Crain in 1988, we married, and have found that what they say is true, about "the second time around!"

I do occasional teaching at both Tennessee Tech and the local community college, just for my own pleasure. Funny how it changes your attitude when you don't have to teach! I continue to paint, doing a couple of exhibits every year. For anyone who thinks I still play the flute: I changed my major to art/painting my Senior year at Phillips, not telling my parents until close to graduation, and just 15 years ago, I went back to school in Texas (TCU) and got my Masters degree in painting.

Children and Grands:

My daughter Brooke, currently a stay-at-home Mom, and her husband live in Colorado Springs, and have twin boys, now 5 yrs. old. They lived near us during the first two years of the boys' lives, so we have established a closeness that I work hard to keep! My son Barry and his wife live in Chicago with their two sons, 5 3/4 and 4 yrs. old, and a baby girl, now 1 year old. Barry is a comic-book/humorous illustrator/story-boarder, working both traditionally and on computer (of course!) in his work.

Bob and I count each other's grandchildren as our own too, so counting his daughter Katie's family in Denver, Colo., a boy and a girl...we have 7 grands. Not bad for just 13 years of marriage!

Bob and I stay busy, both professionally and non-professionally (which is the best part!), cherishing our friends and family more and more. We're both in good health, but recognize our mortality in backaches, diminishing flexibility, and...whatever happened to muscle?!

The most current family news for us is that my oldest sister Patti is now living in Cookeville. After several difficult years of her husband's struggle with Parkinson's and his subsequent death in a year and a half ago, she sold their retirement home on Beech Mt., close to Banner Elk, N.C., and we helped her move into her new home here in Cookeville. It's fantastic to have a sister living here in Cookeville; my first time to have a blood-kin (other than the children we raised) near us. My sister Janice and her husband live in Jennings, La. We're too far apart, but stay in touch via email, at least.

I look forward to the 50th reunion!

Sally Bonham Crain-Jager

Email:scrainjager@frontiernet.net

To Table Of Contents

Mark Boren

Hello to all EHS Plainsmen Class of '56:

I have thought many times in the last few weeks what I could write about my misadventures since leaving the safety and security of our high school.

I came to Enid in the summer of '54 and spent my next two school years at EHS. I came as a troubled teenager and left feeling very secure and optimistic with my future. Little did I know what life had in store for Mark.

My first four years were spent with my Uncle Sam in the USAF in Anchorage, Alaska. While there I started what wound up to be 25 years as an adult volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America. There are many good stories to tell about that. All that I can say is that the time spent with the scouting program gave me much more that I was able to give it.

I worked in Washington State for Agriform Company of Washington for six years and got experience in the field of agricultural sales. I left that position to work for twenty seven years for a chemical distributor, Van Waters & Rogers, out of Seattle. While employed with VW&R, I have lived and worked in Washington, California & Arizona in doing sales work, management & then back to sales. I came to Phoenix, Arizona in the fall of 1975 and have lived there since that time

I have been retired for ten years come March 1st. My sweet bride, Rose, has suffered with a heart problem for these last ten years and we decided that my time could best be spent with me at home helping her get better. She is doing great and we are thankful for each day that the Lord has given us to spend together.

We are doing great, but I must say that it took a lot of faith to retire and leave a nice job. No more paychecks!! There is a saying that the Lord will provide and He has been good to us.

In our extended family there are three sons living in Washington, Oregon & Arizona. One daughter living in Melbourne, Australia. There are six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

I have a neat hobby. I build miniature houses in the barn out in our back yard. I always have one or more projects going all the time. We delivered five for various folks this last December before Christmas. We have four on display in our home. I started this dollhouse building in the '60s while living Pasco, Washington

We were at the forty-five year reunion after 9-11 and did get to visit with some old friends that were there. If nothing bends or breaks, we plan to be at the big 50 celebration.

My wish for each of you is health and happiness. May God bless you and yours.

Mark L Boren

Email:borenmljr@msn.com

To Table Of Contents

Myrna Kay (Born) Eck

After graduation from EHS in l956, I was employed by Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company where I was secretary to the division sales supervisor for 14 years. In 1959 I married Richard Eck, a 1957 graduate of EHS. In 1968 Richard and I adopted a baby boy and in 1970 a baby girl. At this time I became a stay-at-home mom until 1980 when I began working at Alva State Bank and Trust Company (Enid Branch), where I am still employed. I have worked in various areas of the bank, including serving as branch manager for six years. After 26 years, I am still at the bank as Assistant Vice President/Compliance. Two years ago I reduced my hours to part-time.

My activities include serving as an Ambassador with the Enid Chamber of Commerce since 1985, a member of the Cherokee Strip Association of Bank Women, a member of the EHS Alumni Board of Directors, a sustaining member of the Enid Junior Welfare League, and an active member of the Enid Mennonite Brethren Church.

My husband, Richard, graduated from Phillips University and worked at Champlin Oil and Refining Company for 17 years and then 23 years for the Internal Revenue Service. Richard retired from IRS in October of 2003. His hobby is restoration of a 1955 T-Bird and 1935 Ford pickup. He volunteers with the local food bank, and I help him in that effort.

Our children are the greatest accomplishments of our life. Timothy Scott Eck is 37 years old, lives in Roswell, Georgia, with his wife Julie, son Ryan (5), and daughter Reagan (1). Tim is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and is a manager with a technology firm in Atlanta. Sheila Diane Eck Goldsworthy, M.D., is 35 years old, lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with her husband Mark, daughter Kate (8), and son Luke (6). Sheila is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma Medical School and is an OB/Gyn in Stillwater.

Fulfillment in life to us means good health and being able to visit our children and grandchildren as much as possible. God has been good to us.

Myrna Kay Born

Email: myrnae@alvastatebank.com

To Table Of Contents

Sandra Sue (Bowen) Brandt

After high school, I attended an airline training school, married one of my instructors, and moved to Chicago where I worked for North Central Airlines as a ticket agent for 4 years until we had our first child. Hank was with Ozark Airlines. We transferred to Tulsa in 1963 and have been here since. We have 3 daughters and 4 grandchildren. For the past 25 years I have been employed as the financial secretary of our church.

Sandra (Bowen) Brandt

Email: sandybrandt07@yahoo.com

To Table Of Contents

W. Kenneth Bull

What have I done? Not much really, except live a few more years. I fought fires for the forest service, and I have worked in one of the country's elite police forces. And, I worked for two different railroads, both now defunct. I was also drafted and spent two years in the army.

Right out of high school I went to college and got a degree. After a year with the U.S. Border Patrol and two in the army, Uncle Sam was kind enough to send me to Europe instead of Viet Nam, I completed teacher certification requirements and started a career in education. I taught for a year and a half in Wichita, Kansas, and then Congress was kind enough to pass the new GI Bill, which allowed me to obtain my Masters degree in Guidance. I started as a guidance counselor in a small school district in Kansas. After that year I was offered the greatest compliment in my life; as a single, protestant male I was offered a position as a counselor in a Catholic girl's high school. But, the next year I went to Farmington, New Mexico, where I was appointed Guidance Director just after school started. After three years there, I went to the State Department of Education, starting in Research and Development, and then attaching Assistant Director of Guidance Services to it. After a few months, the Director of Guidance Services resigned, leaving me the whole show. Something must have gone right, because after that year was over, I received a grant for the State Department of Education to pursue a doctorate, which I obtained at Oklahoma State University in 1974. After that I was the superintendent of two separate school districts, a vocational school superintendent, and an assistant superintendent of the largest vocational school in Oklahoma at the time.

At one time or another I found time to visit forty-nine of the fifty states, and about half the provinces of Canada. Having learned Spanish in the Border Patrol, I have also been in all but three or four states of Mexico, and also have used it in Spain a few times. Since Uncle Sam sent me to Europe, I learned German while there, and with three additional trips to Europe visited all but two countries west of the Iron Curtain and East Germany and Yugoslavia east of the curtain before it fell. Yes, I've been to Mexico City a few times, Acapulco, Colima, Guadalajara, and Puerto Vallarta. And, I have seen Venice, the leaning tower, Milan, Florence, Pompeii, and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I have been to the Brandenburg Gate, and Bavaria. Yes and many, many other places. I saw Falstaff at the Vienna State Opera House, and have seen the Louvre and Del Prado. And, I have seen the changing of the guards in Copenhagen and in London, and many, many other things. I have also been to Hong Kong.

Since the university where I received my first two degrees is now defunct, do they exist, do I have them? And, since the third degree is based upon my having the first two, can I possibly have it? Richard Nixon spoke at the commencement for my doctorate, and I was afraid they were going to recall my diploma about ninety days later, when he resigned the presidency. I am probably the most educated ignorant person on earth. I am just glad I managed to get to retirement before anybody found out I didn't have any education.

I have been married twice, probably because of a lack of education, and have an eleven-year-old son, whom an ex-student brought to me to adopt.

Kenneth Bull

Email: wkbull@peoplepc.com

To Table Of Contents

Billie Jean (Bushnell) Meitler

Immediately after graduation in 1956 I was employed at the Champlin Refinery Company office, and worked there until July, 1960, when I married Steve Meitler (class of '55). Steve graduated from OSU in January 1960, ROTC graduated, stationed at Ft. Gordon, Georgia, and we lived in a beautiful guesthouse, in a Historical District of Augusta. While in Augusta I had the privilege of working for Montgomery Harison, whose Father was a close friend of Bobby Jones, and they owned the land that the Masters Golf Course was built on. Montgomery, his father and brother were the only starters at the Masters Golf Tournament for many years. His brother, in his middle 80's, was the starter this year. "Next, Tiger Woods, four please" Steve and I have had the privilege of attending the Masters Golf Tournament numerous times. This was a fabulous experience, and we will always be grateful to the Harison family.

