November 21, 1975
Dear Friends and Classmates,
The effort to locate members of the Class of 1960 has paid off. I have
certainly enjoyed hearing from everyone who responded to my questionnaire
directly, and I was glad to hear of others through fellow classmates or
phone calls. I appreciated the enthusiasm with which many of you greeted
the idea of a newsletter. Keep in touch, and we may just have a nice 20-
year reunion in 1980.
I still have not yet attended a reunion myself. In 1965 I was in Ecuador,
and in 1970 I was getting married. I want to be at the next reunion! A
resident of New Mexico for almost ten years, I have just begun my seventh
year at Albuquerque High School, where I teach in the language arts depart-
ment. Those Peace Corps experiences have been very valuable to me as I
have worked with a diversified student body at AHS. My wife Margery, who
was a biology teacher at AHS, and I now have two super-active little red-
heads: Keith, 3 ˝, and Janet, almost 2. Both were born on special days:
Keith on his mother’s birthday and Janet on Christmas morning.
I have complied some statistics based on the approximately forty returned
questionnaires. You might be interested in those percentages, which are
included on the reverse side of this cover letter.
If you would like to current address for someone in the class, please send
a stamped envelope to me or to Glenda, P.O. Box 16063, Fort Worth 76133. If
you move, please let someone know your new address. If you have any special
ideas for a reunion, please share those with us.
The only persons whom we have been completely unable to get a current mailing
address for were Voncille Wells Williamson, Jerry Don Hamilton, Nedra Hodges,
Don Chatham, and Buddy Prather. Do any of you know where they are? Please feel
free to add the names of anyone who attended high school with our class some
of the time but did not graduate with us. They’re still very much a part of us,
but they’re even harder to keep track of.
Fondly,
Mike Herrington
P.S. Just heard from Norma Gayle as this letter was about to be printed.
She and Fielding are in Portland, where he is a sales representative for
AMF Tuboscope. Daughter Melissa is 12, and there are two sons—Matthew, 8;
and Mitchell, 4.
Place of residence
18% Ranger
35% either Abilene or Dallas-Fort Worth metro area
37% elsewhere in Texas
10% out of state
Education after high school
22% no formal training
40% some college or vocational training
25% college degree
13% advanced college degree
Only 20% of the male graduates had any military experience.
One or both parents still live in Ranger
62% yes
38% no
Marriage
22% married another Ranger High graduate (but not a member of the Class
of ’60)
25% married someone they met in Ranger, e.g. at RJC, the lake, etc.
53% married someone they met elsewhere
Children
Our class has a total of 68 children: 34 boys and 30 girls. Four youngsters
were not listed by sex.
The average number of children per class member is 1.75. That’s almost Zero
Population Growth!
The average age of the children is eight years.
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Nancy Cantwell Krause has lived in Fort Worth for 14 years. She is secretary to
the senior vice-president of Texas Refinery Corp. Her husband Horst teaches
German and coaches at Richland High. They have two sons: Philip, 8, and
Jeffrey, 5.
Mac Jacoby & Marie live in Allen, where he is a technician with the Western
Electric Co. Mac has received five awards for his suggestions for company
improvement. They have a daughter Michelle, 5.
Marinell Shockey Miller is a secretary for the Division of Education at Hardin-
Simmons University in Abilene. She is responsible to eight professors, including
the certification officer. Her husband Jack is the service manager for Goodyear.
Jackie, Jr. is now 12, and their twins Deonna and Rhonda are 10.
Rita Underwood McLerran is busy with homemaking responsibilities and three sons—
Shawn, 11; Darren, 10; and Bryan, 7. Her husband Robert is a utility operator
for Bell Helicopter in Hurst. During the time Bob was in the navy, they lived
all along the eastern seaboard from Philadelphia to Key West.
Fran Veale has been active in work with exceptional children in Abilene for
several years. She worked for a time at the West Texas Rehabilitation Center,
then at two different elementary schools, and now at a junior high. She holds
both B.A. and M.A. degrees from Texas Woman’s University, where she was on the
Dean’s List.
Bill Stuart, a self-employed salesman, and his wife live in Dallas.
