The combined 1955 classes of Muir/PHS reunion committee is holding a special reunion.
August 18, 19, 20 and 21, 2005
SAVE THOSE DATES!

The combined reunion committee is planning a “spectacular 9-day extravaganza” reunion that tops anything you have experienced before. You can pick and choose your events, come for the entire 9 days, or 3 days, or 2 days or Saturday banquet only. We will offer a special 50^th Muir/PHS reunion memory book and DVD option following the reunion. We encourage you to attend all the events. The 4-day spectacular reunion weekend will be followed by a five day cruise to Mexico. There is limited space at ALL events. So, it’s first come…first serve. There will be NO tickets sold at the events. There is a limit of two tickets per classmate, per event. Ticket and Reservations deadline is June 1, 2005. All tickets will be confirmed.

Muir-PHS Golf Tournament, Brookside, Thursday, August 18. The weekend starts on Thursday, August 18, 2005 with a golf tournament at: BROOKSIDE GOLF COURSE (adjacent to the Rose Bowl). Tee time is 8:00 AM. The tournament will be open to the men and women from John Muir and Pasadena High Schools class of 1955 and La Canada, Eliot, Marshall, McKinley, Temple City, Washington and Wilson Junior High Schools class of 1953.  Our golf “Genies”, Duke Rohlffs and Ron McDaniel, are co-chairing the tournament and if it is like their other golfing events they have put on -- it will be fun, fun, fun. Golf Fee: $125.00 per person and/or non-player Luncheon Fee of $22.00 per person. Spouses are warmly welcomed. Click here for the 50th Class Reunion Golf Tournament registration form

“The Fabulous Fifties” – Cocktail and Dinner Reception at the Rose Bowl, Court of Champions – Friday, August 19, 2005. Theme: “The Fabulous Fifties”. On Friday, August 19, 2005 the reunion will be holding a class reception and dinner in the “Court of Champions” Cocktails @ 5:30 PM, Dinner @ 6:30 PM at the Pasadena Rose Bowl.  It will be catered by “Upper Crust Catering” with a sit-down dinner including a no-host bar. Price is $37.50 per person. The theme for the evening will be “The Fabulous Fifties” features the famous RHYTHM KINGS band. Theme dress of the Fifties is optional. Click here for the 50th Reunion Reservation form

Ritz Carlton (Huntington) Hotel, Saturday, August 20, 2005 50^th Reunion Banquet.
On Saturday August 20, 2005, we will hold the banquet at the Pasadena Ritz-Carlton (formally the Pasadena Huntington Hotel).  Reception is at 6:00 PM, Dinner is served at 7:30 PM. This will be a Celebration of our 50 years since high school graduation.  It will feature a special presentation of the “life and times of our class”, plus an appearance of the famous RHYTHM KINGS.  The Pasadena Ritz Carlton is serving a three-course dinner with a no-host bar at $75.00 per person. Seating will be limited so get your reservation in early. A block of 75 rooms is guaranteed $150 per night. After the 75 rooms are reserved, the price will likely go up and/or accommodations will have to be made at another hotel. Special rates for valet parking are $10 per day and $5 for the banquet only. You can call the hotel at 1-626-568-3900 (direct) or 1-800-241-3333 for hotel reservations. First come…first served.   Click here for the 50th Reunion Reservation form

Rhythm Kings (How many can you name?)

Sunday Brunch and Tour of the famous Wrigley Mansion Sunday, August 21, Pasadena Tournament of Roses Headquarters. On Sunday, August 21, 2005, we will hold a brunch and tour at the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Headquarters on Orange Grove (Its the Wrigley Mansion) from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. It will be catered by one of Pasadena’s finest catering companies. Brunch will be $37.50 per person. This is a rare opportunity to see the famous Wrigley Mansion up close. Tournament members will conduct tours of the mansion.  Click here for the 50th Reunion Registration form

Five-day Mexican and California Cruise, Aug. 22-26
We have added an optional 5-Day 50^th Reunion Royal Caribbean boat cruise to Baja immediately following the reunion beginning on Monday, August 22, 2004 starting at Los Angeles and visiting San Diego, Catalina Island, and Enseñada, Mexico and returning to Los Angeles. Prices range from: Inside Staterooms – from $449 per person; Ocean View Staterooms – from $539 per person. For reservations call Travel of America: 1-800-228-8843.

Please contact Al Ulves or phone: (949) 856-0498 and provide your current location information (current last name, if different from 1955), email address, mailing address (so we can update our classmate database to send important information on the reunion), your home phone and cell phone.

