The most fascinating thing about having a reunion is hearing the stories everyone has to tell. Many of us have had three lives, three professions, gotten married, have kids and grandkids. One of my classmates said she did not have anything special to report. Then she sent me the story of her family over the last fifty years along with photos. I wrote her back and said, "I am laughing at you. There is nothing more special than what you have accomplished in your life. Your family and life story is wonderful." Share your story with us. We all want to know how you have been and what you have been doing. So much to tell, so little time. Let's get started. Tell us your story. Email your story along with digital photos if you have them and wish to share (we would love to see them). Send them here and I will create a page for you linked to this page. (Follow the links below for an example.) |
Email to Bill Diebold at: wdiebold@charter.net
| If you do not have digital files or a way to scan photos, you may send photos of yourself, family and/or candids from the years at St. Mo's to Bill Diebold. All materials will be returned to you just as you sent them. We will treasure them as you have. Send them to: Bill Diebold, 370 Pioneer Drive, Glendale CA 91203 818 625-5878 |
 |
|||
| Click on the class photo or the link provided to go to the classmate's page. | |||
 |
 |
Karen Burchard Michaels
|
|
 |
Mary Ellen Kenny Baker
|
||
 |
 |
Terry Flanagan "I will be forever grateful to my mom and dad for sending me to St. Mo’s. It wasn’t easy for them; they both worked two jobs to give their children the gift of a great education. But the fundamentals which were offered at St. Mo’s gave me the tools to compete and survive in relative comfort." |
|
 |
 |
Mary Jo Esposito Neiger "Rick and I also enjoy around the world travel and spending |
|
 |
 |
 |
James Buzz Wisda
|
 |
 |
janet Lennon Bahler "We all moved to Branson in 1994 to perform and The Lennon Sisters (Kathy, Janet, and our younger sister, Mimi) continue to work here at the Andy Williams Moon River Theatre (three of my granddaughters perform with us also)." |
|
 |
 |
Connie Skiman Huff "Jack and I just celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary and plan to spend many more happy years together enjoying family, friends and golfing partners. " |
|
 |
 |
Bob Elliott "Moved to Marin county in 1976 as regional VP for a large group insurance broker and started a new life as a northern Calif boy. Met the love of my life, Louise, and we have been married for a great 30 yrs." |
|
 |
 |
Cecilia Holguin Wilmott "I retired from UCLA as an Academic Counselor for the Graduate program in the Dept. of Film and Television seven years ago. I really loved my job but it was time to leave after over 30 years, and it's been great." |
|
 |
 |
Michael Messmore "I have led a charmed life, seen the entire world except Antarctica, been to all but a handful of countries and tried the cuisine, wines and beers of them all." |
|
 |
 |
Julian Mesa "My life has been a total art fest. I Live in a 1 acre glass garden and my wife and I create art together every day of our lives" |
|
 |
 |
Jeanne Dorsett Wiltfong "I dedicated my life to Christ in 1976 joined a local church and have been involved in various ministries that God leads me to do. This year a pastor friend and I started a simple “hot dog and prayer” outreach to the homeless, the teenagers at the skateboard park and others we encounter at a park nearby it has been good to break down barriers and connect with all sorts of the people in the community. " |
|
 |
 |
Virginia Kurzweil McCarthy "I attended Cal Poly Pomona with the idea of going into Veterinary medicine and earned a BS degree in Animal Science/Biology; however, after one semester in Grad School, I changed course and became a Clinical Laboratory Scientist (aka Medical Technologist) instead." |
|
 |
 |
Terry Gorman "Upon graduation, I was all set to travel to Long Beach State in the fall for my Masters in Kinesiology; however, Pennzoil offered me a full time job after completing my summer part time work with them. I could hardly say no, and there was always time to head back and get my advanced degree, right? After being at Pennzoil for about seven months, I was approached with a promotion opportunity of a lifetime." |
