Notice from family:

“My family would like to let you know that Irene, our loving wife and mom, had passed away late Thursday evening. She really enjoyed talking and reminiscing with all of her classmates these past months.”

“Hey Cyndi! I got the words to the Fight Song! I wrote to Chris Wright Ott about my problem, and she said she couldn’t remember them either, but would ask around to see if anyone else did. She got together with Peggy Todd Stover, Carol Marti, Carol’s sister, Kathy, and Geri Gregory. Well, together they came up with the song! So, without further ado, here it is.”

Maybe if I heard the tune I’d remember but, either it’s the late 50s CRS or too much stuff in the ’70s, I just don’t recall this. But here are the lyrics to the Blackford High School Fight Song:

GIVE A CHEER FOR BLACKFORD HIGH SCHOOL

WE’VE A SPIRIT DON’T GIVE IN

AND AS BRAVES, WE STAND TOGETHER

IF WE LOSE OR IF WE WIN, RAH! RAH! RAH

WE WILL CARRY FORTH OUR BANNER

AND GO ON TO VICTORY

FOREVER WE’LL BE LOYAL

FIGHTING ON FOR BLACKFORD HIGH!!!

Blackford High, we love thee!

Always we will be

Faithful to the red and gold

And to your memory.

As the days grow into years

And as the years go by,

Forever we’ll remember thee,

Forever, Blackford High.

“Jeff Smith and Tom Sinclair who do a guy’s annual getaway with Orin Hutchinson & Gary Targantos. Orin calls this photo “Man In His Natural Environment” and it was taken in Cabo.”

Gil Sakima and family

I think a lot of us had a similar experience of being transferred to a new school in our senior year. I was at Campbell HS for three years and then went to the brand new Prospect HS for my senior year in ‘68-’69.

That is why there is a “Multi-school” casual reunion being put together on Oct 17, 2009 10:00 am – 2:00 pm by Shirley Hennessy at the old Campbell HS campus, now Campbell Community Center. We have invited any class’69 from Blackford/Campbell/Prospect/Westmont that was transferred in their senior year, to attend. (Especially if you went to Castro Jr high like a lot of us did.) If you happen to talk to any Blackford alumni on Oct 3rd, could you mention this event on the Oct 17 ?? Thanks for your help.

Mark Newell 

“Saw the Oct 3 info on the Blackford reunion site. There was also a reunion on June 6 at Aptos Beach and they had so much fun they decided to have a second get together on Oct 3 !!

The Blackford/Prospect Casual reunion is being set up by Shirley Hennessy and myself as a “Multi-school” reunion. Shirley Hennessy also went to Castro with us. Then she and I went to Campbell for three year and I got transferred to Prospect for my senior year.

NO ONE that was class president or cheerleader from Campbell or Prospect are stepping up to start a 40 yr so, we decided to to just put out a date and see what happens !! If you go to Campbell HS 40 yr I think 30 people have shown interest so far. I know this all a little confusing so we have just opened it up to all our friends from Castro Jr and all four HS.

I have contacted Peggy Todd (Stover) and tried to get her to contact some Blackford people. She again was at Castro with us, then went to Blackford and has been a teacher at several local schools including Prospect ??”

“Thanks for setting this page up.

I’m planning on coming in October, it sounds fun. I’m just up in the North Bay, San Rafael, so it’s not too far.

You guys know about these pictures … right?

http://tinyurl.com/lbmo7k

Seems like they should be worth a link from this website.

Sherrie: “I remember thinking that at least OUR yearbook pictures would not look dated like our parents’ did since we were so natural in our hairstyles. Oh yes, I laugh about that one now.”

I have to admit to showing those online senior pictures to some folks at work once with a lot of laughter. Most of the folks I work with are at least 20 years younger and they could not believe that I had actually attended high school on a different planet.

The guys hair isn’t so bad from high school, they made us keep it trimmed. Besides, I’d pay good money to have hair like that now. However, there are certain photos of me from the 1970’s which I’m very glad are not available online.
For the guys at least, I don’t think anything tops the 1970’s for unfortunate fashion statements.”

NASA Astronaut Greg Chamitoff is an impossibly good guy — earnest, thoughtful, humble and smart, an Eagle Scout who grew up to fulfill the dream he nurtured since viewing the Apollo launch at age 6.

Of all his commendable qualities, however, the best might be that the 46-year-old space station veteran hasn’t forgotten where he came from: Blackford High School in West San Jose, where he graduated in 1980.

Astronaut, Greg Chamitoff, (center) greets retired chemistry teacher, Michael DuBois (l) and math teacher Guy Sanders (r) during a visit to Prospect High School in Campbell on April 22, 2009.

Since Blackford was closed in 1991, Chamitoff came back Wednesday to the next best thing, nearby Prospect High School. Prospect took many of the kids from his junior high class and still has his favorite math teacher, Guy Sanders, who’s retiring this year.

Using a whiz-bang video shot in space, Chamitoff on Wednesday showed the kids what life was like inside the international space station — weightlessness, the stunning views, the scientific duties, even the magic show he put on with a colleague.

In part, this was standard NASA public relations. Chamitoff spent six months in space in the latter part of 2008. And after a mission, an astronaut is expected to do public speaking. It helps the space mission.

For the people who came to see Chamitoff, however — and for Chamitoff himself — it was more than a rote assignment. All you had to do was talk to Sanders, who used to help the young Chamitoff solve college-level calculus problems over lunch at Blackford.

Sanders can still recite the note that Chamitoff sent him recently. “When it comes to high school, nobody impacted me more than you did,” the astronaut wrote his old teacher. “You gave me the confidence to do whatever I wanted.”

 It’s the kind of validation that teachers yearn for, but too few ever get. “Your heart just soars,” said Sanders, a tall and slightly grizzled man with a warm smile. “You say, ‘Oh my God.’ “

Then there was Mike DuBois, Chamitoff’s chemistry teacher, retired now. “He was a tremendous student,” DuBois said of Chamitoff. “He did everything right. You look back and say, ‘If I had a class like that, I wouldn’t be retired.’ “

Under the radar, Blackford might have been the best school in the Campbell Union High School District. Chamitoff on Wednesday also sought to honor two other outstanding teachers, Charlie Okita (speech and debate) and Maureen Volpe, who taught him French.

But a lot of the extraordinary communion between teacher and student has to do with Chamitoff, who called himself a “bit of a floater” in high school — not a jock, not a musician, not a member of the beautiful crowd, but friendly with all of them.

Before his space station mission launched from Florida on May 31, 2008, Chamitoff tracked down those four teachers he remembered best, making sure they were invited to the launch and given VIP seats. (All four teachers and their spouses made it.)

“It’s been a dream come true,” he says of his career. “When something like that happens, you think back on the people who helped you. It wasn’t just me on my own that got me there.”

That humility showed through in the advice he gave the kids: Set your own goals, which might be higher than those of your friends (“Read the whole book,” as he put it). Understand that you can learn something from everyone, even folks you don’t like all that well. And have faith in yourself.

From anyone else, it could clang like a high school valedictorian’s boilerplate. But Chamitoff was talking about what he had actually done — going to Cal Poly, getting a master’s at Caltech and a Ph.D. from MIT. And yes, learning Russian.

It was a reminder of what we sometimes forget: A lot of success in life lies with the idea of focus. Just ask the 6-year-old who dreamed of being an astronaut.

[Shamelessly stolen from 4/23/09 San Jose Mercury News http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12203575?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com] [bold highlighting is my emphasis and editorial commenting - plr]