Woodrow Wilson High School Alumni Update - April 2013
http://www.wilsonalumni.com
edited by Linda Doyle
ALL HANDS RAISED FOR WILSON
Despite Portland Public Schools’ assertion that next year’s school funding is stable, Wilson recently learned that we’re slated to lose 6.64 FTE (full time equivalent). Class sizes will increase to a 30:1 teacher to student ratio.
Remember when you attended Wilson? Likely, you had elective choices such as Business, Marketing, Early Childhood Education, Child Psychology, Japanese, Drafting, Woods and Metals. Electives such as these represent a well-rounded education; one where students are able to explore their interests, enrich their lives, and discover potential future employment. As Wilson Business Manager Erica Meyers says, “enrichment/elective programs can make a huge impact on a student's dreams, skills and opportunity to pave the way to contribute to the economic vitality of our region.” It is not uncommon for “electives” to be what keeps a student coming to school. While many of those programs have already been lost due to declining funding, Wilson Staff and the Wilson Foundation is working with the community to hold the line and even restore electives where possible. Together, we’re doing remarkable things in order to ensure that our students continue to have enriching electives:
• After we lost the Early Childhood Program at Wilson, staff and the community partnered with Rieke ES, Markham ES, and Capitol Hill ES to have a High School Student Education Program in which 68 students currently participate.
• Wood/Metal and Architecture/Drafting is once again at Wilson, paid for with Wilson Foundation dollars.
• Wilson will be opening a College and Career Center at the beginning of next year, thanks to PTA, Nike and other Community members joining forces. We will have 15 volunteers who plan to come to Wilson next year to offer their talents and skills to our students on a weekly basis.
• So far this year we have raised over $50,000 in cash donations, matching donations, and income from ongoing Restaurant Nights.
You can help us now. Please consider making a donation to your alma mater’s Foundation. Foundation is the only way to pay for certified staff.
If you live in Oregon, please help us further by contacting your local and state Oregon representatives – speak up for schools! Below is contact information for the PPS School Board and Oregon legislators.
Join us in asking the Board to support high school education, and please encourage your legislator to SOLVE the on-going schools budget issue. Help Wilson continue to provide what it has for the past 50 years - a top-quality education!
Sincerely,
Brian Chatard, Wilson HS Principal
Erica Meyers, Wilson HS Business Manager
Linda Ragen Venti, WHS Foundation Chair, Class of '83
Stan Noble, WHS Foundation Treasurer, Class of ‘69
Proud Wilson parents and Foundation Committee members: Valeurie Friedman, Cathy Petrecca, Betsy Kauffman, Jaimie Coshow, and Francie Meyers
Donate online at www.Allhandsraised.org (click on “donate” and be sure to designate Wilson as the recipient!),
or send a check to Wilson High School Foundation, 1151 SW Vermont, Portland, Oregon, 97219.
Please ask your employer if they will make a matching contribution.
PPS Contact Info:
Superintendent Carole Smith: superintendent@pps.net
School Board:
Ruth Adkins: radkins@pps.net
Matt Morton: mmorton@pps.net
Bobbie Regan: bobbie.regan@pps.net
Martin Gonzales: mgonzalez@pps.net
Pam Knowles: pknowles@pps.net
Trudy Sargent: tsargent@pps.net
Greg Belisle: gbelisle@pps.net
Alexia Garcia: agarcia2013@pps.net
State Legislature Contact Info:
Governor Kitzhaber: http://www.oregon.gov/gov/Pages/ShareYourOpinion.aspx
Find/contact your State Legislator: http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/
CLOPTON NAMED NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR
On January 15th, 2013, Coaches Jeremy Shetler '92 and KC Wiser traveled to Chicago to help Wilson Baseball Coach Mike Clopton receive the ABCA/Diamond Sports Division II National Coach of the Year Award. Coach Jack Dunn (1970-74), an ABCA Hall of Fame member, who coached Clopton at Cleveland High School, attended the banquet. Clopton was also Coach Dunnʼs assistant at Portland State for two years before Mike started coaching high school baseball at Jackson HS. “It was an honor to have Coach Dunn in attendance to receive the award,” adds Clopton. “He has taught me so much about coaching baseball.” Clopton has coached for 49 years, with 36 years as a Varsity HS Coach (30 at Wilson & six at Jackson). Dwight Jaynes and Mike started coaching Babe Ruth baseball (ages 13-15) in the Cleveland area in 1964. Clopton is #5 on the Oregon BB Coaches list with 583 wins. He has coached Wilson to two state titles in 2006 and 2012. Photo at award ceremony, Jeremy Shetler (left), Mike Clopton, and KC Wiser (right). Photo at award ceremony, Mike Clopton and Coach Jack Dunn. Congratulations to Mike and his wife, Gayle, and his players and coaches (past and present)!
