The newsletter of the Armijo Alumni Association SUMMER 2018

Since its founding in 1891, Armijo High School has had 24 principals (see the list compiled by Armijo Alumni Association co-founder Nan-ciann Gregg at top right). Not until the 2017-2018 school year, however, was the purple and gold glass ceiling shattered by Sheila Smith, Armijo’s first female principal. While Smith is not an Armijo Alumnus, she does have a

FIRST FEMALE ARMIJO PRINCIPAL FINISHES FIRST YEAR

connection to the school. Her husband’s grandmother grad-uated from Armijo—in the class of 1906. Smith grew up on a farm in Missouri and earned a Mas-ters in English from Truman University. She came out west and taught at Vallejo High School for 20 years and also spent 9 years as an Assistant Principal at Davis Sr. High School.

Her career has followed John Lammon, Armijo Assistant Principal. “I have known John since he was in the 9th grade at Valle-jo High. He graduated, was drafted by the Boston Red Sox, then got injured and came back to teach,” Smith said. They attended Berkeley at

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ARMIJO HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPALS

1891-1894 J.A. METZLER 1894-1901 CHESTER WETMORE 1901-1904 O. F. BARTH 1904-1907 H.F. SHELDON 1907-1911 E. F. DYER 1911-1915 IRWIN PASSMORE 1915-1919 WILLIAM MACKAY 1919-1921 R. W. EVERETT 1921-1946 JAMES E. BROWNLEE 1946-1951 HARRY WISER 1951-1955 LOREN WANN 1955-1957 JOHN LUCAS 1957-1963 C. GENE SMITH 1963-1969 DASIL MATHEWS 1969-1977 GENE DILLMAN 1977-1979 KEN SUTTON 1979-1981 KEN PERKINS 1981-1985 LARRY MANISCALCO 1985-1992 LEO PETTY 1992-2002 RAE LANPHEIR 2002-2006 RICK VACCARO 2006-2009 STEVEN PETERS 2009-2017 ERIC TRETTEN 2017—present SHEILA SMITH

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the same time where Smith earned another Master’s degree (in Educational Administration). Lammon was the one who called Smith when a position opened up in Davis. He then left and went to Armijo and when a position opened up there, he called her up again. She served as an Assistant Principal at Armijo beginning in 2013 and took over for Eric Tretton who left at the end of the 2016-2017 school year. As principal, the days are long for Smith. She arrives at the campus most mornings usually before 7 am and often doesn’t leave until at least 13 hours lat-er. “The biggest challenge I faced this year was making sure my core values shine through and making sure I’m able to juggle everything that is required of me,” Smith said. “I try to be available and accessible not on-ly to my students and my staff, but also to the community.” A survey that Armijo staff filled out (where they could be anon-ymous) confirmed that Smith’s leadership style had permeated the school. The universal senti-ments that came back were that the staff felt relaxed, safe and

that it is a fun place to be. Daily laughter is now a part of the culture at Armijo. While Smith takes her posi-tion and responsibilities as principal very seriously, she doesn’t take herself that seri-ously. “I make people happy be-cause they get to laugh at me. I’m always in some kind of pickle. Once I was walking in the parking lot and I was ten feet from my car and somehow I went face-first on the pavement. We have cam-eras everywhere so I hadn’t even gotten in the next morning when John Lammon had pulled it up on the video and was laughing at it and sharing it with everyone. There’s a lot of love here. A lot of love,” Smith said, laughing. One serious responsibility is student safety and like schools across the country, Armijo prepares for the nightmare scenario of a school shooting. “It hurts my heart that our kids have to think that this is normal,” Smith said. “It is very sad that we have to do it, but studies have shown

continued from page 1 that the people who do the best in those circum-stances are those that have thought about it and planned for it so they don’t just freeze or pan-ic.” Smith is thrilled to be the very first woman principal of Armijo High School and the glass ceilings keep getting shattered. “This year we have a woman graduating who is the first female from Armijo ever who is going to college on a wrestling scholarship,” Smith said. Like all schools, Armijo has challenges, but Smith is proud of the student body and the journey she experienced with them in her first year at the helm. “I’m not saying that all my kids are angels by any means-- we are a micro-cosm of the community and we need their sup-port as well,” Smith said. “This had been a wonder-ful year. It’s a great place. The Armijo community is one in a million.”

