GC's

Donna (Marto '57) Smith

Happy Jack, AZ

K9teacher@hughes.net

    Remembering. . .

Dolores Hihn '45





You're right, mom was beautiful inside and out! The picture I

sent you I think was taken about 10 years ago. There was no

date on the back. My brother and I found it loose in a box and

thought it captured how she was before she became so ill......

Happy and beautiful.

Dolores passed away peacefully on 9/2/08 at the age of 80 after a long

courageous battle with congestive heart failure.

Born in Long Beach, and graduating from MAD in 1945, Dolores was an

incredibly colorful, creative, outspoken, free spirit who was truly an

inspiration to all who met her. She adored her family and took advantage

of the last 5 years going with them to Disneyland in '06 and '07.

She enjoyed driving her "green machine" Mazda Miata convertible to

the various adventures at malls, restaurants and yard sales.

Before her health started to fail, Dolores worked in various Marin County

High School cafeterias in the 80's to be around the energy of young people.

She ran her own day-care nursery school at her home in San Rafael, CA

from the mid 60's to the mid 70's.     She loved her family, cats, home,

bowling, puzzles and to travel the world as wasn't ready to leave this earth

because she "wanted to see what was going to happen next!". Dolores was

an incredibly strong individual coping with many health issues, including a rare

skin cancer - that she was winning.

Dolores is survived by her two children, Dan Studebaker of San Rafael and

Lorie Studebaker-Herrell of Petaluma, CA.

She is Grammy "D" to grandchildren Justin and Kacey Herrell and Brad

and Keith Preston as well as great-grandchildren. She is also survived by

her sister Mary Mason of Glendale as well as nieces and nephews.

Dolores is predeceased by her husband, Bob Studebaker, daughter Kay

Preston and brother Don Hihn.

A family memorial will be held in Yosemite at a later date.

Donna, thank you for all your help.

Very sincerely,

Lorie Studebaker-Herrell

... By the way, my dad, Robert G. Studebaker also Graduated from MAD

        in 1936. Do you happen to have any pics of him? I never found any of

        his yearbooks. Bye for now,

        Lorie

* * *Editor. . . Thanks to my fellow MAD grads, I DID in fact "locate"

                   a grad. photo of Lori's Dad. Go Wildcats!!!

    Remembering. . .

Robert Studebaker '36

My father passed away on 11/8/1979 at the age of 63. Unfortunately, he

was working on a job site (he was a plasterer) and died suddenly of a heart

attack. I was only 16 when he passed but I do remember that he was a hard working family man who loved working in his garage at home on various projects from kit cars to jewelry. We traveled a lot as a family all over from Tahiti to Costa Rica. Lots of fun. Right after my dad graduated from high school he got a job working for Hindustan Aircraft in Bangalore India repairing aircraft from the war. He was married to his childhood sweetheart, Margaret Flint and they had a daughter, (my half-sister, Diane). After they divorced, my dad met my mom when he came back home from India. After they were married, he, my mom and older sister moved to Marin County because there was lots of construction work there. He loved Marin County because of the beautiful hills and lots of boating activities. He loved boating (he was a member of the "Power Squadron") and he loved flying planes. After my brother and I came along, most

of those activities came to a halt. However, I'm sure we kept him quite busy.

My mom never dated anyone else after he died. She said "when you've had the best, why bother." Well, I could go on forever. But, it's nice going down memory lane......good memories.

If you dig up any more pictures or get more information on either my mom or dad, please pass it on. My brother and I are so grateful.

Sincerely,

Lorie

Check out the Travel page for Rocky's ('38) trip to AK

http://madcatsalumni.org/travel.htm

* * * from the Editor... Just in from ...

    Rocky Rockwood, class of '38

How part of my time is used...

On September 27th, lightly dressed in the warm sun, I again visited

Ramsey Lakes and was struck by the many 12 to 15 foot Douglas Firs

with heavy cone crops. I shot several for the record but the most interesting

was one with this Chickadee probing under the cone "shingles" for food.

On the 28th I circled the TideWater Cove starting at the Vancouver

Water Resources building and its variety of bird feeders.

Here are three shots taken without moving where I was standing.

In their garden were these large Rose Hipps

and at Tide Water the first time I've seen a Heron there

while a Red Tail soared overhead

On the 30th, David Seeholtz and I went up to repair Jon's bench on

McIntire ridge, on a less than promising day. The clouds lifted and

the Autumn haze made the planes of the ridges stand out.

Both shots were taken as I sat on the memorial bench.

and the fall color was starting though daisies still were in bloom

Yesterday a visit with Dave to the Ridgfield Wildlife Refuge found that

the fall migrations had not yet arrived but we did see several groups of

Lesser Yellowlegs that we had not seen there before.

This Great Blue Heron was in the middle of the road and as

Dave drove slowly closer

I shot through the rain spotted windshield

and it only flew about 20 feet away and stood checking us out

As we drove out the last of the loop road this Juvenile Red Tail

was flushed off a post by the car ahead of us

We live in a great part of the world!

Rocky

Thanks Rocky for sharing this with us.

Donna '57

I just returned from a trip to the Matmai NP in far west Alaska, photographing

BIG Bears.