Steve and I are blessed with three sons. Oldest Dusty, born in Augusta, graduated from Southwest Texas University, (now Texas State) San Marcos, Texas, married to Judy, have a son Justin 17, daughter Casey 8. Dusty is a football coach at Andress High School in El Paso, Judy is an office administrator for a group of Endocrine physicians, Justin is in high school and plays on the football team and golf team, plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin. Justin had the honor to play in Texas Stadium last season in the Texas High School 5A semi-final game, in golf the past two high school seasons qualified for the Texas 5-A Region golf tournament in Lubbock, Texas.

Casey, the first little girl in the Meitler family in 55 years is in the second grade, plays the piano and her father is teaching her golf. Casey is very special and Steve and I have the privilege of her company each day after school. We get to spend much time with her. Grandparenting is the greatest gift of all.

Robbie, our middle son graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, received his MBA from the University of Houston, lives in Boston and is a Vice President for the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. Montgomery, the youngest son graduated from the University of Texas in Austin, earned his Law Degree from South Texas College of Law, is an attorney for the State of Texas. Robbie and Montgomery live and die Texas football, have season tickets, travel to many games, including the last two Rose Bowl Games. Steve and I have suggested married life; their position, careers and traveling do not cause high blood pressure, they claim.

Steve and I have spent 43 years in El Paso, Texas and love the desert. We live in the mountain area of El Paso with a beautiful mountain golf course. Recently we sold our larger home and built a smaller retirement home still near the Coronado Country Club, in a new gated area. Steve retired after 35 years with the State Farm Insurance Companies, was a sales manager for the El Paso area. This gave Steve and I many wonderful experiences, traveling the world and the US, sales meetings from Boston to Seattle.

We have had a wonderful life and it all started in a great little city, with a high school filled with wonderful people, Enid High School.

Billie Jean (Bushnell) Meitler

Email:meitler@earthlink.net

To Table Of Contents

Sandy (Caldwell) Halcomb

After graduating from High School, I started working at the First National Bank. While working there, "My Hero", Bill Halcomb, from Pond Creek, Ok, came riding up in his cattle truck with a bull in the back, and saved me!!!. Yes I married a s---kicker. Of course we couldn't get married till I turned twenty because he wouldn't marry a teenager. We got married the first of May and Harvest started the end of May. One itty-bitty thing I forgot to tell him was, "I can't cook", I couldn't even boil water. I had to cook for around ten hired men, and we had the biggest wheat field fire in the history of Ochiltree county Texas. I was supposed to drive the wheat truck to the house and call the fire Dept., I decided I could run faster, so I did!

After harvest came cattle time. This is when we would unload the calves in the wheat field and ride through them checking for sickness, etc. For some reason my husband always on the horse, and I was on foot. He would rope the calf, and I would drive up as close as I dared, take the medicine and syringe, and we would doctor them. He would get back on the horse and I would take the rope off and run like h--- to the pickup!! We didn't have too much trouble, except when he decided to train the horse and got the cattle all excited and I was the only thing between the cattle and freedom. I saw a few blood shot eyes as they went over me. I have to say, I didn't learn much in school for this kind of life.

We had three children, two boys and a girl... just bang, bang, bang. Finally, after the third one, we shot the stork, and didn't have any more. The first was a boy, Sam, he is the father of our first grandson, who graduated this spring and will be going to Penn State this fall. Sam is married and lives across the pasture from us at 4-Corners. He is in construction and his wife is in to horses. Tami, our girl and middle child, lives in Austin, Texas. She was a professional student, in to foreign languages, can speak five languages, and spent a year over seas studying German. She is the one! I swear they gave us the wrong baby in the hospital. She is married (finally) and has a little girl. I kept telling her to see the world, for once you get married, its for a long time. First time she ever listened to me. Danny, our baby (he loves that) is married and is trying to be a farmer. Its hard any more. He has two girls and a boy. His wife teaches in Pond Creek, and it keeps us all busy with ballgames. They live in Pond Creek.

We didn't stay down on the farm all the time. In 1972 we traveled to Russia, Italy, Spain, Holland, Belgium and Czechoslovakia with a People to People tour group from OSU. My Husband went to school at Oklahoma A&M back in the dark ages.

Bill was on the Farm Credit System National Board for ten years, and we traveled all over the U.S.. In 1995 we went back to Germany, and he showed me where he was stationed, and we were able to stay on some of the military bases, which have since been turned back to the Germans. Some were very interesting, Hitler's house, Eagles Nest, and some depressing such as the concentration camp Dachau.

We also took up trap shooting... I must say I kept up with the guys. My husband won a car one year, and the next year I was 75 straight, when someone told me I just had to hit 25 more and I would drive the new car home. Didn't bother me 'til the last 5 birds and I was thinking about driving that car home and missed all 5!! I still haven't lived that down.

Also took a "Pinch Hitter" course in flying. This is where, if something happens to my husband, I could fly and land the plane safely. After flying touchdowns all day, I told the instructor when we took off to take over, because once I got it landed I didn't plan on taking off!!

There are "No Fools like Old Fools", We ended up with a Motorcycle, a Honda Gold Wing, and have traveled a few miles and had many adventures. We have burned up, frozen, drowned and fell over on it, but it was fun. We have gone places that when I could get to a phone, I would call to see if he had taken a life insurance policy out on me.

I hope I haven't put anyone to sleep. I wasn't going to write a bio because I haven't done anything, but I just needed to stop and think what I had done. No wonder I'm tired.

Everybody take care,

God Bless.

Sandy (Caldwell) Halcomb

Email: halcomb@pldi.net

To Table Of Contents

Carole (Cariker) Reinhart

I always read a great deal and in the 50's I used to read about all the things people had accomplished, how long they lived and what all they had seen happen in this world. I used to wonder if I would see 1975 and then the 1990's and - - would it be possible I would see the year turn 2000.

I was put in school at age 5 and struggled constantly therefore not liking school or enjoying it much. As a result my long lasting friendships were few. But I have lots of memories to look back on.

I married in 1956, as so many did, right out of high school at age 17. Divorced thirteen years later. Boy would I like to change that bit of history. But if I did I would not have my two sons and then the three grandsons that they gave me. Now I have bragging rights about a great grandson and wonder of wonders - - a great granddaughter.

It took me almost 20 years to graduate from college after I decided I wanted to go back to school. I had to keep stopping to care for my boys and then the grandchildren as they came alone. Working full time and going to night classes takes awhile. I finally decided it was no longer for job advancement, but for my own satisfaction. I was one of those grandmas that walked across the stage with her grandchildren in the cheering section in 1991.

I did a bit of traveling before the third generation came along and before retirement age started to look me in the eye. I have also been caregiver for several mentally challenged people over the years. Being in the Amish territory, I have been piecing quilt tops for awhile, mostly for the family. I do mine on the sewing machine and wore out my second machine last winter.

I retired after 31 years as a loan officer for a Credit Union. I now have the pleasure of caring for my great granddaughter and have had her since she was 4 months old. I get her early each morning and she has started telling Mom and Dad that she wants to stay at NaNa's overnight quite often. She keeps me young at heart, gives me lots of smiles and challenges. At age 3 she will be starting an early education school this month two mornings a week. It amazes me how things have changed from my generation through my kids and grandkids to her time. Hope my arthritis can keep up.

Well now it is 2006 and I still read a great deal (I appreciate large print now). Who would have thought I would have had a chance to experience this much life. My childhood homes (Mother and Grandmother) are no longer standing. They burned down last December at 609 and 611 East Broadway. My parents and grandparents are in the Enid Cemetery. I did not have any siblings. I still have a couple of contacts in Enid, but with the homes gone it seems that my roots have been painfully severed.

I will not be attending the reunion. I have just had my front porch (39" X 6") replaced this last week. It was torn off in high straight winds and/or a small tornado that went through last April. I am still cleaning up from that and Jessi keeps me busy on week days and some week-ends.

I wish good health and good memories to one and all. Please keep in touch.

Carole (Cariker) Reinhart

1916 East 26^th Ave.,

Hutchinson, KS 67502

620-665-0809

Email: ckreinhart@peoplepc.com

To Table Of Contents

Carol (Carlberg) Hewitt

I moved to Vermont at age 30 (you do the math) and have lived here since then. In 1982 I remarried, to a great guy named Bruce Hewitt and we live in Burlington. Three of our kids are nearby which is great.

I teach piano which shouldn't come as a surprise as piano was my primary activity in HS. All my students are in groups of 3 or 4 ~ including a lot of adults who, of course, have become close friends.

Each summer I have a piano camp - "Music by the Sea" in a beach house on Cape Cod. And my latest gig is teaching group piano to adult beginners on Crystal Cruise Lines. It is an amazingly fun thing! Our next trip will be Stockholm-St. Petersburg- Oslo- Copenhagen in June.