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This year was hopefully an anomaly as we had only four stu-dents apply for the scholarships offered by the Armijo Alumni Association. I need to explain the process. The Alumni associa-tion (and other scholarship sponsors) submit their scholarship info and money the previous winter and then Assist-A-Grad does the rest. They make a booklet that is available to the local high schools and is placed on the Assist-A-Grad website. When the application period is over, sponsors are informed of the candi-dates and then conduct interviews. It was not just us—applications were way down across the board. While we have asked why this was, we don’t know the reason. A full 85 percent of those who applied for scholarships applied on the very last day of the process. So we awarded scholarships to those that applied and the ones we did not award will be rolled over for next year. It should be noted that while the Henry Low Memorial Scholarships offered this year were technically under the auspices of the Armijo Alumni Association, the family conducted those interviews. The winners of those scholarships were Avery Apodaca, Jesse Merca-do, Kiana Sabugo and Alejandro Vera.

ARMIJO ALUMNI ASSOCIATION SCHOLARSHIPS

JOCELYN PHILLIPS Armijo Class of 1950 Memorial Scholarship $500 Armijo Class of 1965 Memorial Scholarship $500

BAILEY QUINLAN

James Campi & Frank Nietzel Class of 1959 Memorial Scholarship $500

Walter Harris Class of 1966 Memorial Scholarship $500

JEWELL UNDERWOOD John Smith Class of 1950 Memorial Scholarship $1,000

LAURA WOOD

Teresa Hickey Class of 1962 Memorial Scholarship for a Drama Student $1,000

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ARMIJO CLASS OF 1942 CELEBRATES 76th (!) REUNION

By Tony Wade

Although I graduated from Armijo High School exactly 40 years after them (1982), I have been granted honor-ary membership into the Armijo High Class of 1942. For the third year in a row I attended their annual luncheon at the Hilton Gar-den Inn after receiving an invite from their student body president and former Suisun City mayor Guido Colla. It was their 76th(!) reunion. Think about that. They could have gone through the four years of high school 19 times now.

The 2018 group was the big-gest yet since I’ve been attending. The usual sus-pects were there besides Guido, including Dorene Siebe Darville, Jim DeTar (who makes the trip annual-ly from his home in Brazil), Yolanda Elmo Messer and also Roland Elsworth this year. They were all born in 1924. Guido pointed out that the Great Depression hit right about the time their class was starting kindergarten. Then, in the middle of their senior year of high school, Pearl Harbor was attacked and their lives were changed

forever. In addition to the Class of 1942 members, Class of 1947 grad Arlene Engell Reynolds, whose late brother Alan was a class-mate of the celebrants, attend-ed as well. She came in 2017 and was pleased that in last year’s column I referred to her as “a young’un.” Reynolds’ classmate, Lois Wil-son, joined as well, as did Pat Ables Stokes from the Class of 1948. Our party was rounded out by Jim’s and Guido’s spous-es, a longtime friend of Dar-ville’s, and Class of 1969 grad Nancy Baracosa, who brought Pat.

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ALL OF THE CLASSMATES WERE BORN IN 1924

I made sure to sit next to Yolanda this year because she cracks me up. I enjoy hearing their memories of bygone days and here are a few: Lois and Yolanda both re-called seeing wooden side-walks when they were very young and that everything then was in Suisun City, not Fairfield, which was seen as “the wrong side of the tracks.” Jim racked his brain trying to remember the name of an ice cream place that was downtown. He finally re-membered it as being Hor-gan’s. I wish I’d checked the I Grew Up in Fairfield Too Facebook group because I could’ve shared with him that in 2011 longtime resi-dent Susan Macy Lucken-bach had posted about it. Horgan’s Fountain was owned by her paternal grandparents and was fa-mous (in town) for extra-thick milkshakes and toast-ed crab sandwiches. Yolanda recalled hanging out at the USO (which used to be located near where the fountains are now in

front of the hideous Solano County Government Center downtown) during World War II. She said it was her “patriotic duty.” Guido said that during the war, servicemen could write home gratis and all they needed to do was write “free” where the stamp went. I brought my copies of the local history books “Images of America: Fairfield” by Sabine Goerke-Shrode and “Images of America: Suisun City and Valley” by Elissa A. DeCaro and L.M. Ewing for show-and-tell. The class-mates loved them both. After lunch, while we were digesting our food, we also digested some funny/poignant stories. Nancy Baracosa was in the same class as Guido and Rosie’s youngest son Johnny and told a tale that cracked us up: “I was sitting in fourth grade and in walks Johnny Colla and immediately I fell in love and he did, too,” Nancy said. “We had a swimming class for PE at Crystal Elementary in Suisun

City. Johnny and I figured out that if we entered the water in different parts of the pool we could meet underwater and kiss and no one would know.” Guido told the story of how he and his wife met. After being discharged from the military after the war, he decided to go to school, but there was no jun-ior college locally then so he went to Sacramento. So many former servicemen were enrol-ling that they were full and sug-gested he try Grant Technical College. “If that hadn’t happened, I would never have met Rosie be-cause she was going to high school right across the street. I graduated from the junior col-lege one day, she graduated from high school the next day and on the third day we got married. Those were three ex-citing days and this June we’ll celebrate 70 years.”

