UPDATE FEBRUARY 2018
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OUR CLASSMATE ROD GILLILAND recently passed away in Kansas, where he resided for many years. Our classmate Denese Clark Bigelow had been a longtime friend of Rod, and four months ago (October 2017) was the last time she visited Rod at his home in Kansas. A very friendly and nice guy, he was with many of us from grade school through high school in Security. When we were youngsters at Sproul Junior High, Rod was the second boyfriend of our classmate Della Romero. She was the first girlfriend I ever had. She and I were in 4th or 5th grade at North Security Elementary School when we went steady. I bought her a ring at Simms Grocery Store, where her father worked, and Della proudly wore the ring on a chain around her neck. Throughout the time she and Rod were together in junior high and part of high school, Della and I remained good friends and had many good laughs.
Rod was one of many of our classmates who were featured in the “slam book” that was popular when we were in junior high and high school in Security. A journal of classmates' opinions of one another, the slam book contained a sign-in page on which participants entered their names next to a specific number. Participants then used those assigned numbers to correspond to their remarks about classmates and topics listed throughout the slam book. Listed below are some of the comments about Rod in the slam book that our classmate Patti Kueck Daniel had from 8th grade when we were in junior high in Security.
"Real cute and sweet.”
“A doll, lots of fun."
"Nut, but very cool."
"Good dancer."
"Nice guy."
"Wow, adore him. He's all Della's."
Attached in JPEG format is a modern-day photo of Rod. In case you forgot what Rod looked like when he was with us for many years at school in Security, his photo is among the online senior photos that were emailed in PDF format to all of our classmates in July 2017.
Rod’s father (who died in 2015) was only nine years old in the early 1930s when he and his parents and siblings moved from a small town in Kansas to the small town of Fountain, Colorado, where he learned the practice of “bartering” by using a horse-drawn wagon to haul fruits and vegetables from the Gilliland ranch to the dirt main street in Fountain. It was there that he met Fountain’s grocery store owner, whose daughter Margaret later married Rod’s father in the early 1940s after they graduated from Fountain High School. Before they started having children, Rod’s father joined the Marines to serve in World War II at which time he flew fighter planes (two of which were shot down with him inside).
Listed below is the obituary about Rod, whose funeral will be at 1:00 p.m. on February 13, 2018 at Mount Moriah Funeral Home in Kansas City followed by burial at the cemetery there.
“In loving memory of Roderick Lee Gilliland who mercifully passed on February 8,2018. Rod we send you off to heaven with our love and caring and fond memories as full as the ocean. You were a precious soul so full of life and joy. Your life touched so many people and we will remember your wit, charm, and deep faith in your redeemer. Your life was cut short by illness, and your last years were tempered with failing health. But you are in your loving saviors arms now free of pain.
Rod was born on August 27, 1948 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is survived by his loving mother Margaret, older brother Robert and younger brothers, Douglas and John.
Rod was a magical soul. He had a mischievous nature and often shared a lighthearted smile coupled with an ornery twinkle in his eye. His imagination was unlimited and expressed itself through his passion for creating art. He loved music, lots of rock, and soul. His gentle personality was committed to making amazing works with stained glass. He created poetry with his writing. He had so many friends and touched uncounted lives with his magnetic personality.
Professionally, Rod was a successful real estate marketing professional. He had a talent for selling new homes and worked for years with his father and older brother to sell homes in many of the best communities in KC and Johnson County.
One of his many passions was prison ministries. For years he gave love and hope to those that were the least of our society. He spread God's love and message to those that needed it most.
Rod, we will always remember your smiling beautiful face. Your spirit will carry on,and your soul is finally at rest with Jesus, your special grandmother Amy, your father Hudson, and your only son Jonathan. As a family, we will be reunited, I know, in your new home in heaven that will be as unique as your spirit. We love you Roderick.”
