ROLL CALL:

YAY! Another superb production, Bill…Thank you!
I’m damn glad to be among the Survivors of ’58…One Day At A Time; each one a jeweled gift.
Blessed Be, all of us…Warren Warren Whittier (October 5, 2024)

---

---

---

I have so enjoyed the Beachgeezer!  So many thanks to Bill Swank.  His Beachgeezer has put me in touch with two friends, Carol Smith Hayden who lives near by and Bill Dague who also lives in Lantern Crest.  They both have joined me at one of Lantern Crest’s Happy Hours where my daughters entertained with 4th of July fun!     Hopefully after a couple fun knee and hip replacements surgeries I hope to join my entertaining daughters and their husbands on a guided tour  around the Mediterranean countries this summer.?  Carol, Bill and I are planning on coming to the November Breakfast.  That will be fun as it’s been way too long?   Janet McDonald Walz (October 5, 2024)

---

  Such a simple joy to hit a button and become a beechgeezer. More so right now because here in Australia it’s the beginning of our long hot summer.  Today is the first day of light savings.  I am telling you this in full daylight though it is 5.40 pm, eastern standard time.  Rock on you Padres. Cheers, ronistar49@yahoo.com *

Roni Parry Star (October 5 2024)

---

So sorry to hear of the passing of Mr. Crosby: he was my favorite. I’ll never forget how he’d take one week a year, not to teach biology or chemistry, but to teach the cheerleaders football so they wouldn’t do the “get that ball” cheer when we had the ball. 

We are just about to finish our Driving Miss Daisy run here in Sedona. Here are some live action shots from the last two shows. Be well, friend.

Joan Morris Westmoreland (October 6, 20

Yes I can read this, but the  link you sent, tried to access that, and it required a password.  Maybe that’s not the link I need to access?  Duh.Great picture of all the classmates.  Bill and his ears.  You gotta love it right Love to you and Jeri. Pati Pati (Rice) Ricearoni (October 6, 2024)

One time Phil cherlin phoned me.  Our voices had not changed over the years.  It was fun. My number is 0448359916.  It works overseas.  Do phone me in our daylight hours.
Ronistar49@yahoo.com * Roni Parry Star (October 6, 2024)

October 2024 Beachgeezer is a winner Roni Parry Star (October 9 2024)

Email to Roni Parry: “What’s the deal on the photo of the kangaroo?”

It’s just one beautiful moment , Bill.  I like that it sat with the kicks.  It’s school holidays here and the camping area is full.  Some 20 roos persist in camping there as well. You can use the photo in our much appreciated beechzeezer if you want (first email response)

The roo is sitting with kicks near the boat ramp. (second email response)

Kiaks (third email response)

From where this photo is taken the whales breach as they pass on their southern migration (fourth email response)

Woody head camping area . (fifth email response)

Jim and igo there every arvo.  We count the kangaroos there.  My irish nephew  James wants to study them for his pH d.  James is now in grade 3 primary school !* (sixith email response)

These are the kangaroos at woody head camping area.   There are a out 20 of them.  Jim and I drive through the rainforest here every day to count them.  My irish nephew James wants to study them for his phd.  James is now in grade 3 primary school. (seventh email response) Roni Parry Star (October 10, 2024)

Today’s drive around the village saw the trawlers getting ready to fish the deeps.  Fishermen were cleaning those already caught.  The pelicans hovered around waiting for the frames. (Email #1)

Birds are nesting everywhere.  We may ve recovering g from our terrible flood. (Email #2)

Folks in hydrotherapy were remembering your people and the wild storms you are having.(Email #3)

Some ate having sphagnum bowl for dinner tonight. (Email #4)

Spaghetti Email #5) Roni Parry Star (October 13, 2024)

---

image only ??? Roni Parry Star (October 14, 2024)

Here is my friend Ang.  She is a girl surfing.  She is our age and surfed as a teenager.  She relates how badly they were treated by the boy surfing.  For instance they were only allowed to surf if the conditions were bad.  When they both won a surf comp, the boys winning check was twice that of the girls.

     The girl finally levelled the playing field by going to the surf beach on an excellent surf day.  Then, not going in but sitting shoulder to shoulder on the sand. (first email

     Today both genders share the waves and the prize money equally.

See More from Roni Star

This may or may not become a beechgeezer yet it has a certain Aussie twang about it. (secondt email)

Here is a photo of where I am sitting on this beautiful spring day.  Seeing whale splashes on the horizon.

    Here is an amazing story by my friend with Parkinsons.  His name is Wayne.  As a young man he was on his surf board out in the kelp beds of LaJolla.

Suddenly the kelp moved and he became alert to possible danger below.  However, up rose the head of a whale,  its  thin head parked next to Wayne and his board.  It’s eye was the size of a dinner plate.  It looked directly into Wayne’s eye.  Wayne saw no iris or eye lid.  Just one huge pupil starred at him.  He said it was just taking him in.  He saw total intelligence in it.  Eventually the whale submerged back into the kelp. (third email)

The same surfing girl went on a trip to Ayers Rock in the middle od Australia.  They drove there in one week, staid in Alice Springs one week then drove back in one week.
   I asked her what the sunset on Ayers Rock, Uluru, looked like. (fourth email)

She said a line of cars parked in a row and watched the sun set. (fifth email)

Rather glib, I say* (sixth email) Roni Parry Star (October 23, 2024)

Dear editor, My friend Wayne has parkinsons.  I visit him weekly. He has asked me to help him write his memoirs. I will bring paper, pen and a bag so that anyone can sit with him and write,  including myself. The challenge is to find a thread among his hallucinations.   We did ok with his amazing meeting eye to eye with the whale. I’ll keep you posted. Cheers, ronistar49@yahoo.com Roni Parry Star (October 24, 2024)

A visit with surfie Wayne 

Surfie Watne tells the podiatrist that he is regenerating his toes.

Roni Parry Star (October 29, 2024)

   Dear editor, I have a new mate in the form of Wayne who has severe Parkinsons.  On a good day he can talk the leg off a pot.  This arvo he told me about his hitch hiking adventures from Santa Barbara to San Diego. He had Australia  written on his back pack and was treated in grand ole Yankee style.   Good on us old fellas, at least we can still spin a good yarn.

Ronistar49@yahoo.com. 

Roni Parry Star (October 31, 2024)

After I visited Wayne and wrote his story, I went to the ladies craft group and told them where I had been.  I said that if we all  told our stories,  no one would believe us.!*  We all laughed in agreement.

 Ronistar49@yahoo.com *

Roni Parry Star (October 31, 2024)

     I took my 16 year old to America to discover this new sport called skate boarding. It has come a long way since we nailed our skates on to a wooden crate. Three days before our return to Australia,  cuz Janet drove us up the California coast.  She let us blow bubbles from the car window.  Great fun. We stayed overnight at a back packers which was also a light house.  Sam was the guest speaker there reporting on our wildlife and what students at his high school were doing to reduce the harm plastic rings was doing. I took a long walk on the beach and was amazed to find the San Andrea’s Fault.  It was about an inch wide od very dense but wet mud. Sam skated down a SanFranscisco hill.  We returned with a load of sk8 boards and tee shirts.  And we brought sk8ing to Australia, just as we did with fiber glass surf boards in our time  Cheers, ronistar49@yahoo.com * Roni Parry Star (October 31, 2024)

Hopefully, you didn’t give up on the newsletter and read it to the end…

Australian Aboriginal Elders use the word ‘cheeky’ to describe the behavior of environmental weeds. Cheeky both describes plants that spread quickly and plants that become a nuisance. 

A delicate gardening or aging problem has developed for the newsletter. I do not wish to censor anyone and have always encouraged email, but weeds have invaded The Beachgeezer.

Newsletters are interesting when they contain interesting content. When interesting content dries up and is replaced with weeds, newsletters wither and die…

If this is the result of cognative impairment, it is not my intention to be unkind. But henceforth, email from Down Under will not be included unless it is germane.

Classmate input is essential for this newsletter to continue with any relevance.

Please share your current activities, high school memories or even thoughts spurred just from reading a classmate’s name. Because this brief issue of The Beachgeezer requires filler, I’d like to share the following news bulletin.

The 2024 San Diego Press Club “Excellence in Journalism Awards” were announced last month. The San Diego Union-Tribune won thirteen First Place Awards; I won three of them: (Humor) “The old PCL Padres oozed character. Here’s a look at some of their craziest stories,” (Profile) “San Diego’s Walter McCoy was a living link to Negro Leagues, baseball history,” (Sports) “San Diegan’s 100th birthday brings back memories of Padres hero buried at ballpark site downtown.” 

Not bad for an 84-year-old, self-taught sportswriter, huh?

Back in the 1950s, Larry Littlefield was my hero for being a North Shores Sentinel sportswriter while still in high school. When I was in high school, I wasn’t even qualified to write obituaries for biology lab frogs in the MBHS Beachcomber.