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FAIRFIELD HIGH SCHOOL’S FIRST GRADUATING CLASS WAS 50 YEARS AGO

Looking back at the original Fairfield High Falcons By Tony Wade August 31, 2012 The roots of Armijo High, my alma mater, go back to 1891. For decades it was the only high school in Fair-field. In the 1950s and 1960s, however, a popula-tion boom fueled in part by Travis Air Force Base, the creation of Interstate 80 and the attraction of Fair-field’s advantageous geo-graphic location accelerated the need for a second high school.

Fairfield High School was originally part of the Armijo Joint Union High School Dis-trict and their first principal, Sam Tracas, had been an Armijo vice principal. The 1964 Armijo yearbook con-tained a greeting/friendly challenge for the new school: “We encourage them to compete with us in a race for excellence in scholarship, citizenship, athletics and other worthwhile activities.” Fairfield High broke ground in 1963 and started receiv-ing some students in 1964.

Since construction was still tak-ing place, students took part of their classes at the new school and were bused to Armijo for others. Then-student Shar Richardson-Smalarz hated going to Armijo in the mornings because her friends went in the afternoons. For others, though, it worked. Carol Dillon Potter: “My family lived across the street behind what is now Kmart, which back then was an empty field. I was lucky enough to go to Armijo in the morning and Fairfield in the afternoon and walk home from there.”

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FHS ORIGINALLY PART OF THE ARMIJO JOINT UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

Developing a school culture is important and Fairfield needed a mascot, school song and more. The first few years’ lunches were from vending ma-chines — hamburgers, French bread and spaghetti — prepared in a kitchen near where the gym is now. They had no field, so the freshman football team would jaywalk across Air Base Parkway in the after-noon for practice at Dover School. Instead of homecoming, they had Pigskin Prom and named a Pigskin Queen. Soon after the school was established, crosstown ri-valry pranks began in ear-nest. Marianne Israel Jen-nings: “We put chicken ma-nure on the Armijo campus. They hung a live chicken from our gym. (A class-mate) rescued him and he became our mascot!” On June 7, 1968, members of the first senior class of Fairfield High received their diplomas in the quad with

Kay Jenkins given the honor of being the very first Falcon to graduate. But . . . while the class of 1968 may have had the first graduating seniors such as Janice (Beck) Birk, the class of 1969 — which included Janice’s sister Tamara (Beck) Watson — was the first to go all four years exclusively at the new school. I’ll let them decide who the true “original” Falcons are. Dan Monez: “I graduated in Fairfield High School’s first class of 1968 and we all got to write our names in the new cement in the quad where the big red ‘F’ was.” Sadly, the 1968 cement has not survived, but a 1969 me-morial, a slab of concrete topped with a now nearly illeg-ible plaque, has. Generations of Fairfield gradu-ates have now made their mark on the world by becom-ing productive citizens and lately had even splashier ac-complishments with one win-ning a Pulitzer Prize and anoth-er an Olympic gold medal. Looking back at the friendly

challenge issued in the 1964 Armijo yearbook, this Indian must begrudgingly admit that our crosstown rivals have more than held their own. First Fairfield High School princi-pal Tracas still calls Fairfield home. “I’ve always tried to explain to students that the road to suc-cess is through education. Edu-cation may not make you rich, but it can bring a lot of satisfac-tion to your life. You can never get enough education,” Tracas said.

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UPCOMING CLASS REUNIONS

Class of 1958 60th REUNION

August 18, 2018

Donnie Huffman’s ranch in

Vacaville

Country-style barbecue

2 pm casual get-together

6 pm dinner

Info: contact Nanciann Gregg

armijoalumni1891@sbcglobal.net

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UPCOMING CLASS REUNIONS

CLASS OF 1983

35th REUNION

Saturday, September 8, 2018

6pm til 11ish

Hilton Garden Inn

2200 Gateway Court

Fairfield, California, 94533

$45 per person

DJ, dancing, no-host bar,

appetizers

Message Yo Bonnet or

Anna Farrar Lowenthal on

Facebook for more info

Class of 1988

30th Reunion

Saturday, September 15, 2018

4 pm to 11pm

Green River Brewing & Taproom

4513 Putah Creek Road

Winters, CA 95694

Dinner, Drinks and Dancing

Tickets are $40 per person till

June 30th, $50 afterwards

Dress is casual

*two alcoholic drinks are included

with price of ticket along with dinner

and dessert.

