Battle Ground High School
Class of '74

Please take a few minutes to tell us something about yourself:  career, family, travel, hobbies, favorite high school memory, etc.  Send your submission to Candi (Noorlun) Ehrich.  Married alums, please send separate memory pages.  Please note if you prefer we NOT include your name, address, e-mail and phone information (or any part thereof) at the BGHS Class of '74 site.

Debbie  (Abernathy) Schaffer

• Wife:  Elaine

Let’s see, for my last 26 years . . .

    I finally joined the 90s and bought a computer.  I held off as long as possible.  I was so glad to find out about ClassMates.com (which is how Ann found the BGHS Class of ’74 Website).
    I am living in Ocean Park, Washington, about nine miles north of Long Beach.  I work in the office for Ferrellgas (propane company).  I was married last October to Jim Moore, so now I am Jeannene Ann Moore.  We have lived together for the last five years.  We are buying a house up here on the tip of the Penninsula.  We can hear the ocean from the deck of our little beach hut.
    Jim works for Safeway in Astoria.  I waited tables at Mario’s in Ocean Park and saw a few of my former classmates.  But it was time to conform and go to a 9-5 with weekends off as my daughter, Stevie Ann, is a teenager now, and we all know what hell that is!  I am now getting paid back for every single party I lied to my parents about. My sons, Aaron and Wesley Buck, are all grown up now. Aaron is a produce manager for Safeway, is married and has a daughter.  So, yes, I am a grandma now. Wesley is in the Army Rangers stationed at Fort Lewis. He’s been my joy in life along with my Schipperke dog, Trixy.
    What a great life I have: a wonderful husband and we are all healthy. We love to fish and go clamming.  Life is good. God has truly blessed me even if I did come out of the 70s.  It will always be a great time to remember.  Just think of all the great music and fun times of our youth.  I hope to be able to see everyone at the next reunion, as my brother just bought a house not too far from Lewisville Park!  And I will have a place to stay.
    If you come to the Penninsula, give me a call!  Stop in for coffee and to visit anytime.

     I went to work for the Federal Government during the summer of 74. I was a regional fire fighter. I was stationed in Wind River of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. I traveled over most of the western states fighting fires. I met my bride, Marion, while working in the woods during the summer of 1977. She had been assigned to my crew. We were married August 7, 1982. During my forest service days I went to school, graduating from Clark, then Central Washington University in 1979 with a degree in Elementary Ed. I later earned a Master's degree in the same field. Currently, I am completing my 25th year of teaching at the primary level in Battle Ground. I teach fifth grade at Captain Strong Elementary.
     I have no children, but I do have a dog named Rusty. He is a Wired Haired Pointing Griffon. Rusty's a versatile hunting dog. We spend way too much time hunting birds.
     My bride and I travel each summer. Usually we head to Alaska. I think I have gone to Alaska at least once a year since 1980. Other adventures have taken us to the usual places, Mexico and Hawaii. A couple of years ago we visited Ireland. We purchased a travel trailer in January and plan to follow the Oregon Trail this July. I hope you all are healthy and happy and have a great reunion. I hope to be able to attend one someday.
     Rob

Andy Beseda

• UPDATE! July 2011:  Andy announced that he and Debbie had their first grandchild on July 7, 2011. It's a boy! Jaxon Bradley Schuldt "checked in" at 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. Congratulations, Andy!
• Career:  Licensed Land Surveyor, Oregon and Washington. 
• Wife:  Debbie.  Medical Assistant, Vancouver Clinic.
• Daughters:  Rebecca and Elizabeth.
• Travel:  Oregon, Utah, California, Idaho, Hawaii, British Columbia, Mexico.
• Hobbies:  Basketball coach (daughter), hunting, fishing, hiking, gardening, cooking.
• Favorite high school memory:  I don't know if it's my favorite, but who can forget Joe Potts streaking through the cafeteria at lunch!  Playing football.  Don Cyr's class.  Senior marathon.

• Career: I am still working at UPS- 25 years next year! Only 7 more till retirement. I am not traveling anymore, which is great. Based in Portland.
  
• Family: As you can see I finally got married last year on Sept 19th to Trace Keesee. (Prairie High School Teacher and retired Coach) I am a new Grandma as of Feb 23, 2004. Thomas Paul, he is very cute, of course I will be bringing pictures. His Dad Ryan, is working at UPS part-time and Olive Garden and his Mom, Jessica is going to school at Clark. My oldest son Brent, is working for Axis Construction and works out of town a lot. I also have two cute Granddaughters that came with Trace, Claire and Grace who live in Spokane. Trace has two grown daughters also.
  
• Hobbies: Traveling around in our new Motor Home and golfing! Can't wait till retirement!