ATTENTION ALL WILSON ALUMNI - LEAVE YOUR LEGACY
You can now have your name and year you graduated or any type of personal message as a permanent fixture in the new brick plaza in the Wilson Stadium! We are raising funds to replace the grass field with artificial turf. We have launched a brick sale to raise funds for the turf. Show your support with a gift to the Wilson Fields Improvement Project. In appreciation for your gift, we will install a brick engraved with your personalized message at the plaza in the Wilson High School stadium. The bricks start at $100 each. Join our community in helping us build a new turf field in Wilson Stadium.
PLACE YOUR ORDER TODAY! Follow us on Facebook – Wilson Fields Improvement Project for weekly updates.
4th ANNUAL IN THE BAG: BENEFIT FOR THE ARTS donate your bag to the arts at Wilson
Sunday, November 10, 2013
O'Connors in Multnomah Village (owned by Wilson grad Steve Arel '67 and avid supporter of Wilson)
We had so much fun last year. We collected over 850 items, raised over $9,000, and helped pay for new band instruments and repairs, a printmaking etching press, stage drapes, sheet music, field trip scholarships, darkroom camera repair, drafting drill drivers/belt sander, band festival/parades transportation costs, digital media software, stage lighting/sound hardware, band uniforms, and print/draw/photography/ceramics supplies (all for the choir, band, orchestra, drama, and visual arts at Wilson).
Thanks to all those who donated last year and came to the sale!
Start looking around for new, gently-used purses, bags, clutches, wallets, briefcases, and messenger bags.
Clean out your closet . go buy a new one to donate . ask a friend
Drop off donations at:
Wilson High School
KeyBank (Hillsdale branch)
Gabriel Park Veterinary Clinic (4421 SW Vermont St Portland) owned by Wilson grad Libbi Hawkins '77)
Or contact Linda Doyle and make arrangements to pick up donations.
WILSON JUNIOR BASEBALL
Wilson Junior Baseball (JBO) is looking for sponsors and/or donations for the 2013 spring season. Wilson JBO focuses primarily on serving the 13-14 year old age group at the Senior JBO level as they prepare for high school level ball. If you own a local business, please consider becoming a Wilson JBO sponsor (http://www.wilsonjbo.com/). You can sponsor and support youth baseball while advertising your business to the local community. For those of you who are Wilson Alumni, this is an excellent way to make a donation and show your support of the future of the Wilson Baseball Program. Sponsorship support helps maintain fields, pay for umpires, permits, equipment and coaches. Your sponsorship or donation also helps provide scholarships for players who otherwise would not be able to afford registration fees.
Click here for the flyer with all the details.
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION UPDATE
NEW WWHS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Alumni and community members are continuing to move forward to establish the WWHS Alumni Association. Application process for tax-exempt status of association is progressing (with special thanks to Jack Bertell '58 and David Sly '89). If you would like to join them, contact Jack Bertell '58.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
1976 GRAD RECEIVES PROMOTION AND PRESTIGIOUS APPOINTMENT
Dr. David Seres '76 was recently promoted to Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Institute of Human Nutrition. He was also appointed to the Medical Advisory Board of Consumer Reports. David is a physician specializing in the field of Nutrition Support practicing in New York city. Congratulations, Dr. Seres!