MBHS ALUMNI BREAKFAST (November 2024)

Good turnout at this month’s breakfast. 21 individuals including Chrissy’s cousin, Dave Fisher’s German friends, MBHS Alumni and spouses. Because attendance has dwindled recently, Chrissy asked if we should continue to meet into the new year? The overwhelming response was, “Yes!”

Sandy Jaworski Shortt (’59) brought classic black and white MBHS graduation photos, but I’m unable to upload them. (I am not a computer whiz.) Orpha Higley had a birthday portrait from last month with brother Teddy. Can’t upload it, either. After serious medical problems in the summer, Walt Andersen and Jeri Lynne Swank returned, but unable to upload any of the pics taken today.

A touching moment for me was when Pam and Wayne Lollis both came to greet my wife. Wayne bent over, told Jeri that he loved her and gave her a kiss on the lips. She replied that she loved the big Teddy Bear, too. I remember Bill Rice telling me how much kisses from Wayne’s mother meant to him as a kid.

Wayne and I embraced and cried at Ricearoni’s memorial service in 2007. These were encounters that would have been unexpected in high school, but have come to symbolize the affection we feel for one another as old Buccanneers. We do love oach another.

It was good to see Phil Cherlin’s smiling face for the second month in a row. I asked if he remembered telephoning Roni Parry in Australia. He said she called him and he asked, “What part of Australia?” Bill Dague was at Elijah’s, but where were Janet McDonald Walz and Carole Smith Hanen?

Tim Shortt (San Diego High School, ’58) is editor and publisher of the monthly V8 “FAN”newsletter. The December 2024 issue contains a two-page article about Walter Andersen Nursery, founded by Walter Andersen, Sr., in 1928. Unfortunately, I am unable to include the interesting story in this month’s Beachgeezer. The December 2024 newsletter will begin with “Walter Andersen, Sr.”

October 2024 Volume 2, Issue 10

ROLL CALL:

In addition to thoughts and prayers to you and Jeri, I am conjuring up all the Mojo I can and sending your way! Warming up drums now! Bill Bill Lansville (September 7, 2024)

Adding wind chimes, piccolo and harmonica! Bill Lansville (September 7, 2024)

---

Those were really good articles to read and enjoy.  Thanks! Most of you don’t know that I was not born in the U.S. My family entered through New York state.  We had to have considerable money.  We bought a panel Ford truck and drove Highway 66 from Chicago to Highway 395 and then went south to San Diego.  I attended the old falling down Bayview Terrace Elementary School for fifth grade.  I remember being so scared.  The students didn’t stand to speak and just talked out.  I guess I was afraid someone would get in bad trouble and get hit.  To hear more, please let me know.  Lorraine Cairns Barksdale. Lorraine Cairns Barksdale (September 7, 2024)

---

WOW  –  Thank you Bill.   What an amazing writer you are.  Such interesting stuff.  All the best.  Judi Saville Judi Saville Schmauss (September 7, 2024)

---

I have a great memory of you in Costco.  You were talking to a lady and her small boy as I approached and said HI – you looked at me and said “What is my name”?, Seeing you with your white hair and beard, I said,  “Santa Claus” – and will never forget the look  of amazement on the face of that  little boy.   I bet he has never forgotten it either.? Judi Saville Schmauss (September 7, 2024)

---

Bill, I was so sorry to hear about your wife’s stroke. Like a lot of our classmates turning 84, as I did yesterday, I’ve been thinking a lot about how much time there is left and the quality of it. This is the time when a lot of hazards of old age tend to catch up with us unfortunately. 

I’m doing a fall colors cruise with my daughters in a few weeks, and a Caribbean cruise with one daughter in January. I’ve never been to either place but they’ve been on my bucket list for a while and I realize I’m running out of mobility and the ability to enjoy them without being a burden to my kids. Arthritis is really pulling a full body siege on me so I’m trying to do as much as I can while I can. I think of everybody in our class frequently and I love to hear what people are still doing. Nancy McElvain Servatius (September 7, 2024)

---

Hi, Bill. Don’t know how you continue to send out these MBHS newsletters, but bless you for doing so! Thought you’d get a kick out of these early publicity shots for Driving Miss Daisy. We are hot and heavy into rehearsals, and open here in Sedona October 4th. Break our legs! Blessings to you and all of us who keep on chooglin’

Joan Morris Westmoreland (September 8, 2024)

---

1958 MISSION BAYHIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA TAROGA i eBay Looks pristine (another ’58 Taroga for sale on eBay)
Walt

https://www.ebay.com/itm/400960796544

I recall Alice Kurashige. We to Bay Park Elementary and PB Jr Hi together too I thought she was quite cute. Only Japanese person I knew back then.  We lived only about a block apart in Bay Paril We played violin together at PB Jr High, so she probably knew Frank Zappa too? Alice was a WAY BETTER  VIOLINIST than I was! Somehow how Alice and i spoke on the phone about 20 – 25 years ago. I think she lived in Florida at the time. She was having a bad time with diabetes she did not go into details I do not recall she mentioned military service either.    I always thought she was super nice but lost track after  MBHS. Walt

Walter Andersen (September 8, 2024)

---

A terrific read, Bill.  Thanks. Roni Parry Star (September 8, 2024

Now I see us face to face Roni Parry Star (September 11, 2024)

my own Taroga Roni Parry Star (September 11, 2024)

(Roni Parry Star kept sending this picture) Well, I’ve written the names  25 of us who are now beechgeezers, though I do prefer the terms Bucs for us. Afterall, we kept that sword in the buccaneers mouth and proudly wore our boyfriends letterman jackets.

      I was secretly in love with Bill Rice a roni and lived in heart break hotel to see it on his girl friends shoulders.

     How precious it is to have a real Taroga to hold and read.  I’m still hoping to hear from those who worked on it.

     While we now have all the time in the world, please let us share the stories of our 80 years on the planet.

     I want to write about the teachers who inspired me.

     Just yesterday in the pool a fellow science teacher and I were noting how just one inspiring teacher changes the whole course in a student’s life.  Bud Wemple was one.  He encouraged us to come back after school and do a project for the science fair.  Anne Sargent and I did that.  She won,  but our friendship grew so that when she and her family went to England for a year, they invited me…..and that was just one thread in the weave of the class of 58.  

      More is my request.  You all said I talked too much.  OK, what about hearing from the rest of us.?

     1000 went to MBHS, 90 of us can still celebrate that.

     Nancy mc Elvain, dear cheer leader, please cheer us on !* Roni Parry Star (September 11, 2024)

---

Dear editor, I was a friend of Alice.  She lived in Bay Park.  We went through all five years of high school together. Alice and I joined Civil Air Patrol with Walter Schneider. In the afternoons  while we were tearing around on our bikes, Alice practicesd  her violin.  I admired her for that. She was shy but determined.  When it came to the proms, I arranged her dates for her and my folks drove us to their venues.   The back seat of the car was full of our ball gowns.  I wish I could add that to her story in Wikipedia.  Cheers. Ronistar49@yahoo.com *

Roni Parry Star (September 13, 2024)

---

---

Harry W. Crosby, 1926-2024

IN MEMORIAMHarry Crosby Dear San Diego History Center Members and Friends:It is with extreme sadness that we share the news of the passing of Harry W. Crosby, historian, photographer, documentarian, educator, and champion of the shared history of the Baja Peninsula and San Diego region.Crosby was born in 1926 in Seattle, Washington, and came to La Jolla with his parents in 1935, graduating from La Jolla High School in 1944. He then attended Occidental College.It was Harry’s love of history, discovery, and photography that led to nearly a dozen books on the history and culture of the Californias. His works opened the wonders of the Baja Peninsula to America and the world.The San Diego History Center is honored to have partnered in 2022 with Cinewest Production on the documentary The Journeys of Harry Crosby. Director Isaac Artenstein created an intimate portrait that highlights Crosby’s work along with showcasing the majesty of the region.I’m grateful for the opportunity of directing “The Journeys of Harry Crosby.” His enormous legacy gives us a deep sense of identity as well as love for our region.  – Isaac ArtensteinThe documentary has been broadcast in both the United States and Mexico and can be viewed on line through public television. https://www.pbs.org/video/journeys-of-harry-crosby-sbilxs/We extend our sincere condolences to Harry’s family and friends. His true legacy remains his work, and celebrates his love of our bi-national region. Bill Lawrence  President & CEO

---

Hi Bill….you probably have already heard of this…our science teachers were so special.  I think of you and Jeri every day.  Vonnie Vonnie Varner Martin (September 18, 2024)

---

Here are some precious pics of my high school days

Roni Parry Star (September 22, 2024)

---

---

Here is an interesting story. It might even make the Beechgeezer (sic).

Roni Parry Star (September 23, 2024)

---

---

MBHS MONTHLY BREAKFAST:

Always good see Phil Cherlin’s smiling face. He is preparing to pour syrup on his pancakes while Sheila Mura bites into her bagel at our monthly alumni breakfast held October 5, 2024.

