CLASS UPDATES

The Gonzaga Alumni Office has informed us that our classmate Timothy Blaine Hendricks died in 2009.  No other information was available.

The sister to Marilyn Van Meter advised us that Marilyn passed away on March 20,  2012 of COPD.  She was divorced with three children and five grandchildren.

R.I.P. Tim and Marilyn.  Please remember them in your prayers.

Kathleen Powers Goblirsch lost her husband of 42 years on March 6, 2013.  Our condolences to Kathleen and her sons during this time of sorrow.

We have been unable to locate Joanne Althoff Cavazos, Tim Joyce and Helen Bradley.  We believe Joanne and Helen live in Billings.  Tim's last known address was in
Gresham, OR.  If you have information on their location, please contact Bill LaMeres (wjlmontana@aol.com).  The names of all missing classmates are listed in the January blog.

Do you have a current email address for Julie Klein Prill?  If so, please send to Bill LaMeres.


BIOGRAPHIES

Kay Anderson Shull

I retired from my job as Family Support Specialist, working with special needs children, in January 2012.  Dan and I were enjoying our free time traveling, relaxing and connecting with friends and family when we decided to buy a 1998 BMW convertible.  We were enjoying the ride when we were in an extensive accident in June of last year.  Our car was t-boned by an 18 year old running a red light, which rolled us through the intersection with our top down.  My right wrist was broken and my hand and fingers were crushed, but no head injuries, thank God.  Dan had a back compression fracture and other injuries, so we have been doctoring and going to therapies to heal.  I lost a finger and part of another and had skin grafts on my right hand, but I am so thankful that I am ok.

Our grandchildren, Isabella (12) and Mason (10) still live in Tacoma, WA with our daughter, Courtney (37) who is an RN.  We visit there several times a year and have our grandchildren visit us in the summer in Great Falls.  Our son, Steve, passed away suddenly in his sleep on November 20, 2009; he was 36 years old and lived near Courtney in Washington.  What a shock after losing our oldest son, Patrick, in a car accident in 1996.

My plans for the future are to stay healthy, work on my ancestry, go visit Ireland and spend as much time as we can with our daughter, Courtney and Della and Mason.  I am really looking forward to seeing everyone at our 50th this fall and I appreciate the work that has gone into making it happen.

My favorite memory of Central is being in Sister Elizabeth's government class!



Kay (Anderson) & Dan Shull

 Rickard (Rick) Ross

After I retired in 1993, Jan decided she would like to apply for a foreign assignment with the Department of Justice and asked what I thought about moving overseas.  Having never really been out of Montana, I asked the question, "What if I don't want to go?"  She quickly replied, "Then I'm going without you."  So, in the spring of 1998 we sold our home, left our children in Montana, and moved to Brussels, Belgium with Furstin, our Miniature Schnauzer.  We were in Belgium for six years, moving next to Rabat, Morocco for a five-year tour, and in 2009 we moved to Vienna, Austria for three years.  We returned home to Billings in June 2012, bought a new home, adjusted our retirement dream, and live sixty miles on the outskirts of Red Lodge.  Returning home to Montana, we enjoy being close to our two children, Teresa and Brian and our grandchildren.

During our fifteen year hiatus in Europe and North Africa, we had the opportunity to visit 36 countries (Jan, nine more than I) in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.  My faithful friend Furstin has traveled with us to eight countries and on three continents until she died in 2009.  The wonderful sights we have seen are too numerous to list, but include some of the most beautiful churches in the world, fabulous castles from the Loire Valley to Neuschwanstein; the Leaning Tower of Pisa, ruins of Pompeii and Great Pyramids of Egypt.  We attended Christmas Midnight Mass at St. Peter's in Vatican City, the famous Bavarian Passion Play at Oberammergau in Germany and Christmas markets in Monchau, Germany; Canterbury, England; and Vienna, Austria.  We enjoyed the beauty of the Bluebell Forest outside Brussels, the Black Forest of Germany and a multitude of flowers of every kind and color in the gardens of Kukenhof, NL.  We learned that Belgium is without a doubt home to the world's very best chocolate, that what Americans call French fries actually are Belgium Frites, and the home of the Euro.  Attending St. Anthony's, an Irish Franciscan parish in Brussels, I had the opportunity to help organize a new order of Catholic Knights, the Knights of St. Thomas More.

