Hello Class of 67,
Thanks to Mary for giving us this great forum to communicate with each other. I've read all of the blog entries and enjoyed all of them! Thanks to those of you who have contributed your thoughts to the blog. I only attended IHS my senior year, but made so many good friends and have great memories of those days.
Some highlights for me were cruising the square on Friday & Saturday nights, where guys would pop the hood and compare engines. I specifically remember Rick Blunt, the sweet & gentle guy who later died so young. All of us enjoyed stopping by the Corner Sundry after school for a Green River or Cherry Coke...Who was the old guy with the red hair who served us? That was such a cool place. They had aspirins that hadn't been sold since World War II, yet they had the latest copies of "Teen" Magazine. I would tear out the full size photos of the latest stars and tape them all over my room.
Other memories: Carol Blackman's cool little car, that blue-green Vauxhall....they couldn't get parts for it since it was made in England....watching the Pfaffs wrestle at the old middle school gym... they were SO tough! I also remember playing intramural girls basketball on that stage there.....slumber parties at Roz Overton's house...Mrs. Cloud's class (she was my favorite teacher)...Seiler's Bakery bear claws....the sights and chlorine smells of the old Indianola Pool... the county fair....the smell of alfalfa seed at Criswell's Feed Store... and Sue Shupe's uncanny ability to make a noise just exactly like a Volkswagen horn!
In our high school yearbook, I had the dubious distinction of being named "most likely to be featured on the cover of MAD Magazine. I don't know whose idea that was, but I am happy to report that, 40 years later, I don't even read that magazine any more. Somehow, it's just not as funny as it was when we were 17.... What's up with that? Also, I don't look anything at all like Alfred E. Neumann (MAD's mascot, the guy with the big ears and the grin.)
My husband Don Beck (from Norwalk, class of 67) and I have moved all around the country since he works for IBM. We moved to Eureka, MO, just west of St. Louis in 1995 and plan to stay here until we retire. We have two wonderful sons. I'm a newspaper reporter and writer. I authored the history of Eureka, MO which was published this year. Would love to see some more memories in the blog!
- Joanne ( Croat) Beck
