UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2014
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THE SON of MARYELLEN BRADA MANUSZAK and ROY MANUSZAK recently passed away. Born January 22, 1976, Jerrod Paul Manuszak was 38 years old when he passed away this month. Please join me in extending condolences to Maryellen and Roy, both of whom have served on our Class Committee for several years. Maryellen is our Class Committee Co-Treasurer along with Bruce McAlexander. If any of you would like to extend condolences to Maryellen and Roy, you can obtain their email addresses by clicking the “Contact Us” tab on our class website at:
To respect the privacy of Maryellen and Roy, their street address will not be stated in this update nor will it be posted on our website that is accessible to anyone in the public.
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THE 50-YEAR REUNION of the CLASS of 1965 will take place on Friday and Saturday, June 19 and 20, 2015. The event will start off with a one-hour tour of Widefield High School on Friday, June 19, 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., followed by a catered event with a cash bar that evening from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. There will be a catered picnic on Saturday, June 20, 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m. Just as the Class of 1966 did in 2011 by opening up the reunion to ALL classes from the 1960s, the Class of 1965 is following suit by opening up their 50-year reunion to ALL classes from the 1960s.
To keep posted on the historic event, please contact WHS Class of 1965 member Lyle Wikner atLwikner@Yahoo.com
Updated information also can be found on Facebook by searching:
“Widefield High School Class of 1965 Reunion”
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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:
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 directing to me to the person I needed to contact at Widefield High School to get information about people I knew when I was among a group of Hmong [ethnic group from Laos and Vietnam] students who went to school there. The only WHS website I found was for the Class of 1966 and I liked reading some of your updates on that website, so that’s why I wrote to you to see if you could help.
-- Tuan Lo, Class of 1988
Donnie, you do a great job with your blog – I look at it often during the year. I probably have had as many or more close friends in the Class of ’66 as in my own Class of ’65 just because two of your members (Brad Douglas, Dave Smedsrud) lived in my neighborhood in Security. I love coming back to the reunions, too, and try not to miss them. I enjoyed the 1964, 1965, 1966 one we did together in the mid-1990s and the one your class sponsored in 2011. I hope some more are done soon.
-- Larry Lysell, Class of 1965
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THE NEW MOVIE about SINGER JAMES BROWN is a stroll down memory lane to the 1950s and 1960s. Titled “Get On Up” and starring the talented modern-day actor Chadwick Boseman in the role of James Brown, the movie discloses many details about the man who became known as the “Godfather of Soul.” With great skill, actor Boseman captures the moves, the pompadour hairdo, the funk and the swagger to play the abandoned and abused kid who eventually became a musical icon. Growing up in a broken home plagued by domestic violence, Brown’s mother ran away and his father gave Brown to his aunt who ran a prostitution house. When he ended up in jail as a very stiff penalty for stealing an item of clothing, he was drawn to what made him feel good – music. Thanks to a brawl that broke out when a gospel group performed at the jail, James Brown met musician Bobby Byrd and the two quickly started a friendship that changed Brown’s life.
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OUR CLASS COMMITTEE consists of several classmates who volunteer their time, at one point or another, regarding issues pertinent to our class. Our Class Committee members are: Gillie Walker; Bruce McAlexander; Marcia Hagans Allin; Meg Hulsey Mailo; Ron Petty; Donnie Collier Martinez; Paul Snell; Mike Adragna; Bruce Brian; Linda Nolin Weber; Ken Loveless; Roy Manuszak; Mary Ellen Brada Manuszak; Jerry Moyers; Barbara Billingsley Massarano; Warren Knight. Other classmates are welcome to be part of the Class Committee.
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WE ARE VOLUNTEERS. Please do not ever take it personally if you do not hear from the Class Committee or the Website Committee right away. As volunteers, we have only so much time within which to do our volunteer work as well as tend to other aspects of our personal lives.
Delays in my replies, in particular, are due to me not being awake very much anymore as sleeping long hours is the only time period during which there is total relief from my neurological illness for which there is no cure. It is now ten (yes, 10) 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