I Remember When- High School Years

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INVESTING IN YOU

Many high school memories will last forever

TOM LAUB Lifestyles editor

tlaub@lewistownsentinel.com

Lewistown Area High School Class of 1977

LEWISTOWN — Every fve years. Every fve years since graduation, members of the Lewistown Area High School Class of 1977 meet, as many other classmates do, for our class reunion. Friday night classmate get-together and Saturday night class reunion reliving old times. Looking back through years of change, it is customary for each generation to refer to the past as simpler, more innocent times. Yes and no. There was enough turbulence in the 1970s to remind us the world is really not innocent. Over time, priorities, viewpoints and people change. Societal norms change as well. Change does not guarantee improvement.

I enjoyed high school. I enjoyed elementary school and junior high, too. I was

blessed to have my family and a normal home life. I’m thankful for both. The environment prepared me for school.

There are a lot of memories from junior high and high school. Classmates, teachers, coaches, pep rallies, the school being condemned, half-day sessions, junior high football, basketball games crammed into the old LHS gymnasium, football games at Mitchell Field, nicknames, bumbling my way through dates like Charlie Brown, junior varsity basketball, the “new” open-space school, a night at the reservoir that I will never forget (most of my friends will not let me forget), the teacher lock-out, the student sitin, the senior variety show, baseball and graduation. And friends.

Reminiscing about school days would be incomplete without popular trends. Each decade, for better or worse, is known for its trademark attire. The 1970s were cursed with the ugliest fashion styles of the century. Start with hair. There was a lot of it and it wasn’t all pretty. Next, bell bottoms. Not the ones with a slight fair, but wide, frayed-atthe-bottom bell bottoms. How many times can you trip over your own pants? Platform shoes. Enough said. One plus, though,

was they made you taller. Puffy shirts. Similar to the “puffy shirt” on Seinfeld. Wide collars and cuffs with puffy sleeves. No one wanted to look like a pirate back then, either. Large fuzzy bow ties. I refused to wear one for my senior portrait. The tie that was chosen wasn’t much better. Sometimes, it can be rough thumbing through an old yearbook.

I experienced public school for the frst time beginning in seventh grade.

In the fall of 1971, I attended junior high at the Lewistown campus of Penn Highlands High School. It was an adjustment after attending parochial school. A few weeks into the semester, just as I was settling in, the school was condemned. Before long, junior high students were on buses heading to Reedsville for half-day sessions at the Kish campus (senior high students attended halfdays at the Chief Logan campus). It was a strange year but we all managed. I reunited with some school friends and met many new ones. By June, I was ready for summer, but so was Hurricane Agnes. Much of central Pennsylvania including Miffin County was underwater for several weeks.

When school began in the fall, we were back on the LHS campus for the

fnal year of Penn Highlands. At the end of the school year in 1973, the Cougars were put to rest and Miffin County divided its high schools.

In ninth grade, I had my frst German class. For months, we practiced German Christmas Carols. I think we started on the frst day of school. The plan was to perform for the other language classes on the last school day before Christmas. It did not turn out well.

The high school years rolled by. Sophomore, junior and senior years. We said goodbye to the old school after 11th grade.

Our fnal year would be spent in the open-space, colorful classrooms of a brand new building. The year few. When it was over, we said goodbye and looked to the future. The LAHS class of 1977 experienced many things during our time together. The days and nights are all tucked away to refect upon from time to time. At least every fve years.

The times may have faded away. The memories will last a lifetime.

Thank you to all who contributed high school memories for ‘I Remember When.’ I hope you enjoy the fashback.

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Tom Laub

Submitted Photo

LAHS Graduation in June, 1977. From left, Mark Conner, Tom Shearer, Bob Carter and Tom Laub.

When the house lights dim…

Recollections of the Drama Club at Kishacoquillas High School in the 1960s

FOREST K. FISHER Kishacoquillas High School

Class of 1967

Those dimming house lights, that was the signal for my heart to start pounding!

Standing just off stage awaiting my cue when the curtains parted, my palms would dampen up quickly. I can still feel that excitement and anticipation!

Not just me, but every other member of the cast in our high school drama club, the stage crew and makeup artists, props, publicity, program committee, all were ready to go! The drama club advisors, after months of preparation, costumes and practices, were equally ready to get on with it!