GRATITUDE FOR GUIDANCE PROVIDED BY A GREAT SCHOOL
Thomas Michel entered Wilson in the class of 1973, but graduated in 1972. He graduated early because his family was moving to New England and he didn't want to spend his senior year in a new high school. While at Wilson he played soccer and the piano. After Wilson, Thomas went to Harvard College along with his Wilson classmate David Bledsoe '73 (now an attorney in Portland). Graduating from Harvard in 1977, Thomas matriculated in the Duke University MD-PhD program. He completed his studies at Duke in 1984 and returned to Harvard for clinical training in internal medicine and cardiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Thomas joined the Harvard faculty and rose through the ranks to his current post of Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry. Along the way, he served in a variety of academic roles, including Dean for Education at Harvard Medical School. His research area is in the study of cardiovascular signal transduction, trying to figure out how cells talk to one another in blood vessels and in the heart. He has over 150 publications, and you can check out his website at: http://michel-lab.bwh.harvard.edu/. Thomas married Sara Lewis, a professor of biology at Tufts University in Boston. They have two sons, Zack, aged 21 and Ben, 24. Growing up in Portland, Thomas was active in the Portland Junior Symphony (now called the Portland Youth Philharmonic), and hehas continued his musical activities to this date. In Boston, Thomas came to know another former Portlander, Mary Lou Speaker, who also studied with Thomas' late violin teacher in Portland, Raphael Spiro (who lived a block from Wilson). Thomas' major instrument these days is the accordion, and he performs in a variety of venues in his free time. "I really miss Oregon," adds Thomas. "I remember my formative years in Portland and at Wilson High with great fondness. But since my parents moved away from Portland I only have rare opportunities to visit. I have brought my family to visit Portland, and they love the city and the state as I do. Our older son had a wonderful time on a camping trip in Oregon for several weeks last summer; both boys long to return." Thomas has vivid memories of his teachers at Wilson. "My Junior year English teacher, Francis Murray, had a particularly strong influence on my writing and on my approach to literature. Mr. Murray was also my home room teacher, so I saw a lot of him from the first morning I arrived at Wilson. Mr. Grant was my chemistry teacher, and his rigorous approach to chemistry had a lasting impact on my studies." When asked about words of wisdom for the current Wilson students, Thomas reflects, "as you learn, seek to understand how we know what we know. Knowledge comes from curiosity and persistence and insight, and what we view as facts are not to be taken for granted. He also believes you should question dogma and shun orthodoxy and be jealous of your time. "Whatever time you spend doing one thing means you can't do something else. Do what you love, and love what you do, cherish family and friends, and do not assume that either will be around forever- nor will you." If you would like to strike up a conversation with Thomas, you can reach him at: thomas_michel@harvard.edu.
PASTRY CHEF: PUFFED PERFECTION
Graduating from Wilson in 1999, Devon Morgan (maiden name Wooldridge-Chillemi) finds herself transplanted to Columbus, Ohio. It has been quite a journey since Wilson. Devon has lived in Riverside, California, then on to Providence, Rhode Island, next Boston, Massachusetts and currently Columbus, Ohio. Devon and her family have lived in Columbus for five years. When she is not running after her two year-old or working, she is usually with a book or her knitting projects. Her proud parents are Steve and Roni Goodstein and her siblings, Arielle & Celeste Wooldridge-Chillemi, Aaron Wooldridge-Goodstein, and Matt & Vicki Goodstein. Devon is a graduate of the Baking and Pastry Bachelors Program at Johnson and Wales, where she developed her skills and pursued her love of all things sweet. Devon worked at the Four Seasons Boston for almost three years and is currently the Pastry Chef at the Sheraton Columbus Hotel at Capitol Square Downtown Columbus, Ohio. She also regularly holds cooking classes throughout the community in Columbus. One of her favorite classes at Wilson was English followed by her typing class. Carolyn Wood was one of her favorite teachers. Asked about words of wisdom for the current Wilson students, Devon says, "sometimes the job we love isn't the best paying, but put in the time and it will pay off. Find your passion and study hard. It will serve you well in all that you do." Read all about Devon and her love of sweets in an article written by Dara Schwartz for "Traveling on taste buds" online magazine: http://www.wilsonalumni.com/newsletter/2013/Devon.Morgan99.pdf. You can also check out this link to recreate Devon's Russian Tea Cakes recipe: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/food/2011/11/30/cookies/cs-cookiechef3-g1jf0rpg-1.html.