The MAD class of 1938 held their  70th reunion in Monrovia

in mid May of this year. It was attended by 30.

Twelve came from the class of 1938,

one from the class of 1939

and two from the class of 1940.

The current known alive classmates number 54

with 12 suffering from moderate to severe dementia

and 17 living at a distance that precluded attending.

Here is the list of attendees

Class of '38

Bill Cartter and wife Louise
Carol Sorenson and husband Hal
Mary Ellen Cox and friend Jacquie Jo Carlson
Elsie May Minkley and friend Rachel Ellen Fuller
Lois Postel and friend Ruth
Juanita O'Connel and three kids
Lois Herbert and two kids
John Krenz
Jim Duffy
Mabel Takimoto
Marjorie Miyamura
Les Snoke
Rocky Rockwood

(not in photos. organizer and photographer)

Class of '39
Isabell Gressom

Class of '40
June Pytel

Don Sandlin

The photos are a swing around the dining room at the Mariott Hotel

on Huntington Dr. in Monrovia

Rocky Rockwood

* * *Editor...

                   "Borrowed" this from Gary's '50 page. It IS a true statement,

            as any of our  editors can attest to!!!! Check out his fabulous page.

                      It is all new except for the poor guy at the bottom that is STILL

                      painting Gary's curb. Gary sure must be fussy!

                      If you don't believe this, try your hand at doing a page.

                                        . . . . . This is hard work!!!!!

....A little before my time but NICE.

J.Frank Bell '36

Click on the link below for a trip in 1900-1939 automobiles

Oldtimers1900-19392.pps.pps

All of my Golden Cat friends...

Enjoy the following.

        THE CLOTHES LINE
The clothes line....a dead give away. Do the kids today even know what a

clothes line is? I am sure some of you are too young to remember the clothes

line, but for all of us who are older, this will bring back the memories. .

            THE BASIC RULES    I don't remember hearing about "rules"...???

                                                                Maybe Mom did this stuff first..before she

                                                                turned me loose.
1. You had to wash the clothes line before hanging any clothes. Walk the

    length of each line with a damp cloth around the line. This DOES make sense

    cuz Mom said she didn't want the clean clothes hung in the bird doo doo.

    YUCKY!

2. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order and always hang whites

    with whites and hang them first.

3. You never hung a shirt by the shoulders, always by the tail. What would

    the neighbors think?          Chuck Sharp '48 and his family lived

    behind us (over the fence) so we didn't worry about the neighbors....

    They did not care. Mom said you hang them by the tails because the

    weight of the collar and shoulder area weighted the shirts so they

    hung straighter and left no clothes pin marks... Who cares if you are

    going to have to IRON .....  (there's that nasty word again)

    them anyway?

4. Wash day on a Monday...........never hang clothes on the weekend or

      Sunday for heaven's sake!

5. Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide your

    'unmentionables' in the middle.

6. It didn't matter if it was sub zero weather....... clothes would 'freeze dry.'

7. Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes. Pins left

    on the line was 'tacky'.    The wet weather would rot the wood they were

    made of....(or so Mom said. She DID leave the bag they were put in (a real

    fancy one) hanging out there. DUH!

8. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did

    not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next

    washed item.   I DO remember this part.

9. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes

    basket and ready to be ironed. Mom "sprinkled" them, rolled them up,

    put them in a bag and put them in the ice box so the water on them

    could "spread".

10. IRONED??????????
     Well, that's a whole other subject.

                    A POEM
A clothes line was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the 'fancy sheets'
And towels upon the line;
You'd see the 'company table cloths'
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby's birth
To folks who lived inside
As brand new infant clothes were hung
So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed
You'd know how much they'd grown.

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It said, 'Gone on vacation now'
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, 'We're back!' when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare.
New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way.

But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess.

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line!

* * * about clothes lines...

* * * from my ole buddy, Ralph. . . I am so glad he keeps in touch... with

            his "travels" back and forth from Ft. Myers, Florida in the winter,

            to Arkansas in the summer.

     Ralph Hodges '38

D
Wld U believe I hang mine on the line unless its raining. Fresh air dried
is much better than the dryer and much easier on the clothes, especially
the elastic.
R



    May of 2008

   Ralph says... I thot this one was best, or u can wait, try for a better one?

                                        .....I'm STILL waiting Ralph!

Donna

I'm on my houseboat now, just arrived. Usually I have a glass of scotch

in hand, puffing on a cigar and a pretty girl along side. The one I just sent

was taken in Pensacola on my way up from Florida. It will take a few days

to get organized here and I'll send another, as usual !

Ralph

                 He is very good (sometimes) at sending me updated pics.....Like this one from Ft. Myers last Christmas.

I really love This one!!!



                                                            Ralph - Christmas 2007

Jerry and I had the great pleasure last year to have

J.Frank Bell '36

and his lovely Wife,

Ramona (what a delightful lady)

visit with us here in Happy Jack.

We felt as though we had known them both for decades.

Ramona  & Frank

(Sorry the photos are so yucky. Too dark I think.)

Jerry absolutely loved J. Frank's war stories!

OK, all of you other Golden Cats....

How about an update on you?