UPDATE MARCH 2016
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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 has not yet been decided. Once the amount and payment method have been decided at the next planning meeting (see article below), everyone will be informed.
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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THE NEXT MEETING to PLAN the 50-YEAR REUNION will take place on Saturday, April 2, 11:00 a.m., at Fargo’s Pizza Company located at 2910 East Platte Avenue in Colorado Springs. Our classmate Ron Petty reserved a room for the gathering, so mention his name to the staff person at the reception area so that you can be directed to the right place. At the gathering, attendees will continue to discuss plans for the reunion. Even if you cannot commit to helping to plan the reunion, please attend the meeting anyway to enjoy lunch and friendly talk with classmates.
For any last-minute changes on the upcoming meeting and postings about future planning meetings, please check our class website.
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INTEREST in ATTENDING a 50-YEAR REUNION includes 43 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.
In addition to expressing interest in attending the 50-year reunion, our classmate Gary Storm has kindly offered to help from afar (he resides in Illinois).
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.
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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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FEEDBACK from READERS includes the below-listed entries that were submitted in response to information contained in previous updates.
Donnie, thanks for always taking the time to keep all of us informed. You do a great job. I appreciate it. Keep well.
-- Mick Martin, Class of 1966
Donnie, I really enjoy reading your Widefield Class of ’66 Updates. I am really bad about replying and getting involved. I hope to change that this year and get more involved. I would be interested I attending the reunion for the Class of ’66. I look forward to hearing more about one if it materializes. Thank you for the time you put in to keep us all updated. I really appreciate it and enjoy reading it.
-- Donna Wiltgen Mills, Class of 1966
Donnie, thank you so much for keeping this up. I was so excited to get the news update today. I am so hoping that we will be able to have a 50th reunion. If we do, I WILL be there. I was not able to come last summer as I had just lost my husband after a 2-year battle with ALS (a/k/a Lou Gehrig’s). Anyway, I am really hoping to get to see everyone this summer.
-- Judy Ames Bradford, Class of 1966
Thanks, Donnie. I really appreciate the work you do to keep the information flowing. If there is ever anything I can do to ease the load, please just let me know.
-- Doug Allen, Class of 1966
I am very interested in the reunion, but I am not financially able to afford the trip. I spoke to Ron Petty regarding this issue. Please give everyone my best regards and tell them that I hope that life has been good to them. God bless.
-- Pete Spiers, Class of 1966
[He resides in Massachusetts]
Our schedules may not allow us to attend the 50-year Widefield High School reunion, however we are interested. Please include the following in the “interest list”: Marciano “Marc” Anteola, Houston TX; Hakkil “Hak” Dickenson, Houston TX; Richard “Rick” Otto, Plano TX. Thank you.
-- Marciano “Marc” Anteola, Class of 1966
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CAN YOU SEE YOUR LOCKER in the VIDEO? Two very talented young male students performed the modern-day “Money Clown Walk” dance in between two long rows of lockers in the halls of WHS. Closely watch their footsteps and how both young men are able to maintain their balance despite dancing on a freshly-waxed floor. Although I am not a big fan of the modern-day genre of music known as rap and hip-hop, the song in the video is appropriate for the dance performance. As a longtime lover of dance since childhood when I first learned Mexican dances and later learned ballet, I have always appreciated good dancers upon seeing them. If my childhood and teen dance partner Yolanda Lopez (WHS Class of 1965) and I would have known about the “Money Clown Walk” dance, I am sure we would have learned it and practiced it before publicly performing it like we did with so many other dance routines from the 1950s and 1960s. To watch the 90-second video of the five-star performance by the modern-day young dancers at WHS, turn on your computer’s sound and click the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjqo8_2d-pM
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A FILM of OUR 20-YEAR REUNION will be made available in the next update, which will provide information about the upcoming conversion of the old film to a computerized modern format that can be viewed for free in the privacy of your home. Using old style mid-1980s computerized lettering to display the film’s title “20 Years Later” at the beginning and the words “The End” when it is over, the film was produced by Joy Payne Humphrey, Debbie Armknecht Allen and Donnie Martinez. An excerpt of the slow and mellow song, “20 Years Ago” by Kenny Rogers, is played at the beginning and end of the film. With the use of a 1980s Video Home System (VHS) camcorder that belonged to Joy, the film’s first 30 minutes feature brief shots of numerous classmates who are frequently told by Joy that she was going to show the film at the 30-year reunion. Although the film never was shown at the 30-year reunion, people now will have an opportunity to finally view it 30 years after it was filmed at the July 1986 reunion at which 70 of our classmates were in attendance.
The total length of the film is 1 hour and 20 minutes, with the outdoor section lasting 30 minutes and the indoor section lasting 50 minutes.