BEST-SELLING AUTHOR MAKES GOOD MUSIC SOUND BETTER
Kent Hartman graduated from Wilson in 1978. After high school, he attended Oregon State University for two years, playing basketball as a freshman and was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity. From 1981 to 1983, he attended Portland State University and graduated in 1983 with a dual B.S. in business administration and political science. Kent thought he wanted to be Perry Mason, so he tried law school for two years at Lewis & Clark Law School. After that he moved east and graduated with an M.A. in international relations from Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Moving back to the west coast, Kent lived in Los Angeles and founded a music marketing and tour merchandise company that worked with many of the biggest acts of the day (e.g., Kenny Loggins, Lyle Lovett, America, Chicago, Hall & Oates, Eddie Money and Pat Benatar, just to name a few). Heading north in 1997, he lived in Seattle for four years, continuing to grow his company. In 2001, Kent moved back to Portland, sold his company several years later, and then earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from UMass Amherst.
In 2012 Kent became the bestselling author of The Wrecking Crew, the inside story of rock and roll's best-kept secret - the unknown and uncredited LA-based studio musicians who played all the instruments in place of the real bands on literally hundreds of Top 40 radio hits during the most exciting time in American popular culture during the Sixties and early Seventies. To find a copy of Kent's book, go to: http://www.amazon.com/The-Wrecking-Crew-Inside-Best-Kept/dp/031261974X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340681507&sr=1-1&keywords=wrecking+crew.
Kent's book, The Wrecking Crew also won the 2013 Oregon Book Award for General Nonfiction on April 8, 2013.
Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's production company, Gary Sanchez Productions, picked up the rights for a movie version of The Wrecking Crew. Kent tells us that it won't be a comedy!
Not only is The Wrecking Crew going to be made into a movie, but Dede Harris Productions in New York City has recently optioned The Wrecking Crew for the Broadway stage. Ms. Harris is one of the most successful theater producers in the world with many Tony Awards. For more info, go to http://www.dedeharrisproductions.com and click on the tab that says "In Development."
Today, Kent is working on another book with St. Martin's Press. It's called Sound City and is the story of a legendary recording studio in the San Fernando Valley that existed during the '70s/'80s/'90s (sadly, now closed) that was responsible for a crazy number of hit records. Kent says, "It was also inside this funky, dumpy, unlikely place where a whole lot of wild stuff went on. Fantastic backstories abound about not only the stars that recorded there, but also the employees and owners, too." Kent says that Sound City is kind of a sequel to The Wrecking Crew.
Kent says, "The Wrecking Crew musicians plied their trade in a singles-driven, AM-radio world which ended by the early Seventies. From that point on, album rock took over, as did FM radio, and there was no more real need to use the older session musicians like the guys in the Wrecking Crew. Bands starting playing their own stuff. And that's exactly when Sound City exploded on the scene. The album that put the place on the map was 1975's Fleetwood Mac. In fact, it is directly because of Sound City and a series of improbable events that happened there that Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham first joined Fleetwood Mac for that album, turning them into superstars. All the biggest acts of the day recorded their albums at Sound City (Foreigner, Tom Petty, Pat Benatar, John Fogerty, Rick Springfield, Neil Young, Santana, Alice Cooper, Elton John, REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, and on and on----even Johnny Cash). Yet I don't think the public ever had any idea that the place even existed, let alone how central it was to the whole album-rock era----which, by the way, was huge when I attended Wilson from 1974 to 1978. At the time, my friends and I were all devotees of 92.3 KGON here in Portland ("The album rock station" -- as the slogan went). Plus, a fellow Wilson alum (Jim Jamison) and I actually owned and operated a record store called the 'Lectric Grape Record Company inside the student store at Wilson (then known as the Wooden Horse) for about a year and a half. We unknowingly sold lots of these same albums that were recorded at Sound City. So, in an interesting way this upcoming book brings a big part of my high school experience full circle. As a side note, Sound City was the first place I visited when I moved to LA way back at the end of the '80s. I wasn't even in the music business yet. But I knew where I had to go----it was the undisputed mecca for those in the know. And that visit changed my life."
