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
Webmaster's Newsletters
As I've made major revisions to this site, I've tried to alert class members to the changes. As a service to those of you just joining us, I'm adding them to this page. If you aren't getting them, it's because we don't have your e-mail address. To be added to the list, notify John Weigle.
Newsletter dates:
May 28, 2000
Aug. 27, 2000
June 25, 2001
June 27, 2001
Oct. 28, 2001
July 20, 2003
June 14, 2004
May 28, 2000
Hi, all: At the last reunion, the committee asked me to develop a Web page for the Ventura High School Class of 59. It took longer than it should have, but it's up now and you can find it at:
http://www.vcnet.com/~jweigle/VHS59/Index.htm
Check it out and let me know what to fix, especially on your own entry.
This is also a test of the e-mail addresses I have from last year to see if they're still working.
-- John Weigle
Aug. 27,
2000
Hi, classmates. This is the first of what I hope will be a continuing, but irregularly published, series of newsletters about the Ventura High School Class of 1959.
First, if you missed the 41st year reunion, you missed a lot of fun and great food. There's a chance that there might be another reunion in 2001. If you want to vote, go to the class Web page and cast your ballot. You'll also find updated lists of who we have and haven't found and pictures of the 2000 reunion.
Ah, you didn't know we have a Web page? It's up at two locations:
www.venturahigh59.com
and
www.vcnet.com/~jweigle/VHS59/Index.htm
When you go, and I hope it's soon, please check your listing and let me know if there are any errors. Take a look at the list of missing classmates to see if you know where any of them are. If so, please let me or Carole Mingus know (there are direct links on the Web page).
You'll notice that we have listed people who have e-mail, but very few of the listings are direct links. If you want me to have e-mail go directly to you, let me know. If you want me to forward it, I'll leave the listing the way it is.
Every year, the Ventura High School classes, led primarily by the classes of the '40s, have what they have termed a "brown bag" reunion at the school. This year's has already been held, but watch our Web page for a notice of the next one. It's probably not something you'd want to travel a long distance for, but if you're still in the county, it might be fun.
If you have news or notes about the class that you'd like me to use in the next newsletter, please let me know. Also, please keep us informed of any changes in your snail mail or e-mail addresses. (This newsletter is serving a double purpose: Aside from getting the news of the Web page to you, it also lets me check to be sure that I've typed all your e-mail addresses properly. If you get two copies of this, please let me know which e-mail address you prefer for the VHS mail.)
Many thanks, and best wishes, John Weigle
June 25,
2001
Hello, all, it's your friendly Web master again. It's June -- and I have an extra couple of day off -- so it seemed like a good time to update the page and send out another newsletter.
We found Robert Nalley, who's in Washington, and he's been taken off the missing and added to the found list.
Two new pages have been added -- a tribute to Karen Ewing, written soon after she was killed in France, and a page devoted to Karen Grassle (you might have to scroll down a bit to find the start of the KG page; I have a problem that I haven't been able to figure out yet).
If any of you would like to do tributes to our other deceased classmates, please feel free to send them to me and I'll get them posted over time. Work has been busy, so don't expect things to happen immediately, but they will get up.
As far as I know, we don't have any date for the next reunion yet (at least I haven't been given one).
Ventura High School revamped its Web site this year. If you haven't looked at, you should check it out. Only strange thing is that they didn't include a way to send mail to the Web master. I'm going to try to figure out how to get our site added to the list there.
If you've forgotten, our Web page is maintained at two locations:
http://www.vcnet.com/~jweigle/VHS59/Index.htm
http://www.venturahigh59.com
June 27,
2001
Oops on my part
Hello, all: I didn't edit the last note as carefully as I should have and left the impression with some people that Karen Grassle had died. She's alive and well (and doing a play, if I read one of the Web sites properly). It didn't occur to me that when I said I'd posted pages for Karen Ewing and Karen Grassle and then invited memorials from anyone else for other students that it sounded like KG had also passed away (one of those "I know what I meant, why didn't everyone else" moments). I apologize to anyone who misunderstood, but looking at the wording again, I can see why it could be misunderstood. Mea culpa. -- John Weigle
Oct. 28, 2001
Hi, all: At last, I have a working scanner, so I've just added a lot of pix to the VHS Class of 59 Web site, which you can find at the following two locations:
http://www.venturahigh59.com
or
http://www.vcnet.com/~jweigle/VHS59/Index.htm
OK, I just checked and the pictures need some work so if you go to the pages as soon as you get this they might not work, but I'll fix them as soon as I get this off. But when they're working you'll find new group shots of the 40- and 41-year reunions (no IDs on the 40-year, but if you know where you are, let me know and we'll start to build the list), on the Rocketman page and on the Karen Grassle page.