We have no plans to retire...can't even imagine it (we're both self-employed). We do manage to getaway pretty often and enjoy having a boat on Lake Champlain in the summer. Burlington's really a great place to live ~ we consider ourselves really lucky to be here.

It's great hearing from old classmates...uh, maybe I should have said "former" classmates?

Carol (Carlberg) Hewitt

5 Tower Terrace

Burlington, VT 05401

Email:carolchewitt@yahoo.com

To Table Of Contents

Jim Carnell

LSU: BS, BSCE, MSCE

Employed by Louisiana Department of Transportation as an Engineer.

Children:

Jennifer Lynn 44, Garland, Texas, attended Texas Tech, partially retired.

Janice Lea 44, Richardson, Texas, attended Texas A&M, studying for second career in Dallas.

Jessica Lauren 27, Baton Rouge, LA, BS, JD, BCL all from LSU - recent graduate.

James Leonard III, 26, B.S. from LSU, MA from Louisiana Tech U., current student at Grenoble Graduate School of Business in France.

Other issue: none and I'm too young to be a grandparent.

Spouse: Gloriadel: 30 years duration

Email: jimcarnell1938@yahoo.com

To Table Of Contents

Wade Chambers

Present: living in Australia along the Great Ocean Road -- very scenic, lots of weird and wonderful birds and wildlife, 5 acre garden of Australian native plants, simple lifestyle -- I welcome visitors from past lives!! My daughter Susannah (26) works in Melbourne as an Editor for Allen & Unwin publishers. I teach ONLINE at a Santa Fe Tribal College (IAIA) while living in Australia and running my house as a B&B.

Immediate past: Retired in 2000 from a job as Professor at a Melbourne University. In that year I got a grant from the US National Endowment for the Humanities to set up an online teaching program at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe. I usually have spent the early summer in Santa Fe, then a couple of weeks with friends in Ontario before returning to Australia and my Golden Retriever Robbie.

Distant Past: Okla.Univ. BA in History, Harvard MA/PhD in Cultural History of Science. Married in 1968. Taught at SMU, Concordia, and McGill before moving to Australia to help set up a new university in Melbourne (Deakin). Also taught at UCSD in La Jolla.

Published 18 university textbooks and about twenty scholarly articles. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution I spent about five months in Beijing and traveling in the Tien Shan region, the historic site of Mao's revolutionary bases. That was possible because my wife was teaching English at the Beijing Language Institute. Not because of my politics!! ;>}

Besides family, the only person to visit me in Australia has been Bob Holcomb and his wife Shannon.

Hope to make it to the 50th. I see a lot of old friend's names in Delores' email list. Take care everyone.

Wade

Email:nine_bear@yahoo.com

Visit Wade's various websites:

http://www.iaia.edu/nep2/index.php

This link will take you to the Native Eyes Indigenous Studies program at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe. After founding this program in 2000, I will continue as Director until 2008.

http://www.cimarron.com.au/

This link will take you to my Bed and Breakfast business in Australia, which is also my home. Any EHS class of 56 visitor will be very welcome and will be accommodated for half price. So far only Bob Holcomb from the class has visited me in Australia.

http://web.mac.com/nine_bear

This is my personal website and will tell you far more than you want to know about Wade, his family, and his work.

To Table Of Contents

Don Cone

After graduating from Enid High School and Oklahoma State University, I went to work for Phillips Petroleum Company in Bartlesville. I met my wife at OSU and we married in March 1962, as soon as she finished her practice teaching.

I retired from Phillips in 1999 after nearly 38 years, finishing my Phillips career in the Legal Division as Corporate Assistant Secretary of the Company and as Corporate Secretary of nearly 200 of the Phillips' subsidiaries.

Not only did I work for Phillips, I have always been interested in music and have continued with various musical endeavors. I accompanied, and later directed a local community chorus for several years. In the early 70s I volunteered with the local theater guild and ended up having the lead in a couple of musicals, "South Pacific" and "Brigadoon". I served as Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church in Dewey, OK, for 23 years, retiring in 2000. Now we are back at First Baptist Church in Bartlesville and I am serving as the church organist. I sing with the Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma and have enjoyed our monthly concerts, as well the concerts we did in Estonia, Latvia, and Russia in 1993; Hong Kong and China in 1996; and Australia in 2004.

My wife's degree is in Elementary Education with an emphasis on early childhood. That made her not only a good teacher of elementary children, but a wonderful mother to our three children. She taught in the Bartlesville elementary schools for 22 years and retired in 2000. She now teaches at Oklahoma Wesleyan University for about eight weeks in the fall as an adjunct professor. At OWU she teaches education majors how to teach math to elementary students, so her fingers are still in the classroom.

We have three children and ten grandchildren. Our children all returned to Bartlesville after college and we see them often. Our oldest son is an attorney with his own law firm and they have five children—the youngest are twins. Our daughter is married to the Associate District Judge and they have two boys and a girl. Our younger son is manager of a communications company and they have two sons.

We spend a lot of time with our children and grandchildren. Carol Ann and I love to travel. When we are home we seem to spend a lot of time volunteering for various activities in the community. I keep busy serving on the boards of several local organizations and work on community projects through the Kiwanis Club.

I think we were on a trip oversees and missed the last reunion, but plan on making No. 50. We are healthy and count our blessings every day. God has been very good to us both.

Don Cone

Email:dlcsharp@cableone.net

To Table Of Contents

Willa Jean (Cook) Hirschaut

Classmates: Thanks for the invitation to the reunion. I cannot make the trip to Oklahoma this year. I'm primary caretaker for my dad (87 years), and my mother who is in long-term care of Alzheimer's.

Don, my husband, and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary, May 10, 2006, in Monterey (coast of California).

Our two children (Don Jr. and Leslie (Hirschaut) Knutson, have made us the proud grandparents of 3 boys and 1 girl. They planned the 50th and paid all expenses for the week-end!

We live in Copperopolis, California, (1 hour from Yosemite Park), and near Sonora, CA: the "gold-rush" country of 1849. We have lived there for 6 years.

During my husband's military career, we enjoyed living in many different area of the U.S. When our young babies got into junior high, I started college classes in Merced, transferring to Stanislaus University in California, and completed teacher's certificate, Resource Specialist for handicapped to age 21. After retiring from the USAF, Don worked as an instructor pilot in Iran for the Shah. Both my son & daughter graduated high school in Tehran, Iran; then transferred to universities in California.

My father retired from USAF, and taught aircraft and engine at Merced Junior College for about 5 years. He and my mom are close by. (M/Sgt. Elmer Cook).

My siblings:

Lou Ann (Cook) Young, Husband died 2 years ago. Two children & 2 Grandchildren. Lives in Las Vegas, NV

Betty (Cook) Swenson / Married. Three girls/daughters, and a granddaughter.

Robert George Cook/married. One daughter, one son, and one granddaughter.

Fortunately, all the above live on the West Coast, and we see each other often.

I retired from teaching after 24 years, mostly in middle school special education.

Now we are retired and plan fun stuff, like our next trip to Australia, New Zealand, & Fiji.

Have a great time at the reunion! Best wishes to all!

Willa Jean (Cook) Hirschaut

Email: willandon@caltel.net

To Table Of Contents

Twila (Cooley) Bell

Soon after graduating from Enid High School, I was married to Robert Bell of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was a control tower operator for the Air Force stationed at Vance Air Base. After his discharge in 1959, we moved to Tulsa where he attended Tulsa University and I worked as a secretary for the YMCA. After the four years in Tulsa we lived in Stillwater, Oklahoma and Fort Collins, Colorado while Bob was gaining experience in radio and TV advertising sales. While in Stillwater, I was executive secretary for the United Fund.

Our next location was Wichita, Kansas where we spent 32 years with Bob staying in radio and TV sales. Fourteen of those years I was a stay at home mom to our two girls, Victoria Susan, who lives in Wichita, Kansas and Cheryl Ann who lives in Alma, Kansas.

I loved being able to attend all their school and extra curricular activities. Both were very active in athletics. When our youngest was in high school, I went to work for the Wichita School District and spent eighteen years as a bookkeeper/purchaser.

In 1999 we retired and moved to Manhattan, Kansas to be near our only two grandchildren, Rayann and Buzzy. We have enjoyed spending time with them while also doing quite a bit of RV traveling, seeing many beautiful and interesting places in the United States and Canada. We also spend as much time as we can volunteering for our church and community agencies.

In March 2007 we will be celebrating our 50th anniversary.

Twila (Cooley) Bell

Email: bobbell@networksplus.net

To Table Of Contents

Franklin Dee Crabtree

June of 1956 found me pumping gas at Knox Service Station. Classmate John Jeter stopped by one day in late July and asked me to go on a blind date with his girlfriend's classmate, so on July 27^th, 1956 that happened. Betty Bergdall (from Ames High Class of '56) and I were married on July 27^th, 1957 and will celebrate our 49^th anniversary this year. We have a son and family living in Hartford, CT, and a daughter and family here in Murfreesboro. They each gave us two grandchildren - three boys and a sweet girl.

In March of 1957 I started work at Allen's Kay King Shoes, a women's and children's shoe store on the north side of the Square. This was a national chain with the division office in St. Louis, MO. Genesco, the parent company, was located in Nashville. We managed retail stores in Oklahoma and Texas for ten years. We then moved to the St. Louis office as an Assistant Buyer, then a year later the division was moved to Nashville. Genesco had several shoe divisions so we had many opportunities. I worked with Jarman, Johnson and Murphy and our footwear import division and visited India, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.