Gail Rapp Hagar is a men’s hairdresser in Burleson. She has been styling hair
for six years and enters competitions regularly. Last year she went to a hair-
styling convention in Las Vegas. She has three children—Carla Kaye, 13, and
twins Jimmy and Jana, 11.
Rozelle Hatton Sklenar lives in Owasso, Oklahoma, less than ten miles from
Tulsa. Her husband Joe is a jet engine mechanic with American Airlines. Both
of their children are active in band, and she is very active in the Band
Patrons Club. Daughter Janice, 14, is a freshman this fall; and son J.M.,
13 in September, is in the eighth grade.
Don Adams & Charlotte are engaged in farming operations in Ranger. They have
two children—Steve, 8, and Kimberly, 5.
Al Rogers, a librarian at the University of Texas in Austin, specializes in
the cataloging of Scandinavian-language materials. Al did his undergrad work
in English and French, took a Master’s in library science, and has done further
course work in linguistics, Russian, German, and Swedish. He has taken several
trips to Canada and Mexico as well as jaunts through the northeastern USA. This
summer he traveled to San Francisco and seven of the western states.
Nina Henry Tramel’s profession as a realtor certainly complements her husband
Bob’s work as a builder in Lubbock. They have recently moved into their specially
built and designed home. They have two daughters: Pam, 13, and Penne, 9.
Jerry Anderson, Captain/US Army, is currently an instructor in ROTC at Midwestern
University in Wichita Falls. He and Tinka, a teacher, have a son, Lance Wade,
1. Jerry’s nine years with the military have afforded him many opportunities
for varied places of residence: New Jersey, Missouri, Alabama, Hawaii, and
Vietnam.
Patsy Vinson Martin and her husband Jimmy have been in Abilene for 13 years. He
manages a plumbing supply company. She occupies herself with homemaking
responsibilities and children Kelli Lynn, 12, and Kirk, 7.
Thomas Chrestman is married and has two stepdaughters. He is an auditor for a
bank in Modesto, California.
Walter Blackwell & Candy now have three children with the addition of baby
Cristi. Lee, 6, is in the first grade now; and his sister Jori, 5, will enter
kindergarten in January. Walter supervises the special education program in
Carrizo Springs, and Candy teaches high school math.
Richard Jolly owns and manages his own realty firm in Grand Prairie as well as
building homes. He served 14 months as an artillery officer at such places as
Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Sierra Vista, Arizona. He and Joann have two children:
Patrick, 8, and Debbie, 6.
Carol Phillips Cozart is now in El Paso, where Dale is supervisory patrol agent
with the U.S. Border Patrol. They have also lived in Del Rio and Brownsville.
Carol has two teenagers: Cindy, 16, and Wayne, 14.
Jerry Wilson & Rita (Parks) live and work on their farm north of Ranger. Rita
owns a fabric shop in Eastland called Rita’s. They have two children, a boy
and a girl.
Sue Rodgers Rogers has returned to Ranger. She is now a licensed vocational
nurse at Ranger General Hospital after having completed LVN training at Cisco
Jr. College. Her husband Randall is custodial supervisor for the hospital. Sue
was widowed in 1968 when Mickey Craig died. They had two sons—Rodney, now 14,
and Alan, 12. Randall and Sue have a daughter Roxanne, 5.
Miss McEver says Rita Sipes Parnin, a teacher, has been living in San Antonio.
She has a 3-year-old boy and a baby girl.**
Johnny Pirkle works in an optical plant in Arlington.
Jim Burnett & Gay Nell (Blackwell) are back in Ranger after eight years in
Fort Worth, where he worked for General Dynamics. They now own and operate a
grocery store as well as a farm where they raise their own beef cattle. They
are parents of James David, 11, and Melissa Kaye, 8.
George Koenig, whose parents were among our former teachers, now is manager
of forestland for Burlington Northern, Inc. in northern Idaho. He and his
wife Sandra have a son Allen, 12. George’s father died in 1961. His mother
retired from teaching in December 1973 and married a professor at State
College, Pennsylvania.
Nellie Sue Vinson Warren does some substitute teaching in Sundown. Before the
advent of son Ryder, 7, and daughter Amber, 5, Nellie Sue taught English and
Spanish full time. Her husband Terry, who sells sub-surface oil field pumps,
has had a variety of assignments that have taken them to such places as Alberta,
Canada. This summer Terry suffered a heart attack that necessitated his having
open-heart surgery, but he is nor recuperating nicely.