I've also fixed some things on the Links page.
I had a few notes from people on personal information that I might have missed on this update. If yours isn't right, please let me know.
Waiting with you for the next reunion ... John
Weigle
July 20, 2003
Hi, all: It's your little old webmaster, John Weigle, here to report that I've just updated the class Web site.
For those of you who care about such things, our domain name is now hosted on a new server through Ventura County Computers (there's a link to the store on the revised site). This won't make any difference to you unless you've set up a local host file on your computer to speed up your surfing. (If this doesn't mean anything to you, you probably didn't do it. If you did do it just delete the entry for venturahigh59.com, and you'll be able to reach it again easily. If you live in Ventura County I can highly recommend Ventura County Computers for your computer needs. One of the partners, Toby Scott, is the technical guru for Channel Islands PC Users Group, to which I belong (and edit the newsletter).
The latest information is about the first meeting of the reunion committee for our 45th year (feeling a little older, are you?). I've also updated the found page and missing pages for a couple of people who have turned up.
Please let me know if you have e-mail addresses for any of the following people. The last e-mail update I sent bounced from their addresses: Jon Charles Allen, J.B. Rowell, William R. Meierding, Michael Killingsworth, Jimmy Chan, Ronald C. McCurley, Virginia Sager Spefak and Margaret Walton.
Many thanks.
Don't forget the Brown Bag picnic at VHS: All Ventura High School graduates are invited to the annual Fred Newcomb Brown Bag Reunion from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 26 at the Ventura High baseball field on Poli Street in Ventura. Information: Ned Bartels, 386-4161.
UPDATE: Jon Allen forwarded his new e-mail and regular mail addresses. Many thanks, Jon. He also sent some more Rocketman pictures, and they'll be added when I get some captions.
June 14, 2004
Hello, all: It's been a while -- too long, but we won't mention that -- since I updated the Web page (at http://www.venturahigh59.com or http://www.vcnet.com/~jweigle/VHS59/Index.htm if you haven't been there), but we had a meeting of the reunion committee tonight, so I wanted to fill you in on that and a couple of other items.
First off, here's the dope on the annual, all-class Brown Bag picnic, which just appeared in the Star:
Ventura High School graduates will have the annual "Fred Newcomb Brown Bag Reunion" for all graduates, from 11-2 p.m. July 31 on the Baseball Field at Ventura High School. Information: Ned Bartels 386-4161.
Reminders of our own reunion. It's Saturday, Aug. 7, for a dinner/dance at the Saticoy Country Club, and Sunday, Aug. 8, for a picnic at Arroyo Verde Park. The deadline for T-shirts has passed, but you can make reservations for the events of either or both days by contacting Carole Mingus at 20023 Lemarsh St., Chatsworth, CA 91311. Dinner/dance is $45 per person. Picnic is $5 per person. If you need more details, contact Carole via e-mail (I know you have it because you got this message <G>) at gsscouting@aol.com.
So far, 96 people are signed up for dinner and 87 for the barbecue (that's not just class members, but class members and spouses or significant others.
Carole has a list of "missing persons," so if you haven't received it, contact her if you know the whereabouts of any of our classmates. You might know just the ones we can't find.
Big news for the reunion: Our Italian exchange student, Roberto, will attend.
Re: the Web page. I've been trying to figure out a way for some time to have some interactive portion, but our Web host couldn't suggest an easy way to do it. The development of Weblogs (or blogs, for short) has changed that. I've established one at http://johnweiglesblog.blogspot.com/
At the moment, there's not a lot there, just a welcome, and it's not linked to the Web page yet, so don't lose this. But my plan is to come up with some memories and questions that you can check out and add your comments to. I'll probably post news there before it hits the regular Web page because it's easier to update. If you have some ides you'd like to see there, let me know and I'll start the thread.
Hope to see you at the Brown Bag, or one or both of our two-day reunion.