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Frances Handley (Jones) (1964)

James and everyone: I think you will enjoy the following link to the California Rice Growers Association's Photo Gallery page. Each picture can be clicked on and opens a slide show.. It can make you homesick, some of the most beautiful pictures of the Valley I have ever seen..I discovered it by accident.....

http://calrice.org/gallery/     

Theresa Eve (1964)

Fran:  Thank you for the information on the Calif. Rice Commission.  It has some wonderful pictures of Yolo County and it also has a facebook page with a video of all the wildlife in the area and the rice fields, horses, dogs, birds, etc. all great pictures.  We did live in a time when Woodland was just growing and those forts we made in all the vacant lots must have been common for all of us.  We had many such open lots around North McKinley until all the homes were build, including the rebuilding of Clarks Field  on Beamer Street.  Baseball, always a part of our youth.

Theresa Eve (1964)

I am sure we are all happy too have a change in the weather.  That last heat wave was terrible, it made me sick, must be that I am older.  Now the rain has moved in a little, a total blessing.  Seems like the seasons move past us more quickly.  The children are getting ready for school to start.  I just purchased a lot of school supplies for the church, and for the little ones in my family.  School supplies are so important to the kids, just like those new books.  The Stroll through History in Woodland is around the corner.  Hope to see a lot of friends there, and hope the heat does not pop up.  I will be taking a lot of pictures in Woodland to keep, especially of those places we have all mentioned and of those lovely homes.  One picture I really like which Greg has posted was the WoodlandTrain Station.  Remember when that Station was also used for the Grayhound Bus Station.  The old bus station was always so terrible on Main Street.  I used it for awhile going to Sacramento City College.  Having it at the Train Station was so much better.  Where is that Grayhound Bus Station connection now?   Or, maybe there is no Grayhound Connection with the new City Buses.

Cheryl Matter (Fowler) (1963)

There are only a couple of Greyhouse Bus Stations in this area now.......one in Vallejo and one on Richards Blvd  (right off I-5) in Sacramento.   All the others have been closed.  

Duane Jackson (1965)

Talking about the old Bus Station...............I took a free trip on Unc Sam via the bus from the old station at the rail station in 65................Remember well my Mother and Vicki crying as I left..........It was one way trip, all other returns to Woodland came thru the old Sacto Airport..............

Theresa Eve (1964)

50th Class Reunion for the Class of 1964!!  Get your money in to hold a spot for a fun filled night at the historical Hotel Woodland, a lovely place to have dinner, drinks, dance and talk on the outside patio!!  Smokey Rico and the Reunion Committe are working hard to make this a lovely evening for all!!!  August 30th is the dealine for tickets, so get those check books ready!!!  September 20th is just around the corner!!!

Checks Payable to:  Class of 1964, 427 Colusa Place, Woodland, CA  95695  - $50 per person.  The Golf Tournament:  $45 per person.  Smokey is ready to hear from all of you!!!    Thank you Smokey and your Committee for getting this time and great place available for us!!!    Let's show our Woodland High School Spirit!!

Tuni Gravink (House) (1964)

I remember taking the Greyhound down from Lake Tahoe with my grandmother when little and it let us off at the old train station. The was a neat old building. I also remember picking up people there many times. My father also had workers coming in from other countries to do farm exchange , and they would come to the old station (train) via Greyhound. It was the only way other than driving to get to Sacramento, or Davis at the time. I traveled it several time sas i got older. I believe they have moved the old station back some. I wish they would finish it up. I took some old photo's of it several years back, and it had a bunch of cats hanging out there.

Craig M. i agree with RIP for Mork. He made many laugh, and yes he was genius.

We are having some really cool lightening and thunder going on right now. They just came out with flash flood warnings and i said well, now that we cleaned up the last batch of mess, here we go again. Only we have only about three more weeks of monsoon season left, then we start our melt down as we call it here in Arizona. Meaning temps under 100 degrees. People go golfing all the time in the winter here, so nice out. We only have a couple of weeks of truly cold weather here. One year it snowed several times (after told we would never see snow down at our ground level, on the mountain yes, but not around our house) , and it got down to 18 degrees. Now, for the desert that is cold!

It looks like the class reunion is coming along in its planning. We will not be able to attend, we have other plans on that date but we do hope all of you going have a great time.

Eldon Larsen, glad to hear that you are doing better. Tell Shelly i said "Hi"

Tuni Gravink-House

James Crandall (1961)

Does anybody know when the train passenger service in Woodland stopped?   In 1966 out of a clear blue sky my ex high school (Marshall) girlfriend's father asked me if I would like a job as a brakeman for SP.  He was the trainmaster for the Roseville division.  It was in late May and SP was going to take the Shasta Daylight passenger train out of service at the end of August.  Not many regulars wanted the job because of a cranky old conductor and no future, so he needed some willing recruits.  I figured it would be a great summer job during my remaining college days.  Our run was from Oakland where the Shasta Daylight started to Dunsmuir before a crew change.   We only stopped in Downtown Oakland, Berkeley, Martinez for transfer passengers, Davis and Dunsmuir.   Flew right by Woodland. When we would stop in Davis student activists would harass us in protest to ending the service.  Remember it was the age of Aquarius.

I was able to stay on at SP keeping my seniority date and they were quite happy to have me work just during the summer months.  Worked out as a great summer job all the way through completion of  Dental Scholl , seven summers and a few Christmas vacations.  But after the passenger stint I switched to freight, it paid better and no wool uniforms with the vest and silly cap.  