Debbie (Camp) Fisher
     This is a photo of our grandsons: Preston, age 2 (left), and Braydon, age 4 (right), with our daughter-in-law Melissa. She is a brave soul and wonderful mother. Melissa brought the boys home for the holidays all the way from Misawa, Japan, while our son Michael was in Iraq. They are very active little guys, but it just melts my heart to hear them say “Grandma.”
     After serving five months on his second tour flying F16s, we are glad to say Mike is back in Japan with his lovely family. Thank goodness we are able to keep in touch with them via WebCam.
     All four of our children are married now so there is hope for more grandchildren.

Hi, fellow classmates:
      Nancy and I have been married 24 years now and have two children, Sarah and Emily. Emily will be a senior this fall at La Center High School and is looking at attending Colorado State next year for an Animal Science degree. Sarah will be a junior at WSU and is working toward an Agriculture Teaching degree. Both girls enjoy horses so we have a pair for them. Nancy worked at La Center School District for 9 years until last June when she got a job with First Independent Mortgage. I worked for 18 years for Interstate Wood Product maintaining a fleet of trucks and trailers. While I was there I had the opportunity to build the Joint Venture a Bonneville Salt Flat speed truck. In 1996 I took a job with Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue, where I maintain all of the fire department's equipment.
      Most of our travels have been here in the Pacific Northwest. We have a travel trailer and enjoyed camping in it. But now that the girls are older, we don't have much time to go. I have had the opportunity to travel in Alaska on some jobs for a fire department consulting firm. We have a nice secluded place and enjoy staying home. Hope all is well.

• Worked for the last 14 years at Jenkon International in Vancouver but was laid off in February due to company downsizing.
• Am currently working as a consultant and plan on attending WSU starting in September to become a Web Developer.
• I have two boys, 22 and 21, who are graduates of Prairie and still live in Vancouver.
• I have been married for 26 years this September.
• Hobbies include horses, camping, computers and SCUBA diving.  I am also a 4-H leader and Clark County Fair 4-H Superintendent for the Horse Department.
• We have a website that shows off some of our critters, it is http://www.geocities.com/nelsongc

Laurel (Dahl) Miller - 1999

Hi, to All!
    My husband and I are still in Scio, Oregon, on our 10-acre farm.  We love it, and it's very peaceful and quiet out here.  I work with children as a child care specialist for South Albany High, and the teens there learn about early childhood development and parenting skills.  I also help at St. Mary's, a private daycare, and hope to next fall be working for Head Start with special needs children!  My husband Kevin works with Bechtel, one of the largest construction companies in the world, as an operating engineer.  Currently, he is working on lightrail at the airport.
    Last year we went to Cancun, Mexico, for our 15th anniversary and are going again next year.  The two years before that we traveled to Cobo San Lucas, Mexico. We hope soon to go to Alaska on a cruise and in two years go to Egypt to see the pyramids at the Gaza plateau.  We both love to travel and see new things and places a lot!
    Can't wait to see everyone!  God bless.

    I moved to Georgia two years ago in March.  I had been living in California for 11 years and decided that I had had enough of the rat race.  I wanted a better life for my kids so we moved next door to the parents of my significant other.  After going through a rough divorce that took me over two years to get, I met Bull, my significant other, and had two children late in life.  We have been together for over nine years now and the kids are Witney, age 8, and Thomas, age 6.  The kids love it out here and I have grown fond of it too.
    The town of Ocilla is very small.  We have a total of two stoplights.  The school is very good and the children enjoy it.  Bull has lots of family here so the kids have lots of family to spoil them.  Bull's uncle just became a superior court judge this year so we just mention his name and then people can figure out who we are!
    We are very active in our church.  I teach preschool Team Kids on Wednesday nights, the kids are active with the children's choir and have fun night every 6 weeks with their Wednesday night Team Kids class.  Bull helps out with the youth group and is looking forward to going to Super Wow with them this summer.
    Bull stayed in California up until the end of October of last year so it was a rough year and a half that we were apart.  He was a manager for a convenience store and didn't want to leave before he could collect on his retirement benefits.  I worked for a big HMO insurance company for eight years.  I went from a claims assistant to a data entry specialist to a claims processor to a coordinator (under supervisor and over processors), but I worked my job on site and then came home and telecommuted with the same company at night and on weekends for unlimited overtime.  I finally said I had had enough and wanted better for my kids so we moved.  There was just too much drugs and killings going on in California, and I didn't want my kids to get involved.
    I now work at the local day care facility and take care of babies age 6 weeks to a year.  I love it even though they wear me out.  I take care of anywhere from four to six babies at a time by myself.  I occasionally take care of the other age groups but I don't like to.  Babies are easier as they can't run away from you and they can't talk back.  They don't get into as much trouble either.
    Bull works at the Pizza Hut in Fitzgerald (14 miles away) part time as he needs to take two trips back to California for graduation and weddings of two of his close friends and then a week this summer with the church group.  I hope to be in Washington this summer for a well-deserved vacation and hopefully family reunion. I haven't been there in five years.  I was surprised to see the Web site on grads as I found it through ClassMates.com.  I wouldn't have recognized hardly anyone!!!!  I hope to be at the next reunion as I have missed every one of them so far.  Pretty sad on my part.
    Keep in touch.