|
 |
 |
Debbie Sullivan Levin "After moving back from Mammoth Lakes I then went to work in the banking industry, winding up with City National Bank for the last 20 years of my career. Loved my job of lending money to small businesses and watching them grow." |
|
 |
 |
Sharon Pape Reynolds "In 2007, I declared my independence and struck out on my own. I had lived in the city of Thousand Oaks for over 40 years, and felt that a change was in order. I am a complete history nut, and had fallen in love with a newly renovated, recently opened historic site, so I moved to the near vicinity to check it out. I instantly fell in love!!! And am still in a state. The object of these feelings is the Rancho Calleguas, or the Camarillo Ranch, in Camarillo.." |
|
 |
 |
Patrice Henry Mitchell "Allen and I married 47 years ago-spent 3 years with him in the Navy, he as a pilot and me 'a stay at home Mom of 2 (at the time)." |
|
 |
 |
Michael Marfori "After 2 yrs. on the force I returned to construction work and have been doing that for over 50yrs now. Built a lot around Santa Monica, Venice, WestSide, mostly Restaurants, condos, a few World gyms and offices for Arnold. I Got into fishing, surfing, and was in country music band for a few years when I was living the in canals in Venice. ." |
|
 |
 |
Howard Pilon "Over the years, I always continued on with my love of cars and hot rods and built a 1974 Chevrolet Vega to NHRA specs and raced many years in the Super Gas category. Fun, Fun, Fun! I also restored a 1971 Chevelle. |
|
 |
 |
Connie Holquin Burke "We built our home in Palos Verdes Estates 32 years ago and we plan on staying here forever. We love it here. ." |
|
 |
 |
Trina Wagner Pate "After transferring to West Health Center in Santa Monica to be closer to home, I met Bud Pate, the love of my life. He was working as a Health Inspector for the County at the time. Romance in the Health Dept – who would have suspected?? We have been married for 37 years, and still going strong." |
|
 |
 |
Alan Opstedal "In a joint development program with Intel Corporation, we produced the 1167 math co-processor for the Intel 386 CPU. Weitek went public in 1988. I then moved to another startup, Hifn, specializing in data compression and encryption chips." |
|
 |
 |
Jack Dirmann "I have been involved in commercialization of autologous stem and regenerative cells for the past five years." |
|
 |
 |
Aiesha Meshigaud (Paula Ream)
|
|
 |
Marty(Mary) McGrath Foster "Taught nursing at LAHC for twenty years. Part time critical care and ED nursing throughout. Currently per diem anesthetist. |
||
 |
 |
Trish Boyle Niehuser "It has been a fun journey together. In 1974, we decided we wanted to move to a small town, buy property, and be "back to the land" type people. We settled in a small town in northern California, built a lovely, small passive solar house on 5 acres and raised 3 children." |
|
 |
James (Larry) Roth
|
||
 |
 |
Elizabeth Ernster Maculsay "Extensive travel... Loved every minute of it. I Founded a hi tech company with husband approx 35 years ago. We are negotiating a sell now. |
|
 |
Judy Lapinski James "I have been married twice but this last once really took -42 years! We have 2 sons, Joseph and Brian." |
||
 |
 |
Karen Goldie Fuhr "My husband, Bill and I met on a blind date while I was in training. We celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary in January of this year." |
|
 |
Judy Reed Chiaroni "A year after we were married Lee was transferred to Portland, Oregon. We settled in Sandy, Oregon at the base of Mt Hood on over 3 acres. The front yard was the size of a foot ball field which the kids and dogs played for hours." |
||
 |
 |
Ken Hector "I have been on the City Council here for 28 years, with 16 as Mayor." |
|
 |
 |
Mary Rameson "I was preparing to make a lifelong dream of mine come true, travel through all of Europe, which I did for six months with a friend of mine in a VW bug." |
|
 |
 |
Tom Lennon "Tom went on the road with his band and opened for the Doors, the Yard Birds, and Them (with van Morrison) among others." |
|
 |
 |
Stan Logsdon "We got married in our front yard, and had 100 people, and only 1 bathroom. Great time!"