Hazel Garlick (Class of 1967) was the first person shown in the film. Hazel (now deceased) was married to our classmate Ken Loveless at the time of the 20-year reunion. Immediately after Hazel introduces her daughter, there are brief shots of our classmates in the following order: Jean Puylara (now deceased); Linda Nolin; Rod Nyborg; Rhonda Richards; Bruce McAlexander; Judy Sackhoff; Anne Lively; Donna Wiltgen; Donna Ward; and, Perry Pierce. Our classmate Terry Chambers then steps up to the camera to offer food for thought by stating:
“We’re getting to where we can start enjoying life, thank God.”
After Terry, the camera shifts to brief shots of our classmates Doug Allen, Denny Stenson (singing with his son Toby), Mark Haggar, Warren Knight (singing the “Meow” song) and Mike Adragna. Right after Mike, almost all 70 classmates in attendance are shown in a group shot set against the backdrop of the hills at the foot of the Rocky Mountains on a sunny and cool afternoon.
Immediately after the group shot, there are brief shots of our classmates in the following order: Gary Storm; JoAnn Vallone (now deceased); Diane Otey; Eldon Lee; Steve Rhodes; Barry Thompson (now deceased); Linda Thomas; Rich Stroud; Gary Galyardt; Peggy Flynn (with her husband Ron Meredith, Class of 1965); Beth Plana (who brought her 10 kids to the reunion); Mick Martin; Joy Woods; Doug Allen; Patti Kueck; Shirley Guinta; Mike Oliver; Wanda Floyd; Les Hermann; Janine Moore; Perry Pierce; Lerry Young; Dean Otey; Bruce Brian; Pam Rains; and, Glenda Windle. The next frame then shows our classmate Roy Manuszak offering food for thought by stating:
“Tomorrow’s a dream, yesterday is a memory, and today is a b**ch.”
The next frame shows Roy and his wife (our classmate Maryellen Brada Manuszak) in a group shot with all of their children. Then there are brief shots of our classmates in the following order: Phil Martin; Myra Boberg; Danny Cancil (now deceased); Terry Chambers; and, Barbara Garrison.
After Barbara Garrison is shown dashing off into the distance upon declining Joy’s invitation to sing for the camera, there is a short one-minute humorous intermission featuring recreation activities such as bowlfing (utilizing bowling balls on a golf course) and bike boxing (guys boxing each other while riding bicycles). Immediately after the intermission, there is a brief two-second shot of Twila Wilson – the last classmate to be shown in the outdoor section of the film.
The film’s last 50 minutes feature a more intimate round-table discussion among some of our classmates. Filmed indoors, the session begins with classmates trying to figure out whose childhood photo was featured in the “Guess Who” column of our WHS newspaper in the mid-1960s. Initially stumped about the identity as they read out loud several hints provided in the article, they eventually figured it out and simultaneously stated the classmate’s name.
Throughout the 50-minute indoors segment, you will see and hear classmates reflecting on their past school experiences as well as expressing some of their innermost thoughts, feelings, concerns and aspirations. One classmate recalls the hoop skirts that were popular in the 1950s and how embarrassed she was on one occasion when her hoop skirt flew upward and exposed her underpants during class at grade school in Security. Another classmate describes how she felt abandoned when her friend dumped her upon the friend’s decision to become one of our popular girls in high school. Another classmate talks about almost getting expelled from school after getting caught with a photo of a classmate in the nude. Using her hands and facial expressions, Debbie Armknecht Allen does a hilarious portrayal of how she played the tuba in our high school band. One classmate talks about her discomfort with classmates hugging her at the reunion when those same classmates ignored her when we were in high school. Classmates also discussed the following topics: (a) going to high-school formal dances with an “arranged” date; (b) addressing unresolved problems with individual classmates 20 years after graduation; (c) having superficial and meaningful relationships; (d) pitting students against each other with divisive popularity contests; (e) trying to break cigarette habits in adult years; and, (f) feelings about growing old upon approaching the age of 40. Toward the end, the prom-queen discussion got a bit convoluted with our classmate Myra’s perception that our prom queen was voted upon at the beginning of our senior year. Because the dialogue was based on that mistaken premise, it is important to clarify that the voting for prom queen took place at the end of the school year. The indoors segment ends with a close-up of Patti Kueck sighing after saying “That’s really sad” in reference to some of the issues that were discussed. The words “The End” then flash on the screen accompanied by Kenny Rogers’ slow song, “20 Years Ago.”
STAY TUNED for the next update, which will provide information about the upcoming conversion of the old VHS film to a computerized modern format that can be viewed for free in the privacy of your home.
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PLEASE do not TAKE IT PERSONALLYif 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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