We have fond memories of our family being involved in German folk dancing Bavarian style with groups in Laurel-Park City and Red Lodge from 1971 until we left for Europe.  While in Europe, we enjoyed watching local folk and musical programs.  However, since our return, we dance a bit slower now.

Jan continues to work for another 3-4 years and I was accepted to work as a volunteer with the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit, reviewing unsolved homicides.  I also continue my involvement as an adult Boy Scouts of American volunteer, working with the Black Otter District in Montana.  While in Europe, I was a BSA volunteer in the Charlemagne, Mediterranean, Horizon and Edelweiss Districts of the Transatlantic Council.  While in Belgium, I taught a few criminal justice courses for the University of Maryland University College, taught family violence awareness courses for the Army Community Services, worked as a clerk at the U.S. Mission to NATO and delighted in editing the newsletter for the U.S. Embassy in Brussels.  Taking a part-time job as financial assistant for the embassy employee's association when we moved to Morocco, I had time to complete a forty-year research project so I could write a historical biography of my great grandfather.  Sergeant Frederick E. Server had been a member of the U.S. Second Cavalry stationed at Fort Ellis and was among the first to find the dead at the battlefield on the Little Horn River in June 1876.  This and his other adventures made a compelling story.



Rick & Jan Ross in Budapest Hungary 2010.



Far Left:  Jan & Rick Ross; Julie (Klein) & Tom Prill
Enzian Schuhplattler Verein Dance Group, Laurel, MT

Terry Taylor

Janice and I couldn't make the 2008 reunion due to her still having radiation and chemotherapy.  In December, we went to Cheyenne, WY for Christmas with our two daughters.  Our eldest son, Brian who lives in Billings came down also.  Gary and family who live in Minnesota couldn't make it.  We had a nice Christmas and went back to Alabama.  Right after the first of 2009, Janice took a turn for the worse and passed away January 31st.  Forty-two year of marriage and I loved it!

Well, one of the widow ladies at church, said to me, "Hey, as long as you are free why not you and me get together?"  So we did!

We married but only after Father Jim made us go for an engagement encounter weekend.  You guessed it - the oldest couple there were 32 years old.  That's right - we were 65!

Eileen and I were married October 10, 2009.  My four kids think she is the second greatest thing that ever happened to their dad, and her two kids think the same about me.

It has been a wild 1-1/2 years with my diabetes but I will soon be getting my new and improved leg.

Eileen and I are looking forward to seeing y'all at the reunion.

Tom O'Donnell

How do you describe 50 years???  (Hell, how do you REMEMBER 50 years).  Well, here goes.

As happened to others in our class, my family was transferred out of Billings the summer of 1962, so I missed all of the fun things that happened in our senior year.  However, the new high school in Tulsa was a real eye opening experience, as our graduating class was over 600.  I didn't feel lost exactly but certainly challenged.

I went to the University of Oklahoma, found out I didn't have any idea of what I wanted to do other than party, so after 2 years I quit.  (Actually, the school insisted that I leave, so who was I to argue with them.)  I went to work for North American Aviation on the Saturn 5/Apollo program and was in heaven.  I had a fantastic job, started to get an education on the job and made pretty good money.

Two years later, as the program was winding down in Tulsa, I left North American and went to work for an outfit called Dynaelectron Corp.  Our job was fixing Army helicopters in Viet Nam and I spent 3-1/2 years of the next five years working in our Southeast Asia paradise.  Learned a lot and finally figured out in June 1972 that it was time to get out and come home. 

The next 18 months saw me working in five different states with Dynalectron, from Arizona to California, to West Virginia, to Rhode Island to.....Great Falls!  I loved being back in Montana and had a great job with the Montana Air Guard working on the F-106s.  I was able to do some hunting and fishing, had a neat apartment and made friends.  What could be better?  (See below.)

My mother asked me to contact some old friends, the Strattons, living in Great Falls.  Virginia Stratton and Mom had gone to grade school (Fratt) together and were very close as young girls.  Being ever the obedient son, I called them and was invited to dinner.  Unbeknownst to me, their daughter, who was teaching at CMR high school, was also invited to dinner.  (I am sure that two old friends had not conspired to get us to meet, but......)  Nine months later, in September 1974, Jindy and I were married at St. Gerard's in Great Falls.

Boy, the preliminary stuff takes a lot of explaining!

We moved to Palmdale, in Southern California, located in the Mojave Desert about 60 miles from LA and 40 miles from Edwards AFB.  Over the next 39 years, Jindy (Virginia) and I were blessed with four wonderful, outstanding, beautiful girls.  They, in turn, have blessed us with six handsome grandsons.