We moved to Murfreesboro, TN and retired in 2002. We always look forward to visiting or family and friends in Enid, OK.

Thanks for our teachers.

Dee Crabtree

Email: fdcrab@msn.com

To Table Of Contents

Gail Crawford

I have really been enjoying reading the Bios from my Enid friends. (I was going to say old friends but I still think that we are all pretty young) It has been fun thinking about writing my Bios because I have had to reflect on a number of my previous decisions.

After high school I went to SMU in Dallas. I had four great years there making new friends from all over the country. I particularly enjoyed the OU-Texas week-ends. When I was with Texas fans I would cheer for OU and when I was with OU friends I would cheer for Texas. When I was a senior I met a freshman girl from Dallas named Nancy Lagow. After dating for about one year we got married and stayed in Dallas because I was starting Law School at SMU. When I graduated from Law School we had our son Dan and our daughter Cathy was born several years later.

After graduating from law school I accepted a job with a law firm in Arlington, Texas, which is about half way between Dallas and Fort Worth. Most of my work was involved with oil and gas and real estate investments. After two years of law practice, I decided that I really loved the business world and that I had a much better future there than practicing law. We then moved back to Dallas and I joined with a fraternity brother of mine to start a company that did oil and gas exploration and real estate development. Over the years we have concentrated on drilling oil and gas wells in Texas.

In the early 80's I sold my interest in the company and semi-retired. We had a second home in Aspen, Colorado so we decided to move there. Our Daughter Cathy finished high school in Aspen and I enjoyed having a small office in downtown Aspen for several years. We loved to ski, hike in the mountains and enjoyed taking jeep trips into the high country. However after several years we decided that we wanted to move back to Texas. We moved to Austin and enjoyed living there for several years.

I missed being active in the oil business and decided to start another company to specialize in drilling and operating new wells. I had a number of business contacts in Houston and we decided that would be the best place to start our new company. We moved to Houston in 1987 and have lived here since that time. My son works with me in our company and my stepson and one of my sons in law are in the oil business here in Houston.

In 1988 my wife and I got divorced. After being married for 27 years this was quite an adjustment. I was very fortunate that after being single for several months I met Charlotte Walker McCuistion. Charlotte grew up in Beaumont and went to the University of Texas. It turned out that we had many mutual friends. We actually met however through friends of our children who knew both of us. My son and Charlotte's daughter were friends at University of Texas. Charlotte was going through a divorce at that time and our children and their friends kept trying to get us together. We met shortly thereafter, fell in love, dated for several years and then got married. Charlotte has three children so we now have five children, three sons in law, one daughter in law, and seven grandchildren. Three of our children live in Houston, one lives in Greenwich, Conn. and one lives in St. Thomas, USVI. We are trying to get one of our Houston kids to move to California so that we can travel in all directions.

I am still enjoying being very active in oil business. We have an office in the Galleria area and the best thing about it is that it is only about five minutes from our house. I learned many years ago that the best way to survive in a large city was to turn it into a small town. If you live close to your office, belong to Clubs close to your home and stay off of the freeways and learn the side streets, it is very similar to living in a much smaller town. I still enjoy playing golf and tennis and am a big Astros, Rockets and Texans fan.

I look back over many fond memories from my childhood and school years in Enid. We are all very lucky to have grown up in such a wonderful City. I have enjoyed telling friends how great it was to grow up in a City with 12 grade schools, two junior high schools and one high school. We had great rivalries as kids from different schools but came together at one high school to play together and get to know friends from all over town. One of my biggest disappointments is still that in my 9th grade year Longfellow beat Emerson in both football and basketball. Another big disappointment was when I crowned Carol Franks as the Emerson Band Queen, I did not kiss her. I was previously told by the Principal that kissing the Queen was a no-no. I have always felt like I was a chicken for sticking by the rules. I have discussed this situation with several of my friends and they have suggested to me that I should give Carol a big kiss if I ever see her again. I am hoping that my opportunity may come at the reunion.

I hope everyone makes a special effort to come back for our 50 year reunion. I look forward to seeing all of you there.

My office address is Crawford Energy, Inc., 770 South Post Oak Lane, Suite 520, Houston, Texas 77056. My office phone is 713-626-2637. My home address is 5918 Green Tree Road, Houston, Texas 77057. My home phone number is 713-952-1994.

Email: gcrawford@crawfordenergy.com.

To Table Of Contents

Janice (Crook) Decovic

Life has been good to me. I have had two happy marriages, four children and seven grandchildren and one on the way, and lots of real life experience. My only regret is that I didn't get to travel more while I was well enough to walk distances, but I did get to travel abroad some and lived for two years in Kuwait. What an experience! My husband was helping the Kuwaitis set up their air defense program in from 1978 to 1980. It must have worked. Iraq didn't attack them from the air.

After graduating in 1956, I attended Oklahoma State graduating in 1960 with a degree in journalism. College was a great time. I worked on the college paper beginning my freshman year as a proofreader and finishing as editor. I also attended Colorado State College for a year receiving teaching credentials and got a Masters degree at Phillips in during the summers while I taught in Colorado Springs.

Before I began teaching I worked in public relations for Pacific Telephone in Sacramento, doing advertising for Coldiron's, on the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association magazine and writing copy in a country music radio station in Colorado Springs.

I was married in California after college graduation, but it was one of my grand mistakes (I've made a few). My husband left when our son, Wade, was two months old, and I was a single mom for 8 years.

In 1970 I married Frank Lindstrom, an Army major stationed at ARADCOM. He was a widower with two girls, Pam 11 and Kris 9. Kris was my fourth grade student. I was not sure I would like military life, but I really liked Frank, so I was prepared to do whatever it took. I loved it. The girls, whom I adopted, were ballet students. Being a ballet mama was a joy since I had always loved ballet. Wade kept me grounded with baseball and Boy Scouts. I also enjoyed going new places and learning new things from storytelling at the Fort Leavenworth Museum to teaching art to the first and second grades at the American School Kuwait and setting up an art festival at Fort Bliss.. When Frank took command of an air defense battalion at Fort Hood, I had not been to a change of command, since we had not been assigned to a troop post since our marriage. I had no idea what a big deal it was. When I arrived at the parade ground saw the band and the troops lined up and was presented with a big bouquet, I felt like Cinderella at the ball.

My Army life ended abruptly at Fort Bliss one Saturday morning while Frank and I were running down Sheridan Road on the sidewalk. A car came up over the sidewalk behind us and fatally injured Frank. I was devastated, but I knew from the beginning that there would be light after the storm.

My kids had all settled in Austin where the Army had sent us in 1973 for Frank to get his MBA at UT. So back I went to Austin and to teaching. I built a house just like I wanted it with blue carpet (My real estate appraiser husband wasn't impressed.) I was active in my church and doing fine. Other houses were built around me and in one lived a single guy with a 10-year-old son. It took us a year to get around to going out, but soon we knew we'd be together for a long time. I had all my children raised and on their own, and I signed up for another child. Maybe it wasn't smart, but it was worth it. Stephen marches to his own drummer and is very bright. It was never dull. We were married in 1985 and just celebrated our 20th anniversary. Larry is a commercial real estate appraiser and manages both commercial and residential appraisal branches of American Realty Corporation.

I continued to teach for several more years until I became ill with fibromyalgia. I had been a very busy person, singing in the choir, and on lots of committees at church and school. Suddenly I was unable to do those things, but the bonus was that I was able to read as much as I wanted for the first time in my life. Our bookcases are overflowing and I keep my library card hot. It's a good life.

Janice (Crook) Devovic

Email:jdecovic@austin.rr.com

To Table Of Contents

Janet (Dage) Utzman

Wow, writing a biography can sure make you feel like you haven't accomplished much in your life. Here I go anyway----

After graduating from EHS I went to Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater, only to have it become Oklahoma State University in my sophomore year---so I guess I have two alma maters. I married a boy from Bartlesville, Bill Kendrick, who had done the ROTC bit at OSU. After graduating we lived in Bartlesville until he was called to active duty. Thus began a career as an Air Force wife. Bill flew in the B-52, and then went on to be chosen to an elite group that flew the SR 71---a supersonic, secret, spy plane. He went in on the ground floor and it was a very exciting program. We had 2 children and were stationed at Beale AFB when he was killed in a traffic accident. He flew the fastest airplane known to man and was killed going 30 miles an hour on a motorcycle. That just proves that one never knows where danger really lurks.

I moved to Temple Texas after his death, where my parents had moved, and later met an Army colonel, Chuck Utzman. We had much in common and fell in love and married . My Mom said I must have a thing for a man in a uniform! He had already been in the Army about 25 years so we spent the next 2 years of duty time traveling in Europe and enjoying life before he retired. We had a daughter that was only 18 months old when her Dad was retired.

We chose Austin Texas to live---built our dream house---high on a hill with 7 levels overlooking 3 golf courses, and began to live the civilian life. It was a change for both of us. Chuck did some teaching in elementary school, dabbled in real estate some, and played a lot of golf. He did a lot around the house and enjoyed being with the kids a lot and seeing his daughter grow. I also dabbled in real estate, went to work part time, to get out of the house. Did some retail work in children and gift stores. Managed one kids store for a while but enjoyed just working for someone else most of the time and letting them worry about the problems. We were very active in our church, starting with the first meetings in a school cafeteria and went through many building projects and program changes. Kept busy doing all those volunteer jobs that quietly hold the world together.