BS, Bill Lansville and Orpha Higley…

BS holds autographed 1950 San Diego Padres baseball given to him by Phil Cherlin that includes the signatures of manager Del Baker, Max West, Jack Graham, Harry “Suitcase” Simpson, Al Smith, Frank Kerr, Al Olsen, Red Embree, Mike Tresh, George Zuverink and other names too faded to read. The ball was given to Phil’s dad by legendary Padres broadcaster Al Schuss. Phil recited Al’s famous home run call for all the classmates at the table: “There it goes…”

Sandy Jaworski Shortt’s husband, Tim, edits The Fan, newsletter of the San Diego Early Ford V8 Club. Bill Mann and Tim are holding the latest issue of The Fan with Tim’s classic V8 Woodie wagon and wife Sandy wearing her Padres cap on the cover. The cover headline reads: “Padres take the game with 3 consecutive Home Runs! And next game, Triple Play!”

The Padres swept Atlanta in the Wild Card Series and face the hated Dodgers in the opening game of tonight’s National League Division Series. Could this possibly be the year the Padres win the World Series? This team always breaks our heart.

September 2024 Volume 2, Issue 9

ROLL CALL:

Hello, everyone, from Sedona, Arizona! I’m so sorry to hear about your wife’s stroke, Bill! I hope the doctors are wrong, and it proves to be temporary. And I know you suffer from severe arthritis; so, I can imagine your lives are turned upside down for sure! Do you have family nearby who can assist you? Blessings on all of us Buccaneers as our minds and bodies enter their golden years. “Old age ain’t for sissies.” Bette Davis Joan Morris Westmoreland (August 3, 2024)

(Thanks, Joan.. Jeri and I really enjoyed watching you perform on stage when you were living in San Diego. You are a very talented actress. Unfortunately, Jeri’s sudden blindness is total and permanent. Family has been great. Bette was right about old age. I quote Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Lemon: “Whoever called them the Golden Years was full of shit!” …and thanks to all for your kind words about my wife’s blindness.)

---

Just read your August Beachgeezer and I think you said your wife had a stroke. So sorry to hear about this.  Hopefully she can regain some of her sight.  

    I just had a knee replacement Friday, July 26. Not a lot of fun but nothing compared to what you’re going through. I was lucky and came home the next day. Now I just have to get off my rear and move and I will be much better. I’ve gotten a bit lazy in my old age, I thought I was going to come to the August breakfast but I’m not moving too fast right now .  I keep saying next month?!?

    Prayers and good thoughts are with you and your wife.

       ~~~Janet McDonald Walz (August 3, 2024)

---

Bill,

Sorry we missed you this morning at our MBHS breakfast.  The turnout was small but active.

Frank Bion Gordon (August 3, 2024)

---

Hiya, Bill… I strongly suspect the seller of the ’58 Taroga is Donna’s daughter, Laura. Donna an’ I were a pair thru 3 years of MBHS. She married Tony Rossi while I was in the Air Force.

Here’s the link for the ’57 Taroga also listed by the same seller:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/115769585692?itmmeta=01J4D59NZEDTTMD2K85HE7H8PV&hash=item1af467b01c:g:SZAAAOSwvApkNf9w

I’ve messaged them, an’ will report in full subsequently!

Thank You once again, Bill, for all your hard work…It’s not such a dirty job, but I’m sure glad you are the ‘somebody’ that’s picked up the slack.

Very sorry to hear of your Lady’s tragic loss…Blessed Be!  wlw Warren Whittier (August 3, 2024)

Well, it may be Donna’s, but the seller isn’t Laura (her daughter).

The fellow says he buys storage locker clean outs & etc., an’ isn’t part of their family. Damn!

I can’t put my hands on my copy of the ’58, so maybe I’ll pick up Donna’s…just because, y’know?  wlw Warren Whittier (August 4, 2024)

---

Roni Parry Star bought the ’58 Taroga (details below)

---

Missing the Geezer Breakfast is not fun.  See you in September, if not sooner.
I think your idea to pry out old prettified brains is good, if we don’t volunteer the info, pry it out.  
Walt.  Walter Andersen (August 3, 2024)

---

Johnny Mathis was my absolute favorite singer in the ’50s. I just loved everything he was singing. Well in early 2023 my daughters arranged a visit to Palm Springs where Johnny Mathis was going to perform. 2 days before we were going to go I fell and really injured my left knee, so I ended up in the hospital for a couple of days and there was no way I could go. That’s one of my biggest regrets. Nancy McElvain Servatius (August 3, 2024)

At breakfast is morning, my daughter and I were talking about our upcoming cruise to see the fall colors on the East Coast in the US and Canada. We only have six weeks to go until our cruise, so will I make it? Without falling? Nancy McElvain Servatius (August 4, 2024)

---

What a very healthy and handsome lot we are!* Roni Parry Star (August 3, 2024)

---

Whoops. I go to an exercise class on Saturday mornings for my arthritis. I totally forgot it was the first Saturday of the month. Dammit. I really like going to those breakfasts and won’t be able to go again for a month. I really liked the story about the Japanese boy.s. It was really good and warmed my heart. Sandy Jaworski Shortt (August 4, 2024)

Sandy at San Diego State College

---

Remember our class mate Alice Kurashagi.  She and her family were held in detention during that war.

(Alice K. Kurashige was the first Japanese-American woman to be commissioned in the US Marine Corps,^[1] reaching the rank of captain. She served between 1965^[2] and 1970. – Wikipedia)

(I wrote an article about Samuel Coolidge Yamaguchi which, for unknown reasons, wouldn’t transfer to August newsletter. I was able to successfully include it at the end of this Beachgeezer. It is quite a story about a Japanese American kid who grew up in Pacific Beach during the 1930s.)

I wonder which of us will buy it (the 1958 Taroga)? I would but the postage is too high. Do let us know.  It’s a rare treasure. Where are those who worked on it .? Roni Parry Star (August 4, 2024)

---

The 1958 film version of “South Pacific” starring Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi recently appeared on Turner Classic Movies. Sorry girls, but “South Pacific” really was as corny as Kansas in August. Over 65 years ago, I took a girl I wanted to impress to see it. Afterwards, she told me that I wasn’t “romantic.” At the time, I thought she was faulting my Don Juan moves which had yet to be fully mastered.

Now, I realize she was probably just commenting on my criticism about the movie’s dialog. When a boy took a girl to the movies when we were young, both were subjected to unrealistic expectations about love, relationships and happily ever after…

Today, I watched “Carousel (1956)” on TCM. Carousel ain’t corny. It ain’t even a real good clambake. Some good songs, but a bad movie with lines that would be unsuitable bytoday’s standards.

Daughter: But is it possible, Mother, for someone to hit you hard like that – real loud and hard, and it not hurt you at all?

Mother: It is possible dear, for someone to hit you, hit you hard, and it not hurt at all. Bill Swank (August 5, 2024)

---

Dear Bill,  I am on holiday for two weeks in a rest home.  Falling over on my 84th birthday hurt my ribs and my pride.  In the next room is Daryll.  He has some weakening condition so he lives here. In our chat, he mentions surf boards, Gordon an Smith and one called Monto. It turns out that he lived in San Diego in the 60s, la Jolla to be precise.  He surfed all the beaches.  Later when he moved to Australia, he used to surf the pocket, right here in Iluka. What a small world it is. Cheers, dear editor. Ronistar49@yahoo.com * Roni Parry Star (August 17, 2024)

---

With just 90 of us left, I thought I couldn’t pass up such a jem.  I note that a 57 annual is still available.  That splendid edition was done mostly by Woody , a clairmont Heights classmate. <ronistar070740@gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, 26 July 2024, 8:22 am Roni Star, <ronistar070740@gmail.com> wrote:

Here is a surf report from Roni star downunder. It was Friday, the trades were out in force looking more like a pod of seals. An unusual north wind blew waves pushed up from the south.  Wind against tide blew waves almost as tall as the sea wall that forms the pocket.  I have never seen such perfect surfing conditions. The 15 or so surfers literally danced on the top of those waves.  It was a real heart warmer for this old surfer girl. More thrilling, I am told the women surf daily at 10 am, same spot. Surf Iluka !* Cheers, ronistar49@yahoo.com * Roni Parry Star (August 21, 2024)

Dear Bill, whilst on my 2 week holiday, I had the pleasure of meeting with an old surfer.  His name is Wayne Galloway.  He surfed Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach and lajolla in 1968.  
     He came to Australia and invented the Monto surf board and eventually owned 142 surf shops. WAYNE now has Parkinsons.  His body is frozen in the shape of a surf boarder.
     I read Cannery Row by John Steinbeck to him, to our mutual reverie.
What an honour. (Roni sent the same photos a second time.) Roni Parry Star (August 26, 2024)

Editor’s note: Cannery Row may have the best opening paragraph to a book ever written! (See below…)

Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries or corrugated iron, honky-tonks, restaurants and whore-houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flop-houses. Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, ‘whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,’ by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peep-hole he might have said: ‘Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men,’ and he would have meant the same thing.