Professionally, I have been able to work on several exciting programs in the aerospace world, holding multiple positions, from mechanic, to manufacturing manager, to senior design engineer, to project manager.  The longest program was the Space Shuttle, which lasted for about 30 years.  I also spent time on the B-1 bomber, the B-2 bomber, the X-51 Waverider and the Airborne Laser program, among others.  What a great ride!  (Just as an aside, the 1959 Holy Rosary Class Prophesy had me and Tom Pendergast as engineers on a space ship.)

Three years ago, both Jindy and I retired:  She from 22 years of teaching high school and me from 35 years at Boeing.  How, you might ask, did two Montana/California desert rats end up in the booming metropolis of Port Angeles, Washington?  Therein lies a story.

I mentioned our four marvelous daughters...Katie, the oldest, went to school in Walla Walla and then on to Eastern Washington in Cheney.  She met her husband, David Arand, in school and they ended up here in Port Angeles.  He is on the PA police force, she in the Sheriff's department.  They have two sons.  Our second daughter, Alison, moved up here with her son about 10 years ago and is an office manager for an electrical contractor.

I, upon retiring, suggested that we move back to Montana and, preferably, Billings.  Absolutely not (emphasize the "not") says the wife,  "There aren't any grandchildren in Billings."  So here we are in Western Washington.

Oh, yes, the other two daughters.....Margaret, our third daughter, after September 11, entered the ROTC program and San Diego State, got her commission as a Missile Launch Officer and is now a Major in the Air Force.  Her husband, Adam Hawkins, is a Captain in the Air Force and is currently on deployment to Djibouti.  He is a Combat Search and Rescue pilot.  The baby, Christine (and I shouldn't call her that) is also in the Air Force as a Tech Sergeant, as is her husband, Jerry Baughman.  She has three sons.  They are currently stationed in Aviano, Italy.  (And yes, we ARE going to visit them next year.)

As I read this, I see how much has not been mentioned, such as church (we belong to Queen of Angeles here in PA), friends, difficulties (there have been a few) and the sad times of loss and discouragement.  You know, I don't find the difficult times as important as the joy of family, the satisfaction of accomplishments, the wonderful memories of youth in Billings and the anticipation of seeing classmates from so long ago.




Tom O'Donnell & family Christmas 2010

Tom McNassar

My wife, Jane and I have been married since 1967.  I worked at Boeing for 31 years, all in the Seattle area except for three years in Houston, TX during the mid '90s.  Jane has worked in several fields over the years including teaching school and pastoral assistant in our parish.  We retired in 2000.  We have two children and two grandchildren.  Son Mark is married with two boys, (11) and (9).  They live in New Jersey so we don't get to see them often enough, usually about twice a year and they trek out to the west coast every other summer.  Daughter Bridget taught middle school close by for ten years, then three years ago, decided on a career change.  She went back to school for a master's degree in forestry and is now managing a start-up nursery, focusing on Washington State native plants.

Since retirement we've remained active with volunteer work (Habitat for Humanity, St. Vincent de Paul, tax preparation for low income and elderly), hiking and gardening (aka yard work).

In 2011, Christie (Gerharz) Gorman and her husband Tom graciously hosted a get-together of a good number of our classmates living in the Pacific NW.  We really had a great time.  Also, last summer the great Jim Griffin stopped by our home for a visit.




Tom McNassar & Family at Yellowstone Park 2012

 Jerry Mayer

My wife Joanne and I moved back to Billings in 2001.  We had lived in the Midwest and more recently in Wyoming and Washington.  We have four daughters and eight grandchildren.  Three daughters and five grandchildren live in Billings.  One grandson is attending college in Boise, ID.  Our youngest daughter and her family live in Chandler, AZ.

We have seen two grandsons graduate from high school and our youngest granddaughter is 8. 

We have been taking care of my dad following the passing of my mom and sister.  We are also assisting with the care of Joanne's mom.

Joanne and I will be married for 47 years in September.

God has been faithful through the good and the hard times.


I hope you have enjoyed the biographies and photos as much as I have.  Looking forward to posting yours. 

Kathy Gainan Miller sent this beautiful video, Starry, Starry Night. 

PAUL MAGERS SCHOLARSHIP FUND

On the occasion of our 50th reunion, it seems appropriate that we, as a class, honor the memory of our deceased classmates.  The most fitting way to do this is through the Paul Magers Scholarship Fund, established in 2010 in memory of Paul. 