Many of our classmates are missing. We know where many of you are but we need to try to contact EVERYONE. We need your help. If you only know how to contact their brother or sister or parents, please let Al Ulves know. Don't assume someone else will let us know, do it yourself? We would rather have the information two or three times than not at all.
 

by 
Eddie Moses

The Class of 1955 held a 46^th year reunion at the Pasadena Hilton Hotel October 12^th through the 14^th.  I had the privilege of serving on their reunion committee and regularly attended their meetings.  Talk about harmony - - - this committee was a philharmonic orchestra led by a master conductor, maestro Douglas Stone.  I was equally impressed by the unselfish manner in which committee members volunteered or accepted committee assignments.  Why a 46th? I don't know, but their last reunion, their thirtieth, was held in 1985 at the Embassy Suites in Covina. I was there to bear witness that it was a most memorable weekend for all those who attended. The Embassy is a great place to hold a reunion.  After last weekend, I would never recommend the Pasadena Hilton for a class reunion or any other group function for that matter.

The overwhelming sadness caused by the recent events of September 11, which dominated our lives, broke our hearts, but strengthened the character of our nation, was somewhat suppressed for the weekend.

The reunion started with a cocktail party on Friday night.  It was a great success despite the unsatisfactory hotel accommodations.  The reception room the hotel provided was terrible.  It was on the 12th floor, no bar service and too small for all the many alumni who attended. The Presidential Suite, the room promised the class by hotel management, was given instead to the coach of the Washington Huskies (their football team and coaching staff stayed at the Hotel and played UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Saturday). I took great pleasure by hollering "Go UCLA" in retribution for the theft of our reception room. We ended up abandoning the room and invaded the cocktail lounge off the main lobby where we ate all their "happy hour" hors d' oeuvres and finally had a cocktail or two or three or more.

Saturday morning we assembled in the hotel lobby then caravanned to John Muir for a private tour of the campus. Nettie, our tour guide, was cordial and accommodating. We gathered at an outdoor luncheon area that in 1955-56 was the middle of the quad.   The fountain in the quad, classroom bungalows, gymnasium, swimming pool, and other memorable structures were long gone.  The front had been remodeled.  New buildings seemed to pop up around every corner like mushrooms.  They intruded into the portrait of the 1955-1956 campus I had painted in my minds eye.  Although the physical appearance of the school had changed, bygone visions trickled up from the depths of my remembrance in bits and pieces. But if you were there, you knew what Dorothy felt like when caught in the fantasy quest that whorled her back to the magical Land of OZ.  A quest for excitement, for magic  - - - things we already experienced but just didn't see or appreciate at the time. Feelings transcended visual images.  The message was more allegorical than the mute inanimate setting our eyes perceived. The school may have lost its appearance as we knew it, but it never lost its spirit; it exuded from the walls.

After all the hugs, kisses and handshakes, we lined up to enter the main building. Standing in the hall you absorbed the ambiance that lingered everywhere.  I kept stumbling into little things that prompted fond recollections of classmates or teachers or situations - - - memories that previously stood dormant somewhere within the shadows of my mind but now exploded outward like a genie from a bottle.  

In the main hallway stood the triumphant Victory Bell, a symbol of victory over the Bulldogs of PHS in the last Turkey Tussle.  The traditional football game is still played in the Rose Bowl every November just prior to Thanksgiving Day. The bell is a perpetual trophy kept by the victor each year. We kept the bell both years, as the Mighty Mustangs beat PHS 19 to 12 in 1955 and 12 to 0 in 1956.                                                     

On the walls hung clusters of photographs honoring some of our most illustrious John Muir alumni.  Designated the John Muir Hall of Fame - - - it's symbolic of the most profound honor a high school could bestow upon a graduate.  Their accomplishments are recognized either through success in their careers or service to their community.   Some of the Hall of Fame inductees selected within their categories are Jackie Robinson ('36) and Rod Sherman ('62) for sports, Charlie Bradford ('56) and Sandra Buckner Gooch ('55) for Community Service, Dr. Alexander Goetz ('55) and Robert D. Barnes ('56) for Science and Education, Robert "Bobbie" Hutcherson ('58) and Helen Pashigian ('52) for Visual & Performing Arts or Journalism, John Van de Kamp and Lt. General Royal N. Moore ('54) for Government Service.  These honored alumni can be looked upon as role models and are deservingly assured recognition of their accomplishments or benevolent contributions to our society by future generations of John Muir students.

Outside the front door of the campus, Don Cooke, who recently retired as assistant principal of John Muir, gave us a brief but humorous history of the front of the school.

Nettie unlocked two rooms in the south hall adjacent to the doors leading to the bridge spanning from the main building to the Rufus Mead Auditorium.  One room held memorabilia of John Muir College, the other, highlights from earlier classes of John Muir High School.  Photographs from the Class of 1955 and 1956 stood side by side on a wooden partition.  I saw an 8 x 10 photograph of Linda Nelson, our Homecoming Queen, dressed in a beautiful gown holding a big bouquet of flowers.  She had classically strong features and a flawless complexion.  As a mature teenager she wore her crown with the same grace, poise and dignity she exhibits today as a mature woman.  I had the honor of serving with her as our respective League Presidents.

Next was a photograph of Patti Wilson, posing beside her trophy, holding the banner for her coveted title as Miss Shutterbug ’56.  She always had a warm, captivating smile, whether posing for one of the many beauty contests she won, or just passing through the hallways.  Patti was a princess in Linda Nelson’s Royal Court and today is just as charming and seemingly more beautiful then she was in 1956.  On the Class of '55 side, there was a nice picture of the flag twirlers.

I looked up and saw a "Beat PHS" banner hanging on the wall.  The slogan was prophetic for us as we did just that.    Sadly, Nettie said the content of both rooms would soon be boxed up and put into storage, as the space is needed for classrooms.

The John Muir College exhibit room was also impressive.  Many students recalled that when Muir was a college, the sign on the men’s room said “Men” and the sign on the ladies room said “Ladies.”  When the school changed over to a two-year high school in 1955, the restroom signs were changed to “Boys” and “Girls.”

The tour of Rufus Mead Auditorium tapped deeper into our reservoir of memories.  We assembled at the front steps, and as a group, once again posed for photographs like so many times before.  Inside the auditorium someone commented that the old wooden seats were the same seats we sat in for all those assemblies and special evening programs. By the looks of them you couldn’t dispute the statement.  We all sat facing the stage like we did almost a half-century ago and posed again for more photographs.  The stage teacher, Larry Tharp was there and invited us onto the stage where he explained the mechanics involving lights, props and sound for school assemblies and stage productions.  We left the auditorium down the south exit steps where I recall Linda Nelson and I posed with the 1956 Whiskerino contestants.

After the stage tour, the 2001 Muir cheerleaders performed their current pep routine for us but it didn’t seem any different than the routines of our cheerleaders and song girls.  Yes the words of the Mustang cheers may have changed, but never the Mustang spirit.   School spirit is passion arousal from the subconscious. It's attitude, mood and pride.  It's the uplifting feeling you get ringing the Victory Bell on your side of the field.  It's painting your face blue and gold, dying your hair blue or simply wearing a "Go Mustangs" button.

We walked back to the shade of the quad area, shared a catered lunch and renewed old friendships; more photographs, more hugs, more handshakes, more kisses too. 

Saturday evening the dinner-dance started with a cocktail party at 5:30 PM and dinner was served at 7. The menu consisted of prime rib, chicken or a vegetarian plate.  I dined with Ginger Cowley Grafus, her husband Josef, Kit Sanders, Ellie Erickson Hargraves, Sterling Goudeau, Dick Adams and Claudia Scott Edwards. The mood was gay and festive despite the poor quality food the hotel served us, but in all other aspects, the reunion exceeded everyone's expectations. But nobody came for the food - - - they came for the company.  Those who had cameras preserved the moment, those who didn’t had Allan and Claudia Ulves, Claudia Scott, Doug Stone or others do it for them.   I had my camera too and also posed for a photograph or two, including one with Renee Hamaty.

Don Cooke was the master of ceremonies for a very short program that recognized those classmates who came the farthest, had the most children, grandchildren, great grand children and other usual suspects.  Cleve Traughber, Class President, recognized each member of the Reunion Committee.  Doug Stone shared a humorous story then turned the program over to the DJ who played that wonderful music of our time.   Dan Mann previously hand crafted a leather face for a “John Muir Class of 1955” clock and raffled it off.  Dan pledged the entire proceeds, about $145, to the John Muir High School Archives. Wouldn’t you know it, yours truly, from the class of 1956 was the lucky ticket holder.  Judy Lewi loved the clock and since her birth date, October 13, was inscribed on the face, and I wasn’t an “official” ’55 grad, it flew home to Michigan with Judy.

This reunion weekend brought the past into the present and tomorrow we focus on the future - - - planning the upcoming 50^th year reunion.  Everyone keep the year 2006, in mind. Nearly everything we’ve done since graduation separated us in some way from those we shared our youth with.  Make a commitment to yourself, to your Class, that you will attend because your presence will surely brighten the eyes and hearts of many who have missed you over these past years.  I know - - - because I’ve missed all of you.

To view several hundred photographs of the 1955 Class Reunion, taken by Alan and Claudia Ulves, Douglas Stone, Claudia Edwards Scott and Eddie Moses go to the following sites:

http://photos.yahoo.com/johnmuir55
http://photos.yahoo.com/johnmuir56