Ground Rules

(By posting in this forum, you acknowledge that you have read and will abide by these rules.)

The website was continued after the 2013 reunion for the enjoyment of the members.  They shouldn't be subjected to annoying posts when they come to the Message Forum.  Forums work when people participate - so don't be bashful.  But be respectful.  This may seem like a private chat room, but 800 of your classmates have access to it (along with ~two dozen of our former teachers), and many more classmates read than participate.  

The administrators reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.  Access and participation on this forum is not a right, it is a privilege and abuse may result in suspension or revocation of WHS60s site access at any time.  

Abuse includes but is not limited to personal attacks, offensive, demeaning, excessive or nonsensical posts, badgering, foul language, etc.  It is not a place to disparage others, especially deceased classmates.  Posting involving politics or religion are prohibited as they typically and quickly become offensive/demeaning.    

We don't actively monitor the forum, but respond to complaints and take action as deemed appropriate.

V/R, Co-site Administrators Joan Lucchesi ('60) and Gary Wegener ('66)

Click the "Post Message" button to add your entry to the forum

(you always have the option to edit or delete your post). 

John Michael Somero (1967)

Tom Stewart,

Don't forget shooting at Cache Creek and swimming at Fig Tree Falls!

Buddy Owens (1961)

I WANT TO THANK PAM WOHLFROM FOR REMBERING MY MOTHER (MRS. OWENS).  SADLY SHE PASSED AWAY IN 2014 AT THE AGE OF 98.  SHE TAUGHT AT DINGLE AND LEE.  THANK YOU AGAIN. BUD OWENS

Terry Nelson (Hamilton) (1965)

Chiming in on the OBITS:  I for one have appreciated ALL the effort to share that information here on this format For those of us out of the area the news about the Alumni is non existent, and this was a great source for me. THANK YOU Robert for all you did!

Vern Larson (1960)

Any funny stories you care to tell about you, your family, or friends?:

I know some of you won't think this funny...but, I had a fear of snakes throughout my younger life. When I got married we moved to an area about 10 miles North of San Diego and our house was on a canyon that had snakes and most other wild life. I decided to try and end my fear of snakes by catching a gopher snake and keeping it as a pet. I got to where I would put it inside my shirt while I was working or lounging around the house. One day I was working on my pickup and had the hood up leaning into the engine compartment when I noticed out of my peripheral vision, the snake had poked his head up out of my shirt collar and was looking around. See...I told you that some of you wouldn't think that funny!

GO WOLVES!

Tom Stewart (1969)

John, I remember both.  I often hunted with Ralph or Mike Gordon.  At one point the Gordons purchased Cache Creek Grocery so I spent a lot of time out there.  We would go to the Creek bed near the grocery store and walk to Yolo hunting rabbits along the way.  Funny thing is that the farmers would sometimes pay for shells or bullets for us to hunt on their land, then years later there was a large construction project in Davis on Poleline Road.  There were students out on the road stopping traffic so jack rabbits could cross safely as they fled the construction area.  They also put up warning signs to avoid hitting rabbits.  Many of the UCD students were studying agriculture....go figure!

Do you remember the "frog tunnel" in Davis.  They built a frog tunnel under the road so the frogs could migrate across the road without getting hit.  I don't think the frogs ever really understood the concept.  They also added to the construction costs of building houses in Davis by requiring every house to have an electric hookup for electric cars.  This was like thirty years ago.  How many electric cars do you think there are in Davis today?  Also they required outdoor covers for lights to prevent light pollution. 

Sorry, got off on a tangent there for a minute.  It has been mentioned several times before but we also spent time and had parties at Nelson Grove, Sacramento river beaches, Green pool, and a bridge over Cache Creek near Esparto....etc.  Those warm summer nights.  We don't have warm summer night here.  We don't have hot summer days either.  The hottest it ever gets is about 70, and that is rare.  It is more common to be in the low to middle 60s in summer and 40s in the winter.  I was never a fan of the extreme heat, when it got into the high 90s and low 100s.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/davis-toad-tunnel

Glenda Smith (Stone) (1968)

Jean Wright (Johnson) (1960)

I live in Bakersfield and try to keep up with the news of Woodland.  Did you know you can go online to the Daily Democrat obituaries and view all without having a subscription to the paper ?  Jeanne Johnson (Wright) 1960

Janice Bell (Killian) (1966)

Janice Bell (Killian) (1966)

Walter J. "Wally" Summ (1967)

To Pam Wohlfrom and Buddy Owens.....