---

Hey Bill, I’m not sure if this is the right way to “check” in but I’ll try.  My 84th is coming up soon and I am still driving, quilting, shopping and traveling.  I just took a 2000 mile road trip by myself to visit a bunch of grandkids I hadn’t seen in a while.  I’ll be in San Diego for a week in September, but I’ll be flying in and out and won’t have a car.  I’ll be at the beach in Carlsbad. I feel great and love reading about what everyone else is doing.  Kathy Carpenter Staley (August 27, 2024)

---

Hi Bill – miss seeing you at Costco.  Love the Beachgeezer and hearing from some of the alumni..  I do still connect  with a lot of the gals – mostly from 1957.  Diane Hernandez (Becker), Kay Thornbrough (Reed), Karen Brindley and Donna Shuffler (Gibson ).  We are all doing a Mother/Daughter trip to Paso Robles in September  — all 10 of us – a little wine tasting.  We also have a Zoom call together every Tuesday.  As for me, I play bad golf 2 or 3 times a week  – have big family dinners. Hope you are doing well.  Love and good health to all. 

Chuck Reed, Judi Saville, Karen Brindley, Kay Reed, Diane Hernandez Photo from 65th Reunion MBHS Class of 1957 at DeAnza Cove (September 9, 2022)

Judi Saville – Zamba – Schmauss (August 28, 2024).  

---

I too miss thus months issue of beechgeezers.  Let us know if you need any help.
Cheers, ronistar49@yahoo.com * Roni Parry Star (September 3, 2024)

---

Monthly MBHS Breakfast (September 7, 2024)

We had a better turnout for the breakfast this month. Another mellow, pleasant get-together with old friends and classmates. (first photo: Sheila, Ann, Orpha, Sandy, Pat (second photo: Tim, Chrissy, Sandy (third photo) Bill and Bill

Keys to Happiness Found at Key Club Kaper

The headlines of the January 20, 1958 MBHS Beachcomber were “Keys to Happiness Found at Key Club Kaper.” The Kaper was scheduled for January 31, 1958 in the high school gym. “The Hi-Lites – the same band that played for the San Diego R.O.T.C. Ball – will help make this one of the finest dances of the year. Door prizes will be given at this year’s Key Club semi-formal dance, there will be beautiful bids given to each couple in remembrance of this occasion.”

The question for classmates this month is what is a “bid?”

---

Named after Uncle Sam and Calvin Coolidge, this San Diegan was a Japanese American war hero, baseball standout

By BILL SWANK

UPDATED: July 14, 2024 at 1:33 p.m.

Samuel Coolidge Yamaguchi was born Aug. 11, 1923.

The San Diego Union reported he was the first child to be named after Calvin Coolidge, who had ascended to the United States presidency nine days earlier after Warren G. Harding died of a heart attack.

Yamaguchi’s first name, Samuel, also had patriotic overtones.

The Yamaguchis, truck farmers in Pacific Beach and Bay Park, were proud Americans; why not name their child after Uncle Sam?

Though slight of build, Samuel Yamaguchi loved sports and was proud of the letterman’s sweater he earned at La Jolla High School.

When asked if he experienced prejudice, he said: “Life in San Diego’s pretty good. I grew up hanging around with American kids. We were having a good time. Going to the beach, you know, and playing ball.”

Yamaguchi played for the Pacific Beach American Legion baseball team. On July 16, 1938, he participated in an unusual game in which both pitchers threw no-hitters. PB won the game 2-1. Ned Haskell got the win; future major league pitcher Duane Pillette took the loss. Later that summer, Pillette and San Diego Post 6 would win the National American Legion Baseball World Championship.

“They were bigger, older, stronger, better, but they couldn’t hit Ned,” Yamaguchi said. “Of course, we couldn’t hit their pitcher, either. Errors decided the game. We didn’t know how big it (the win) was at the time.”

Yamaguchi was supposed to graduate from La Jolla in 1942 but was instead sent to the Poston War Relocation Center, a Japanese American internment camp on the California-Arizona border.

A year later, the 19-year-old Yamaguchi joined the military. He was assigned to Company F, 2nd Platoon, 2nd Squad and received six months of basic training at Camp Shelby in Louisiana. His outfit shipped out of Newport News, Va., and landed in Oran, Algeria. They were quickly transported to Anzio, Italy, and immediately sent to defend a hill.

Their colonel was blunt.

“We’re going to battle tomorrow and a lot of you boys are going to get killed,” he said.

Yamaguchi became separated from his platoon. As he ran to join them, “I was hit by a shell and I blew up,” he said. “I went up maybe about 10 feet in the air. My gun went flying that way. My helmet flying away. I just laid there stunned. That was my first day in battle.”

A week later, his outfit was sent to Hill 140 known as “Little Cassino,” site of a major battle during the Anzio campaign. They were told, “We had to take this hill at all costs. I don’t know how I came out alive. I got wounded and my sergeant dragged me out. I was hit in the lungs and the back. We lost a lot of good men there.”

During the next three months of hospitalization, Yamaguchi was prematurely sent back to his unit three times. Every time, Yamaguchi had to be returned to the hospital because he was still recuperating from his injuries and was too weak to fight. The second time, he had pneumonia and a 106-degree temperature. The final time, a captain ordered him back into combat for a minor transgression.

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team is the most decorated unit in the history of the U.S. military. Of the 18,000 men in the regiment, 4,000 received Purple Hearts, 4,000 were awarded Bronze Stars and 560 were awarded Silver Stars. The president bestowed 21 medals of honor on members of the 442nd; seven received Presidential Unit Citations.

After the war, Yamaguchi loved to attend 442nd and La Jolla High School reunions. “I have a friend who was a movie star. His name is Cliff Robertson. He knew I was 442nd and said, ‘You guys were the best fighting men over there,’” Yamaguchi said.

“I still have nightmares, but I’ve had a good life.”

Yamaguchi died in 2009.

Originally Published: July 13, 2024 at 12:00 p.m.

---

August 2024                                                                                              Volume 2, Issue 8

NEW FORMAT:

The good news is that 92 classmates read the July Beachgeezer…

Although the new format is easier to read, it has only elicited short responses. The newsletter is more interesting when classmates actively participate with the same enthusiasm reactions shared earlier this year. To encourage reaction, here are some simple questions to consider:

What is your best, worst, most embarrassing memory from high school?

What is your best, worst, most embarrassing moment since turning 84?

What is the best song from the 1950’s? The worst song? The song that made the biggest impact on you?

Do you have an old friend you’d like to contact?

Who had the coolest car at MBHS? The best flat top? The best hairdo?

What did you think of the Chemise (“sack dress”) and other fashions from the 1950’s?

Please send your comments by email to wgswank@gmail.com

ROLL CALL:

My computer can’t open it. Sandy Jaworski Shortt (July 7, 2024)

---

Well I called the local computer genius and just like that I was able to open the beachgeezer!!  By the way the genius told me to shut off my computer and then turn it back on and ZIPPO it works.  I don’t know what I’d do without him.  By the way that is my husband…. On and off works a lot of the time.  Amazing. Miss Jaworski Sandy Jaworski Shortt (July 7, 2024)

---

As always, Bill…Hero’s Work, an’ very well done. Thank you for the effort, an’ the spectacular results! Warren Whittier (July 7, 2024)

---

Thanks for sending the Beach geezer how often do you have new info? Is there any old stuff to pull up? Hope your 84th was fun. My 85th was, in March as well as my husband’s 90th. Susan McDonald Knox (July 7, 2024)

---

Thanks Bill! As usual, reading the Beach Geezer was a pleasure. Ron Shipley (Sackrider) (July 7, 2024)

---

Greatful for your return. To the desk, Bill.  I hope you are both well now and bring on the birthdays. Roni Parry Star (July 8, 2024)

---

Hi Bill.  Just a short note as you are busier than I am.  I enjoyed the article you sent, but I am confused.  In the intro, the writer wrote his wife showed him something on her cell phone.  I was hoping it was you and Jeri and she has her sight.  But later on it seems the article was written by someone else.  Next question, do you drive?  I still have the newspaper article for you and if you don’t drive, there is no way you are coming to get it so I would take it to you on one of my better days.  So, please let me know if Jeri has her sight and if you need me to bring the article.  In the meantime, be safe.  Your Pal, WMS Margaret Ryan Smith (July 9, 2024)

(EDITOR’S NOTE) My wife suffered a stroke on June 19, 2024 and is permanently blind in both eyes. We are told this is a very rare condition. Hopefully, she may regain enough vision to see fuzzy images in the future. Needless to say, our world is turned upside down.)