Of course, our parents and grandparents, other teachers and friends, were in the auditorium seats beyond, waiting, all prepped to enjoy the production.

Standing behind those closed curtains was agony, given the stern admonition from our late drama club advisors John P. McElhoe and Linda Wilson Titzel, “On opening night, don’t peek at the audience from behind the curtains!”

How many years ago now? Well pushing 60, since that stage debut with the drama club at Kishacoquillas High School.

The theater group was called “The Masquers,” a name derived from the classical masks of Greek comedy and tragedy. The great thing about the Kish Masquers was that there were jobs for kids from 7th to 12th grade, opportunities very much still at play in today’s high school musical productions, only more so!

I joined the drama club in tenth grade. The frst

play I participated in was Cheaper by the Dozen, portraying the father, Frank Gilbteth, Sr. The play described growing up in a family with twelve children. Based on a book by the same name, the autobiographical story tells about the family’s life. The title comes from one of the real Mr. Gilbreth’s favorite jokes, which played out in a 1950 flm of the same name, as he and his family were out driving and stopped at a red light. A pedestrian would ask: “Hey, mister! How come you got so many kids?” Gilbreth would pretend to ponder the question carefully, and then, just as the light turned green, would say: “Well, they come cheaper by the dozen, you know”, and drive off.

The 1965 play program cover shows the Gilbreth family car, loaded with all the kids. Our classmate and artist, Grant “Skip” Treaster, created the old Ford with a number “12” on the front plate.

At least two of my teachers, Ray Deamer and Hope Reigle, told me I was perfect for the part of the senior Mr. Galbreth since I was born grown up!

I don’t know about that, but my character died in act three, off stage “while on a business trip.” The sad news arrived to my stage family. Mama and kids persevered in honor of Papa’s life and work, an uplifting message the audience appreciated.

My senior year, the play was Old Doc. Yep, you guessed it, I was cast as Old Doc, the town’s favorite, aged physician who set the kids’ broken bones, warded off illnesses, and, if staged in the 21st century, probably delivered all the town’s babies, to boot! At least one

baby is shown in a promo photo.

I’m shaky on the plot after all those years, but believe the story line went something like this: an older doctor is saddened that his son won’t be joining with him in practice. His hopes for a father-son team seem unlikely until the son joins Old Doc on a serious case.

And yep, I died in act three of this one, too. Sadly missed, but highly respected and beloved by the townsfolk.

Close curtain.

Type cast before I was even eighteen!

But one of the perks of belonging to the drama club was a trip to New York City to see a professional Broadway musical!

Picture this… a Luther Yoder tour bus from McVeytown makes an early morning pick-up of the drama club at the high school. Loaded with kids and chaperones from central Pennsylvania, the troupe arrives in the Big Apple. This is 1966. We’re dropped off at the famous Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, 205 West 46th Street in the Theatre District of Midtown Manhattan. Our chaperones inform us we’re all on our own until the matinee performance. Be back on time!

Groups split up and scatter into the largest collection of people and buildings most of us have ever seen or been around in our lives!

However, some of us planned for a brief city tour for lunch. I was with senior class member Joe Brindel. His father, William (Bill), of Brindel’s Hardware Store fame in Reedsville, told us of a renowned old restaurant we had to hit when in NYC.

Paddy’s Clam House was at 215 West 34th Street,”

The address is a few buildings down from Macy’s Department Store.

With Bill Brindel’s directions and a NYC map, we headed for the eatery, and lunched where the elite meet to eat! Google Paddy’s

Clam House, and get a look at this place in its heyday. White linen tablecloths, heavy restaurant dish ware, white-aproned waiters sporting bow ties, and noise, noise, noise! The intermixing of muddled conversations, clattering plates and silver made

it hard to hear conversations. The waiter passed out oversized illustrated menus with all the seafood delights a metropolis near the ocean could offer… clams, oysters, shrimp and lobster.

Submitted photos

Program cover and page one from Kish Masquers’ “Cheaper by the Dozen” in 1965.

Drama

Continued from Page 4

We had steamed clams and oyster stew. Large Trenton crackers foated in the milky broth! Rice pudding for dessert.