1st Lt. Paul G. Magers, U.S. Army, was killed in action in 1971 in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, while flying an AH-1 Cobra.  Missing in action for nearly four decades, Paul's remains were positively identified and returned to his family in August, 2010.   He was buried with full military honors on August 27, 2010.  Many from our class were in attendance to honor our fallen classmate and war hero. 

1st Lt. Paul G. Magers



Paul on left





Burial with full military honors







Paul's Arrival in Billings

 



Along with Paul, the following classmates are also deceased:  Dale Avens, Ray Boespflug, John Breen, Tim Brooks, Frank Burgoyne, Kathy Dietrich Bingaman, Jerry Foote, Sharon Hill Wimberly, Jerry Keating, Leland Kraus, Mary Jo Lent Zimmerman, Greg Magilke, Jay Olson, Barney Schaff, Leon Schillinger, Kathy Sheridan Williams, Jim Spelman, Pat Walsh.

The Paul Magers Scholarship Fund is given yearly to a deserving student attending Billings Central High School in the form of tuition assistance.  Your generous donations will help students for years to come.

Please consider making a donation to the scholarship fund to honor our deceased classmates and friends.  This will be a group donation from the "BCCHS Class of 1963" in memory of our classmates.  You will also be listed as a donor and the contributions are tax deductible. 

Send your check, payable to Paul Magers Scholarship Fund to:  Cathy Pasquarello, 4203 Avenue D, Billings, MT  59106. 

Thank you for any support you can provide. 

BIOGRAPHIES

Tom Kennedy

For the 50th bio book, I submit my 45th bio because nuthin' happened in the last five years except for a week in the Lewis and Clark County Jail proudly served for contempt of court.

After graduating from Central, I spent 4-5 years at MSUB and UofM, enjoying having thrown off the constraints of BCCHS (having to actually go to school and study.)  Those were very good years indeed laced with alcohol, camaraderie, sports and some exposure to academia.  Alas, after the second University imposed sabbatical to reconsider my commitment, Uncle Sam jumped off the poster and grabbed me in 1968.  After two months of basic training in which 45 of my well-marbled pounds deserted me, it was off to Monterey for personnel training and typing class, and a final move to Colorado Springs for the balance of my two years.  I took a two month early out as the UofM welcomed me back into the fold.

About a year before I was drafted, I met a Great Falls girl, Sandra Thorvilson, and we continued the relationship while I was in the Army.  She took the opportunity to spend two years as a stewardess on a charter airlines that flew internationally and made trips to Europe, Asia and Viet Nam.  She sometimes wakes up screaming in the night but I understand that to be more about me than PTSD.

After returning to the halls of academia, I acquired some new credits to go along with the old ones in History, English, Foreign Languages, Philosophy and Anthropology, took a Liberal Arts BA, and pronounced myself a Renaissance man.  All of this I believe was right-brained (except for the Army bit which was no-brained.)  Then, finding the working world's call for Renaissance men constrained, I escaped back to academia, turned on my left-brain and secured a BA in Accounting.

The next ten years were spent in Missoula and Billings working as a CPA in public and private practice.  The exposure to various businesses was interesting and educational but the job lacked a sense of being close to the action, the sale.

Oh, by the way, when I got out of the service, Sandi moved back to Missoula and we were married in 1971.  And from this marriage came two issues, a son 31 interested in music and a daughter 27 interested in art and both now involved in the commercial world.  Sandi was a stay at home mother for about 20 years and has spent most of the last ten years as a childcare professional at Young Families/Early Head Start.

After I slaked my thirst for Accounting, I started a PC retailing and consulting business in 1984 and operated it for 18 years.  The business proved interesting as the computer came out of the glass house and proliferated on business desks and in homes.  More interesting than the swift increase in computing power was the explosion of sophisticated software for PCs.  However, I forgot the law of physics that says everything that goes up must come down and the business succumbed to the lull after Y2K and 2001 dot.com bust.

Since that time, I've been helping Montana consumers to access prescription drugs from Canadian and other international pharmacies in a new business, Canadian Connection.  I can't distinguish the work from retirement and it's rewarding to stick it to the pharmaceutical industry which is sticking it to the American consumer.

Barbara Maronick Sample

Michael and I have been married for 42 years.  He continues to photograph his beloved Montana and I am finally retired from Family Support Network after 20 plus years.  Before that, I taught English both at Billings Central and Eastern.  It was quite an experience to be back at Central on the other side of the desk.