H. Clay (Homer) Montgomery, CPA, owns and operates his own counting firm in
Denton in the First State Bank Building. He and his wife Donna reside in rural
Valley View with their four children: Clay, 11; Mike, 9, Becky, 6; and Darren,
1. Homer includes his phone number 817-726-3246 and says he would really like
to hear from classmates in the Fort Worth-Dallas area.
Mary K. Rush Faulkenberry, who has taught first grade in Seagraves for seven
years, reports herself enjoying her second year of “retirement.” Her husband
Dean is engaged in farming operations and is part owner of a cotton gin company.
Their son Joel, 13, and daughter Jana, 6, fill much of their time. Mary K. is
also quite active in various civic groups and also plans to start work on a
Master’s degree soon.
Barbara Craig Graff lives in Pampa, where her husband Charles is pastor of the
Methodist church. They have one child.
Sandra Cooper Laux died of a gunshot wound in the spring of 1974 while visiting
her parents in Ranger. Mrs. Cooper writes that Sandra and her husband Fred were
building a home in Connecticut. Sandra was working for a chemical company in New
York City and had traveled for her company to various locations in Europe.
Barbara Crabb Delany lives in Midland with her husband Don, a petroleum engineer,
and two daughters Shanna, 8, and Tracey, 6, and son Kelly, 2. The family
especially enjoys skiing trips to places like Vail and Aspen. Barbara writes
that housewife duties keep her busy, especially her “live-wire” two year old.
Linda Drennan Yarbrough is in Evant, Texas.
Charles White, water superintendent for the City of Ranger, and his wife Dorothy
Ann (Oliver) have a four-year-old son Rodney Howard. His wife is teaching at
Ranger Jr. High. Charles did a three-year hitch in the U.S. Army
Jimmie Stroud Williams is assistant manager of a day care center in Ranger. Her
husband Jackie manages one of the local service stations. They have three
children—Karrol Linn, 14; Richard Keith, 12; and Kamelia Kay, 9.
Doug Rogers is now market supervisor for 18 JRB stores. He also had a 4 ˝ year
tour of duty with the navy that took him to such places as Vietnam and Japan. He
and his wife Sharon (Brown) have a son Scott Douglas, 3 1/2, and a baby daughter
Jennifer Diane, born in July.
Bobby (M.R.) Fron has suffered a tragic loss this year. His wife Sharon died on
October 5. She was being treated for a bad case of flu and died unexpectedly.
Their children are a son Michael James, 7, and a daughter Tracy Michele, 4.
Bobby lives in Fort Worth.
Pat Graham Savage is taking some courses in night school at San Antonio College.
Her family moved to Converse, a small town outside SA. Her husband Smokey (C.D.)
commutes 25 miles one way to work. Their son Jay is now 13, and they have adopted
a son Joel, now 4, who was six months old when he joined the family.
Jack Hazard is superintendent of the street department for Sweetwater. He is
responsible for purchasing all of the city’s heavy equipment and travels a lot
on his job. He and his wife have a baby who will be one in December.
Glenda Rains, who has done a good job of keeping tabs on us, lives in Fort Worth,
where she works as a secretary.
Jimmy Needham and his wife and 11-year-old son live in Hempstead, where he owns
a printing shop. His wife also owns and operates a theater there. He owns another
theater in Navasota and sells real estate.
Sally Mendez Ward lives in Arlington, where her husband Russ is a foreman at
General Motors. They have a 14-yer-old boy and a 10-year-old girl.
Karen Killingsworth McBride and her husband Don live in Fort Worth, where he
works in a university bank. They have two adopted children.
Norma Gayle Emfinger Winchester and her husband Fielding and daughter Melissa
are reported living in Portland, Texas.
Robert Fergeson, an accountant with Frito-Lay in Dallas, resides in Lewisville
with his wife Lynda Jo and son Ray, 2 ˝.
Newsletter courtesy of Mike Herrington
**Apparently this information about Rita Sipes was inaccurate. It may be that
Miss McEver or I confused data from the families of two of her neighbor families:
Barbara Craig and Rita Sipes. Rita had only one child, Michael Shawn Franks, who
died in a farm construction accident in June 2010.