Peggy (Eccleston) Ritter
    Just a quick update. Ken and I have been married 34 years. WOW!! We have 6 grandchildren: 3 boys and 3 girls. They all live in the area. They are so fun. Ken works for Shaver Transportation. We still live in Venersborg. We love to go camping and boating every summer. I am actually trying to learn to play the guitar. I think I started 20 years too late. Ken still plays his saxaphone in the community band. A favorite memory we were talking about was when the marching band and majorettes went to the Seafare parade in Seattle and hitched a ride with a taxi driver we named Fred. He drove us all over Seattle for free. It was a fun weekend.

Hi,
    I haven't been to a reunion and now it's 25 years later.  I decided I would attend the dinner and at least see how everyone else is fairing through life.  I'm currently employed with the Oregon Army National Guard as a Training Officer.  I finally made it to the rank of Major and will retire from the service in February 2000 with 25 years under my belt.
    Yes, I am a statistic.  I'm divorced and have two children.  My first recently graduated from Squalicom High School in Bellingham, Washington, and my son will be a junior at Evergreen High.
    I recently purchased a new home and spend most of my evenings pulling weeds and transporting my son back and forth to his friend's house.  Other than that I'm doing great.  It'll be nice to see everyone again.  God bless.

Gail (Egbert) Miller

    March 2009 - After almost 30 years of marriage I am now "spouse-less." It was a pretty intense time, but I have learned to embrace whatever circumstance I am given and try to find wisdom through the experiences!
    I have been a paraeducator at Alki Middle School teaching behaviorally challenged 6-8th graders for nine years. I'm now looking for a new career direction and that has been an interesting challenge. I am just starting an online business selling handmade items.
    Chad is now 29 and living in Tucson, Arizona.
    Jon is 27 and is a high school teacher, but is trying to become a firefighter. He and his wife, Mollie live in Renton, Washington, with my first (and only) grandchild, Genesis. She is 10 months old and makes my heart smile!
    Nathanael (Nate) is almost 25 and is a part-time firefighter with Clark County Fire and Rescue hoping to get hired full-time soon.
    My daughter, Katelyn is almost 23 and lives with me.
    Despite the challenges and painful journeys that have come my way (and there have been many. . .), I am amazingly content. God is incredibly good and has blessed me with children who love and serve Him and are fiercely protective of me and bring me unspeakable joy.

Rita (Fellows) Carlson
Herb Femling
Sherrie (Fergerson) Herzog
Janette Figone

• Wife:  Paula

Hello,
   Well, it's taken me 25 years to get around to attending my first reunion.  Should be interesting.

• Career(s):  I've been a painter, landscaper, woodworker, professional musician (actually made a living at this for seven years), and apartment manager.  Currently I have a home repair/handyman business.  Been doing this for about three years.  I recently passed the exam to become a California licensed contractor.
• Family:  My wife Valerie and I have been married for eleven years and have three children:  Bethany, 8; Andrea, 5; and Elizabeth, 2.  I also have two children from my first marriage.  Christina is 19, a '98 graduate of  Hudson's Bay.  My son David is 15 and will be a sophomore at Bay this year.  For anyone who remembers my mom as a grade school teacher or was in her third grade class, she is alive and well and still living in B.G.
• Misc:  Relocated to the Bay Area in '87 while playing music.  Met my wife in North Lake Tahoe. We don't get to travel much, although we drive up to B.G. every year for Christmas.  We purchased our first home three years ago.  This year we sold that one and bought a larger home.  For a time, we considered moving to the Vancouver area.  Home prices are getting so ridiculous here.  I guess my roots have grown pretty deep though.  That and perfect weather six months a year made it hard to want to leave.  I just have to face it.  I've become a Californian!

    Hobbies and interests include playing music, fixing up our house, computers, and camping.

New in 2009:   http://www.sixstringband.com

• Family:  Cindy and I have been married 25 years this September.
• Career:  I'm self-employed. I started Frohs Machine Service in 1999. I troubleshoot and repair CNC and manual machine tools.
• Travel:  Vegas, Tahoe, and Hawaii.
• Children:  Matt, 22, will get his degree through Eastern Washington University. Brandon, 20, is going to Western Washington University. Lindsey, 18, will be attending Washington State University this fall.
• Hobbies:  I still enjoy cars, trucks, motorcycles and quads.
• Favorite memory:  Road trips in the fastback to ball games and parties.