After having moved 21 times in 15 years in the military I enjoyed living in the same house for 30 years. Last year we made the decision to downsize and simplify our lives. We chose a community called Robson Ranch north of Ft. Worth (near a small town called Argyle) on I-35 W to settle in. It is called an active adult community. We built a house here and moved in on March 1st. We also moved my 90 year old mother with us and she is now living in a skilled nursing home. We are in the process of becoming involved with the many, many organizations and clubs going on here. There is so much to do that there is seldom time to relax and just do nothing. It is really fun. We love the people and all the things going on. It's a little like starting life over again, with all new friends, house, furniture and outlook on life. It has certainly gotten us out of a rut! My husband tells everyone if they ever have a chance to live in one house for 30 years, don't do it---it makes it very difficult to make the decision to leave and change your lifestyle.

Up until a month ago we could say that we had 3 children with none of them having ever married. That also means we are without grandchildren. However our youngest daughter married on Oct 15 and I have high hopes that before I am 70 I will have my first grandchild. That makes it a challenge to stay fit and be able to plan to take them to Disneyland in a few years --- like most of you have already done!

So, as I read the accomplishments of all my classmates, I feel like I haven't done much with my life. Yet I know that loving and raising my family and being a good wife and mother was really a full time job and I have enjoyed every minute of it. God blesses us each with our own talents and I hope I have used mine the way He wanted me to.

Janet (Dage) Utzman

Email:jldu@juno.com

To Table Of Contents

Bob Dennis

I live in Quail Meadows Addition, which is about four miles north of Enid on Highway 81.

I taught school for 31 years and retired in 1994 from Longfellow Junior High in Enid. My son, Tim, and daughter, Lea Ann, both live in Enid. I have 4 grandchildren: Sarah 8, Conner 6, Chloe 4, and Callie 2.

My hobbies are hunting, fishing, and taking care of my grandchildren.

My wife, Joy, son, and daughter-in-law all teach in Enid. Joy retired from teaching and enjoys our grandchildren also.

To Table Of Contents

Gerald and Pat (Dudley) Dennis

Hi all,

This is our life, not as adventurous & exciting as some of yours have sounded, but a happy and fulfilling life.

We left Enid in August of 1957...headed for the Golden State of California. Bought a house in the then small town of El Cajon, in San Diego County. We ended up in the even smaller town of Ramona, in the mountains east of Escondido, on the winding mountain road leading up to the resort town of Julian. Had an old house that we completely refurbished. Great place, then, and we were there for over 20 years. During the intervening years, we had four beautiful girls and adopted one baby boy. Had a beautiful life with them. Spent a lot of time camping out, taking advantage of the beaches, mountains and deserts of Southern California. They grew up to be intelligent, hard working, happy adults. They now live in California, Oregon, North Carolina and Virginia.

Jerry worked as a Chemical Analyst at a metal plating shop in National City, then went into the Aerospace field as a Mechanical Engineer at General Dynamics Astronautics, but finally settled in the Sheet Metal/Heating & Air Conditioning field, working through Sheet Metal Local 206 out of San Diego. We had some fun working on the outages at San Onofre Power Plant during the last couple of years, him being technical and me managing the cafe/snack bar. We lived in our small motor home in the parking lot with over 100 other RV's. Met a lot of great people whom we still keep in touch with.

I was a stay-at-home mom until the last 2 kids were in their last two years of high school. Then I decided it was time to take my turn in the work force. I had done some private party catering while taking care of kids and taught myself how to decorate cakes (lots of birthdays in our family, don't you know, and five weddings coming up over the years). This all paid off and I was hired on as head chef and banquet manager at a large country club outside of Ramona. Had some great times, even personally served Roy Rogers his breakfast one Sunday morning when they came out to the wedding of rodeo man, Casey Tibbs. I also made that wedding cake.

Then the blessed event of retirement. We decided on Texas, halfway between all of the kids. We live in the VERY small town of Fred, not even 500 people. We don't like the traffic of big cities. We travel some, made some good friends, and the kids and grandkids come often. We have 17 grandkids, all grown-up but one late-comer who's 11. We have 8 great-grandkids with 1 more on the way and who knows when they will finish.

Jerry and I are still happily married, our 50th wedding anniversary will be June 10^th [2006]. Some of the Golden Years have turned a little rusty with aches and pains, but we are all right. Hope to go another 20 years or so. Jerry will be at another milestone on the 5th of June, he'll turn the magical age of 70.

All of us in this area are still cleaning up and repairing after Hurricane Rita, but we hope to see all of you in September.

Our best,

Gerald (Jerry) and Pat (Dudley) Dennis

Email: rancho1943@prodigy.net

To Table Of Contents

R.D. Diener

I joined the Navy upon graduation from Enid High. In 1959 I was discharged and returned to Enid where I worked for S.W. Bell while attending Phillips University. I finished a BS in Management and an MA in Secondary Education.

I moved to Stillwater where I completed an MBA then went to work for the Navy as a civilian. I programmed "strike warfare" during the Viet Nam War while living in San Diego until I accepted a Management Intern position with the Air Force at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City.

I became Director, of Management Development at Tinker. In 1979 I formed a private management consulting business and operated it until retirement in 1981.

I then organized a "show production" company to produce hunting and fishing shows. I also started a retail gift business that operates under the title of Haus of Bavaria. I operate 14 retail stores in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin.

Here I am 66 years old and I work harder today than ever before. Along the way I have managed to demolish 2 marriages and today, understandably so, am single but enjoying life. In addition to work, I enjoy traveling, collecting old books and records, and staying in touch with friends around the world.

Email: busiman4u@juno.com

To Table Of Contents

Gene Diller

What a wonderful idea to read about our classmates while they (and we) are among the living. I have enjoyed reading about my friends from school days and those friendships that we developed through our reunions.

Although I am sad when I hear about classmates who have passed away, it does bring back many good memories. I believe we grew up in the best of times.

I too have been slow to write because it seems that my school days and even my adult life was somewhat unremarkable and ordinary. With this in mind, I will try to touch on my life.

I dated the same girl (1957 graduate) most of my junior and senior year, but left Enid shortly after graduation and we both went our separate ways. After a short new relationship I married in December 1956 believing in the myth that "you get married and live happily thereafter"

I have 4 beautiful children – 2 girls and 2 boys, 4 grandchildren and 2 more on the way. My oldest lives in the Clarksville, TN area and the other 3 live near me in the Wichita, KS area.

After 3 children, my wife wanted another one. Raising 3 seemed ambitious to me, so we settled on foster parenting. We started with newborns and continued with preschool kids and eventually high school kids. One of the infants became adoptable @ 4 ½ years old and by then, he was part of the family, so we adopted him. Altogether we hosted around 105 children in 15 years. Later we hosted 3 foreign exchange students, one each from Columbia, Brazil and Norway.

After the children were out of the nest and the social activities slowed down, it was apparent we had grown apart and we divorced. I casually dated for awhile and eventually found that special person. Judy and I have been in a committed relationship for 2 ½ years.

During my "working years", I was involved with the usual recreational, professional and civic organizations, including director/ President of our 8,000 member employees club, director/ Vice President the company Supervisor Club, for 25 years director/ Vice President and President of the 10,000 member Wichita, KS Men's Bowling Association and served one term on the City Council

Career- Started to work @ Beech Aircraft in October, 1956 and retired @ 62 – with 44 years of service. I started as a trainee and after 15 years or so went into supervision. Responsibilities increased and for the last 20 years I was in upper management. During this time my assignment included functions performed on the behalf of the FAA. Prior to retirement, I applied for independent FAA delegation and now I travel all over the US and some International locations doing FAA approval of modifications and licensing.

When not working, we winter in San Antonio, TX

Looking forward to hearing about all of you folks and getting together for our 50th reunion.

If you care to write by e-mail, my address is genediller@earthlink.net.

To Table Of Contents

Merlene (Duckworth) Shiplet

Greetings from Wichita, America. Reading your biographical sketches has been a special joy! Thank you for sharing a part of your lives, families and travels.

Personally—I've lived the American dream of unexpected opportunities. Garfield and McKinley grade schools, Emerson Jr. High and all back together at EHS was perfect.

Enid Business College served me well after returning from living in Munich, Germany. Enjoyed working at Union Equity.

*Moved to Okla. City—took OK Merit Tests. Climbing the high staircase of the State Capitol put a little pride in my stride to start the day; worked in Central Purchasing.

*Oklahoma Medical Research Institute, Cardiovascular Section. Secretary to Reagan H. Bradford, Ph.D., M. D.; Biochemistry Professor, University of Okla. Medical School.

*Moved to San Francisco. Returned as a single parent. Started night classes at Okla. City University— -secondary education major.

*Admin Asst. for James Byron Snow, Jr. M.D., Professor, Otorhinolaryngology-Board Certified. Dr. Snow had eleven surgical residents in four-year programs. Enjoyed managing 4 secretarial assistants. Doctor Snow wrote the Ear, Nose and Throat Chapter in Grey's Anatomy textbook for decades; summa cum laude graduate of Harvard and John Hopkins; supervised research lab. Five years later, he couldn't resist an offer to return to the Boston area. Professional staff always included bringing all your support team. I declined the unexpected offer.