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STUPENDOUS WAX REVIEWS FROM 1959

The following review column is from the March 25, 1959 Armijo Student newspaper. Click the hyperlinks to hear the songs. Cut the chatter dad. Like, I’d just make it if it weren’t for my fans. Maybe you’re the ginchiest, but I wanna blab about waxes so why not read ahead? Top of the heap is held by that ear catcher “Quiet Vil-lage.” Were those sounds in the background made by monkeys or my overworked teachers? Down the ladder we find “Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)” by Ed Burns. Ex-actly what does ginchiest

mean? A bag or a sharp chick—his boy Ed Burns con-fessed in the TV Guide that he really is downright square. No kidding, girls! Freddie Cannon leads off in

the number 3 spot with “Tallahassee Lassie.” “Dream Lover” gets away with fourth best this week, shouted by Bobbie Darin. It’s not really shouted, but is somewhat close to it. Shouldering its way to fifth place since a pick by the Dis-cussion, The Tradewind’s “Toni” has shown promising promise. I will predict here and now that this record will sell over 100. It’s really a stu-pendous wax. Fabulous Fabian’s “Turn Me Loose” is gradually on the downfall. After a short-lived high life it is now sixth. Elvis’ (Now and Then

There’s) “A Fool Such As I” tripped up somehow and ended up in the seventh slot. Elvis doesn't need the money anyway, all he needs is reputation. Newest of the solid sounds is “Frankie” done by Connie Francis. This song was heard by many on the Dick Clark show two weeks ago and they knew as soon as they heard it it was a scorer. “Sweet Chile” is putting on curves and things at least Sheb Wooley think she can. The song is granted none on the survey. Last but not lost is Johnny Mathis’ “Someone.” A pleasant tune which is ex-pected to blast its way into toip fame. Have you heard the coolest. A mock by the Forbidden Five of “Quiet Village “ in the form of “Enchanted Farm.”

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CLASSMATE PASSINGS

CLASS NAME DATE 1941 HENRY H. MAEYAMA MARCH 30, 2018 1944 HAROLD IRVING MOSKOWITE MARCH 3, 2018 1944 MILDRED L. LAWRENCE ROWE MAY 22, 2018 1950 MARY JANE CLIFT BROWNING FEBRUARY 14, 2018 1950 RICHARD “DICKIE” DAY MAY 16, 2018 1953 GERTIE LOU PALAGI JANUARY 4, 2018 1956 RICHARD RAMIREZ JANUARY 6, 2018 1960 JUDITH ‘GRAMMA’ MARQUEZ MAY 13, 2018 1965 ROY TURNER JANUARY 26, 2018 1966 DALLAS THOMAS HARDY III APRIL 4, 2018 1966 PAMELA ANN PARKHURST APRIL 1, 2018 1972 RONALD DAVID LaCROIX MAY 3, 2018 1982 STEVEN DEAN HALL MAY 3, 2018 1982 LISA LORRAINE STORMOEN JANUARY 26, 2018 1986 KELLY GRAHAM CARMONA FEBRUARY 3, 2018 1994 JEREMY WALTER COWHAM APRIL 13, 2018 MATH TEACHER JOHN CURTIS BROWN DECEMBER 17, 2017 LONG-TIME AHS BOOSTER DORRIS CHRISTINA LOVRIN DECEMBER 26, 2017

“I know for certain that we never lose the people we love, even to death. They continue to participate in every act, thought and decision we make.

Their love leaves an indelible imprint in our memories. We find comfort in knowing that our lives have been enriched

by having shared their love.” —Leo Buscaglia

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ARMIJO ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

MISSION STATEMENT

To pay tribute to a school that has played a significant role in our

lives and community since 1891;

To reunite all the graduates, former students, teachers, staff and

parents that

participated in the many successes of Armijo: To foster old rela-

tionships, support school activities and class reunions as well; And

provide financially funded scholarships as an independent and non-

profit organization.

ARMIJO ALUMNI ASSOCIATION VISION STATEMENT

“First and Best for All Alumni”

Volunteers with the Vacaville Heritage Council scanned and transformed numerous physical Armijo High School yearbooks into easy-to-navigate and enjoy virtual ones.

http://bit.ly/Armijoyearbooks

We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the Vacaville Heritage Council for making these available. Enjoy!