Gayle Gager
Mike Gammelgard
Larry Gardner
Lura (Gaylord) Taylor
Robert Gaynor
Shirley George
Renee' (Gilcrease) Riggins

• Family:  I've been married for 24 years to John Hadaller.  We have four children together:  Shawn, 23; Michelle, 22; Jason, 20; and Zach, 16.  Also I have one daughter-in-law; her name is Jamaica.  She's married to my son Shawn.
• Career:  I work for the Kelso School District as an instructional assistant at Kelso High School.
• Travel:  Mexico, Jamaica, Nassau, and Hawaii.
• Hobbies:  Reading, camping, traveling, and my family.

Patrick Hadaller

• Wife:  Cindy

Randy Hagedorn

    Hi there, everyone! Just a little update.
    Craig and I are going on 35 years of marriage as of October.
    Our son, Bill, is now working for the City of Woodland in the parks department.
    Our daughter, Kimberly, will be celebrating her third year of marriage to Corey on the 30th. She is still at Barnes and Noble as the Café Manager now. But here is the exciting news—She is going to make us GRANDPARENTS for the first time around Halloween!!!! So looking forward to spoiling a little one!!
    Craig is not working at WSDOT anymore. Got him to quit after 22 years, and he is a lot happier. He is driving truck when he wants to and works around the place fixing all the things that he has wanted to do but never had the time … so between the logging, cattle, fences and fields, he’s been pretty busy.
    Me, I am now working full time at Woodland Auto Supply as their cashier since last August, so I’ve been pretty busy myself.
    Hope everyone is doing great. Take care!

• Husband:  Bryan

    I would love to attend the next planned reunion.  Please keep me posted. I understand that there was indeed a 20th reunion.  I had contacted BGHS for information and was told that no reunion was planned.  I forgot about the 25th but heard from Loren Williams (after the fact) that it was held as well. Loren lives about 100 miles from me, in Providence, R.I.  He and I had a reunion this summer with Bob Gaynor who lives in Japan.  We had a great time together and amazingly enough, shared so many common interests, it was frightening.  It was as if 27 years just melted away.  We still got along like we used to and felt very comfortable with each other.
    I have been in e-chat communication with Kim and Vivi.  They have brought me up-to-date on their lives.  I just can't believe that Kim is a Grandmother!
    I will update the BGHS website.  I have to think about how to condense 27 years into a couple of paragraphs....so much water under the bridge. I had so much fun reading about fellow graduates.  I actually moved to Connecticut from San Francisco ten years ago to take care of my parents.  Turns out they are pretty darned independent and moved last April back to Vancouver, WA.  After graduating from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, I worked in Portland and ended up taking a job in Seattle, stayed in Seattle for 3 years, took a job in San Francisco, stayed in SF for 10 years and ultimately ended up in Connecticut.
    . . . It is great to be in touch with you.

    I am retired and spend time studying the Bible, swimming, quilting, embroidering and other crafty things. I married David Noble in July 2018. We have 4 daughters and 4 grandchildren. We like to spend a lot of time with the family. We love God and love to travel—just around Oregon so far, but in the future, sky’s the limit. We like camping, fishing, shooting, and David loves to fly.  

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Peter Jackson
Steve Jackson

Janet (James) Allan

• Married to Fred Boyd for 14 years.
• Two kids:  Jaime, 16; and Wade, 12.  We also have two cats, two dogs, and two rabbits.
• Moved back to Vancouver 1997 to escape the rat race in Seattle.
• Working at SWMC part time.  Fred works in Longview at Bud Clary Chevrolet.
• Hobbies:  Gardening, quilting, camping, skiing, biking, and traveling.  Fred enjoys collecting baseball memorabilia, restoring old gas pumps, restoring old cars, and duck hunting.
• Travel:  Western Caribbean Cruise in 1998 and Las Vegas (twice a year at least).  We lived on the East coast in 1987 for about two years.  We love amusement parks and have been to a lot of them throughout the U.S.
• Most recent project:  Building a new home in Ridgefield, which should be complete by Christmas, I hope!!!
• Favorite high school memory:  When the Hudson's Bay football team stole our big Tiger mascot from the entry and our football guys (and others too) went to get it back!!  Also, in the 9th grade, when Joe Taylor walked me to my bus and gave me my first love note.  I still have it.