Lunch over, we tipped the waiter a dollar and ffty cents. (I remember that we pooled our money again.) Big spenders from the country, but now back to the theatre, as the 2 PM deadline loomed.

Too little time to hike back, so when in Rome, we hailed a big yellow Checker Cab, just like in the movies! These high school, would-be thespians, piled into the monstrous back seat.

“Ah, were you kids from?” the cab driver asked, as he set the meter. We said Pennsylvania,

came to town with our drama club to see a broadway play, just had lunch. Get us to the theatre by 2!!! Thankfully, he didn’t go by way of Hoboken, NJ, but dashed directly to the theatre. As the cabby hauled up curbside at the Lunt-Fontanne, we breathed a collective sigh… Our entourage was gathered along West 46th Street in front of the theatre.

In appreciation, pooling our cash, we tipped the driver “big time” with fve smackers, as our groups gathered along West 46th Street in front of the theatre.

Following the chaperones, the drama club entered and found our reserved seats. I had never seen the like before!

The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre… a classic Broadway palace. Plush seats, grand

staircases, balconies and live musicians delivering the play’s overture in the orchestra pit.

The house lights dimmed and the spectacle of a Broadway play unfolded as the curtains parted.

This play was “Skyscraper” with Peter Marshall, Julie Harris and Charles Nelson Reilly. So much was going on across the stage, two-story apartment building sets, spectacular costumes, brilliant voices.

If you were to research this play today, it wasn’t a smash hit. Wasn’t even a hit, but collectively it was quite an experience I’ll never forget.

Would you let your kids or grandkids basically go alone in NYC today? No need to answer. But we did then, with caring, respected teachers as our guides and I thank the Lord for the

experience!

Defnitely times change.

Cultural opportunities come to us in handheld devices now. But let me say, the friendships forged and the memories imprinted during those experiences in the high school drama club, hold a fond place in my heart.

Whenever I have the pleasure to sit on the audience side of the curtain today, I know my stagecraft is in the misty past. But my mind drifts back to those carefree days and the anticipation of opening night surges as the house lights dim.

•••

Forest K. Fisher is Vice-President of the Miffin County Historical Society

Submitted photo

“Old Doc” promo photo. Cast members are, from left, front, Nancy Witmer and Ellen Wilson; back, Jenny Jones, Grant “Skip” Treaster and Forest Fisher.

A chilly, out-of-town high school ride

NANCY SMITH-BOGAR

Derry Township High School

Class of 1948

I’m a girl but my best friend from my school years was a boy, Elmer Denlinger. Nothing romantic, just best friends. We were country neighbors and frst met during the summer when we both turned six years old, he in June and I in July. Our fathers went to the school board to have the bus pick us up for school.

We started our education at the one room schoolhouse in Maitland. There we met another friend, Butch Richard. Then it was on to the one room Hoopes School. Elmer took private

piano lessons from our music teacher, Mr. Shade. I took lessons from Miss Kephart in Lewistown. He learned to play, I didn’t. After a year at Yeagertown Elementary it was onto Derry Township High School on the hill in Yeagertown. In High School we were in lots of activities together. We both took academic courses. I sang in the choir and octet (he was the pianist), band, class plays and about anything they had. One time the band played at a football game when it rained all evening. The band director made us march – in and out of our shoes. On the band bus one night, Elmer ended in the bass drum!

I usually had the car but after our class play, Elmer’s dad let him have the car with the stipulation that he not leave town. So as soon as the play was over, Elmer, Butch, Alma Aurand and I headed for State College. Halfway there, a deer jumped through the windshield on Butch’s side and was completely out. It was very cold, so I had my bandana to wear. Elmer’s side was all cracked. Then it snowed. I don’t know how he saw to drive. Alma kept crying and saying her dad was going to kill her. Elmer replied, “What do you think my dad’s going to do to me?”

We fnally got home and Elmer had the task of wak-

Photo memories

ing his dad with the bad news. He only asked if anyone was hurt. When Elmer said that they weren’t, he said “that’s all that matters.” Whew!

We graduated in May and the summer was spent going to Greenwood, to town for milk shakes or Rod’s for cheeseburgers, or just hanging out. I went off to school where I met my husband-to-be. I got married the next year and moved to Selinsgrove. Elmer and Butch eventually joined the service, thus ending our careless school days’ friendship. Now, we have a great adult friendship, including family. But that’s another story!