*Career change: Price Waterhouse (CPA firm); Admin. Asst. to Partner-in-Charge.

My son, Robert Mark Wuerflein, was born in Munich, Germany. That is very special because his great grandfather was also born in Bavaria. Mark and Cheryl live in Bennett, Colorado, and work in real estate.

Living in Munich began an obsession with Europe. I promised I'd treat myself to a sabbatical every ten years; four trips so far. My Dad died when my Mother was 52. We decided to take Mark to visit his birthplace; special memories of sharing 30 days/8 countries with them. Eventually visited Hawaii, Mexico, Alaska and Bahamas.

Would you believe---- Michelangelo Buonarroti was born in 1475 on my birthday, March 6?

Life began at age 39 with Wayne Shiplet. We met at church, dated a year before marrying, and moved to Orlando, Florida, six months later. Wayne requested the transfer to work on the AT&T v DOJ breakup of the Bell Telephone System and to play golf. I had been hired by Exxon Office Systems- Qwip Division; also taught evenings at Southern College. Tourist activities seemed like we were an a 5 year vacation.

Wayne opened the AT&T office in Wichita. I taught day and evening classes at Wichita Business College until it closed ten years later. The curriculum included medical/legal secretaries and court reporters. Wayne was adjunct faculty. He eventually retired from AT&T; Boeing-Human Resources; continued in his avocation of Minister of Music (French horn, vocal, handbells).

I retired from Tru-Circle Mfg. Aerospace; Human Resources Director. TCM was the largest contractor to Boeing, Raytheon and Gulfstream.

Wayne died Valentine's night 2003; we were married 25 years. He is missed.

Looking forward to our Class Reunion in September 2006

Merlene Duckworth Shiplet

(No Email)

To Table Of Contents

Robert (Bob) Dundas

I'd gone to work at KGEO-TV in Enid during the summer between our Junior and Senior years at EHS, and after one year at the University of Oklahoma, returned to working in the TV studios in Enid. I met Claudia Gray of Cordell, Oklahoma in the fall of 1958, and we dated, and were married in June of 1959.

Channel 5 had been building studio facilities in Oklahoma City, and we moved there in August of 1959.

After a brief stint with the US Army, I returned to the broadcasting business, working briefly at radio stations in Clinton and Woodward, in Oklahoma, and a small TV station in Elk City. I was able to get a position with the CBS station in Wichita, Kansas, in late 1962, and did my first regular 'on-camera' work there. My daughter, Saudia, was born in Wichita in 1964. In 1965, I was offered the position of news anchor at KCKT TV, in Great Bend, Kansas, and in 1966 was promoted to news director. My son, Sean, was born in Great Bend in 1968.

My 15 year marriage to Claudia Gray ended in 1974, and I continued as news director in Great Bend, until 1978, when I'd had enough of being 'on-call' 24 hours a day. I did have the opportunity to meet and interview some very interesting people, and covered at least a dozen stories of national interest while at KCKT TV. I was nominated for the Pulitzer in 1974, for photojournalism, motion picture film I shot of a tornado outbreak. I did not win the Pulitzer, but felt it had been a great honor just to be nominated.

I spent the next 5 years as a car salesman, in Kansas for 2 years, and then moving to Oklahoma City in 1981, continuing selling cars until 1983.

But, in 1982 my life became truly blessed, when I was able to marry my best friend, Margaret. We've been together for 24 years, and there hasn't been a single day that she has not demonstrated her love and devotion for me. Margaret had 3 children from a previous marriage, so we have 2 of mine, 3 of hers, and 5 of ours!! We are also blessed with 14 grandchildren, of whom only one is a granddaughter!

I can only say this, looking back over the past 50 years. There have been only a few of my classmates that I've encountered outside of the re unions, but those brief encounters are precious to me. There's only been one classmate I've stayed in almost constant touch with, and he was our class president all 3 years in high school, and Dr. Skarky remains my dentist and good friend to this day. In the precious visits I've had with Floyd, and his lovely and elegant wife, Linda, I have come to this conclusion:

Classmates, we graduated from high school in the best of possible times. Our country was at peace, and our parents were, every one, members of that Greatest Generation! I and they made certain that our lives would be better than theirs. And you know what else? They raised the next best Greatest Generation!! That's US, folks!! And I'm so very proud of each of you. Look at what our generation has done: Men to the moon, and safely returned; the beginning of the end of the shameful segregation and racial discrimination in our country; advances in the medical sciences that have added more than 10% to our life spans; instant global communication; personal computers, which may, or maybe not, prove to be a boon to our life styles; cell phones....same comment {!!!); and the technology to peer back in time through powerful instruments, to see the visible images of stars as they appeared billions of years ago, and most of all, the intellect and the curiosity to continue learning each day we're alive.

We're all of us getting older. I just look forward to seeing everyone of you on the other side!

Email: smalchng@worldnet.att.net

To Table Of Contents

Nancy (Earnest) Ingram

[Editor's note: Prepared for Nancy by classmate Kay (Meibergen) Lee]

After graduation from Enid High Nancy attended one year at OU, then transferred to Iowa State. In June of 1958 she married Terry Ingram, a 1955 graduate of EHS. They lived in Iowa for eleven years then moved to Moore, Oklahoma and later settled in Tulsa. There Nancy helped publish the Junior League magazine, "The Gusher." After becoming a receptionist for the magazine, "Tulsa Home & Garden" she quickly worked up her way to editor. That publication became the "Oklahoma Home & Garden."

In 1988, after editing the "Tulsa Home & Garden", Nancy became a field editor and photo-stylist for Meredith Publications. She produces feature stories for the Meredith titles including Better Homes & Gardens, Traditional Home, Renovation Style, Country Home, and Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publications. Her work is included in Better Homes & Gardens New Decorating Book, New Classic Style, Second Home and Real Life Decorating among others. She produced and was the photo stylist for Charles Foudree's French Country Signature and Charles Foudree's Country French Living*. Her newest book, Modern Country, published this spring [2006], is currently available at most book stores.

Nancy and Terry have made their home in Tulsa where they raised their three children, Ann Ingram-Hart, John and Joe Ingram. After the children left home, Terry and Nancy bought two log cabins in what had been a hunting camp in the hilly country east of Tulsa. Nancy used her decorating talents and photo stylist eye to create a wonderful home from the small cabins. If you look closely in her books, you may see some of her treasures on the pages. Their home reflects their love of the 1940's and Oklahoma cowboy and Native American history.

In the summer their home truly becomes a camp as Terry & Nancy share their love of nature with their three grandkids, Benjamin, Jackson and Sara. They canoe on Spring Creek and the lake near their property, fish and catch the many snakes near their home. Among Nancy's many books is one very special book all about summer with Nancy and Terry written and illustrated by their grandson.

Their daughter Ann is married to Bob Hart. They live in Atlanta with son Benjamin. Ann is on the administrative staff of the Weather Channel.

Joe remains in Tulsa while John lives in Evergreen, Colorado with wife, Julie and their two children, Jackson and Sara. John is with Janus Funds.

*Taken from the cover of Modern Country.

Nancy's email: rr2ingram@aol.com

To Table Of Contents

Gloria (Emmons) Sturdevant

This is a great idea...since I did not get to attend the last reunion. Though I have the "group picture" I recognized only a few...Are we THE senior citizens?

I graduated from Phillips University in 1960, married Bill Sturdevant and moved to Kansas City. He opened his practice in Tulsa...where we lived for many years.

Now divorced, I live in Kansas City because our two sons live in the KC area. James graduated from UMKC and is a financial advisor for a dealership in North Kansas City. He married a local girl...they have 2 children, Rachel and Markus.

Robert did a 3 year residency at Children's Mercy. He opened his pediatrics practice in St. Joseph...he and Stacey have 3 children, Megan, Mallory and Stephen.

I have taught school for many years and enjoy teaching the little ones. They keep you young, alert and agile. I enjoy keeping in touch with friends via the internet and have found many friends on classmates.com. It seems the older I get the more I miss "home".

I am looking forward to the 2006 reunion.

Gloria Sturdevant

Email: Grannyglokc@aol.com

To Table Of Contents

June (Fields) Petersen

Marriages: Bill Stewart – divorced May 3, 1962

Bill Taber – died May 3, 1965

Bill Petersen – divorced September 1976

Children: 2 sons and 1 daughter

Grandchildren: 5 – 1 boy and 4 girls

Since graduation, I have lived in Texas, California (north and south), Washington, Florida, and England. Now live in Fountain Hills, Arizona after living in Scottsdale for 12 years. I have been living with the same man for the last 23 years. By the way, his name is Tom. I gave up on Bills.

I have been an Interior Designer for the past 30 years and have just retired.

I've had a great life and lots of fun. I look forward to seeing all of you at the 50^th...barring another 9-11.

Email:PJuneP620@aol.com

To Table Of Contents

David Fisher

After graduation from Enid High School in 1956, I attended Phillips University the following year and then on to Oklahoma A&M/Oklahoma State for 4½ years to study Architecture and Architectural Engineering. Many of you may recall Mr. Ridge, the drafting teacher at EHS. He would never believe that I graduated in Architecture and became a successful architect because I could never satisfy him with my drafting ability.