Loni Kallinen
David Kandoll
Kristine (Karvonen) Johnson
Bill Kaupilla
Debra (Keitth) Fandrich
Jim Kellum
Jan A.K. (Kennedy) Conley
Daniel Kivinen
Kay (Kopman) Sattler

Cecee Landacre
Carla (Landsverk) Theis
Janet (Lane) Patterson
Marianne Larkins  Bob Layko
Chuck Le Count
Gale Lingle
Vickie (Lowry) Grek

July 2004
    I am currently living in Thailand, but in the US for about six weeks for vacation and work. I was in Battle Ground two weeks ago but am now on the road working. I don't think I am in a position to assist with the reunion at this time and will not be able to attend this one.
    Sorry, maybe the next one.
Regards,
    Randy

1999
    I am still married to Cathy, my wife of 22 years.  We have two girls.   Meri, who is 19, is majoring in Biology at UC San Diego.  She wants to pursue a career in the area of medicine.  Sheena is 17 and has one more year of high school to go.  She doesn't know where she will go to school, but it will be a place that is free and artistic.
    Cathy has been a full-time mother and wife.  We have been fortunate to have lived the lifestyle of our parents.  A career soccer mom—nothing wrong with this in our judgment.
    I have worked for Dole Food Company in the Quality Control area since graduating from college.  My job has allowed me to live in Hawaii, Thailand, Philippines, and California.  It has also allowed me to travel extensively throughout Asia, including China and other parts of the world.  I have become an expert in the canning of pineapple and other fruit.  I have been working extensively the past three years on "Dole Fruit Bowls," one of our new products.  I hope you have had a chance to try it.
    I am looking forward to seeing some very old friends at the reunion.  This will be my first.

• Wife:  Michelle

We look forward to seeing everyone at the reunion.
Dennis & Judy Williams

To view all properties for sale in Clark County including aerial photos, go to my website at www.denniswilliams.com

If you know of anyone thinking about selling or buying a house please let us know. We love your referrals!

Darrell Neal
Julie (Nielson) Walters
Brian Nelson

Hi,
    Where do I begin?  I am single (still)!  I have two very beautiful daughters:  Jessica is 22 and Melissa is 17.  I manage the Thriftway store in Camas.  I have been employed for Danielson Thriftway for 15 years.
    As far as interests, I love to snow ski, although I don't go as much as I'd like to.  Every other summer about ten girls get together and go to Hawaii for a couple of weeks.  I take both of my daughters, and my sisters and some friends go as well.
    All of my family are still alive and well and living in Vancouver.  My best friend is Vickie (Pierce) Gaines.  I have a new man in my life; his name is Jay Altenhofen. 

(2004)
I became a Grandma on November 3, 2002. Alyvia Hayden Embree is the daughter of my oldest daughter Jessica and her husband Doug. Alyvia is my pride and joy and looks a lot like her Nana, don't you think? Jessica just found out she is expecting again in January!

Check out the photo of Gayle and Alyvia on the Little Tigers page.

Cindy (Oakes) Phillips
Tim O'Connell
Kevin O'Grady

Georgia Packard
Judy (Jorgensen) Palodichuk
Terry Parker
Teresa (Parsons) Willmschen

    My wife Trudie and I are enjoying the empty nest years.  Josh, our oldest, graduated from UW and is gainfully employed in the Seattle area.  Ryan has recently joined the Marines in aviation.  Last but not least, Nick is working and going to Clark College.  He is still at home but only for refueling and recharging purposes.
    I own a financial planning practice in Vancouver, and Trudie works in support enforcement with the State.  We have been fortunate to do quite a bit of travel but our main avenue of escape has been camping and our place at the beach. 

Kay (Penn) Vail
    Andy and I have been married for ten years. He is my best friend. Kryssi is a legal secretary for the prosecutor's office and has two beautiful girls: Sierra, 7, and Kayli, 5. They are the light of my life. The girls and I took a trip to the Dominican Republic to visit their dad and his family last year. It is a beautiful country that we got to appreciate even more because we were locals. For the cigar smokers, you will appreciate that I bought a box of Macanudos and Arturo Fuentes for 25.00 per box.
    Andy and I have made a yearly trip to Mexico. We love the sunshine and for me it is the only way to deal with our gray winters. This next year we will be going to Mexico, St. Thomas and Ireland. The trip to Ireland will be made with my new sister. We just found each other. She was given up at birth for adoption. Nina is forty four and a lawyer in San Francisco. She was the miracle of my bio dad and an affair he had. Nina and I will be taking our fathers ashes home to rest.
    My son Brett is married and working for Leopold. He travels with his job and is so busy we communicate by email. Brett and his wife have a new puppy, Gunner.
    My hobbies stay the same reading, boating and enjoying life.
    I still work at Juvenile Court and love my job as a Probation Officer. There are heartaches but enough rewards to keep me going.
    Hope to see all of you!

Check out a close-up of Kay's "grandma photo" on the Little Tigers page.