ELLEN (MCCAHAN) KNEPP

Chief Logan High School Class of 1960

My, how time fies! The girls in this photograph are from the Chief Logan Class of 1960. From left, are Brenda, Sue, Ellen and Louise, all dressed up for the prom. Before going into the “new” high school, we attended our classes at

Burnham High School (now New Life Church). One of my favorite teachers, Miss Bitner (Ann Harshbarger) was just out of college and closer to our age. She went along as a chaperone on our class trip to Washington, D.C. I recall going to the Trading Post across the street for frozen candy bars and to sock hops at the YMCA. They were fun and simpler times!

Submitted photo Nancy Smith-Bogar

Submitted photo Elmer Denlinger

Submitted photo

The band keeps marching Photo memories

RUTH (SHEARER) EDDY Lewistown Area High School Class of 1980

If I close my eyes, I can still hear the cadence of the drums, the alma mater and many of the songs my high school band performed. Being a twirler in the band was a big part of high school for me. From practicing to performing to riding on the bus, the members, well over 100 strong, of the Lewistown band spent many hours together. While I was in high school,

we traveled to Holland Michigan, Atlantic City, and Virginia Beach.

I have so many memories of pep rallies and parades, of Friday night football games and Saturday night competitions. One of my favorite parts was marching from the high school down the alley to Mitchell feld anticipating the lights we would encounter as we entered the gate of the stadium and marching down the hill. All while the smell of french fries and hot chocolate flled the air.

Some of the memories grow sweeter as the years go by. I am sure I have forgotten some of the events that happened, but if I close my eyes, I can still run through some of the routines in my head… as our alma mater went, ”Here’s to you dear Lewistown. Here’s to her blue and white…Long may thy great name stand, all through the many years… We will honor thee.”

Ruth Eddy is Publisher of The Sentinel

Submitted photo

Graduation photo of the 1978 LAHS 2-Mile Relay team that placed ffth at the PIAA State Championship in Shippensburg. Pictured are, from left, Bryan Hughes, Chuck Saylor, Kevin Kodish and Ronn Wheeler.

— Kevin Kodish / Lewistown Area High School, Class of 1978

Chief Logan at East Juniata basketball, 1962

BOB SIEBER

East Juniata High School

Class of 1963

In late January or early February of 1962 near the end of the 1961-62 Tri-Valley League basketball season, East Juniata High School was scheduled to host Chief Logan at Cocolamus. For high school teams in Miffin County in the early ‘60’s, traveling to rural Juniata County was like going “out in the sticks.”

There was quite a buzz at EJ and around the McAlisterville-Thompsontown-Richfeld area since everyone was aware of Chief Logan’s exceptional records in football and basketball. The Mingoes were in the running for

the Tri-Valley basketball crown.

Earlier in the season, EJ had lost to Chief Logan 6851 on the Mingo court. EJ was fnishing the schedule at about a .500 clip and was looking to play the role of spoiler.

Through the Sports Section of the Lewistown Sentinel, we were all aware of Chief Logan’s athletes such as Dick Gingrich, John Monsell and John Zarkavich. Plus, we may have seen them play in the basketball tournament held at Lewistown High School over the Christmas Holiday. Also, several fans and students traveled to Miffintown to see Juniata Joint host Chief Logan in football.

For my brother Chas

and I, there are two additional links to Chief Logan High School. Our cousins in Yeagertown, Jack, Patty, Dennis and later Roger Ziegler, all attended Chief Logan. Plus, EJ’s Industrial Arts teacher for the ’61’62 school year was Gene Brown, a standout athlete from Chief Logan. Gene assisted in coaching the soccer team and was the junior varsity basketball coach. We often had spirited discussions on why “city” teams from Miffin County were frequently better than more rural teams from Juniata County.

The gym at EJ was packed and noisy. The place was juiced and pumped with EJ leading the JV game. About mid-

way through the JV contest I noticed that Fran Fisher and John Waugaman from WKVA Radio were setting up their equipment for a remote broadcast.

Fisher was on his way to establishing a career broadcasting Penn State football games. Waugaman was a salesman at the station who enjoyed sitting in on sports broadcasts.