---

Dear editor,

    There I was, at the bowling club all dolled up for my 84th birthday.  The Nimbin bowlers joined the ilukans for a day of grey hair fun. The winning bowl had just left my sins hand when suddenly I looked up and saw only the underside of a table. It’s true, dear beechgeegers and geezettes.  Roni star reached out for a hug and rolled over, aka fell, kaboom onto the floor.  Total embarrassment, full rescue operations took place and this dugong of a woman was hauled up from the deeps and plunged back into her chair Aside from my shattered ego, I managed to break ribs.  So much so that I am now at the foot of the cross and blessed to be able to share my very odd 83th with you. Cheers, ronistar49@yahoo.com * Roni Parry Star (July 10, 2024)

---

Hi Bill.  You didn’t tell me there were any articles by you in the paper.  I was just scanning the sports section and I saw one article and then I saw the other one.  Why is the paper doing so much on the Japanese players now?  Is it something about the time of the year? Margaret Ryan Smith (July 14, 2024)

(EDITOR’S NOTE) I wrote two articles for the San Diego Union-Tribune about interned Japanese American baseball players during WWII. The articles are near the end of this newsletter for those with an interest in the subject.)

---

Thank you Bill, another good one! I hope Jeri is doing OK    Terrible shock for ALL of us, especially the Breakfast Geezers.  Tell her we all love her! Hope you are well, Walt  Walter Andersen (July 15, 2024

---

Dear Beechgeezers and Beechgeezettes,  I described to (husband) Jim in detail how every day for 5 years, we had P.E every morning.  Our gym clothes were clean, even the tennis shoes.  Collars were inspected as we stood in straight lines.  We played as were told and supervised.  Sweat was removed in a daily shower. All this was done in one hour before starting our first period.  I remember some 6 periods of different classes a day. No wonder we are the rare survivors * Roni Parry Star (July 17, 2024)

---

Here is a surf report from Roni star downunder.  It was Friday, the trades were out in force looking more like a pod of seals. An unusual north wind blew waves pushed up from the south.  Wind against tide blew waves almost as tall as the sea wall that forms the pocket.  I have never seen such perfect surfing conditions. The 15 or so surfers literally danced on the top of those waves.  It was a real heart warmer for this old surfer girl. More thrilling, I am told the women surf daily at 10 am, same spot. Surf Iluka !* Cheers, ronistar49@yahoo.com Roni Parry Star (July 25, 2024)

---

1958 Taroga on eBay

For anyone without their senior yearbook, there is a 1958 Taroga for sale on eBay that belonged to our classmate, Donna Morton. The asking price is $55.00. This is the link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/115749552444

---

August MBHS 1950’s Alumni Breakfast

Only ten people attended today’s breakfast… I was late, because I didn’t wake up until 9:19 AM! Photos below are the remaining classmates when I arrived. (top) Pam and Wayne Lollis (middle) Pat Mann and Chrissy Wagner (bottom) BS and Bill Mann. Good, caring friends.

---

The following article appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune on July 14, 2024:

---

Baseball bonded 3 Japanese Americans from San Diego during, after World War II

By BILL SWANK

UPDATED: July 14, 2024 at 1:32 p.m.

In 1910, a Japanese American baseball team from Los Angeles was scheduled to play against the California Winter League champion San Diego Bears.

Fans in attendance at Logan Heights’ Athletic Park could watch exhibitions in jujitsu and kendo — and check out a couple of baseball ringers. The Los Angeles team, made up of first-generation Japanese immigrants, planned to bring Angels catcher Jess Orndorff and White Sox pitcher James “Death Valley Jim” Scott south from Los Angeles.

Rain in the forecast apparently convinced the L.A. team not to make the trip. The game was rescheduled for a week later.

This time, Orndorff and some of the Japanese American players missed the first train to San Diego. Amateurs were recruited from the stands and the Bears “made the game one long joke,” according to a report.

When Orndorff finally arrived in the late afternoon, “Death Valley Jim” took the mound. The White Sox hurler was dominating, but the game was called because of darkness after only four innings.

San Diego won 1-0 and Bears manager Will Palmer wisely decided never to play the Los Angeles team again. They proved to be stiff competition.

San Diego teams played Japanese and Japanese American teams for decades. In 1931, San Diego beat the Los Angeles Nippons 11-0. In 1935, Texas Liquor blasted the mighty Tokyo Giants 13-3. A few days later, the touring Japanese professionals returned to San Diego and beat the local Whippets 4-1.

It wasn’t just the visiting teams. San Diego was home to a number of great Japanese American baseball players during the 1930s and ’40s.

In 1936, Hideo Higashi won the Linn Platner Perpetual Baseball Trophy at San Diego State. His .406 batting average set a new standard for Aztec hitters.

Akira Takeshita was “Aki” to family and friends, but on San Diego baseball diamonds, he was a fireballing right-hander known as “Jumbo.”

And then there were the three baseball-loving men who grew up in San Diego and played together at the Poston War Relocation Center, a Japanese American internment camp located along the California-Arizona border, before returning to the city they loved.

Here are their stories:

Richard “Babe” Karasawa

Richard Karasawa was born in 1928, the year after Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs. His older brothers were serious baseball fans; they told Richard that when people asked him his name, he should say, “Babe.”

Young “Babe” often attended Padres games at Lane Field.

“I never met a kid who saw as many games as I did,” Karasawa said. “I even saw Ted Williams after he graduated from Hoover High School and then headed to Boston.”

Karasawa and his family were among the 18,000 people interned at Poston during World War II. The camp opened June 2, 1942, following President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, which forced Japanese Americans on the West Coast into “relocation centers” located in remote outposts.

In October 1944, Karasawa left Poston to attend Todd School for Boys in Woodstock, Ill. His fondest baseball memory was beating the prestigious Culver Military Academy.

“Todd had only 40 to 50 students and Culver about 2,000,” he said. “I batted leadoff, got 3-for-4 and scored three runs. One of their players was the son of Bill Terry, the manager of the New York Giants at the time.”

Karasawa served in the Army and then attended Caltech, where he was named co-MVP of the college’s baseball team in 1950. He graduated in 1952 with a degree in civil engineering.

“Baseball was my best sport,” he said, “and I was all-conference each year and ended up as captain.”

Karasawa died in 2020.

Paul “Po” Kaneyuki

Paul Kaneyuki played with Karasawa at Poston. Poston closed in 1945, and Kaneyuki’s family moved into Frontier Housing located in San Diego’s Midway District.

Kaneyuki attended Point Loma High School alongside Don Larsen, his longtime neighbor, friend and American Legion teammate.

An Indiana transplant, Larsen was naturally drawn to basketball, not baseball. He would go on to pitch the only perfect game in World Series history as a member of the New York Yankees.

In 1947, Larsen was selected to the All-Metropolitan League basketball team. Kaneyuki was named the Metro League Baseball Player of the Year.

That year, with Kaneyuki in the lineup, Point Loma won the Pomona 20-30 Baseball Tournament.

The honors didn’t stop there. Among first-team players on the 1947 Southern California Interscholastic Federation (SCIF) baseball team were future PCL Padres third baseman Rudy Regalado and future Padres Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams.

The only San Diego high school players to make the second team were Ray Mendoza and Jerry Dahms from San Diego High School — and Kaneyuki from Point Loma. Kaneyuki went on to play football and baseball at San Diego City College.

Larsen returned to San Diego in March 2011 to participate in a fundraiser for the Point Loma High School baseball team. Kaneyuki and Masaharu “Fatty” Tsuida attended the event.

The fundraiser was a great success, and Larsen was thrilled to see his old friends. One of the most popular items sold was a 1946 American Legion baseball team photo autographed by Larsen and Kaneyuki.

Afterward, Larsen confided that he was always more comfortable with the “Frontier Kids.”

Kaneyuki died in 2023.keo “Tak” Sugimoto’s 1945 San Dieguito High School yearbook photo.

Takeo “Tak” Sugimoto

Takeo Sugimoto was born in 1927 and grew up in Encinitas. After Pearl Harbor, he and his family were interned at Poston.

”In the camps,” he said, “all I did was play baseball.”

At age 15, Sugimoto played for the Camp I men’s team against the powerful Camp III men.

“Jumbo Takeshita was their star pitcher,” he said. “I kind of shocked him when I went 3-for-3 and drove in a run.”

As a young boy, Sugimoto wanted nothing more than to play baseball for San Dieguito High School.

Josephine Yoch, a Spanish teacher at San Dieguito, occasionally visited those interned at Poston. Yoch quickly learned Sugimoto’s love for baseball. She asked Arthur Main, the principal of Poston’s school system — and, coincidentally, the former principal at San Dieguito — if the boy could return home.

With Main’s blessing, Yoch asked if any San Dieguito teachers would allow Sugimoto to live with them during his senior year. A biology teacher offered his home.

In September 1944, the student body voted that Sugimoto could return to school. He earned his baseball letter and received a standing ovation at graduation.

“It was exhilarating,” he said. “It was a dream come true. My happiness came when I was on campus when I could be with my friends.”

Sugimoto planned to enter UCLA in the fall, but, like most high school seniors in 1945, received a draft notice following graduation. In the meantime, he entered Chaffey Junior College.

