High School Politics

The following story was written by Tom Teitge and is edited from the work on his website tomteitge.com.

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When I was in high school, I became interested in school politics. I observed that the election process was a type of popularity contest – combined with entertainment. The winning candidates most successfully lured their voters with artwork (posters) and or humorous speeches that left a name recognition which was about the only key to victory. Both the poster art and the public speaking were right up my alley and combining this with a low key schmoozing, I soon found that I had successfully been elected to the office of class president. A certain ego gratification accompanied the position and I enjoyed the feeling of being a chosen leader – even if the choosing process relied on the lowest level of discretion.

At any rate, I soon found myself engaged in a situation where certain fairly inconsequential decisions were to be made by myself and others, working in various committees. I quickly discovered that, this aspect of the presidency was tedious and uninteresting. And what if, at times, the decisions arrived at were not my own or ones that I could stand behind ethically? (I am speaking strictly of my own personal ethics here, not the bland ethics of high school politics).

Things eventually came to a head when I was called upon to organize a class dance to raise money. I was enthusiastic about this chore. I felt as if my own tastes and sensitivities were on trial and I was eager to make the event one that would be enjoyed and remembered by all. I quickly ran into trouble. I had located a fantastic venue for what I envisioned as a magical night of music and romance. A local community hall, located some distance from the school campus, featured a breathtaking view from a vantage point above the harbor. At night the lights of the town sparkled magically off the water and the hall was surrounded by a lovely forest. It was perfect and the price was modest, allowing good profits for the class. I was excited to present my plans to all who would be involved.

Cruising on 6th Avenue - Do You Remember?

Do you remember how on a typical Friday night, after a basketball game, a few friends would pile in some kind of car and go cruising along 6th avenue, driving up and down with "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones and other songs blasting from the radio tuned to KJR?



People would honk at each other, someone would lean out the window and yell over to another car and there would be yelling back and forth. We'd get hungry after a while so someone would tell every classmate within earshot that we were all going to meet at Busch's Drive-In.

We would pull into a parking spot at Busch's just outside the building, read the menu from the menu board and not have to get out of the car because we would give our order through the intercom at each post, it could get pretty chaotic ordering sometimes. Then when our order was ready, a car hop, always a female, would bring out our tray of food and hook it to the side of the car. We would get big, meaty, delicious hamburgers, maybe some hot dogs, French fries, milkshakes or cokes. She would take our money and leave us to our fast food feast.

More music would play through the night: the Yardbirds, Petula Clark, the Kinks. It was the British Invasion!

There was more yelling between cars. We would talk and laugh. Sometimes someone would get out of one car and sit in another car.

When we were done we would push the button and the car hop would come take our tray covered with wrappers, paper cups, straws and food baskets.

What are your memories of '64-'65?

Can You Guess the #1 Song of 1965??

1965 was certainly a momentous year for pop and rock music. So many classic songs were released by so many now-legendary artists. "Satisfaction" was released in '65, as well as "Downtown" by Petula Clark, "Help" from the Beatles, "All Day and All of the Night" by The Kinks and "My Girl" by the Temptations, just to name a few. With so many powerhouse songs, you may ask yourself: "Self, I wonder what the number one record of 1965 was?" Using the Billboard Hot 100 list for 1965, the number one record might surprise you. Can you guess what it was?

Tickets Are On Sale!

Come Join the Fun!
There Will Only Be One 50th Reunion!

We are gathering our alumni friends from Woodrow Wilson High School in Tacoma, class of 1965 for a 4-Day Celebration! We'll be taking over the Cloverleaf, hanging at the Narrows Taproom on the water, partying at the Fircrest Golf Club and relaxing at a picnic at Titlow Beach Park.

For more information or to purchase tickets by credit card or by check, click on the link below.

GET MORE INFORMATION

Help Us Find Missing Alumni

Our email newsletter went out to our alumni and a lot of the emails didn't work. So we created a list combining alumni whose emails were "bouncebacks" with the alumni on our list that we didn't have an email for and mailed postcards to that combined list. Now all the postcards that couldn't be delivered and were returned have been logged and compiled with those alumni for whom we had no email or address. We call this the "No Contact" list because we've had no contact with them by email or postcard and we don't have valid contact info for them in our database. We present the "No Contact" list below so all of you who read the list can see if you know contact info for anyone on the list. If you do, either email us their info at wilson65reunion@gmail.com, or let them know about this blog and that they should sign up for the email newsletter if they are interested in attending. Details for the 50th reunion will be finalized soon and then we'll be emailing and posting about tickets available to purchase online.

The Wilson '65 Alumni - No Contact - List

Elva (Russell) Able
Paulette (Bouffiou) Alvarado
Jerrold Anderson
James Anthes
Janice (Farmer) Anton
Ken Averett
Sandra Barbour
Leonard Barnett
Andrea (Nelson) Bass
Anne Benjamin
Sharon (Kindrick) Berg
Deloris (Tonkin) Bergstrom
Jerry Bullat
Judy (Burns) Burns
Jan Butcher
Bob Butterworth
Candace Carroll
Len Ceder
Warren Churchward
Pamela (Tschudin) Coffee

Wilson Memories

Well, a couple of our illustrious alumni have come through with some brief but still welcome reminiscences about Wilson.

Greg Simon attended Gonzaga University after graduating from Wilson, he lives in Gig Harbor, Washington and based on his Google+ photo, he also plays bagpipes.

From Greg:

"I remember well the halls of Wilson High school.  There were many other memories, especially those of Mr. Stell and Swing Choir, as well as Mr. Harris and chalk all over his bald head and brown suit.  I swear, he wore the same suit everyday. There were some fun times. I will look forward to the event and meeting others again or for the first time."

Scott McRae also lives in Gig Harbor, WA. He wrote recently and sent a photo taken at Wilson High School:

"Here is a very dark photo that includes a very dark part of our class's history. It was taken in front of my Homeroom locker, and you have to look closely to see the guy standing in the shadows behind me. I'm not sure why I look so smug."

Postcards Are Sent!

Postcards were mailed out February 12 only to those alumni who we have not been able to contact through email. These are not meant to be official invitations, they are simply used to get the word out about the reunion. They weren't mailed to everyone in order to keep expenses down. So if you didn't receive one, that should mean we already have your correct email address, however it still wouldn't hurt to sign up for the newsletter in the right column just in case.

Several members of the Wilson Alumni Committee got together in our Tacoma office yesterday for a postcard stamping and addressing party. Well, not an actual party, but we had fun chatting while we worked. Everyone who said they might come made it, so with all the help we had the cards ready to go in record time. These postcards are going out to everyone we have an address for but either no email, or their email was a bounceback from our email newsletter. If you have received a postcard in the mail, that means we don't have a correct email address for you in our database. Please sign up for our email newsletter using the easy sign-up form in the right column just below the 50th Crest. We'll be sending out another email newsletter soon.