Kent's favorite teacher at Wilson, without a doubt, he says was the late, great Phyllis Lambert. One of Wilson's business/accounting teachers, "she had a vibrant personality and sly sense of humor which served to make an otherwise dull accounting course a whole lot of fun. Best teacher I ever had."
Thinking about the current students at Wilson, Kent (a natural-born chronicler) suggests, "taking as many photos and smart-phone videos as possible of classmates and actual classroom settings. Someday, like when you're staring your fortieth reunion in the face, you'll be very glad you did!"
WRITING HER HEART OUT
Katey Schultz, Class of '97, writes from her home bordering the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina. After Wilson, she received a degree in Philosophy from Whitman College and an MFA in Writing from Pacific University. Katey is the recipient of the Linda Flowers Literary Award from the North Carolina Humanities Council. She has also received writing fellowships in eight different states, including honored residencies through the Jentel Foundation, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and The Island Institute of Alaska.Click here for a photo of Katey relaxing at home.
Katey's first book, Flashes of War, a unique series of short stories illuminating the intimate, human faces of war, and is available now through her website (http://www.kateyschultz.com) or her publisher, Loyola University Maryland.
According to Doug Stanton, author of New York Times Bestsellers Horse Soldiers and In Harm's Way, “Katey Schultz has written an amazing book. What emerges from these stories is a chorus of voices—American, Afghan, Iraqi—and this chorus enlarged my sense of a war that has defined an American decade. Flashes Of War is the work of a bold, ambitious, and brilliant young author who is writing stories few others in American fiction have really yet tackled.”
Watch the book trailer for Flashes of War at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMlqeo7v0xE. To read a sample from Flashes of War go to http://hotmetalbridge.org/conflict-confluence/home-on-leave/. For ordering, booking, interviews, and more, visit Katey's website www.kateyschultz.com.
Reflecting about her time at Wilson, Katey said that she “should have known that after falling in love with the writings of Henry David Thoreau in Ms. Carolyn Wood's English class, she would end up hiding out on the side of a mountain and writing her heart out." Ms. Wood was her first official inspiration in the writing world.
Pick up a copy of Katey's book and celebrate another talented Wilson grad! Congratulations, Katey!
1964 PHOTOGRAPH
Celeste Tanit '64 (AKA Chris Finley) submitted this photograph taken in honor of their French exchange student Colette Grosse.
Left to right in back: Diane Norman or ???, Chris Finley (now Celeste Tanit), Pam Rasmussen (Langer), Carolyn Barde (Gorin), Penny Belleville, Lesley Veltman (Glasgow).
In front left to right: Colette Grosse, Judy Parsons (Moore), Barbara Allen
NATIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH OF NOVEMBER
Susan Freed-Held, 1960 Wilson graduate
Ahoogashinawega "Brilliant Wings" ... Hochunk "Winnebago"-Anishinabe"Chippewa"
Extraordinary Historical Autobiography of Ahoogashinawega "Brilliant Wings"
Click here to read Susan's wordpress blog: http://elderviews.wordpress.com/.
NOVEMBER 7, 1956 DEDICATION PROGRAM FOR WOODROW WILSON HIGH SCHOOL
Take a look at the 1956 Dedication Program for the brand new Woodrow Wilson High School: 1956DedicationProgram. This is a large file, so it will take a minute to download.