“There were only two civilians on the baseball team, me and a Caucasian kid,” he said. “Everyone else was a returning veteran. A lot of those guys fought in the Pacific and I didn’t know how they would treat me. Know what? They took real good care of me. They stood up for me when comments were made by opposing teams. I had a great year and even made all-league.”

Sugimoto died in 2019 at age 91.

---

---

July 2024                                                                                              Volume 2, Issue 7

(My wife showed me the newsletter on her cellphone and it looks great. That’s what my stepson was trying to achieve. I’m an old fart who doesn’t have a cellphone, so I didn’t understand the problem. 

At least initially, it appears the new “wordpress” format does not elicit lengthy responses… and lengthy responses make the newsletter more interesting. 

I now have the ability to see how many people have viewed the newsletter. 75 people have viewed the June Beachgeezer which is encouraging.

---

ROLL CALL

Hi, Bill…
Lookin’ at that Ford Woodie, I couldn’t help thinking: How very far we’ve come.
It’s humbling, ain’t it?
Warren Whittier (June 1, 2024)

---

Bill, as they say on Maui, Mahalo.

Sorry I missed todays breakfast but we are at our other home on Maui at the Whaler.  See you next month.

Frank Bion Gordon (June 1, 2024)

---

 I read the newsletter and don’t remember having a problem.  And, I never claimed to be computer literate.

Margaret Ryan Smith (June 1, 2024)

ONCE AGAIN, GREAT JOB, BILL!!!

---

ONCE AGAIN, GREAT JOB, BILL!!!

Carole Smith Hanen (June 1, 2024)

---

worked out great
Chrissy Wagner, Class of 1959 (June 1, 2024)

---

Very cool!
Roni Parry Star (June 1, 2024)

---

Thank you.
Carol Green (June 2, 2024)

It came in just fine.  I hope you are getting revenue from the advertising LOL

YOU mentioned something about temporary ?   I’ve not read it yet so I can’t be critical or praise your work.  

 I (we) woke up to a gloomy day, but it is June and expected.   Just thankful we don’t live in the Midwest or Southern states, seems they had more than their share of really shity  weather this spring.   I literally thank every day that my father packed up his Model T Ford in 1922 and drove it to San Diego with a good friend.  Only took them about 10 days, roads were mostly dirt and rocks, but they made it. In time his whole family moved here, 8 brothers and sisters and his folks too!   Thanks Dad! 

Nice visiting with you at breakfast yesterday, wow smallest group that that I can recall. OK, on to reading the Beachgeezer. Talk to you later Walt

I think you better slow down and shorten the “GEEZER” you will run out of something to say   Or is that even possible, Swank short on words?  Cool that the ‘stranger’ wanted to be shot with the Shortt Stationwagon.  Did you get an address to send a copy?   Ya never know what will happen
Walt

\Walter Andersen (June 2, 2024)

---

Hi Bill,

Choose the format that you like best.  It is up to you. I ate in the cafeteria everyday for years.  Never heard the words FOOD FIGHT!  No I was not absent or asleep. Take care,

Lorraine Cairns Barksdale, Huntungton Beach (June 2, 2024)

---

Billy
Thanks for sharing. My initial comment is that the alumni of MBHS seem to like the format. I see lots of feed back.
Couldn’t help but notice “the story” about the guy that wanted to hit on Sharon. FUNNY!
And then the picture. I looked at the pictures before I read any of the article surrounding them. For some reason I did think it was me. Not a chance I thought. I knew of only one, perhaps two, reunions. Couldn’t be me. But there it was “Andy Cribbs”. Totally suprised. How do you come up with these things Billy?
Hope you are feeling better so we can chat this Friday at the CPS.
GBU. Andy

Andy Cribbs (June 2, 2024) 

---

Dear editor, 
           These old rummy eyes tried their best with the new format.
     And found it all too verbose.  I liked it better when it was just us clairmont kids riding our bikes and building forts in the chapparel.

Roni Parry Star (June 3, 2024)

---

Dear editor, 
     I notice your office door is open so I want to share another scoop with you.
     Skinny and bootless though I was, I seem to have been attractive to musos.  Further to by infatuation with Frank Zappa, I fell deeply in love with Brian Cole of the Association.  Marriage was on the horizon.  However, that scholarship to Australia was too good to miss.  I sailed out of his life.  He wrote the song Cherish about out love.  I did think about returning and am thankful that I didn’t because Brian soon died of a heroin overdose in a Hollywood hotel.
   His music is still on u tube and I keep his love letter in my bible.
   A loving memory.
Ronistar49@yahoo.com 

Roni Parry Star (June 3, 2024) 

---

Good morning, Bill.  Great work on the Beachgeezer! Six hours! You are one determined man. I read it last night until I finished watching  the Zappa music on you tube.  The Johhny Carson show came on and I couldn’t stop watching it.  So, I finished it all first thing this morning. Enjoyed every minute.  I have absolutely no opinion on which format is better.  All I ask is that you just don’t stop doing what you are doing.  You can see that you are bringing a lot of happiness to a lot of people.

I have brought two people “back to life.” One, a friend of mine passed away and  Social Security just assumed it was the mother.  I guess since she was the elder of the two that lived at the same address.  Then a couple years later, the wife of one of my  clients  passed away and Social Security said it was him not her.  So for a month or so, I was talking with a ghost. He was not a happy one.  But it all worked out.  Looking forward to next month at Elijah’s. Take care.

Sheila Mura (June 3, 2024)

---

This was great and obviously I got it.  Thanks mucho. (Sandy and Tim shown with their Ford woodie wagon below)

Sandy Jaworski Shortt, Class of 1959 (June 4, 2024)

---

Happy 98th Birthday, Harry Crosby!

While entering the Costco Food Court, a man said, “He’s 98 years old today.” I didn’t recognize him or the man he was talking about, but figured anyone who was celebrating their 98th birthday deserved congratulations. Then the man said, “He’s one of your students.” The birthday boy was Harry Crosby.

I’d run into them in the past and the caretaker remembered me. I told Mr. Crosby that we should go searching for more cave paintings in Baja. He laughed and patted me on the back. Sadly, he is severly hunched over his walker and, mentally, has lost a little something off his fastball. I greatly respected.Mr.Crosby. After teaching, he became an expert on Baja California and authored several acclaimed books, paticularly those focused on primative cave painings. (June 10, 2024)

Just a fun note to say that my Deb and Julie are coming to decorate for the 4th of July at Lantern Crest. They would usually come by Memorial Day but we were all out and about.  Carol Smith Hanen is going to join us for Happy Hour and dinner.  Have tried to contact Bill Dague but so far he must be out having fun hopefully.  Will send pictures of Carol and  I and, of course, my sister, Jean and daughters, Deb snd Julie.  Can’t wait to see what costumes they will entertain us with.  I can be a bit over the top with my daughters but will send them anyway.  Was hoping for a mini class reunion…will call Bill again in the morning and hopefully he will join us.  (contact was made with Bill)

     Your old classmate, Janet Janet McDonald Walz (June 11, 2024)

Our Happy Hour was a success .  Deb and Julie handed out mini windmills and candy.  Into the Happy Hour Deb brought Bill Dague over to Carol and I.  We had a nice time visiting. Carol even knew one of Bill’s good friends that graduated  a year before us.   So thank you.  I cannot come to the July breakfast because my Granddaughter  is getting married that day but will hopefully come to the August breakfast with Carol and Bill! 

            Your friend, Janet  Janet McDonald Walz (June 12, 2024)

---

My sister Janet gave me your email address.  I’d love to receive your Beach Geezers journal she told me about.  

I graduated in 1957 just one year ahead of you and Janet.  I went to San Diego State but went to full time work as a secretary at B of A and then at Stromberg Carlson where I met my husband, who was a young electric engineer.  That’s where Janet met her husband too.  We’ll celebrate our 65th anniversary in November. We had three kids during the next 2 1/2 years and then had one more 7 years later.  We lived in Allied Gardens; then had a home built in La Mesa which we lived at until his job took us to Colorado for 30 years.  We just returned July of 2019 and are still trying to adjust to being here.  Our life was active with being in an Elks lodge, dancing, playing pickle ball, bike riding, a wonderful church, traveling wits friends in an RV group and dance clubs.  The epidemic really slowed us down.  We live in Lakeside and were lucky to find a decent house that I call my HGTV  house.  It was quite a shock to have such beautiful houses in Lilleton which is in the south and west part of Denver Metro.  We miss all our friends there a great deal still.  Thank God for cell phones etc, to be able to keep in touch.

 I’m sorry I’ve gone on so long but want to hear all you say about all of us crazy 57 & 58 grads.  Janet said Bill Reich keeps in touch and I would love to get in touch with him.  JerrySandlin in our class and he’s in Encinitas.  My friends I hear from a lot are Joan (Gordon) Thornburg, Margaret (Powell) Schroeder and Woody Moorhead who 

Found out his name was Kirtley.  I attended a few of the saturday  deli get togethers and last summer Orpha Higley planned a picnic style day.