A lot seems to have happened in the last five years.  Here are some of our highlights:
Husband:
About four years ago Nick was involved in a very serious accident.  He was driving our mini-van at noon taking the ramp from Ross Island Bridge onto I-5 when another car merged into his lane.  It had rained that day for the first time in a few weeks so when he swerved and hit the gravel on the side of the road, he proceeded to skid.  If you know the ramp, it runs parallel to I-5 and is probably 50-feet high at the place where the accident occurred.  He wasn't wearing his seatbelt, of course, and when he went off the road the van rolled, caught in some blackberry bushes and was propelled thru the air to land on its top blocking the two center lanes of I-5.  He walked away with bruised ribs.  The policeman couldn't believe he walked away; the cop told me that it was a miracle he was alive.  And it was.  Of course, I was in Houston, at a board meeting.  When I came back, he wanted to sell our business and buy a farm.  Oh my god!  I moved away from the farm for a reason and I'm not about to go back.
Business:
So, we started a journey.  We hired a business coach who was affiliated with a company in California that held a program called the "Entrepreneurial Edge," a seven-month program.  Nick and I did that program for two years and I did one year of their "mastery" program.  It was kind of fun, traveling to CA every month, gave us the excuse to do some site seeing and family quick trips to CA.  But now we're coaching with a woman who is in our community and it is working very well.  Our business has doubled in the last year.  I have been moving away from the day-to-day management and accounting end of our business into the Sales and Marketing.  My job now is to be on the phone or in front of people every hour of every day.  It's fun and what girl doesn't love the opportunity to be on the phone all day.  That's where we are today.  We still do photography (commercial only, no portraits, please!) and have added graphic design, printing and website development to our list of services.  Check out our website at www.photo-design.com.
Kids:
    Maria (20)
Maria was involved with a group called Amigos de las Americas and traveled to Brazil for eight weeks one summer and Paraguay the next year for eight weeks.  I joined the board and served as their president for a term and a half after she left the program.  It was great.  Got to travel to Houston four to five times and meet some extraordinary people from all over the country.  It's a great program and I encourage anyone who has a child 16 or older who has one or more years of Spanish to look them up at amigoslink.org or to call me.  I could talk about it all day.
    BJ (17)
BJ is attending Benson High School.  He's interested in becoming an airline mechanic like his grandfather, and Benson has some great programs to give him a head start.  Of course, I'm in favor of his working for an airline so his mom can fly for free............  He's on track to join the Navy next summer, has a job at UPS till then.
    Sophie (7)
And then there's Sophie, our 7-year-old—the princess, the light of her father's eye.  It's great to have her now when we can enjoy her so much.  She learned how to ride a two-wheeler this summer and joins us when we do our downtown jaunts over the Hawthorne Bridge to the Riverplace Athletic Club where we are members.
Me:
Same old story, still having a happy ending every day.  Looking forward to the reunion, can't wait to see you all. 

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Delores (Rabitoy) Becker
Teresa Rogenton
Shari (Rea) Fenton
Marjorie Redjou
Betty (Reed) Dallman
Sue Rich
Beverly (Richards) Turner
Pam (Ridgeway) Age
Deena (Riggens) Weilund
Jim Riggins
John Rinta 

Sandy (Saddoris) Scott
Renee Santistevan
David Santos
Naomi (Sarkela) Tapio
James Sarkkinen

Husband:  Michael Ayers
Children:  Jordan 9, Lindsey 7 (update?)     Not much changed since our last reunion.  I did end my self-imposed retirement and returned to work full-time last year, hated it, quit, and now work part-time for Portland Youth Philharmonic—too many hobbies and responsibilities to squeeze in full-time work.  This includes our beach house where we relax every month and party every summer, golfing, my incessant crafting and decorating, the kids, computers, and the Internet—me being a self-admitted junkie.  This summer we spent our vacation in lavish style in San Diego, where we visited relatives and friends. 

Connie (Siemssen) Huse 

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Laury (Silva) Giffin
    I am still married to Bill but he is no longer in real estate. My son Clay just graduated form the University of Washington and is going to continue with school for two more years in Seattle. My son Reed is 16 and goes to Ridgefield High School. I still have my little business doing cosmetic tattooing and electrolysis; although, I am learning about investing on the side.
    I took both of my sons to the Portuguese Azores Islands to see where all of my family came from. I have also traveled to New York, Washington DC, and take yearly trips to California.

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Peggy Slayton
Keith Smith
Stephanie Smith
Janice Smithline
Karen Snelson
Reginald Solomon

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Melodie (Spiva) Jones
    I have been married to Gary Jones for 18 years. Our son Wyatt (14) loves playing hockey (his position: goalie). Our daughter Morgan (9) has been learning how to Irish dance. I have been working as a graphic artist for a printer in Tustin, California, for the past 4 years, along with working freelance for the past 15 years. I enjoy reading and scrapbooking. As a family, we enjoy camping and participating in the local YMCA Parent/Child program.

