2nd Reunion Event - Narrows Brewing Taproom

Join the gang for another informal get together with food and lots of terrific beers on tap plus wine and spirits. Friday, September 11 at 6 pm at the Narrows Brewing Taproom.

Narrows Brewing Company is a waterfront brewery and taproom located in the Narrows Marina. They opened their doors in July of 2013. The brewery and taproom were built in a 100 year old mill building and have scenic views of the old and new Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The taproom also overlooks the boat slips of the marina, the Boathouse 19 restaurant, plus 100s of feet of dock space. Early in 2015, Mike Davis took over as brewer at Narrows Brewing. Mike is a familiar name to beer enthusiasts around the Northwest because of the many years he spent working as head brewer at Harmon Brewing.

Narrows Brewing Co.
9007 South 19th Street
Tacoma, WA 98466

The Taproom

Food is not sold in the Taproom, but there are many options for dining:

• Pick up food from the Boathouse 19 restaurant next door.
• Purchase from a great BBQ food truck parked just outside.
• Have food delivered or bring your own.

It's going to be really nice on Friday, in the 80's. It will be nice to be on the water, chatting with friends, the orange sun setting. Reminds me of this classic hit from 1965, one of the Billboard top 100 songs of the year...

The West Coast has the sunshine and the girls all get so tan...

First Reunion Event - Mau Mau at the Cloverleaf

Looks like we're going to have beautiful weather for our reunion week. The first event is this Thursday,  Sept. 10, 6 pm at the Cloverleaf, a Tacoma institution.

It's not called the Cloverleaf Tavern anymore, just The Cloverleaf, but it carries on a tradition of fantastic pizza. The Cloverleaf Tavern was opened in 1950, then pizza was added in 1961 after Larry Turco purchased it. Larry brought the pizza dough recipe from his business in Ponders Corner, in Lakewood. It's a different kind of dough, thin and crispy, but not crumbly like a cracker. The dough recipe was never written down, just taught from one pizza maker to another over the years until current owner Debbie Brese spent a year standardizing the recipe from all its variations.

This is a no host event, come and enjoy pizza and beer with friends at this Mau Mau event.

The Cloverleaf - 6430 6th Ave., Tacoma, WA 98406

Definition: Mau Mau - noun - 1. An impromptu takeover of an event or establishment. 

Wilson 45th Reunion meetup at the Cloverleaf in 2010.

The more the merrier for a Mau Mau, this will be the first chance to party with your Wilson Rams, be there or be square. There's only one song that seems appropriate for a Mau Mau ---- --- -- - -

Wilson Class of '65 Yearbook Photos

Our 50th Reunion is almost here, so to get everyone revved up, we present a post we've had in mind for quite some time. We scanned all the senior photos from the 1965 Wilson Yearbook and have them posted online in an photo archive for you to view. Take a trip down memory lane with these photos of your classmates, the boys with their dark suits and skinny ties and slicked back hair, the girls with their peter pan collars and their 1964 hairdos which might flip out at the sides or be whipped up into a massive bouffant (or sometimes both).

Continue on for the link to the archive and brief instructions on navigating it.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Here's a post of reflections and reminiscences by our reunion ringmaster, Gary Johnson:

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Perusing the local funny pages one morning, I noted a profound description of a class reunion: a par-tay where everyone looks older than you. So, come and bask in your youthfulness and cluck at the aging of your classmates. There is still time to contact your “crew” from Maynardsville and twist their arms to join all the events of REUNION WEEK! Hit the freebies for relaxed and open camaraderie and reminiscing. Do not miss this event…

The Puyallup Fair, oops The Washington State AND Puyallup Fair, begins this week [Fair runs Sept. 11 - 27] and who can pass up fresh scones and elephant ears followed by recuperative insulin shots. Yum. If you haven’t been for years take time to grab the grand (even great grand) kids for a nostalgic romp. Unfortunately The Olde Mill has traveled the way of the Dodo… oblivion.



So too did my favorite chicken house, Netties. Our family always met for dinner before the night show and stuffed ourselves with fowl.  These fair days repeated five or more times each year and continue today. (Except Netties) More importantly…I have never paid. I know and have used almost every ruse to ”crash” the gate (all legal of course). I have baked cookies and cakes, participated in market research and found teachers who did not use their freebies. Yes, I do love doing the Puyallup.



Please check our missing lists and help us to ensure that we have the emails or phone numbers of the quick and the names of the dead. We always need help tracking our classmates.

A final thought, Remembering Mrs. Vanhaus’ kindergarten class and my nascent neighborhood, locate those little rascals and reunionize your neighborhood friends as well. I remember Aldens Lusiuch, Allen Erickson, Betty Burton, Pam Browning, Barbara Royce, and many others. What a great time to reconnect and share pictures of grandchildren, or in my case grand cats. Sheesh. (I am not responsible for name misspellings. If they wanted perfection they should have chosen Smith or Jones. )

Gary Johnson

1965 Puyallup Fair photos from the Western Washington Fair Photo Collection and the Tacoma Public Library Image Archives. Photos © Western Washington Fair Association

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?