The varsity contest in the packed gym was fastpaced and relatively close during the frst half. However, Chief Logan came out strong in the second half and, like the game earlier in the season on its home court, won by 16 or 17 points.

However, the real story of the evening was when Gene Brown’s junior varsi-

ty team decisively defeated Chief Logan 77-46.

As a junior non-starter who was on his way to scoring 69 points for the season, my memories of the event obviously have little to do with the actual game.

I fnally got in around the middle of the fourth quarter when the outcome had been decided. In the raucous environment, in front of a packed house and a WKVA broadcast, while trying to ft into our defense, I ran smack-dab into John Zarkovich. It was a collision on his blind side taking him totally by surprise.

I was not called for a foul since we were away from the action and the ball. My reaction was “uh-oh, now what?” After all, he was

muscular and bigger than me. He stopped, turned toward me and said in a disgusted tone, “Gee!”

After high school I learned that John had married a girl from McAlisterville. I decided that if I ever see him around town or at the annual Fayette Community Carnival I will introduce myself, shake hands, and quickly tell him about that evening 61 years ago. I hope he will fnd the whole thing amusing.

Overcoming a shaky start with moments to cherish

RHONDA KELLEY Chief Logan High School Class

of 1978

I remember when I embarrassed myself terribly at my football game debut as a performing fag in the Chief Logan High School Band. After enduring the long hours of practice in band camp and after school, it was fnally time for my frst high school football game under the lights at Juniata High School. Another girl and I were the only sophomores on the squad. The rest were juniors and seniors. We were the newbies. Of course, I was extremely nervous, it was one thing to make a mistake in practice, but the thought of making a mistake on the feld with all those onlookers was terrifying.

The last words of advice given to me by the veterans of the group were, whatever you do, be sure to drop your fag when exiting the feld after the performance. This seemed like confusing advice until they explained that there were low hanging wires at Juniata’s feld that needed to be avoided.

The performance went

off without a hitch and I was strutting off the feld, quite proud of myself, fipping my uniform skirt with each step taken in my white majorette-style boots. You know, the kind with the big over-sized green yarn pom poms. Suddenly I found myself pulled backwards by, you guessed it, catching my not-lowered fag on the low overhead wires. I am sure there were many eye rolls by the rest of my squad, and chuckles from the bleachers, but I was too mortifed to notice.

As it turns out, I didn’t die of embarrassment, and I lived to march another day. I stayed with the performing fag squad the rest of my high school career and managed to do nothing else quite that humiliating. The camaraderie found with the members of the band and the memories made on those band trips are something I will always cherish.

•••

FIREWOOD TREES SHRUBS

Rhonda S. Kelley is Executive Director of the Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce

Submitted photo

Chief Logan High School Marching Band fag group in 1977. Pictured are, from left, front, S. Bingaman, G. Will, G. Bell (Captain), B. Deperio and K. Mitchell; back, R. Kelley, A. Mitton, L. Nale, K. Weaver, K. Dixon, D. Yetter and S. Glace.

Submitted photo

Rhonda Kelley, Chief Logan High School Marching Band fag group.

A place of memories…Juniata Joint High School

JEFF ZIMMERMAN Juniata Joint High School Class of 1966

The life lessons that our teachers, coaches and advisors instilled in us have lasted a lifetime. These memories are in no particular order as they have been fltered through the cobwebs of my mind.

To get there and back, we town kids needed to walk the “Brick Hill,” 7th grade class dues were 10 cents a week, study halls in the cafeteria or auditorium, you needed a hall pass, restroom pass, library pass, pep rallies on Fridays, dances/record hops in the auditorium after football

games, assemblies, Friday dress-up days, activity periods for club meetings, student council, varsity club, Hi-Y for boys and Tri-Hi Y for girls, morning announcements with Stars to Steer By, speech class, WJUN Radio School News, Tomahawk Tales, magazine sales campaigns, prom peanuts, class trips to Hershey Park, Gettysburg Battlefeld, American Viscose Corp., senior trip to Washington D.C. where you could go to a play such as Barefoot in the Park or to a major league baseball game between the Washington Senators and the Kansas City Athletics, shop class projects, pump handle lamp, a spice rack,

tin cookie cutters, a chisel, football, basketball, baseball, girls’ basketball and softball teams were outstanding, girls’ basketball had six girls on a team (one or two of which were called a rover), wrestlers running the halls to cut weight, Juniata Joint short sleeve and long sleeve sweatshirts sold by student council, gym uniforms, the snack bar at home football games, POD bulletin boards, chemistry and physics experiments, biology dissection of earthworms, starfsh, frogs, junior high science class and the static electric generator that made your hair standing on end, sophomore year class rings (the most