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ALMOST ALL of our CLASSMATES WILL BE 70 years old this year. A few of our classmates (Gary Storm, Roy Manuszak, Andy Stumpf, Lydia Romero Fine, Daryl Kuiper) already turned 70 in late 2017, and the rest of us will reach that old age this year. A few classmates (Starr Coakley Miller, Peggy Flynn Meredith, Glenda Windle Armstrong, Denese Clark Bigelow, Debbie Armknecht Allen, Andi Armstrong Crowner, and Bobbi Stephens Eberhardt) turned 70 last month. Bruce McAlexander will turn 70 this month. Shirley Guinta Tafoya, Ken Loveless and Barbara Billingsley Massarano will go next in March. Ron Petty and Paul Snell will be next in April. Linda Nolin Weber will turn 70 in July. The seven youngest classmates (Bruce Brian, Rhonda, Maryellen, Gillie, Doug, Warren Knight and yours truly) will have to wait until the last three months of the year.
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THE DEATHS of SIBLINGS are the reality that our classmates will be facing more and more as we grow older. Many of us went through the deaths of our respective parents over the past years, but now that they have been laid to rest there has been a new chapter with the deaths of siblings. Our longtime classmate Barbara Garrison recently lost her beloved younger sister Christina (WHS Class of 1968), and my oldest brother passed away last month. With the death of a sibling, surviving siblings periodically look at one another and wonder aloud, “Are we next?” It is hard enough to go through the grief process with the loss of parents, but the loss of a sibling brings the death issue closer home.
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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
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THE 2018 OSCAR NOMINATIONS are the focus of my essay, which is enclosed herein at the tail-end of this update immediately after my farewell remark “I don’t care what people call me, just call me.”
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THE ONE DOLLAR STORY is a very touching tale written by our classmate Bruce McAlexander’s father, who passed away in 2016. Listed below is what Mr.Alexander wrote.
In the end of our crew training and being transferred to Lincoln, Nebraska Air Base to pick up a new B-17 Flying Fortress to fly to the 15th Air Force in Italy, each of us crew members signed a dollar bill to give to our closest of kin. I gave the $1.00 bill to my sweetheart wife, Bonnie Jean, who placed it in her knick-knack box where she kept her keepsakes. After the war we lived in Waldo, Kansas, and then Oberlin, Kansas. Then in 1957 we moved to Security, Colorado and in 1966 we moved to 801 Hallam Avenue, Security, Colorado, where I reside now. Bonnie Jean said to me the signed $1.00 bill was gone. In the meantime, we forgot the $1.00 signed bill.
Onto May 2, 2014
The doorbell rang at my home and my daughter Charia and friend Trish answered the door. A man was at the door and asked if they lived there when they were teenagers and they said yes. He said when he was a dumb and young 16-year-old,he broke into our house and stole this $1.00 bill. He said: “I was saved and became a Christian and the Lord told me to return this signed $1.00 bill. This house is as pretty now as it was when I was a kid.” Charla and Trish stated the guy said he was a graduate from Widefield High School in 1974 and he lived in Georgia and was back here for his dad’s funeral. Charla and Trish did not get his name, so I was unable to thank him for the wonderful gift he brought back to me and my wonderful family. When Trish and Charla brought the $1.00 bill into the room where I was sitting, the tears came. I remembered well the signers of the $1.00 bill.
I wanted to thank the good man for what he did. Trish got the school yearbook and looked to see if we could get a name. No luck. I pulled out the expired newspapers,dated April 20 to May 12 and went and recorded all the men that passed away or were born from 1936 back and all their surviving sons. When I came to Bobby-Gene Spradlin with 5 sons and the memorial service was at the local Catholic Church, I thought possibly I could find the person I am looking for. I again started looking in the school annual for names in the 1974 class. I found the name Robee Spradtn (spelled incorrectly). In the 1973 yearbook I found a Tom Spradlin, so I looked in the phone directory and looked up Bobby's number and a couple other names. The first name I called was wrong. The next number I called, a lady answered and I told her who I was and asked if she was a daughter to Bobby. She said she was his wife.She knew all about the $1.00 bill. I enjoyed the visit with your mother.
Thank you, Robee, so much! Robert, you are a special person to do what you did after 42 years. I would love to meet you and your wife, Amy.
(Excuse the errors, I'm 88 years old.)