|
|
 |
 |
Ray Sabersky "Spent a year in Vietnam (An Hoa, Hill 34, Hill 37, LZ Baldy, LZ Ross). Got two Meritorious promotions - sort of proud of that." |
|
 |
 |
Dave Gossman "I was promoted to Detective and sent to Van Nuys Homicide and Hollywood Homicide Units. I handled over 100 death investigations. I was assigned “Who Done It Cases”. These cases are old cases that have never been solved and are placed in archives. These cases have no evidence or clues. I was lucky and was able to solve these cases. I received the Inspector Clouseau Award." |
|
 |
 |
Dennis Rydgren "We had a saying “that you have never lived until you have fought beside the men who have died for it—life has a taste the protected will never know”. Those of us that were in combat know only too well how precious life is, and cherish every day forward. |
|
 |
 |
Tom Mack "We have been fortunate to travel a large portion of the world and feel it has been a good reality check, when comparing our lives to that of the world’s majority." |
|
 |
 |
Mary Lou Harley Watson "Probably my biggest change from my high school years is that I have been very active in the outdoors and on the water. We kayak now and sailed for over 12 years". |
|
 |
 |
Sherry DeHetre Hoffman
|
|
 |
 |
Dave Doody
|
|
 |
 |
Dr. Joseph Ryan
|
|
 |
 |
Marilyn McGowan Dixon "I retired in 2009 after 32 years as a city manager's executive assistant." |
|
 |
 |
Pam Kellogg Parks "Steve had summer jobs with the USFS and the mountains got into his blood. Even before we married, Steve brought me up to the mountains and I, too, fell in love with the awesome beauty. We can see Eureka Peak from our living room window and the millions and millions of pines that look like a carpet between us and it. I wish we were painters! . " |
|
 |
 |
Paul Daspit "My wife of 45 years, June Marie Gardner of London, England, gives me an “F” in retirement. Twice I’ve “retired”, once from the US Air Force in 1992 and again from the IT industry in 2011, you’d think that I could get it right. " |
|
 |
 |
Toni Manocheo Flynn "My life has been very blessed both during and after my years at St. Monica's High School."
|
|
 |
 |
Bruno Tonin "In early 1966 I met the love of my life, Ellen Smith. She was a junior at St. Monica HS and we have been together ever since". |
|
 |
 |
Andree Close Hall "Even though the dust of the Texas Panhandle will always run through my veins I still experience bouts of California dreamin'." |
|
 |
 |
Carol McNay Johnson "In 1975 I married Richard Johnson, an airline (PSA/USAIR) Captain and became a full time wife and mother. I have two adult daughters, Natalie and Lynnette, who both work in LA in public relations/ entertainment industry." |
|
 |
 |
Joni Esser Gregg "The joys of being a mom have only been heightened by those of being a grandma". |
|
|
 |
 |
Arlene Wilbur and Richard Havel "We have known each other for 51 years (started at a sock hop in our Junior year). We have been seriously dating for 50 years (since the senior prom and grad night). We have savored the joys and challenges of a long successful marriage -- 46 years and counting." |
 |
|||
 |
Bob Schidel "See you all at the reunion. This is what I do for fun." |
||
 |
 |
Bill Diebold wdiebold2102@roadrunner.com "I have to say that with all my career as a photographer (almost 30 years), and as exciting and successful as that was, I love my present work as a teacher more than anything I have done"
|
|
Dlorah 'Lah' Gonzales I left St. Monica's after 10th grade so I did not graduate with the rest of the class but my heart was always back at St. Mo's. I married and had two wonderful daughters - Kim and Erin. My husband passed away at a very early age so it was a bit rough raising my daughters but was also a pleasure being a mom.worked at Caltech (California Institute of Technology) for 41 years and retired two marvelous years ago. I worked throughout the campus and learned so many things and met so many smart people. I always hoped their brain power would rub off on me. I left Caltech as the Director of Employment and Employee Services. I really enjoy retirement with my hubby of almost 20 years. We are long time Los Angeles Kings season ticket holders so we have seen them win two Stanley Cups since my retirement. I think they were waiting for me to retire so I could really focus on the moment and cheer them on. In 2012, my husband and I flew to New Jersey to watch them win the second game of the Stanley Cup finals. I have two twin grandkids age 13 now. Cameron and Nicole!! They are just wonderful and live close so I can see them when I want and when they want me. |
|||
 |
Michael McCoy It does not seem like 50 years have gone by, unless I look in the mirror, and when I try to remember what I've been doing it gets a little fuzzy. But here goes. >> >> Not long after graduation I spent two years in the army, at the invitation of the draft board, getting out in 1968. In 1970 I was hired as a firefighter and spent the next 41 years with the Orange County Fire Dept. retiring as a Battalion Chief in 2011. During that time I had assignments in all of our 9 battalions working as a paramedic as well as several staff positions. I traveled all over the State as a member of state and national incident command teams. After retirement I now do some work with he State Dept. of fish and game as a natural resource >> >> I live in Corona and have 3 grandchildren. They and my daughter live in Mariposa Ca. so I do not get to spend as much time with them as I would like. Karen and I are looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion. |
||