Photo memories

expensive was perhaps $25), the sophomore dance, class hats in the class colors, class hat day, the Juniatian yearbook, signing yearbooks, ”A Vacancy in Paradise” (junior class play) and “Wildcat” (senior class musical), decorating for the junior prom, slow dancing with Charlie at the prom, after-prom parties, square dancing at the after graduation party, learning to drive a standard transmission (three on the tree) in driver ed class, locker keys, the phone booth by the cafeteria/offce, “the bench” by the offce, school lunches cost 30 cents, weiner winks, the milk machine, intramural nights,

August 18 and double days football practices, Saturday morning basketball practices, Homecoming and May Day programs, your best girl would get one of your cuffinks, football, baseball and softball were all played on Dietrick Field, varsity J sweaters and a lasting memory for me was in the winter of ‘63 - the Sadie Hawkins Dance with a special girl. We won a “spot dance.” The prize was a cake with jelly beans on it. And, she won my heart. Ahhh yes, I remember it well.

Submitted photo

High school graduation with one of my lifelong friends, Laine Cavanaugh. Laine is such a special person in my life and it is wonderful that we are still so close years later.

— Allison Lindsey / Indian Valley High School, Class of 2006

A famous Belgian waffe

SUE ANN GEIBEL DUNMIRE Chief Logan High School Class of 1965

I experienced an amazing coincidence last year while searching the web for information about a trip my high school band took to the 1964 New York World’s Fair. It was the Chief Logan High School band under the direction

of Clyde Scott. I was curious about how our band was selected and hoped to get some information after all these years.I found a lot of information about the fair and a lot of beautiful pictures, which brought back some memories, but there was little mention of the bands that attended. Fortunately, to make my search worthwhile, as I was looking through the

Photo memories

many pictures, this one really caught my eye! These were my friends/classmates and me, eating Belgian waffes in the Belgium Village! I do not remember if this was staged or just a random picture, but it’s out there for all to see. I guess that makes us a bit famous and part of the attractions at the World’s Fair from 59 years ago.

Photo memories

AP Photo / Bill Cotter

Four famous girls from Chief Logan Class of 1965. From left, Sue Ann Geibel Dunmire, Raynae Hale Leeper, Greer Ashmore and Peggy McCardle.

Submitted photo

1987 Chief Logan girls’ basketball team (23-1; Tri-Valley League champs) Pictured are, from left, front, Wendee Booher, Amy Kaufman, Krista Snook, Tammy Parson and Lana Shrecengast; back, Jinx Powell, Michelle Wright, Marla Lynch, Christa Hopple, Annette Hofman and Becky Armstrong.

— Becky Fike / Chief Logan High School, Class of 1987

Photo submitted by Holly Snook

The Lewistown High School football team fnished the 2005 season with a 5-4 record after defeating Indian Valley, 16-13 in the season fnale. The Panthers recorded their frst winning season on the gridiron in 30 years. Pictured are, from left, Mike Baker (83), Brodie Dalton (64), Chad Snook (3), Dexter Hardin (58), Chris Tressler (4) and Devin Zimmerman (51).

High school hooky caper revealed after 58 years

GARY GONSAR

Kishacoquillas High School Class

of 1965

Fifty-eight years ago, when I was part of the 1965 class at Kish, it was a different world. We did not have police offcers patrolling the halls, no camera in every corner and a pair of nail clippers was not considered a deadly weapon.

There were no automated calls about school cancellations in the winter. No, we did not walk fve miles to school uphill both ways in waist deep snow. But, in bad weather, often waiting 10 to 15 minutes past the scheduled arrival time of the bus, we could go home.