My cell is 720-935-8199, landline is 619-486-6157.   Here’s our address.

Richard (Dick) Knox & Susan Knox, 9297 Sombria Road, Lakeside, CA 92040.           Susan McDonald Knox (June 13, 2024) 

---

Fun to read what happened back then and what’s going on now in peoples life’, Thanks Bill, wonderful job. Looking forward to next month’s breakfast. Ken Kruck (June 16, 2024)

---

Thoughts on turning 84 today: This is the fourth time I can legally drink beer! My wife baked my favorite coconut cake, my daughter always makes a big pot of her famous French Onion Soup for my birthday and my granddaughter’s boyfriend brought me a six pack of Dos Equis Ambar Especial. Earlier (following my doctor’s appointment), I met my niece at lunch for a Costco hot dog. Seventy years ago, though money was tight, my mother gave me a baseball glove for my birthday. After she died, I found her W-2 forms. In 1954, we lived on $1,481.14. How did she do it? We never were hungry. I’m lucky to have had a wonderful mother… and, as an old man, I have a wonderful wife, daughter, grandkids.and niece.

As a kid. I was taught to memorize verses from the King James Bible: “And now abideth faith, hope and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity.” Like everything else today, even the Bible gets updated. Now it’s faith, hope and love. I think I like the contemporary version best. Love is the greatest gift…  (June 17, 2024)

---

Bill Swank: San Diego’s Walter McCoy was a living link to Negro Leagues, baseball history 

Walter McCoy, who died in 2015 at age 95, pitched for the Chicago American Giants and against Jackie Robinson

By Bill Swank

June 7, 2024 10:42 AM PT

Editor’s note: Last week, Major League Baseball announced that Negro Leagues statistics from 1920-48 are now part of MLB’s historical record. Local baseball historian Bill Swank tells the story of Walter McCoy, who played three seasons (1945-47) pitching for the Chicago American Giants and lived in San Diego from childhood until his death in 2015.

Obscure and unforgettable would both describe stoic San Diegan Walter McCoy.

Channel 4 held broadcast rights to the Padres when Petco Park opened 20 years ago. I was asked to assemble a group of lesser-known San Diego players with deep roots in the community to talk about playing baseball downtown in their youth. For added hometown flavor, the low-key event was filmed at the venerable Chicken Pie Shop on El Cajon Boulevard.

After the taping, my friend Lenny Arevalo — who had been the Padres’ bullpen catcher from 1969 through 1983 — raved about one panelist. 

“At first I wondered, ‘Where did Swank find this guy? He’s so old and frail… he barely talks,’” he said. “But when he got going, he was great. I learned a lot about San Diego baseball before I was born.”

Arevalo was talking about Walter McCoy, then an 84-year-old former Negro Leagues pitcher and semi-retired building contractor. 

Earlier, while preparing to do research in the newspaper archives of the San Diego Library, I asked McCoy if he remembered when he pitched against the House of David at Lane Field. Without hesitation, he told me a specific week to review in August 1947. At the library, I quickly found the microfilm of McCoy pitching for Satchel Paige’s All-Stars against House of David, the team Paige called “the Jesus Boys.”

Later, while attending a tribute to the Negro Leagues, we visited the African American Museum and Library at Oakland. McCoy wanted to find the box score from the game he pitched against Bob Feller’s All-Stars in Oakland. We went to the microfilm and promptly located the article and box score. In all of my research, I have never had another player direct me straight to requested box scores.

Walter Lorenzo McCoy was born Feb. 20, 1920 in Leavenworth, Kansas. His Seventh-day Adventist family immediately moved to San Diego, where he would fall in love with baseball. As a boy, McCoy recalled, his father allowed him to watch part of a ballgame at Sports Field (the predecessor of Lane Field) for 20 minutes. 

McCoy laughed. “I just remember thinking to myself that I’d like to stay right there for about 20 years,” he said.

Adventists observe the Sabbath from sunset Friday to sunset on Saturday. McCoy deeply respected his father, but the Sabbath became a problem between the two. The elder McCoy expected his children to learn a trade, work hard and follow the good book. The Sabbath was a time for worship and rest — not baseball.

‘Mac,’ Buck and Jackie

I once took McCoy to an event at the San Diego Hall of Champions attended by beloved Negro League baseball ambassador Buck O’Neil. I asked O’Neil what it was like to face McCoy.

The Hall of Famer smiled.

“Look at him,” O’Neil said. “He’s a cigar-store Indian. His expression never changes. You never knew was was coming. ‘Mac’ had a good fastball and he liked to pitch inside.”

The Chicago American Giants and Kansas City Monarchs opened t 1945 Negro American League season in Milwaukee. McCoy tossed a six-hitter as the Giants beat the Monarchs and their rookie shortstop Jackie Robinson, 4-2. A story McCoy never tired of telling was another game when he picked Robinson off third base … twice.

McCoy also remembered a 1945 lunch with Robinson. All the Negro League teams used the same gas station on their way to and from Birmingham, Ala. Sitting alone inside the Chicago bus one afternoon, McCoy heard a high-pitched voice ask why he wasn’t eating outside the restaurant with his team.

Players were served from the back door of the restaurant beside the gas station. McCoy answered back: “I don’t believe in that.”

Robinson mentioned to McCoy he saw a store down the road.

“We can get some crackers and cheese and soda pop,” he said.

McCoy agreed, and together they ate in the shade of a tall tree beside their buses.

McCoy became a legend in San Diego adult baseball circles. Even into his 70s, McCoy was the leading hitter for Jeff Marston’s Mets. I asked what kind of a player his teammate and San Diego City Club founder George Mitrovich was.

Walt slowly drawled, “Oh, you mean ’Thud?’”

Why was he called ‘Thud’? 

“That was the sound of all the names he dropped … and the sound of all the fly balls that dropped around him in the outfield,” McCoy said. 

In 2008, to honor Buck O’Neil, all 30 Major League teams held a special draft of former Negro League players in Orlando, Fla. The Padres selected Walter McCoy. McCoy and the other drafted players symbolically received MLB contracts.

His voice is heard in “We Are The Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball,” a beautifully illustrated book by nationally renowned local artist Kadir Nelson.

Peter Bavasi, former president of the Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians, attended a book signing and spoke with McCoy.

“I learned more about the art of pitching from Walter that evening than in most all of my earlier baseball tutelage,” he recalled. “Walter was very clear about what he thought made for successful pitching: Work fast, change speeds, throw strikes, and pitch inside which today you can’t do unless you want to be suspended for the season.”

A good teammate — and a better man

I will never forget a particularly troubling phone call from McCoy in 2010. 

He was very upset, he told me, because Tony Gwynn was angry at him. That didn’t make any sense. 

I sent email to Gwynn, who responded that he had “nothing but respect for Mr. McCoy.” I visited Walt at his Lemon Grove home, but nothing could change his mind. I suggested we go to San Diego State, where I assumed Gwynn would be conducting practice. It turned out that the Aztecs were preparing for a game against Long Beach State. 

As soon as Gwynn saw us, he flashed his famous smile and said, “Mr. McCoy, it is so good to see you.” He called his players off the field and into the dugout to meet Walter.

The umpire finally interrupted.

“Tony,” he told him, “we’ve got a game to play here.”

McCoy’s son, also named Tony, later explained that his father, now 90, had developed dementia and was talking to the television during Padres games. When Gwynn didn’t respond, he assumed he was mad at him.

In 2015, Tony McCoy called to let me know his father had stopped eating and talking. It was a hot day when I arrived. Walter was curled in a fetal position under a single sheet on his bed. He had almost shrunken away to nothing.

I mentioned my name. No response. I mentioned the name of his good friend and teammate, Johnny Ritchey. Still no response.

When I said, “Chicago American Giants,” he softly whispered, “That’s my team.”

He died shortly after that. Walter McCoy was 95.

My friend’s memory may have failed, but, characteristically, he remained loyal to his team until the end.

Walter McCoy was a good baseball player and an even better man.

Baseball historian Bill Swank is the leading expert on early San Diego baseball, including the Lane Field Era (1936-57). He has authored and co-authored six books on San Diego baseball.

---

More Roni Parry Star Memories

A drive In known as Henry’s down by the pier.  A new idea later taken up by Kentucky fried.

---

The delivery of my new bed. It’s got a remote but no vibrater.  That made the young trades laugh !* Roni Parry Star (June 17, 2024)

---

The drive in movie was another tough thing to do, especially hiding someone in the trunk to get in for free.
    The tough bit was getting them out of the trunk without getting caught..  Roni Parry Star (June 17, 2024)..

---

Dear editor,

In general I thought your recent edition of Beechgeezers would win the approval of Dr. Mary Maul, our school principal.
My copy seems to have found its way to the ISS.  Will you please send me another.
The return to the first editions lay out is easier to read and the photos were all the friends I knew and grew up with.
I reckon we shine up pretty good.
Blessings Be, 
Ronistar49@yahoo.com  Roni Parry Star (June 17, 2024)

---

Here us the front page and index of my science notes taken while a student of Bud Wimple ! Note, i got an A+, first and only time. This teacher is the reason that I am now a scientist. Thank you, Mr. WIMPLE!

