Rocket Man
Karen Grassle
Karen Ewing
Class reunions
40 years later
Brown Bag reunions
2002
Ventura High School Alumni Foundation
Be sure to vist the Blog, too
Go interactive; visit the Blog Now you can interact with other class members via the Web site. Visit John Weigle's Blog, where you'll find updates and comments before they're added to the Web site and where you can respond. See you there.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Cougars '59 Welcome to the 1950s, the world of American Graffiti and Happy Days -- more specifically, the year 1959 at Ventura High School in Ventura, Calif. With 442 members, we were the largest graduating class of Cougars to that time. Graduation day was Tuesday, June 16, and we were, as were all those before and after us, ready to move ahead and conquer the world. The graduation speakers, with the topic "Quo Vadis," were Nancy Kull, Karen Shellabarger and Karen Grassle.
Principal Wayne A. Simpson gave us the motto for our first reunion: "Back for more in '64." (Why was it easier to remember that rhyme than the graduation year?)
Those at the 40th year reunion picnic decided we needed a Web presence (who among us would have ever thought an Internet or World Wide Web was possible as we listened to the graduation speeches?), and this is the result. Like our lives, this page will always be "under construction." We plan to announce coming events, offer links to World Wide Web sites related to our class (either personal or business pages), e-mail addresses for those of you willing , some trivia (starting with a short quiz distributed at the dinner), a memorial page for those no longer with us and a page for those we've lost track of. We hope that page will disappear as we track down everyone on it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 2002 Brown Bag Reunion
The annual Ventura Senior High School "All Class Reunion" was Saturday, July 27, 2002, and there were some exciting announcements about an alumni association and plans for the future of the school. Special feature: drawings of many Ventura County landmarks, some of which no longer exist. In addition to the pictures on this site, John A. Maclean has a report and some pictures on his site, Cavalry Country.Org. Check them out, too.
2003 Brown Bag Reunion This reunion seemed smaller than last year's and had no participation by the administration, although those who attended seemed to enjoy themselves. Only a few members of the Class of 59 were there. The reunion was July 26 at the Ventura High baseball field on Poli Street. Special feature: Drawings of many Ventura County landmarks, some of which no longer exist.
2004 Brown Bag Reunion Once again, the reunion, on July 31, had only a small Class of 1959 representation. There are a few pictures on the 2004 Brown Bag Reunion page. Special feature: Copies of stories and ads from the Star-Free Press published over many years. Boy, things were cheaper in those days (but, then, the salaries were much lower, too).
2006 Brown Bag Reunion Once again, the reunion, on July 29, had only a small Class of 1959 representation. There are a few pictures on the 2006 Brown Bag Reunion page. Special feature: A handout on You know you're a VHS grad if ... See the copy on the page.
2000 Class reunion See the 41 years later page for information about the 2000 reunion. The committee asked about interest in an event in 2001 because several people at the reunion asked about it. The response was not high enough to justify the work, however, so the workers get to relax this year. Volunteers are welcome for future events, however.
2004 Class reunion The weekend of Aug. 7-8 was a busy one for those who attended the 45th year reunion. On Saturday, we gathered at the Saticoy Country Club for a dinner and dance. On Sunday, we met at Arroyo Verde Park in Ventura for a picnic with hot dogs and hamburgers. For the first time, we had a special T-shirt listing the names of all class members. We've all aged a bit, but the class still has a number of attractive women and handsome men in the class.
Help us keep track of you. If you move or change your name -- or if you're on the "missing" list, please send a post card to:
Class of 1959 Ventura High School
2155 E. Main St.
Ventura, CA 93001
The school is keeping a copy of the information booklet prepared for the 1999 reunion and an address data base and will track changes for us (and for other classes that want to do the same for their classmates).
We obviously can't test this page on every possible combination of equipment and browsers, so we're depending on you to let us know if you find problems with the way the site is made or with the information on it. If you do, please notify the Web master, John Weigle.
This site is maintained at two locations on the Web: http://www.venturahigh59.com http://www.vcnet.com/~jweigle/VHS59/Index.htm