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Renee Santistevan
Mark Siebert
Mark Stanley
Stan Stanley
Juanita (Smith) Stark

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Danita (Stephens) Waldal
    My husband and I now are living in the Tri Cities. We have lived here before and are thrilled to be back. We both work for Rockford Home Inc.: Chuck as the project foreman, and I sell new homes. Rockford Homes is a home builder out of Ridgefield, Washington. We will stay here until he decides to move us to another area (be it Idaho, Arizona, Montana, etc.).
    We have done a lot of traveling. Our next trip will be a cruise to Aruba for our 29th anniversary. We have been into motorcycles. I am taking a three-day class here so that I can get my endorsement and then my own bike.
    Both our sons were married last summer, and Shawna was divorced. We have no grandkids, and it will be awhile yet. The boys live in Vancouver, and Shawna has a place in the Tri Cities. She is going to CBC for a degree in business management.     Life is good!

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Dennis Stephensen 

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Kim (Stith) Hixson
    My life has changed a great deal in the last ten years. Steve and I will celebrate our 35th anniversary this summer. We now live north of Yakima on a small farm in a beautiful valley. We are addicted to the beautiful weather here, but still make trips to the "west side" to visit our only daughter, her husband, and grandchildren. We have our first granddaughter who is a year old this spring - she is adorable, of course. She joins our two beautiful step granddaughters who are 11 and 13 this year. It is so much fun to watch the teen age years through grandma eyes! We still have our horses and ride and compete in dressage. We moved to Yakima when I was recruited for the position of Finance Manager for Yakima Valley Libraries. Last year, the Library Trustees appointed me Interim Director of the Library District. I am on my way to complete my Masters in Library Information Science and will continue on as the Director after that. If you are in Yakima, don't hesitate to stop in and say hello. Thank you to everyone who is working to put the reunion together, and to those who maintain the connections through the website. Happy 35th to all.

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Lorainne Strending
Roberta Strong

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Randy Stuart

• Wife:  Denise

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Sheila (Studer) Sedlak 

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Vivian (Sutton) Witt

I can not believe it has been 30 years . . .

    I am married to Vince Witt and have been for over 28 years. I have worked for Battle Ground School District for almost 18 years, currently as an administrative secretary. Vince works for Tidewater Barge Lines. He enjoys fishing and hunting, while I like to garage sale and refinish old furniture.
    We have two sons. Casey is 27 years old and is a Civil Engineer for Lawson Land Services. On the weekend, he works for Wayne's Saw Shop in Amboy as a mechanic. Lucas is 25 years old and volunteers in the Child Care area of the Orchards YMCA. This last year, he has been learning to live in an apartment by himself and is really doing quite well. I am very proud of both of my sons.

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Cheryl (Swanson) Morris - 1999
    One of my most recurring school memories is Mr. Peru in Choir.  He taught us to appreciate musicals and older movie themes, that Tom Jones wouldn't last long singing because of how he used his vocal chords, and that we could sound great as a choir if we would practice, practice, practice.

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Stan Syverson
Steve Syverson

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Robert Talbert
    (1999) Left Saudi Arabia March 1998. Now live in Reno, NV.  Spent those eight years traveling the world.  Have seen most of the world, including Bali, Nepal, Russia, Australia, Tibet, India, Korea, Japan, England, Germany, . . . Getting the bug to travel again.  Have been very fortunate.
    Now live in Reno, NV (Come on Down!). Will be married to Kari Olson of Chippewa Falls, WI, by the time I see y'all.

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Laurie (Talbert) Wambaugh

    Laurie connected with us through Classmates.com and is interested in possibly joining us at the next reunion in 2004. Laurie spent most of her high school years at BGHS before moving to Portland with her father late in her junior year. She is very happily married to her hubby of 20 years, and shares proudly about a "wonderful" son, who will celebrate his 18th birthday in the near future.

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Dean Tapani

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Joe Taylor

    My life is in a transition period. I was married for almost 20 years, and my wife set me free May 24, 2004. I'm doing well spiritually and am looking forward to seeing all of you '74 grads.
    I am building kitchen cabinets for a couple of contractors and would like to thank Pat Coughlin for helping me make the transition from building furniture to cabinets.
    I'm still friends with Jeff Ellertson, and we have had a good time buying and selling mobile homes on the side.
    I sponsor a basketball team and play City League with my 24-year-old son. We also play on the same softball team—a team I've been on for 23 years.
    My most memorable high school moments are many. The ones I can talk abut are few. We were so fun.
Love you guys,
    Joe
P.S. Dawn, I've changed my mind about spending the golden years with you. Your husband didn't take it so well.