Charles J. McAlexander (May 15, 2014)
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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, 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 (13) 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 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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THIS YEAR’S OSCAR NOMINEES
by Donnie Martínez (February 2018)
Just as I have done for many years, my picks for the Oscar Awards are now once again shared with friends, relatives, activists, neighbors and people with whom I went to school. It is now thirteen years of my ongoing neurological illness for which there is no cure, yet my spirits continue to be lifted whenever my health challenges allow me to get out to a movie theater.
BEST ACTRESS NOMINEES are: Sally Hawkins; Frances McDormand; Margo Robbie; Saoirse Ronan; and, Meryl Streep. Ms. Hawkins is very good as a mute janitor who falls in love with and rescues a human-like sea monster while working at a U.S. government secret research facility in 1962, as detailed in the well-done film “Shape of Water.” Ms. McDormand is very good as a grieving mother whose unrelenting anger is directed at the police chief for not solving the brutal murder of the mother’s daughter, as detailed in the well-done film “Three Billboards.” Ms. Robbie is very good in her portrayal of the famous ice skater Tonya Harding whose career was tarnished in a sports-related scandal, as detailed in the true story “I, Tonya.” Ms. Ronan is very good as an outspoken Catholic high-school senior whose relationship with her strong-willed mother is marked by ongoing tension and heartbreak, as conveyed in the film “Lady Bird.” Ms. Streep is very good as the first woman publisher of a major U.S. newspaper and the tough decisions she made in standing up to President Nixon upon publishing secret government papers that exposed myths and realities of the U.S. war in Vietnam, as detailed in the true story “The Post.” Frances McDormand is my choice for the award, but I won’t be disappointed if the award goes to Ms. Hawkins or Ms. Streep.
BEST ACTOR NOMINEES are: Timothee Chalamet; Daniel Day-Lewis; Daniel Kaluuya; Gary Oldman; and, Denzel Washington. Chalamet is very good as a 17-year-old Jew who has a romantic relationship with a 27-year-old man who is also a Jew, as conveyed in the film “Call Me by Your Name.” Day-Lewis is very good as a 1950s upper-class man who designs dresses for high-society women and who becomes abusive in his romantic relationship with a working-class woman, as conveyed in the well-done film “Phantom Thread.” Kaluuya is very good as an African-American young man who encounters racial stereotypes and a horrifying hypnotic procedure upon meeting the wealthy liberal parents of his young white woman partner, as conveyed in the film “Get Out.” Oldman is very good as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who faced tough decisions about British soldiers trapped by the Nazi military at Dunkirk, France in World War II, as detailed in the well-done film “Darkest Hour.” Washington is good as an idealistic lawyer whose civil-rights principles are contradicted by his acceptance of reward money for locating the killer in a store robbery, as conveyed in the mediocre film “Roman Israel Esq.” Gary Oldman and Daniel Day-Lewis are my choices for the award, but I won’t be disappointed if the award goes to Daniel Kaluuya.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR NOMINEES are: William Dafoe; Woody Harrelson; Richard Jenkins; Christopher Plummer; and, Sam Rockwell. Dafoe is very good as a protective father figure who manages a motel in which poverty-stricken single mothers and their children are tenants, as conveyed in the well-done film “Florida Project.” Harrelson is very good as the police chief who is targeted by the rage of a grieving mother for not solving the murder of the mother’s daughter, as conveyed in the well-done film “Three Billboards.” Jenkins is very good as a gay visual artist who is the next-door neighbor and accomplice of a mute woman janitor who rescues a human-like sea monster while working at a U.S. government secret research facility in 1962, as detailed in the film “Shape of Water.” Plummer is very good in his portrayal of billionaire J. Paul Getty who refused to bargain with the kidnappers of Getty’s grandson in 1973, as detailed in the true story “All the Money in the World.” Rockwell is very good as an overtly-racist police officer who is targeted by the rage of a grieving mother for not solving the murder of the mother’s daughter, as conveyed in the well-done film “Three Billboards.” Sam Rockwell is my choice for the award, but I won’t be disappointed if the award goes to Woody Harrelson or Christopher Plummer.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS NOMINEES are: Mary Blige; Allison Janney; Lesley Manville; Laurie Metcalf; and, Octavia Spencer. Ms. Blige is very good as an African American woman who assists her husband as caretakers of a white family’s farm in World War II, as conveyed in the well-done film “Mudbound.” Ms. Janney is very good as the abusive mother of the famous ice skater Tonya Harding whose career was tarnished by a sports-related scandal, as conveyed in the true story “I, Tonya.” Ms. Manville is very good as the sister of a 1950s upper-class man who designs dresses for high-society women and who becomes abusive in his romantic relationship with a working-class woman, as detailed in the well-done film “Phantom Thread.” Ms. Metcalf is very good as the strong-willed mother who has an intense and heartbreaking relationship with her outspoken Catholic high-school daughter, as conveyed in the film “Lady Bird.” Ms. Spencer is very good as an African American woman janitor who is the co-worker of a mute woman janitor who falls in love with and rescues a human-like sea monster while working at a U.S. government secret research facility in 1962, as detailed in the film “Shape of Water.” Mary Blige and Octavia Spencer are my choices for the award, but I won’t be disappointed if the award goes to Laurie Metcalf.