One day in the winter of 1965, the weather was bad. Everyone with a watch or sundial was counting down the seconds till blast off. Just as time ran out, the

bus sounded the corner of Hill St. and Virginia Ave. Quickly, four or fve of us took off in the opposite direction of our planned escape route. That went fne, but now what do we do? We need a warm place out of the harsh elements and the dog house and tree house would not hide or hold all of us.

Most of us had mothers at home but Bob Swartzell’s parents both worked. We went to the perfect hiding place - Bob’s basement. We were warm, had cookies and a pool table. What more could we want? We could not be spotted by anyone.

It was a nice mid-winter break, thanks to mother nature and fast feet. As time wore on and the cookies ran out, we had to think about ending our ‘educational’ school day.

Bob was safe. His par-

ents would not get home until after the bus, but John Knepp, Ritch Rankin, and I had to think of something. I don’t know what John did, but Ritch and I sneaked around out to old Rte. 322 where we stuck out our thumbs ( you don’t see that anymore. It’s called hitchhiking). Along came Sonny Bowersox in his 1933 Plymouth Coupe. He picked us up and took us to the school parking lot. We waited there till school let out and we blended into the crowd and boarded our bus.

I got off the bus in sight of Mom’s kitchen window and went into the house. Mom asked how my day was at school and I said “fne.” Then she said, “I know you weren’t in school.” I said, “You saw me get off the bus, did you not?” She said, “Yes, but Helen Bollinger (a neigh-

bor snitch) saw a bunch of young boys taking off around the corner when the bus arrived this morning.”

I should have pleaded the ffth, but I told the truth - that my friend, Ritch Rankin, talked me into it. Before writing this article, I called Bob Swartzell to make sure I got my facts straight. Bob said he didn’t remember any of it and besides, he always liked school.

My friends John and Ritch are both gone now, so come on Bob. I’m not a lawyer, but I’m sure after 58 years, the statute of limitations for playing hooky has run out. But who knows. I still might get a three day suspension out of this.

Submitted photo Kishaco Quill, 1965.

Photo memories

No breathing in English class

BOB WISEGARVER Lewistown High School Class of 1963

During our junior year in 1962 in the old Lewistown High School, my friend, Dave Watson, and I had several classes together. Two of them were English with Miss Mary Frankenberry, whose room was on the top foor, and phys. ed. in the gym, on the ground foor at the far end of the building. We only had three minutes between

classes, so the phys. ed. instructor dismissed us from the locker room a couple of minutes early.

Dave and I were close to arriving at our English class when he suddenly remembered that he had left a book report in his locker, located in the corridor near the gym. He sprinted down the two fights of stairs, grabbed the report from his locker and again climbed the two fights of stairs to the top foor.

I had arrived at the class-

room. Miss Frankenberry was “standing guard” at the podium. She was an excellent teacher, but had a very strict demeanor. Dave made it to his seat on time, but was panting from the extra exertion. Miss Frankenberry looked at him and said, “Stop that infernal breathing!”

Everyone wanted to laugh but we knew better. However, at the end of the class, the hallway erupted in boisterous laughter once we had left the room.

April D. Henderson

Submitted photo

I was going to have to walk the promenade alone because I didn’t have a date. The girl in the picture was kind enough to let me walk with her and her date. A year later, I went with my friend to her prom and we did the same for another girl.

Lynden Parchey / Mifin County High School, Class of 2017

Changing schools, she became a Mingo forever

PATRICIA A. (GOSS) FLECK

Chief Logan High School

Class of 1974

I remember September 1968. I absolutely did not want to go to school. It was the frst day of 7th grade and I had been dreading it for months. I had no issue with going to school, it was that school. Chief Logan Jr./Sr. High School.

Ever since my parents bought a lot in Pleasant Acres and started to have our house built in March of ‘68, I knew I would have to switch schools. Prior to building there, we lived in Lewistown Borough and I was a Panther. Now I would have to become a Mingo. No way! (I’m now ashamed to admit the terrible time I gave my parents. I was a

brat)!

But as September approached, I knew I had no choice. I was very apprehensive, scared and I’m sure I shed a few tears the morning of the frst day of classes.

What I was most fearful of, was that I wouldn’t make friends, wouldn’t know anyone, wouldn’t be accepted.