Jim

Theresa Eve (1964)

James:  I looked into the history of the Woodland Train Station, the Southern Pacific Railroad Depot started  1911 - in the early 1950s passenger service to Woodland declined and suspended.  In 1955 the Greyhound Bus Company leased space at the Woodland Train Depot  - noted that on April 24, 1982, the last regularly scheduled passenger train through Woodland, Amtrak's train #11, rolled past the depot without stopping. In 1990-92 the Woodland Train Depot was restored by Woodland businesses and volunteers from Sacramento Valley Historical Railways to look like the early 1920s.   The information is on-line under:  Historic Woodland Railroad Depot.   

James Crandall (1961)

Thanks Theresa,  1911-early 50s not much of a history.   I wonder if the Sacramento Northern ever carried passengers to Woodland.  

James Crandall (1961)

It is one of the alcoholic green vervet mokeys on St. Kitts.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2106827/Meet-vervet-monkeys-St-Kitts-drunk-cocktails.html

James Crandall (1961)

We would ask our youngest daughter if there was anything she would like us to bring back from our travels.  She would always answer. "I want a helper monkey".  So it became a thing to bring back some monkey themed item for her. 

Janet Long (Levers) (1966)

In response to: Did the Sacramento Northern ever carry passengers? Absolutely! Up until at least the late '40's the high school age students from W. Sacramento/Broderick/Bryte rode the train twice a day to and from WHS. That's why the tracks turned off Main at 2nd St. and headed South to the old campus. I'm sure the train also carried shoppers and business people to and from Sacto; pretty hairy trip when the bypass was full, I'd think.

JoAnn Kergel (Wirth) (1965)

In the late 30's my mother, who lived in Sacramento, used the train to get to Woodland quite often.  She would spend the weekend at the family farm near Yolo visiting my father.  They were married in 1941.  I believe my father also used the train to attend college for a time.  Neither are alive now to tell me more!

Greg Kareofelas (1962)

Regarding the Sacramento Northern:

http://www.wrm.org/

There is a nice little Museum between Dixon and Fairfield, at one time they ran a special train by Jepson Prairie.

Joan Richter (Lucchesi) (1960)

My mother and her 6 siblings were on that train in the 30's and early 40's from West Sacramento to  WHS. None of them knew how to swim and they hated the winters because of he high waters in the bypass.

Orval Hughes (1964)

I used to put pennys on the tracks

Tuni Gravink (House) (1964)

I used to walk the tracks to Davis , and back. I amused myself probably pretty much as all the kids growing up in our time did , i was always keeping myself busy doing something be it bike, walking, swiming.  Of course , my mom and dad did not know that, and it was a time when you could do things like that as; it was safe, and not like it is now.  We rode the train across the US one year, and we took it back to California after we came down from Canada. Unfortunately the train went right on by the Woodland train station, and let us off at Davis, and my Uncle Tom had to pick us up. This was in 1959.  Great expirencce though !  I remember when we were going throught the Mississippi area that train made the biggest horseshoe shape, and from were we were (car) we could look out and se the engine and the cabose, and all the other train cars. It was fun, and i acutally like traveling the train. My husband and i also traveled it up to Orengon and it was fun. To bad that over time all the other quaint stations and then the neat ones were torn down. I think the Woodland one was really kind of neat, and the Sacramento one was really pretty nice. Now, days some of the older train stations have been made in to nice resturants and have shops in them too. I wish they would have done that with the Sacaramento one, it was so close to the river there and all the other eateries, that it probably would have made it just fine.

Theresa Eve (1964)

Blessings to Mr. Pfaffenberger who has just passed into Heaven.  He was a wonderful teacher and I so enjoyed his class in Physiology.  I know his family will miss him greatly, such a gentleman.  Thank you Mr. Pfaffenberger for all you gave to your students and friends.

Vern Larson (1960)

I also want to express my gratitude for Mr. Pfaffenberger. He was a gentleman in every respect. He never got upset if you didn't make a play. He was always there for you and had the most winning personality. He was one of the coaches in freshman football. He told the story of one time when he was playing center in football. He was having a tough time with the opposing center. It was very important for him to take out his opposition on a particular play. Elmer had a partial removable dental bridge which he let drop as he was about to hike the ball to the quarterback. It caught the opposing center off guard and Elmer was able to make the play. We all got a big laugh out of that as he told the story.

Elmer also was the first coach for wrestling at WHS  which started in 1959. I was a junior and wresled at 178 my junior & senior year. He was truly an inspiration to me and all who came in contact with him.  RIP  Mr. Pfaffenberger.

Vern Larson (1960)

Elmer Pfaffenberger, taken from 1959 Ilex

Vern Larson (1960)

Ferocious Pfaffenberger has poor timid Dawley in a side drag. (Taken from the 1960 Ilex)

Theresa Eve (1964)

Thank you Vern and Robert for adding the nice input around Mr. Pfaffenberger.  The pictures look just like him always smiling when he came into class.  I learned a lot from him and he was so kind to all his students.  A great teacher to have had along the road of education at Woodland High School.   Bless him, he will be missed.

Lynn Drumright (Black) (1961)

Mr. Pfaffenberger was a wonderful teacher.  One of the few I remember as having a real interest in the student. I blessed us all.  

Connie Long (Brace) (1963)

Of all the teachers I had at WHS, Mr. Pfaffenberger stands out as one of the best.  I still remember his wonderful physiology class.  His hands-on labs and clear, gentle explanations made a difficult subject interesting and accessible.  He was a very special person and I am so sorry to learn he has passed away.