BEST PICTURE NOMINEES are: “Call Me by Your Name”; “Darkest Hour”; “Dunkirk”; “Get Out”; “Lady Bird”; “Phantom Thread”; “The Post”; “Shape of Water”; and, “Three Billboards.” Noticeably absent from the list are the films “Zookeeper’s Wife” (true story of a non-Jew who rescued non-Jews in World War II) and “Detroit” (true story of events leading up to the 1967 riots).
“Call Me by Your Name” is a mediocre film about a 17-year-old male Jew who falls in love with a 27-year-old male Jew, but the film fails to clarify to the viewer how the Jewish identity is part of the bond in the gay relationship between the two guys.
“Darkest Hour” is a well-done film based on the true story of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who faced tough decisions about thousands of British soldiers who were trapped by the Nazi military at Dunkirk, France, in World War II. With its focus limited to Churchill’s decision-making process in government venues far away from Dunkirk, this film is a nice companion piece to the “Dunkirk” film that spotlights the experiences of British soldiers on the battlefield.
“Dunkirk” is a well-done film based on the true story of thousands of British soldiers who were trapped by the Nazi military at Dunkirk, France, in World War II. With its focus limited to the experiences of the British soldiers, this film is a nice companion piece to the “Darkest Hour” film that spotlights Churchill’s decision-making process in government venues far away from Dunkirk.
“Get Out” is a well-done film about an African American young man who encounters racial stereotypes and a horrifying hypnotic procedure upon meeting the wealthy liberal parents of his young white woman partner.
“Lady Bird” is a well-done film about the tension and heartbreak in the stormy relationship between an outspoken Catholic high-school senior and her strong-willed mother.
“Phantom Thread” is a well-done film about a 1950s upper-class man who designs dresses for high-society women and who becomes abusive in his romantic relationship with a working-class woman. The film’s 60-year-old star, Daniel Day-Lewis, has stated this is his last movie.
“The Post” is a well-done film based on the true story of the first woman publisher of a major U.S. newspaper and the tough decisions she made in standing up to President Nixon upon publishing secret government papers that exposed myths and realities of the U.S. war in Vietnam.
“Shape of Water” is a well-done film that is visually stunning with an outrageously-themed plot set in 1962 at a U.S. government research facility at which a mute woman janitor falls in love with and rescues a human-like sea monster that a Russian spy also seeks to rescue for a scientific study.
“Three Billboards” is a well-done film about a grieving mother whose anger is directed at the police chief for not solving the brutal murder of the mother’s daughter.
For me to enjoy a movie, it must almost always have two main qualities: (1) it reveals events of a historical era unfamiliar to me; or (2) it is set in a geographic location or situation unfamiliar to me. Because they were set in locations unfamiliar to me and they had many historical details that I did not know until seeing the films, “Darkest Hour,” “Dunkirk” and “The Post” are my choices for best picture.
ABC will televise the awards on Sunday, March 4, 6:00 p.m. Colorado time.
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