Marvin Theobald

It's great to see the BHS Class of '64 ladies out enjoying their senior years in style. Thanks for sharing the photo! I did not know about Senior Citizens Day. Thanks to Sandy I won't miss celebrating it.

While I was in NH several weeks ago Sue Leben-Oaks sent something for me to post for her and I had not taken time until now to take care of her request. She came across this document in her archives and thought many of you would enjoy seeing it. So, finally, here it is!

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

OMG, so many cool things here. First, thank you Sue Koppenhoefer for this photo of you and all those beautiful women celebrating their birthdays together. Second, thank you to Sue Leben for this very interesting 7th grade document. Most of the names are very familiar, but what puzzled me was Orvalene School. The 1958-1959 school year was the last year before BJHS was formed, yet for the life of me, I don't remember a junior high school named Orvalene. Where was it? Does anyone (Jack Keefe, this is for you) remember how many junior highs were combined to form BJHS?

Jack Keefe

          Mel, I had to enlarge the image before answering, because I couldn't read it very well. The way I read it, the name of a student named Orvalene Scheel appeared several times for various shout-outs and honors. Quite possibly a student who moved away before our high school years. To my knowledge there was no school in Bloomington with a name that even sounded close to Orvalene.

          To answer your question about how many junior high schools merged to form BJHS, there were three: Washington, Bent and Irving. But a forgotten fact is that the district's first three junior high schools were actually Lincoln, Washington and Bent. After a year or two, the Lincoln JHS was moved to Irving because Irving was a bigger facility. And Lincoln was restored to being the grade school as it was originally built. About this same time, the south wing was added to Washington. It stands between the former cafeteria building (built ca. 1950) and the original building. The time frame was late thirties and early forties.

          More than you probably wanted to know, but there it is. No school named for Orvalene. 

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Jack, you are the all knowing wizard. Not too much information at all. The post of Sue Leben's document was hard to read and completely threw me off. It was fun seeing all those familiar names, but Orvalene Scheel was not one of them. Thanks for clarifying. Marv tried to warn me, but too late to save face for my error and poor eyesight.

Marvin Theobald

For a few days every fall the trees around my house produce a golden glow in the house. Today is one of those days. Here are photos I just took from my deck. Hope they brighten your day!

Regina (Sue) Petersen (Koppenhoefer)

Pam sent me this picture of our lunch together, and it's actually better than the one I posted earlier.   Marv and Jim, beautiful fall pictures -- thanks for sharing!  Fall is my favorite time of the year!

James (Jim) Rookus

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

JACK  KEEFE 

             AND

GARY  SCHAD

Hope you have a special day and many blessings!!!

Terri Baxter (Whirrett)

Hi All!  Love all the tree pictures! So miss Fall down here! Although temp is a beautiful 70 right now!

Hugs, Boo

James (Jim) Rookus

David Brock

I  enjoy all the pics.  It's good to know that most of us are still active and out.  The leaves are colorful, and a reminder that time marches on.  The trees here are turning a dingy brown, rather than the normal red/orange shades.  I think our August/September drought  had a severe impact on the trees.  I know that weather had a severe, detrimental impact on my late season garden and crops.  Just a reminder, this weekend is TIME CHANGE, for those of you who may be affected.  

James (Jim) Rookus

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

James (Jim) Rookus

YIKES ‼️ Sandy,  I hope your vote wasn't for me .... I don't want to be one of them there lie-in cheatin politicians ‼️

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

 Jim,

I got that from Facebook and some people made comments that we might be better off with real estate people.

Ha-ha

Jack Keefe

    It's time-change weekend again, so remember the old adage of "spring forward, fall back."  Before you retire Saturday night, set your timepieces back one hour. These days, many of them will re-set by themselves, courtesy of an Internet signal. But the ones that don't are your responsibility. 

     And so Daylight Savings Time goes into hibernation until spring. At times like this I always miss classmate Terry Maxwell, who would remind me that it's time to post another time-change notice. Here it is and thanks again, Max. 

James (Jim) Rookus

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

 Barry Ehrman  11/1

  Richard Gray  11/1  

             AND

Chuck Jenkins   11/2

Hope you have special birthday blessings !

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

Out of the mouths of babes

James (Jim) Rookus

James (Jim) Rookus

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Debbie Fitzsimmons Price

             AND

Anne Wylie Weiher

Hope you have special birthday blessings !

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

On the Legacy website that I look at to see obituaries, there is a Barbara Guetschow. Her compete obituary is on the Kibler-Brady Funeral Home website. She was born Oct 2, 1946 and died Nov 8, 2026.  l  I think that is our Barbara. The picture resembles what she could look like since her high school picture.  I was friends with her in high school. I have thought of her over the years.

Marvin, I hope you can confirm that it is her and add her to the  "In Memory" section. 
 

Marvin Theobald

In follow up to Sandy's previous post - This loss is our classmate, Barb Guetschow. It is always sad to learn of the passing of one of our classmates. We all shared so much in our youth in Bloomington. While I never knew Barb, I'm sure her school friends will remember her fondly and feel the sadness of her passing. Her obituary is posted in the "In Memory" section.

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

I know it's late, but to all of you who served in the military to defend and keep America free, thank you and Happy Veterans Day.

James (Jim) Rookus

Marvin Theobald

Some of you had Jean Holcomb as your teacher in fourth grade. She turned 95 today and I was on hand to help her celebrate. Thought her former students might enjoy seeing a picture. She and her husband, Bruce Holcomb (our BJHS Assistant Principal), were my nextdoor neighbors and Jean and my mom stayed lifelong close friends. She is in memory care at Luther Oaks in Bloomington, but she is still pretty sharp witted.

Jack Keefe

Quick, let's see a show of hands. Are you impacted by Micrsoft Outlook's outage tonight? I can't send or receive e-mail and it's looking like we're in for a long wait. So instead of on-line history research Friday afternoon, I'll just go to the Bloomington library. That's always a stimulating trip. 

Changing the subject -- thanks to Marvin for the post about Jean Holcomb's 95th birthday. She taught fourth grade at Washington School and several of us were in her first class there. Nice lady, great teacher. 

And finally -- thanks to classmates Karlene Miller, Janet Hitzner Fries, Diane Schaffer Troxel, and the daughters of Patti Miller Popejoy for visiting my booth at last Saturday's BHS Craft Show. I was signing copies of my book, Echoes of Purple and Gold. It was great to see all of you.