Here is a little trip down memory lane......Second grade at Lee School ...1957-1958.

Teacher...Mrs. Owens.

Pam's sister, Judy...middle row...3rd from right.

Guy "Fred" Stone (1969)

To Buddy Owens, Pam Wohlfrom

Bud,

Your mother, out of all the teachers at Dingle, Lee, and WHS, remains at the top of 

those who managed to reach me and who taught me so well. Thank, Mrs Owens!

Oh, and I can't forget your dad Roy and your bunch helping me get excited about water-skiing 

in that nice inboard at Clear Lake. Good times!

Thanks for sharing everyone!

Gary Wegener (1966)

Wally, we need to use those pictures for the name badges on the next reunion...:)

Joel Childers (1966)

There is a book called "Another Roadside Attraction" by the great novelist, Tom Robbins. It is about a group of counter-culture people who lived near La Connor, Washington in the 60's. Near the beginning of the book, he describes a "hippie" encampment in Yolo County near the now defunct towns of Bryte and Broderick on the Sacramento river. This former hobo camp was, of course, a real place, and his description of the place tells me that the characters in the book are based on real people, although there is no way to tell if they are connected to Woodland. At any rate, I recommend the book to anyone who cares to revisit the 60s, but be prepared for a wild ride (you may have flashbacks, LOL.). As an aside, a former classmate rented an old house out near that location on the river for a while after we all graduated in 1966. That house had real character as did our classmate. (Don't ask me who. That's his story if he want to share it.) My grandmother had a small farm out on the levee off of the River Road and Grandpa used to walk the raised railroad track into Woodland at night to play poker at The Stag. Dad took the Elkhorn ferry to work at McClellan Field when I was a kid before he bought Woodland Draper Mnfg. In high school, there were  evenings driving the River Road with Tom Kelly to cruise in downtown Sacramento when we got tired of cruising Main Street in Woodland. 

Walter J. "Wally" Summ (1967)

Gary,

I can write the name tags for 18 out of 20.  There are two that I don't recognize.  I think they must have been photo bombers. 

Jim Benedict (1969)

Hey class of 1969. It was fun to be a part of the planning committee last night for our 50th, coming up September 14. Details soon, hope you are reserving date, looking forward to catching up!

Jean Duncan (Miller) (1968)

Buddy, I was privileged to have your dear mother for my 2nd grade teacher at Lee, and then as a 4th grade teacher at Dingle.  One of my favorite teachers!  Most of my memories are from fourth grade.  She posted a newspaper clipping of the the newly picked seven original astronauts on a bulletin board, and we learned about them.  One thing I remember her saying more than once was “you’re only as clean as your dirtiest piece of clothing”!  She must’ve had to endure some smelly kids!  I remember her delightful southern accent, and is the only person I ever knew whose first name was Este!  One memorable incident happened when she would give us timed multiplication tests.  I was so nervous about them that I would get horrible stomachaches in anticipation.  I told my mother about it, and she mentioned it to Mrs. Owens, who said she certainly had no intention to cause such stress on any of her students, and so the timed tests ended. So considerate. She also taught us how to make lye soap.  A wonderful teacher.  One of the best!

From high school my two favorite teachers were my sophomore English teacher, Mr. Roderig.  He told us to forget anything we had learned about grammar, and we started from scratch with nouns and verbs, continuing on to gerunds and infinitives, and diagramming sentences.  I learned so much from him!  The other teacher was Mr.  Young, Senior English, who introduced us to Shakespeare, Kafka, T.S. Eliot, Joseph Conrad, and many others.  He was a dynamic teacher who made reading these difficult pieces of literature more understandable to 17 & 18 yr olds.  Other great teachers at WHS and Lee and Dingle, but these three were probably my favorites.

I’m not sure whether it was my junior or senior year, but WHS was being tested to see how it ranked among other California high schools.  It seemed like we had monitors in our classes for several weeks.  Later we learned we were ranked as a number 5 school, the highest rank.  That meant a B from our school was the same as an A from a lower ranked school.  Colleges looked at graduates from WHS with good grades having a better chance for acceptance than graduates from lower ranked schools.  We certainly were lucky to attend such a school.

Jean Duncan (Miller) (1968)

Robert, I vote to keep the obits!

David Hughes (1967)

I appreciate Robert's hard work and it is interesting to keep up on news from various familes associated with Woodland, even if through obituaries.  However, the most important thing is that we keep Robert.  Thanks my friend for all of your hard work -- don't give up.