SHARE YOUR STORY
Send us the details on where/what you have been doing since graduating from Wilson, and we'll post in an upcoming WWHS Alumni Update e-newsletter. Send details to Linda Doyle.
MESSAGES FROM CLASSMATES
I have been moving non-stop for the last 13 years. My husband and I were both teachers in the Portland area. John taught at both Lake Oswego and Lakeridge High Schools. He was an assistant football coach and head golf coach. I was an elementary school teacher during my years of teaching. My focus was the primary grades, first through fourth. I worked for the Troutdale, West Linn, and Tigard/Tualatin School Districts. We lived in Lake Oswego, Oregon for 23 years before moving to Fort Collins, Colorado. We are very happily settled in our final home in Fort Collins, Colorado. Joanne Ripley Fossatti '63
IN MEMORY OF
KNOWN CLASSMATES/TEACHERS NO LONGER WITH US
Please send an email with details to Linda Doyle if you have an obituary that should be posted here. Below is a list of classmates who have passed away. Here are the names for those who have just been added to the list:
PATRICK HALLORAN 1971
CHRISTY LEE SUTTON 1965
MATT FRASER 1976
RICH KAVENY 1959
KIM HURLEY 1959
JOHN HEDBERG 1964
JOHN HILLISON 1961
MICHAEL CARLTON 1961
DAVID LEE KANE 1961
AARON RUDISHAUSER 1995
HILLARY JONES 1997
VERLE SMITH (WILSON TEACHER)
JANET ROHRBAUGH '82
EMILY GEORGES GOTTFRIED '73
PHYLLIS J. LAMBERT, WILSON TEACHER
LORETTA SKURDAHL '72
CLYDE GIDEON '60
KAREN M. FLYNN '72
RON D. FORREST '65
Click on this link to read more about classmates, teachers, community members who have passed away... Once on the page, scroll down to find the class year.
REUNIONS
CLASS OF 1963
The Wilson High Portland class of '63 reunion committee is in the process of planning their 50th reunion. The primary event will be on Saturday, September 28th. Class members should contact WWHS63@gmail.com for more information.
CLASS OF 1973
Wilson High Class of 1973 - 40 Year reunion- We are gathering at the Courtyard Marriott Portland City Center, 500 SW Oak (entrance on 6th Ave), on Saturday, October 12, 2013 for our 40 year (gulp) reunion!!!! We also have a facebook page where alumni can send contact info or to our email address, wilsonhigh1973@gmail.com
CLASS OF 1983
Classmates are organizing the 30 year reunion ... July 19 - 20, 2013. For those that want to attend, please email us at wilsonhigh1983@gmail.com.
For all the details on each of the reunions go to: http://www.wilsonalumni.com/reunions.htm
MILITARY SERVICE
WILSON GRADUATES WHO HAVE SERVED OR ARE SERVING IN THE MILITARY
Please check out the WWHS Military Alumni page and read all about our amazing military graduates.
To add your name and information to the WWHS Military alumni page, Send your information to Linda Doyle at LSDOYLE@EARTHLINK.NET.
Name:
Year graduated from Wilson:
Military branch:
Years of service:
Service description:
Photo (optional):
Do you give permission to post this information on our website (required):
STAY IN TOUCH
WWHS ALUMNI - WEBSITE
Check out the WWHS Alumni website and don't forget to complete the simple online form to join the WWHS Alumni database. To help us reach as many graduates as possible, please consider adding the link to our website (http://www.wilsonalumni.com/) from your website. Pass the word along to your Wilson High School classmates about the Wilson High School Alumni website and the opportunity to register. Tell your friends.
UNSUBSCRIBE
If you are receiving the WWHS Alumni Update, please make sure to add the following email address to your address book (lsdoyle@earthlink.net). This way your internet/email provider will not view the e-newsletter as spam. Thanks! If you would like to be removed from the list, just send an email to Linda Doyle.