At OSU I joined the Theta Chi Fraternity. In the early 1960's, it seemed as though that when you graduated you would get the diploma in one hand and the draft notice in the other. Four of us from the fraternity joined the Air National Guard to serve our country instead of being drafted. It seemed like a good idea at the time, however our unit in Tulsa was activated in 1961-1962 for the Berlin Wall Crisis. After defending Tulsa for 11 months, I returned to OSU to finish my last semester and graduated in 1963. By the way, we were successful and Tulsa was never attacked.

We, my wife Fredda and I, moved to Larned, Kansas where we lived for 6 years working for two architectural firms before moving to Littleton, Colorado (Denver is our northern suburb) in 1969. There I worked for two firms before starting the firm of Allred/Fisher Architects/Engineers in 1974. We acquired another firm and became AFSLP Architects & Engineers in 1990 of which I was president and responsible for the work of over 40 employees. This firm designed the three concourses at the new Denver International Airport which some of you may have seen when you have flown to or through Denver.

I left the firm in 1992 to start Fisher Associates Architects & Engineers. I am still active in this firm today; however two of my children now own and manage the firm. We design mainly commercial buildings--including fire stations, auto dealerships, schools and other public buildings. Among other things, my role for the past 15 to 20 years has been serving as an expert in construction design and defects. I am qualified as an expert witness and have given testimony in a number of courts of law.

While in Tulsa in 1961 and hardly knowing any girls, I asked a fraternity brother to arrange for a blind date for me. This how I met Fredda and we had our first date on Halloween. Things went very well; we fell in love and were married 9 months later in August 1962. No, stop thinking that because our first child wasn't born until 1965. This August Fredda and I will celebrate our 44^th anniversary.

Rene's is the oldest child, is married and has little daughter Beth (3). Rene's is part owner of the firm and is the business manager and does interior design. Christopher is the second child, is married and has 3 children, Caleb (8), Victoria (6) and Brody (4). Chris is a licensed Architect and is president of the firm. Both Rene's and Chris live close by and we see them and the grand children often.

Sydney is our youngest. She and her family live in Gainesville, Florida. Cud is a licensed architect and works in facilities management doing architectural design and management for the University of Florida. Her husband Mark teaches architecture at the University. The have two children, Jordan (4) and Noah (2). Yes, there are a lot of architects in our family. By the way, Fredda also works in the firm and attempts to keep track of us and make sure things are operating profitably and smoothly.

Fredda and I have been blessed and are very fortunate to have a successful business and understanding children. This has allowed us to travel extensively over the past 12 to 15 years. We enjoy cruises and have traveled in Europe on many occasions. Last year, in February 2005, we were in Venice where we saw snow and visited Florence. Later in May we took a river cruise from Berlin to Prague. We extended our trip to Budapest and Vienna. Later in the fall we flew to Rome where we spent five days before leaving on a cruise through the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic back to Florida. Of course with grandchildren in Florida that necessitated at least three trips to see them.

This year we spent five weeks in New Zealand and Australia in March/April. In Australia we got to experience a Category 5 cyclone/hurricane. We were staying in a condo about 200 feet from the beach when the cyclone came ashore about 50 miles south of us. All we lost was electrical power for 2 days. This resulted in the wine and beer getting warm and our having to cook "Spam" over an open flame on the BBQ grille by the pool.

We just returned from Florida where we visited Amelia Island and later Cud and her family in Gainesville. In December we will return to Florida to see them and of course go to Disney World. Next year we have trips planned for a transatlantic cruise to Lisbon Portugal where we plan to stay an additional eight days, Later that fall we will travel with another couple to South Africa for more than two weeks on safari and sight seeing.

The story in the office is when clients call for me, one of the questions for Rene's is "So where is your Dad traveling to this week?". Yes, we are spending our kids inheritance and they seem to approve of it. So far we have been on every continent except for Antarctica and we intend to travel there within the next few years. At times I wonder how these kids from Oklahoma ever got to be such world travelers. I never ever dreamed of doing this kind of travel while I was in high school. My goal was to get to Colorado some day.

Between work, grandchildren, activities in the community, church involvement and travel, we have been and continue to be very busy. Fortunately both of us are in good health, have reasonable memories and are able to lead an active lifestyle. I am looking forward to the Class Reunion and seeing many of you. See you in September. By the way, wasn't that a song??

David Fisher

Email: dfisherrktk@earthlink.net

To Table Of Contents

Bill Francis

My bio will be very, very short I have had a very boring life. After high school I spent a short period of time at Okla. State Univ. After a long discussion with my father we both decided it was time I went to work and stop wasting his money. I did finally get my degree but several years later.

I retired from SBC Corp. in 1991 with 30 years service. My last two years with SBC I worked putting together SBC's Golf Pro-Am tournaments which helped me start my career I have today.

I am now General Manager at the Trails of Frisco Golf Course, in Frisco, Texas.

I have lived in Plano, Texas for the last 30 years. I have had three wonderful children, five wonderful Grand Children and three wives (not all wonderful).

Today I live alone in Plano with a lot of great memories. Some of my best are the time I spent at Enid High. I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends.

Bill Francis

Email:back9@swbell.net

To Table Of Contents

Paul Franklin

My bio is going to be short and sweet...

After high school graduation, I completed two semesters at Phillips University here in Enid, then four years at Oklahoma State in Stillwater. I married in 1958 and have enjoyed two wonderful children from that marriage – Tim and Annette, each having given us a grandson. I joined my father at Franklin Motor Company in August, 1961, rather than pursuing an architectural career, and took over management of the company in 1968. I married Sharon (EHS '65 and Tulsa gal to whom I was introduced by a mutual friend) and her three great kids – Elisa, Kristina and Joseph – in June, 1986. Kristina has given us another grandson and will have presented us with our first granddaughter by reunion weekend. I enjoyed auto racing as a member of the Sports Car Club of America and the Enid Sports Car Club from 1968 until 1992, when I retired from racing but continued as a race official for several years. In August 2001, after 40 years with Franklin Motor Company, I made the decision to close our 77-year old family company and pursue other endeavors, joining Oklahoma Farm Bureau as an auto damage appraiser. I enjoy my grandchildren and family time, home life, travel, friends, designing and working in the yard, collecting racing memorabilia, and I still love art.

Paul Dean Franklin

Email: pdsfranklin2@cox.net

To Table Of Contents

Carol (Franks) Thom

[Editor's note: Carol's picture is

from the '55 Quill before she

transferred to New Mexico.]

It is always very special to me to be included as a member of the 1956 graduating class at Enid High School. I attended Enid schools: Taft, Emerson, and EHS until my junior year, transferring mid-year when my family moved to New Mexico. I really didn't want to go because there were many memories and friends I left behind. Now, after 50 years, I may not know or recognize very many!

After high school, I attended the University of Oklahoma and then returned to New Mexico and graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1961. The really great thing about this time is that I reunited with my wonderful EHS steady boyfriend, Ronnie Thom, and we were married in 1961. We returned to Enid, I taught school first at Garber High School, then at Enid High School. I took Miss Fromholtz's position as French teacher for 4 years. During this time we had two children, Lisa, now 43 and working for the Houston Fire Department, and Michael, age 40, teaching math and computer science in Sugar Land, Texas.

Ronnie and I moved to Harlingen, Texas, were he owned and managed two Sonic Drive Ins. I then taught English at San Benito High School. They were wonderful years. After the children left for college (Texas A & M), we moved back to Oklahoma where Ronnie purchased another Sonic, and I learned a new career in the jewelry business in Guymon, Oklahoma. It gave me the opportunity to travel and go to markets.

After Ronnie sold his Sonic in 1999, we decided to return to Texas to be near our children, one grandchild, and to retire. This was a perfect scenario until we learned that Ronnie's backache was really cancer. After two years in Richmond, going to M.D. Anderson, he passed away last year. Being near my family has helped. My 93 year old mother is in a home nearby, and Ronnie's 95 year old mother is also in a home close to us.

Each day is precious, and with continued good fortune, I look forward to attending this reunion, hopefully recognizing some classmates and walking the halls of Enid High School, where life was so promising and we were so young!

Carol (Franks) Thom

Email: carolt@taii.net

To Table Of Contents

Jerry Frisk

Wife: Barbara (Bobbie) Whitlow Frisk (Class of '59)

Celebrated 45th wedding anniversary May 19, 2006

2 children-David and Tamara ;3 grandchildren-Jarad, Courtney, Connor

Graduated from OSU in May, 1961 as a Mechanical Engineer

Worked from 1961 to 2004 for: OG@E, Champlin Pipeline Company,

Benham Engineering Company, International Environmental

Company (IEC)

Retired March, 2004 from IEC

Hobbies are golfing, fishing and traveling.

Jerry E Frisk

9201 Brentford Ave.

Okla. City, OK 73132

Email: jfrisky38@cox.net

To Table Of Contents

Wardena (Fronterhouse) Hubbard

Classmates: I will not be able to attend the reunion in September as I have other commitments this year.

I am still a designer in Oklahoma City and own House Gallery. Twenty seven years in business now. Mostly corporate design but do several houses a year. We also do large artwork and framing jobs for hospitals, banks, and the government.

I am married, I have 3 children, 2 grandchildren, and recently a new great-grandson.

My web site is being redone so will not be available for a while.