Lenora Monaco (Inks) (1960)

Robert,

I also sincerely hope you will continue posting the obits and maintaining the military list. Both are so important to so many of us! I am so sorry about about any negativity directed towards you, which is not appropriate at all.

Nowdays I am often so discouraged by the constant ugliness and meanness so pervasive in our country now. We must all remember how fortunate we are to have the freedoms we have, to "fight" for any that are disappearing and to be kind to each other!

Thanks everyone for listening,

Lenora

Don Gray (1962)

I can't believe that this WHS '60's website would silence Robert Cowin's great public service.  In his own words, "I did this out of respect for my fellow alumni. Death and grief is never an easy life task, especially to endure alone."     

For this website to reject simple respectful historical reporting of longtime members of the community has been much appreciated, especially by those of us with deep roots in Woodland who now live hundreds or thousands of miles away.  Much has been reported on buildings or events from our Woodland past.  Why not the people?  If you don't like obits, skip to the next item.  Nostalgia for cruisin' Main from the A&W to the bowling alley is O.K. but I don't appreciate ignoring the people who helped make Woodland the town where we grew up.  Thanks again, Robert.  And if you want to return to reporting here, please do.

Nancy Rollins (Gantz) (1968)

Theresa Eve (1964)

Easter in Woodland around 1956.  I am holding my sister, JoAnne.  Grass was not yet planted in our backyard.  But we had a good house.   

Theresa Eve (1964)

Mr. Robert, keep up your posts.  The history of all is so interesting.  What we read in an obituary is often an untold story about the person, the family and connections.   You are a value to our Woodland History.  Thank you.  As the words from the story of Peter Rabbit, "Who would know?"

Duane Jackson (1965)

Wow, "Thar be Gold in them thar Hills"!....I, as most, enjoy the "Obits".......Having moved to Woodland in 59, I was dipped in Woodland history via Beamer School in the 5th grade (Mrs Cargo)......That ment I never really knew the old timers who had lived in Woodland all their lives......My Mother married James Martin, who was at the time in the Fire Dept......we lived for a short time on Elm street, then a short time later moved around the block to the 156 College......After a couple years, my Mom and step dad bought a house south of town in the "Ritzy" part of town, they sold that (?) for some reason we again moved to third street (all time still owning the house on College, was was a rental for a short time) lived there for a year or so, sold that to my sister and her husband, and returned to College, where we stayed until I finished High School, went in to the Army for 3 years, married Vicki Hayden returned to Woodland and set up housekeeping and raising our daughter & son....I stayed in Woodland after the Army until 1976, when I got a change of a job with the Postal Service in Modesto, been there ever since..Going on 40 plus years.....For what it's worth Woodland is my hometown, till I check out...She's changed, grown and matured...My Woodland is in my memory, small and friendly........During my growning times, Beamer,  Lee Senior Elem School (7 & 8) Old WHS a some of my best friends at the time were Loran Polete and Jim Marion, but Jim Passed, and Loran moved on, Dave Matlock was another good friend at the time.....During that time they all were great guys.......I don't get back home any more, only mostly to stop by and see my Mother who's buried at the cemetery close to the Flyers Club..(That still going?)....... To Bob and Gary, from Me, "Thanks for keeping the Site going"!.......We get what we put into it........Just for the fun of it, how many of us still remember our first jobs and those held during High School..................Blessing to the Group......"Party on Dudes and Dudettes..............(Stole that from Bill and Ted).....

Ron Blickle (1963)

I too would lkie to see the obituaries continue and would hope that the few that don't like them would just skip over them so the rest of us can keep up with the true history of Woodland.  As some have already stated, there is much to learn about our town in the history of those who have departed.

On another subject, one of my favorite teachers at WHS was Fred Stone, who taught drafting.  For some reason, he took me under his wings and actually helped me to get a summer job with Fred Jost's company who was doing construction on a rice mill at PIRMI on the north side of Woodland.  As a young guy it was exciting to help do the drawings and watch the mill being built.  I wanted to become a architect, so this was a great experience.  Fred Stone was a character in class and often told jokes to get us going.  One that I remember, was that he would bet anyone in our class that he could tell the score of our next football game before it even bagan.  There was a lot of head scratching, but he would laugh and tell us that the score would be 0-0 since the game had not started yet.  Fun guy and a good teacher.