That fear lasted less than a week. What I didn’t realize, was that a lot of the other kids didn’t know each other either. We were coming together from several elementary schools; Burnham, Highland, Yeagertown, Decatur and East Derry among others. What I also didn’t realize until years later, was that we would form a very strong

Photo memories

bond within our class.

As far as not wanting to be a Mingo, a few weeks later I found myself attending a bonfre with my new friends, held on the empty lot where The Sentinel and William Penn Nursing Center stand today. We were burning a “panther” before the rival CLHS-Lewistown football game and I was cheering!

Over the next several years, our class withstood many changes. From the three years we became Penn Highlands (making new friends and memories), to sharing our school in half day sessions with Lewistown High School when their building was condemned. But through these changes, our class bond only became stronger.

Before we could believe it, our senior year was upon us. Most of us attended and enjoyed our senior class trip to Washington D.C. in November 1973. Later that year, there was the senior prom, senior class play and senior picnic at Greenwood.

Graduation in June 1974, we were again Chief Logan High School, but it was bittersweet. We would be leaving the security of high school and our friends, to many other pathways. College, vocational schools, the military, the workforce and some to marriage and starting a family.

But our class bond did not end with graduation. We have had reunions every fve years since. We had “birthday party” picnics

for ourselves at Kish Park when we turned 50-yearsold and another when we turned 55-years-old. These picnics were in addition to our fve-year reunions and all events have always been well attended.

Our 50-year class reunion is now being planned for the fall of 2024 and promises to be a big bash.

The 7th grader in 1968 was wrong. So very, very wrong. Our class bond remains strong, as well as the spirit of Chief Logan. Our high school may no longer exist, but we are Mingoes… forever.

Submitted photo

The 1978 LAHS 2-Mile Relay team placed ffth at the PIAA State Championship in Shippensburg. Pictured are, from left, Bryan Hughes, Chuck Saylor, Kevin Kodish and Ronn Wheeler.

— Kevin Kodish / Lewistown Area High School, Class of 1978

Photo memories

Robert White scores the winning run for Lewistown-Granville High School in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Adams - Summerhill, 4-3, for the District 6 Championship in 1964. It was the frst district championship in baseball for LGHS. The game was played at Mansion Park in Altoona.

— Robert White / Lewistown-Granville High School, Class of 1965

Broken bones did not stop him

DONNIE PRYE Juniata High School

Class of 1984

The photo shows me during a typical lunch period in the frst few months of 10th grade at Juniata High School. I broke my tib [tibia] and fb [fbula] the summer before high school started and spent my days in a wheelchair. That made it hard to maneuver in the cafeteria, so I just sat out in the hallway. The upside to all this was that a lot of the girls wanted to sign my cast when they were going to and from lunch!

I also got to use the eleva-

tor which most kids didn’t even know existed.

Fire drills when I was on the second foor were sketchy because a few of the bigger football players had to carry me down the steps. Gym class was spent in the library which suited me fne because I was, and still am, a big reader. I made it through the ordeal and went on to graduate in 1984, but not without the help of many people, including Mom and Dad of course. But also my old friend, Clarence Hostetler, who was with me at school and drove me home everyday.

Submitted photo

Donnie Prye at Juniata High School

Submitted photo Burnham High School bass drum.

Submitted photo / Michael Corson Penn Highlands High School memorabilia.

A very special teacher

Refecting back on our school days, one teacher was truly great at his job — Mr. Jim Kling. No college professor could outshine his effectiveness.

He was stern, yet everyone respected him. Mr. Kling taught algebra simply, but with a little sense of humor. We will never forget how he pronounced “fomula” [formula]. A student once asked him why he said it that way because it bothered her so much!

It would be great if every school could have a Mr. Kling.

Play Furniture & PlaySets

THE ARTMAN TWINS Indian Valley High School Class of 1999

Submitted photo

Chief Logan High School memorabilia.

Photo memories

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Pete Searer, left, confers with Lewistown High School Head Football Coach Alex Ufema during the 1956 season.

— Pete Searer / Lewistown High School, Class of 1957

Submitted photo

This is a picture of me at high school graduation. The man beside me is my Uncle Lee. This is the last picture I have of the two of us since he passed away in 2022. I will always cherish this photo.

— Morgan Wagner / Mifin County High School, Class of 2015

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