And, dear editor, I have the whole spiral pad.  Utterly brilliant science for its day, clearly hand written in pencil.  Far out.

Go bucs !*  Roni Parry Star (June 17, 2024)

---

Dear Editor, may I suggest some inside stories, like the one of me finding Mr. Wemples science notes ?*
  Eg, what is inside Walter Anderson’s Nursery ?*
   Eg, what about that Woody….many of us are still car heads ?*  Roni Parry Star (June 17, 2024)

---

(Editor’s note)

Email sent to The Beachgeezer is not edited or censured… but that could be subject to change in the future.

---

Roni Parry Star (June 18, 2024)

---

Dear editor of Beechgeezer,

      On radio this morning I heard an interview of the oldest woman world champion.  Her name is Phillis O Dell, aged 88. She started surfing when she was 24 in 1955 and she had to push the men off their boards when they tried to stop her surfing. We have an old movie called Puberty Blues about that very thing.  I’ll see if it’s still available on Netflix. Vonnie and I used to sit in the sand, bake in coco nut oil and watch you fellah surf.

     Cheers, ronistar49@yahoo.com * Roni Parry Star (June 20, 2024)

---

Surfing city…. Makes me want to rock n roll. Cheers, ronistar49@yahoo.com Roni Parry Star (June 21, 2024)

See More from Roni Star

ROLL CALL 

Another perfect job o’ work, Bill…Thank You so much! I can’t imagine anyone still able to connect with Mary…but I’ll be ever so grateful to hear from them! The part at the end…that’s the rub. Be easy with yourself, good sir…no regrets. Do not go gentle…Blessed Be, an’ very best wishes for every day; each is an incredible gift.  Warren Whittier (April 6, 2024)

Continue reading “Beachgeezer – May 2024”

In September, when it appeared the pandemic was slowing, I made a six-foot “Social Distance Santa” ruler to use if I was able to wear the red suit this year. For photos, I would hold one end and and the kids and families, safely distanced six feet away, would hold the other.

“December Nights in the Park” is San Diego’s annual holiday celebration. Every year, it draws between 300,000 and 350,000 people to Balboa Park. I have been the volunteer Santa Claus at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion since 2002.

The coronavirus forced cancellation of “December Nights,” but the City of San Diego’s Special Events department decided to carry on over 40 years of tradition with a scaled-down, drive-through version called “Taste of December Nights.” It would last three days from December 4th through 6th.

I was asked to be Santa and wave at the cars as they entered and left the closely regulated parking lot on Inspiration Point. Pedestrian traffic was not allowed. People could not get out of their vehicles. Masks were worn at all times. Mrs. Claus was happy that I sat safely isolated in my chair on a stage surrounded by a white picket fence.

Commemorative “Social Distance Santa” cards with Santa’s Safety List were given to the first 500 cars each day.

I really missed visiting with the kids and families at the Organ Pavilion, but was glad to a provide a responsible message of social distancing, mask wearing and hand washing during the current COVID-19 spike.

I was told over 4,000 cars with an estimated 10,000 occupants drove through “Taste of December Nights.” I believe the organizers were pleased and hope the attendees and vendors were as well.

---

Here’s the card they handed out, front and back:

With the start of a new school year, I reflect on my own early education.

My first day as a first grader at William Tecumseh Sherman Primary School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin remains an indelible memory. It was September 4, 1946. I was unhappy… very unhappy. My mother made me wear a suit coat and tie for this momentous occasion. My brother was in kindergarten, so he didn’t have to get all dressed up like it was Sunday.

Back in the 1940s, kids didn’t know how to read when they entered first grade. My mother was comfortable sending me to school to be educated by real teachers. In those days, first graders could walk five blocks to school in a big city… alone.

(Another thing, almost all of my elementary school teachers had the same first name: Miss.)

Continue reading “What happened to Good Citizenship?”

November/December 2017 California Bountiful magazine 
Interview by Jolaine Collins
Photos by Zeena Gregg

Santas Richard Eckland and Bill Swank collaborate with farmers at the Vista Farmers Market in San Diego County to encourage healthy eating and offer produce samples. Photo: © 2017 Zeena Gregg

As the Boston Red Sox play the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2013 World Series, how many old-timers remember the Abilene Red Sox?

Abilene has had two professional teams: the 1909 Red Sox and the 1910 Reds. Both teams finished third in the old Central Kansas League. The Sox had a 37-30 record in ‘09 and the Reds won 44 and lost 34 in 1910. The star of the team was affable player/manager Affie Wilson who, in death, would become famous beyond his wildest dreams.

1909 was also a good year for the local high school team. AHS was loaded with future pro prospects. The most famous member of the team would become president of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower. As a boy, Ike dreamed of being “a real Major League baseball player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner.”

Continue reading “1909 Abilene High School nine was loaded with talent”

By Bill Swank

Special to Abilene Reflector-Chronicle

Sports : Wednesday, August 28, 2013 7:00:00 AM

How might football coach Jeff Geist respond if someone suggested Cody Whitehair would return to the Cowboys two years after his 2010 graduation from Abilene High School?

Something like this actually happened over 100 years ago.

Dwight Eisenhower graduated from AHS in June 1909. According to Tim Rives, assistant director of the Eisenhower Presidential Library, “Ike returned to Abilene High School in the fall of 1910 to prep for the West Point entrance exam; he took the opportunity to play another season of football. This is the odd part: he reportedly played under the name of Sweeney. Curious and curiouser.”

Continue reading “A MAN AMONG BOYS: Ike played AHS football at age 20”

By Diane Bell
UT San Diego, 03:03p.m. Aug 29, 2013

A baseball mystery surrounding Dwight D. Eisenhower has been the subject of speculation for decades.

Did our nation’s 34th president play pro or semipro ball before entering the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, or didn’t he?

Continue reading “Did Ike play pro before West Point?”

Baseball historian and author Bill Swank shows the team photo of the Junction City Soldiers and points to a player identified as Wilson, clearly not Dwight Eisenhower. (Photo by Ron Preston)

By RON PRESTON

Abilene Reflector-Chronicle

News : Thursday, August 08, 2013 7:00:00 AM

There is no doubt that Dwight Eisenhower liked baseball. There is no doubt that Ike was a good athlete. These are known facts that have been documented by known researchers and expert historians.

Continue reading “Eisenhower baseball controversy is thrown out”

Abilene– Historian Bill Swank will discuss the Eisenhower baseball controversy at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Visitors Center Auditorium on the campus of the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.Swank is a San Diego baseball historian and author of “Baseball in San Diego: From the Plaza to the Padres.”

The controversy centers around the question of whether President Dwight D. Eisenhower played professional baseball before he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

“Ike said he did, but he always refused to give details,” said Tim Rives, deputy director. “Bill has done more research on this topic than any historian I’m aware of. I’m not going to give away his conclusions, but I will say that he has discovered many fascinating details of Ike’s baseball and football days in Abilene.”

– Salina Journal, August 2, 2013

Special Award Most Unique: Bill Swank, Santa’s Beard Trimmings

Collections Other Than Listed (First Place): Bill Swank, Santa’s Beard Trimmings

By Diane Bell
UT San Diego
4:45 P.M.FEB. 4, 2013

Bill Swank had planned to deliver a Local Authors Exhibit medal to former Chargers lineman Walt Sweeney while they watched the Super Bowl here together. But it wasn’t meant to be. Sweeney, 71, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this month, died Saturday at his home.

“It took him about 15 years to get his book published,” said Swank, who had helped fine tune Sweeney’s tell-all autobiography, “Off Guard.” The book details Sweeney’s early use of team-approved performance-enhancing drugs and chronicles the impact of drugs and alcohol on his life.

“When he knew he was dying, his biggest concern was finding a home for his dog,” said Swank. “He had a big soft spot. It was a side many people didn’t know about Walt.” In the end, Sweeney’s son, Rick, took in the dachshund. As it turned out, Sweeney had inherited the dog from a friend who, likewise, was dying of cancer…

Claus for a cause: Bill Swank, a local baseball historian who doubles as Santa Claus during the holidays, took his campaign to get a statue of Ted Williams erected at downtown’s former Lane Field to the S.D. Port Commission board meeting Tuesday. Guards allowed the red-suited “Baseball Santa” to enter, but minus his candy cane-striped baseball bat and his “Occupy Lane Field” protest sign.

Swank delivered his plea Santa-style:

“T’was the night before baseball

and all through the town

Not a creature was stirring

when Santa took the mound.

He told the board members

I have a goal,

a statue of Ted Williams…

or I’ll give you all coal!”

Swank elicited a few chuckles but no comment on the statue. Given the current cold snap, coal might actually be much appreciated.