I began FSN as non-profit to assist families who abused and neglected their children.  One of our foster kids was the catalyst for this effort.  She was angry that no one was helping her mom.  So I started an agency to help the parents learn basic parenting skills.  I loved the work, and learned quickly that the only difference between me and the parents I worked with, was my parents who nurtured and supported all nine of their kids.  How lucky a child is to have good parents.

Since retiring, we have traveled to visit our children/grandchildren.  James is a law professor in NYC.  His wife, Joanne, works for the Wall Street Journal.  They have two boys who love to golf.  Kate is an ob/gyn in Madison, Wisconsin.  She and her husband, Mike Murray, have two boys as well, the oldest is just starting school.  John is a physicist and works for NASA through the University of California, Berkeley.  He and his wife, Claire, have three boys, four and under.  Ryan, our youngest, is a teacher (English) in Atlanta.  His wife, Dana, works for Delta and they have two girls under two.  I think the greatest gift our kids have given us is that they are good parents.

So retirement has been wonderful.  I enjoy the freedom to travel to see the family, to work in the community, to exercise and to read.  I am still able to facilitate trainings for the state and other non-profits which work with children in care and truly enjoy it. 

Terry Forgrave McCarthy

 

My favorite quote is from John Lennon:  "Life is what happens to us while we are busy making other plans".  Life did happen and it was good.  As of December 31, 2012, I joined the ranks of the unemployed.  While raising the family, I owned my own business but finally started working for wages and benefits in 1988.  My first career was that of an insurance agent.  Did that for about 6 years and then in 1998 was offered a chance at a different career as a Mortgage Lender.  That was a field that I truly loved.  From first time home buyers to specializing in reverse mortgages for senior homeowners, it was a great run.

Since 2004 I have served on the Board of Directors of Big Sky Senior Services (BSSS), a non-profit that strives to keep seniors safely in their own homes.  One division of BSSS is the Prevention of Elder Abuse (PEA) which is assisted by Partners for Elder Protection (PEP), a community coalition compiled of business leaders, attorneys, law enforcement and non-profit partners.  We work to bring awareness to the problem partially by facilitating public and law enforcement training on elder abuse issues and promotion of new and stiffer penalties for criminals.  We also advocate for funding and changes in the law that will assist in our mission.  It has been very rewarding and I look forward to continuing this work.  After all, now I am working for you and me:)

With Mike working in Ag related businesses all our married lives, we have not had the luxury of summer vacations since that is when he was the busiest.  That will change at the end of this year and then we will be able to sneak away and see more of Montana and visit family across the country from Michigan to California and everywhere in between.

We are blessed to have a wonderful family consisting of 6 children, that  are all successful in their careers, and 16-1/2 grandchildren ranging in age from not yet to 23.  The picture of the family below was at the McCarthy family reunion in 2012 and is missing 6 of us.

Along with Keith and Doris Papka and Mike and Bonnie Thomas, we too will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary in 2013.  We are planning a gathering of the clan the summer of 2014 as we have several who are not available this summer.  Then in October 2014, we are planning a trip to Ireland with all of the kids and spouses invited to join us.  Cannot wait!!!

There is a bucket list of things I want to do and am determined to hammer away on them as quickly as possible.  After all, "Life is what happens to us while we are busy making other plans".  We only have this day with no guarantees of a tomorrow.  God's blessing on all.







Terry (Forgrave) & Mike McCarthy

 

McCarthy Family Reunion 2012



 Vernon and Edna (Davis) Luderman

What a ride!!  It hasn't always been smooth, but no one said it would be.  We just try to fill in the pot holes and keep on going.  Vernon is now singing with the Big Sky Chorus and enjoys the Christmas show (at St. Pats in December) and the spring show at Alberta Bair.  It is quite a bit of memory work, but so far he is having fun.  Of course, golfing is his priority over singing, chores, etc.  We continue to attend the grandchildrens volleyball, football, basketball and baseball...oh, I forgot track.  Singing and anything else we can get out of the house to go enjoy.  We hope all of you are having the ride of your life and just remember the pot holes in our lives make us who we are today.




Edna (Davis) & Vernon Luderman

 More Photos


Kathleen & Bill LaMeres


Okay, all you procrastinators out there...please send your bios (hine@bresnan.net) and photos.  I'm out of bios to publish and desperately need more.  Help me out.