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Chaun Teague
Margie (Thompson) Cummings
Tim Thompson
Toby Tobias 
Peter Townsend
Peggy (Tribe) Zimmerman
Debbie (Turner) Mitchell
Sue (Turon) Powell
Lucky Turpeinen
Linda Turpenning

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Steve Updike
Diane Uskoski

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Marcus VanBuskirk - 2019

    Hard to believe it’s been five years since our last reunion already. Time flies!!!
    In the past five years, not much has changed. Still working and living life one day at a time. Due to cutbacks in our workforce(s), I’ve changed jobs a couple of times. After going back to school and graduating in 2006, I went to work as a maintenance technician at a meat processing plant (B and D Foods) here in Boise, where we specialized in fully cooked, bite-sized chicken, beef and pork products (think chicken nuggets!). After nine years there, we had a new director of operations take over, who promptly got rid of all of the middle and lower management people, myself included. After about six months of unemployment (I was enjoying the time off), I landed another maintenance position at the Go-Go Squeeze apple sauce plant in Nampa, Idaho. Then, once again, we had a shake-up in our workforce, and again I was looking for work. The time off gave me a little taste of the retirement life, and I had a tough time talking myself into going back to work. But the bills still needed to be paid, so I went back to searching for work again. I had a short stint at another packaging facility as a maintenance man, which went nowhere fast, then I found a home at a place called RoofCo. in Caldwell, Idaho. We manufacture custom flashings and sheet metal roof trim. I’m the only maintenance man in this small “mom and pop” shop, and I keep quite busy keeping all of the equipment running. I love the work, and I have the opportunity to explore my creativity a little bit. I’m currently building a couple 55-ton hydraulic presses that I designed, engineered and built from scratch. I find great satisfaction in building things, and this job gives me lots of opportunity to do that. I plan to finish out my career there. The hours can get a little tiring at times (I’m usually up between 3:00 and 3:30 AM) in order to be to work by 5 AM, after a 35-minute commute. But I have afternoons to do what I want.
    My wife, Phyllis, finished her career as an educator and librarian in September and decided to retire. She is loving retired life and spends her days working around home and doing volunteer work. We enjoy time together antiquing, going to estate sales, enjoying music, gardening and riding our motorcycle. Our kids are all busy with their lives, and we don’t get to see much of them but do enjoy the time we do get to spend with them and our 11 grandchildren. We volunteer regularly at the Idaho Botanical Garden, where we’ve seen quite a few concerts, including Neil Young, Santana, Crosby Still & Nash, Paul Simon and many others.
    This past summer we attended the nationally famous Harmonica Festival in Yellow Pine, Idaho. What an adventure! We’ve also made trips around Idaho and Utah when we’ve had time.
    With so many changes in employment, I haven’t been able to accumulate much vacation time. The last time we made it to Washington was five years ago when we came down for the 40-year reunion. But this year things are back on track and we are looking forward to being there and seeing everyone again.

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Kathy (Van Meter) Nein
William Van Meter

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Carolynn (Vassar) Lindeman - 2009

• Careers:
  
  • Teacher in Vancouver School District for 29 years. Currently at Skyview High School (Phys. Ed.).
  • Daughter Taylor Lindeman started teaching at Hockinson High School this last year (PE/Health) — following in Mom's footsteps coaching volleyball and softball.
  • Husband Denny building yachts for Christensen Shipyards.
• Hobbies:
  • White water rafting on the Deschutes.
  • Getting ready for daughter's wedding, summer of 2010.
• Memory:
  • Fun times when Sib and I TA'ed for Karen (Hill) Morgan.

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Brenda (Veitenheimer) Le Count
Margaret Veith
Rachel (Veith) Gana

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Floyd Vernon

• Family: Married Terri Hust, BGHS Class of '76; two sons: Duane and Chris; five grandchildren
• Career: Started work in cedar wood mill, 14 years with Vanalco; currently, 14 years with Cemex as a concrete batchman
• Hobbies: Wheelin' in the sand and grandkids

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Rolf Volgamore 

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Lauren Waliezer

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Cindy (Wallway) Leach
Scott Walz
Dan Ward

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Vickie (Ward) Hagedorn     
    Hey, Class of 74! Randy and I won't be making it to the reunion this year. Our summer is quite full and one more trip just wasn't in the cards.
    A lot has happened since we visited with some of you five years ago. Our youngest daughter Erin married an United States Marine (Bobby) and together they gave us the greatest gift of a beautiful granddaughter. She is 19 months and just the love of our life (we are now known as Nana and Papa)! In fact we will be visiting Erin and Lacey at the end of August in North Carolina where our son-in-law is currently stationed. He will be off in Yuma, AZ doing maneuvers.
    Speaking of AZ our oldest daughter (Emily) is now living in Phoenix and working for an independent claims adjuster. She loves her life in the sun.
    As for Randy and I, well, we built our dream home two years ago in Thompson Falls, Montana on 20 acres. It is a large log home and you can get details about it from Debbie (Camp) