UPDATE APRIL 2016
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OUR CLASSMATE PAT BRULEY recently passed away in Meriden, Kansas, where she and her husband James Anthony Kelly (also our classmate) lived for many years. Patricia Bruley Kelly was the daughter of Henry and Marcelle Bruley, both of whom preceded Pat in death. Pat had only one sister, Betty (who preceded Pat in death), and no brothers. When Pat’s mother Marcelle passed away in July 2007 at age 90, Mrs. Bruley’s Will designated Pat’s daughter Julie Kelly as the representative of the estate that included the Bruley home on Widefield Boulevard. As the legally-appointed representative of the estate, Julie Kelly sold the Bruley home in July 2009. Pat was preceded in death by her son Brian Kelly. She is survived by her husband James Kelly and daughter Julie.
News of Pat’s death was conveyed to Bruce McAlexander by our longtime classmate Denese Clark Bigelow.
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THE MOTHER of our classmate ROY MANUSZAK passed away on March 12, 2016, in Colorado Springs. Born May 11, 1926 in Germany, Hildagard was the daughter of Paul and Brunislava Koester. Hildagard became Manuszak through marriage and was a longtime resident of Colorado Springs. Mrs. Manuszak was 89 at the time of her death. She was the mother of ten children, of which Roy was the oldest. Mrs. Manuszak is survived by her four sons (Roy, Paul, Leonard, Martin) and six daughters (Rosemarie, Annemarie, Angelica, Theresa, Margaret, Bernice).
“She had a full and active life,” says Roy about his beloved mother. “RIP mom.”
Please join me in extending condolences to Roy Manuszak. Messages can be sent to Roy at his email address listed in the “Contact Us” section of our class website. People can also extend condolences through the online guest book that will be posted between now and April 16. If you want to send condolences via the online guest book, click here!
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THE 50-YEAR REUNION WILL BE HELD on Friday and Saturday, July 15-16. The historic event will begin on Friday, July 15, 6:00 p.m., at Fargo’s Pizza Company located at 2910 East Platte Avenue in Colorado Springs. Our classmate Ron Petty reserved the entire top floor of Fargo’s, which has a low-cost and affordable menu from which classmates can buy their own food and drinks. To get to Fargo’s from I-25, get off at the Bijou exit and head East a few blocks to Cascade and turn left a few blocks to Platte at which you will turn right and stay on Platte for about two miles to Fargo’s.
The reunion will continue with a picnic on Saturday, July 16, 11:00 a.m., in the gazebo that has a three-tiered turquoise colored roof at Metcalf Park located at 704 East Ohio Avenue in Fountain. Our classmate Ron Petty reserved the gazebo for the event at which food and drinks will be provided by a catering service. To get to the park, stay on Old Highway 85 from Security until Old Highway 85 becomes Santa Fe Avenue. Stay on Santa Fe Avenue until you get to Ohio Avenue. Turn east on Ohio Avenue and go 10 blocks until you reach the park.
The registration fee for the catered picnic event is $20.00 per person. Each attendee will be served two meat choices, sides, tea and lemonade. People who want beer must bring their own and it must be ONLY 3.2 beer in cans (no glass bottles).
The deadline to register is Wednesday, June 1. Print out the registration form from our class website or use the form (see below) in this newsletter.
Our class co-treasurer Maryellen Brada Manuszak will be the person to whom people should send checks for registration. Maryellen was with many of us all the way from grade school through high school graduation, and she married our classmate Roy Manuszak.
If you live out of state and are remotely thinking about attending the reunion, please make advance reservations for travel and a motel room. Don’t wait until the last minute to make plans because travel and motel options may get booked up quickly by July 2016.
Last-minute changes or updates about the reunion will be posted on our class website, so please be sure to check there.
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INTEREST in ATTENDING a 50-YEAR REUNION includes 45 classmates whose names appear on the updated list below.
Shirley Guinta Tafoya; Patti Kueck Daniel; Twila Wilson; Bruce Brian; Rhonda Richards Shamburger; Warren Knight; Pam Rains Shuman; Joy Woods Haskell; Doug Allen; Mickey Martin; Linda Nolin Weber; Mary Ashley Fuchsman; Daryl Kuiper; Bruce McAlexander; Ron Petty; Paul Snell; Gillie Walker; Donnie Martinez; Mimi George Torreano; Denese Clark Bigelow; Gary Storm; Judy Ames Bradford; Dean Otey; Glen Kruse; Bob Cook; Steve Cox; Rich Stroud; Glenda Windle Armstrong; Donna Wiltgen Mills; Lydia Romero Fine; Mike Adragna; Steve Rhodes; Donna Williams Humphrey; Marcia Hagans Allin; Craig Snow; Eldon Lee; Dave Theiss; Tom Nigbur; Carla Whitley Smith; Debbie McGowan Kacey; Marciano “Marc” Anteola; Hak Dickenson; Rich Otto; Ken Loveless; Anne Lively Baldwin.
If you are remotely interested in attending the reunion, please send a brief message to this email box so that you can be added to the list.
“Everyone who has a Facebook page should copy/paste the reunion information on their Facebook pages to spread the news to friends, relatives, anyone who might know someone who graduated in 1966,” wrote our classmate Patti Kueck Daniel in her recent email message. In her reference to the reunion planners, Patti wrote: “Thanks for your valuable volunteer hours.”
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TO VISIT OUR CLASS WEBSITE that was assembled and is maintained by our Class Committee member and Webmaster, Paul Snell, please go to: www.1966whs.com
The software that Paul used to build the website allows people to access the website through a regular computer as well as a smartphone or digital tablet. At the bottom of each page of the website is a link to a Facebook page that can be used by classmates who have Facebook and want to communicate and receive information through Facebook. Please be sure to bookmark the website address on your computer so that you will have it handy whenever you want to visit the website.
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“I’m so mad at Cinderella, I could just kill her.” Those are the words expressed by our classmate Patti Kueck during a rather lengthy talk in which classmates were talking about idealistic and other relationships. “We were brought up to believe the Cinderella thing,” said Patti prior to making her comment about being mad at Cinderella.
Her aforementioned statement was among numerous comments shared during a roundtable discussion at the time of the 20-year reunion held in 1986 in Colorado Springs.
In the March 2016 update, there was detailed information about the video of the 20-year reunion. Over time – especially 30 years – an old film can fade, shrink, decompose and even crumble to dust. Fortunately, my copy of the video was not bad enough to convert to a modern digital format that people can view.
Please keep in mind that the 2016 updated version of the 1986 video has NOTbeen remastered, enhanced or restored. The quality is not clear, not crisp. It is best to view it on the standard small screen that displays upon clicking the link. Enlarging the screen decreases the viewing quality.”
To watch the video of 1 hour and 20 minutes, click here!
For details of the video, see my March 2016 update on our class website.
“We must always have old memories and young hopes.”
-- Arsene Houssaye, French novelist and poet
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PLEASE do not TAKE IT PERSONALLY if you do not hear from me right away. As a volunteer in several nonprofit entities (including the college campus), I have only so much time within which to do my volunteer work as well as tend to my health challenges and other aspects of my personal life. Delays in my replies, in particular, are due to my long sleeping hours during which there is total relief from my neurological illness for which there is no cure. It is now eleven (11) years that I have had massive nerve damage. With this neurological illness continuing to take center stage in my life each day, there cannot be very much so-called normal or routine activities on my part as long as a state of normalcy has not been returned to my life. As noted in my update in July 2013, another reason for delays in my replies is that I have been “slowing down” more and more since late 2012 – it takes me forever to get something done. My doctors attribute the slowness to me getting older, not the neurological illness.
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This update was prepared by me.
Respectfully submitted,
Donnie Martinez
Known at WHS by stepfather’s surname Collier
Martinez is my birth certificate and legal surname
a/k/a Butch, family nickname since childhood
a/k/a Don, presumably the adult version of Donnie
a/k/a Primo (Cousin) to dozens of my Martinez cousins
a/k/a El Aguila (The Eagle), a version of Gillie’s name for me
a/k/a Nitpicker Supreme, a title lovingly given to me by Gillie
a/k/a Frank to older women saying I look like their idol Frank Sinatra
a/k/a Dee Dee, a fun name used by people to mean Dear Donnie
I don’t care what people call me, just call me.
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Widefield High School Class of 1966
Registration for the 50-year Reunion
Name: ___________________________________
Number of People Attending: _______.
Year of your Class: ____________.
Email address: ____________________________
Phone number: ____________________________
Amount enclosed: $_____________.
[$20 for each person attending]
Please print this form and send it with your check
payable to “Maryellen Manuszak” via mail to:
Manuszak
P.O. Box 7147
Colorado Springs CO 80933
Form + check are due NO LATER than June 1, 2016.
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