It is www.housegalleryart.com

Kay (Fronterhouse) Hubbard

Email: wkhubbard@aol.com

To Table Of Contents

Barbara (Gage) Horn

After graduating from EHS, I attended OSU my freshman year and transferred to OU which is where I met my husband, David. We have been married 44 years and have three children. We lived our first four years in San Francisco, Ca. where David was with Bank of America International Banking. Our daughter Debbie and our son Steve were born there. We were sent to Bangkok, Thailand by Bank of America for four years where our daughter, Kathy was born.

After a year and a half in Enid and another year in Vancouver, Canada, we went back to San Francisco for another five years in international banking, before moving to Dallas, Texas where we lived for 23 years. We have lived in Shreveport, La. for the past six years. David is helping our son with his car dealership. Our daughter Debbie graduated from SMU, and is a Controller for an architectural engineering firm. She is married and has just moved from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon. Our son Steve also graduated from SMU and has a car dealership in Shreveport, Louisiana. He is married and has three children. Youngest daughter Kathy graduated from Baylor and is working with a Dallas PR firm. She has several other business ventures and is not married.

While living in Dallas, David and I became involved with the Southeast Asian Refugees through our church and still remain very active with the ministry. Over the past six years, the church has started a medical clinic and church in Nongkhai , Thailand, as well as a primary school in Vientienne, Laos. We have been very involved, traveling there every twelve to eighteen months. I spent four years as Outreach Director for our church , which was suppose to be a six week job. I also had a retail business in Dallas for ten years selling apparel, jewelry and gifts.

We miss Dallas and all of our friends and our church, but we do travel back to Dallas every few weeks. We have the blessing of living around the corner from our three grandchildren and being a part of their everyday life. We have two grandsons who are nine and twelve; and a granddaughter who is three. They keep us very busy and active.

I still get back to Enid several times a year to visit my mom and dad, who are both 93 years old, and living on their own.

Looking forward to seeing everyone.

Barbara Gage Horn

Email: hornbarbara@hotmail.com

To Table Of Contents

Jerry Gearheard

After graduating from Enid High School, I attended college at Oklahoma State University where my Phi Delta Theta fraternity brother, John Vice, introduced me to his twin sister Janet who I later married. She tells me that she was the best thing that ever happened to me because I decided to start studying and quit partying after I met her.

Immediately after graduating, I spent 8 weeks in Air Force basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. Then, I joined Conoco in Ponca City, where I progressed through 3 positions to become an internal auditor. While in Ponca City, I studied hard and passed the CPA exam.

While in the NYC Corporate office, the Controller persuaded me (after discussion over several martinis at the English Grill at the end of the skating rink) to relocate to the New York office in the RCA building. Most of my work in New York was in the International Division, which was very exciting. When we relocated, we were not really ready for the big city and made the Controller promise to transfer us back after 2 years. When we transferred back to Ponca City, however, the town seemed a lot different. We decided that we were no longer ready for a small town either, so I joined ARCO in Dallas.

With ARCO, I held 7 Controller positions in Dallas and one Human Relations position in Los Angeles. All of the assignments were a lot of fun. While in Los Angeles, the company paid for my expenses to obtain an MBA from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles. We were lucky to be in the oil patch when things were booming. For a while, we were urged to spend as much as we could to show that we were active. We flew first class, in Lear jets, dined at four-star restaurants, and went to very nice places for company meetings and seminars. Eventually, however, the good times came to an end when the price of crude bottomed out. When ARCO offered an enhanced retirement program for a temporary period in 1992, it seemed like a good time to take a nice lump sum settlement and move on.

I then accepted a position as Controller of Pioneer Leasing Corporation where I worked for 10 years. In July of 2004, a once in a lifetime opportunity came along to make some good money working for Canadian based Agrium Inc. doing business in the US. I have been based in Fresno California for over a year documenting internal controls to comply with an act called Sarbanes Oxley. The interesting thing is that when I retired from ARCO as their Manager of Accounting Policy, I thought the chances were very slim that I would find another job that would utilize my experience. God and Congress have looked out for us.

I have 2 beautiful daughters, who live in the Dallas area, one grandson and 4 granddaughters. We have thought about moving to a resort area, but we would miss the frequent contact with all of them.

Living in a hotel suite in Fresno hasn't been that bad because Janet comes out to visit me occasionally. I also take a week off now and then and spend some weekends at home in Frisco, Texas. The company that I am working for has been very nice and generous.

I have thought about retiring, but I think that golfing everyday might get a little boring. I thought about finding some charitable cause to devote my efforts to, but a good opportunity that I would enjoy has not presented itself to me. In the meantime, I will keep working, for at least as long as my current employer has a need for me.

Jerry Gearheard

Email: gearheard@ev1.net

To Table Of Contents

Ginnie (Geis) Bernhardt

(Editor's note: This picture is

obviously NOT from the Quill.

We just had to make do!)

Hello All...

After graduating from high school and spending three months in Europe I attended what is now Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. I married a professional baseball player and had one daughter, Kathy Lynn, who is happily married and works as a computer guru for Hewlett Packard. She in turn has blessed me with two wonderful grandchildren. (My...how unusual to think ones grandchildren are wonderful! ~:) Both were adopted...one's a blue eyed blond boy born in Boise, Idaho and the other a beautiful little girl my daughter and son-in-law went all the way to China for. They have truly blessed my life and at 10 and 11 are wonderful running buddies. But I'm getting ahead of my story...

After an amicable divorce in 1963 I went to work for KPRC-TV (the NBC Affiliate) in Houston, Texas where I worked for 32 years, the last 18 as the National Sales Coordinator. During that time I had the good fortune to travel quite extensively...nationally through my work, and internationally with my wonderful Fred who, unfortunately, died twelve years ago. We were just together 5 1/2 years but they were absolutely wonderful years and I feel lucky to have had him even for that short time. I got my pilot's license at 53 but haven't flown in several years. After retiring from the TV station in 1995 I moved to Idaho and have been busier than I ever thought possible.

Of course my grandchildren are an important part of my life...but the last few years I have spent a lot of time fly fishing around Sun Valley and snowmobiling throughout Idaho wherever the snow is best at the time with a favorite destination lodge in the mountains, accessible in the winter by snowmobile or helicopter only. My daughter and son-in-law have a beautiful cabin in the mountains overlooking Lake Cascade so I spend a lot of time there between May and November. I still love to travel but have stayed within the 50 states the past few years. Hawaii is still a favorite...the island of Lanai my usual destination with occasional side trips to the other islands. I'm healthy, happy and having a wonderful life.

I hope to make it back for the 50th reunion and am well "rehearsed" for the big event because this last September I went with my brother and his wife & daughter to his 50th. Since I am two years younger I was considered just a little kid by my brother's friends so there was no way they would ask me out when we were young...so I ended up teaching about half of the boys in his class how to dance. I remember one of them even said "Sissie (my nickname)...would you teach me how to dance so I can take a real girl to the party?" I was too young to feel insulted...and the more I thought about it in later years the more I realized I got to spend more time with them than their girlfriends did!

MEMORIES OF HOME: We had pool and ping pong tables in the basement, a two story swing and trapeze on one side of the house and a basketball goal on the other side. Anyone in town was welcome to come over and play outside, get ice cream out of the back porch freezer (my great uncle, Mr. Pendleton, ran the Sanford Stunkle Drugstore across the street used to complain that we single-handedly ruined his ice cream business)...or go downstairs and play games. There was a constant stream of kids going through our kitchen to the basement...even when we weren't home. I think it's interesting to note that there was never any vandalism and nothing was ever stolen.

Enid was truly a grand place to grow up...and I feel blessed to have been part of the MAGNIFICENT CLASS OF '56. We've all had ups and downs...but from what I've read and heard most have been ups. Thank you for being a part of my life. A special thanks to Delores for all her efforts...and more kudos to Wade for the great idea!

Love and hugs,

Mail address: [Editor's Note: By reunion time Ginnie will most likely have moved (or be moving) to El Paso.]

104 E. Fairview PMB 377

Meridian, ID 83642-1733

Phone: 208-887-0877

Cell: 208-866-8558

Email: ginnieb@mindspring.com

To Table Of Contents

EHS Class of '56

FOREWORD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Individual Biographies Introduction

[Names in this Table of Contents are alphabetical by last, school or maiden name.]

Joan (Arrington) McNeely

Ray Asfahl

Richard and Virginia (Merritt) Autry

Albert Avery

Bob Bailey

Gloria (Baltzer) Janzen

Patricia (Barnes) Burya

Mary Helen (Bogert) Iselin

Myrna Kay (Born) Eck

Sandra Sue (Bowen) Brandt

W. Kenneth Bull

Billie Jean (Bushnell) Meitler

Sandy (Caldwell) Halcomb

Carole (Cariker) Reinhart

Carol (Carlberg) Hewitt

Jim Carnell

Wade Chambers

Willa Jean (Cook) Hirschaut

Franklin Dee Crabtree

Gail Crawford

Janice (Crook) Decovic

Janet (Dage) Utzman

Bob Dennis

Gerald and Pat (Dudley) Dennis

R.D. Diener

Gene Diller

Merlene (Duckworth) Shiplet

Gloria (Emmons) Sturdevant

Bill Francis

Paul Franklin

Carol (Franks) Thom

Jerry Frisk

Wardena (Fronterhouse) Hubbard

Barbara (Gage) Horn

Jerry Gearheard

Ginnie (Geis) Bernhardt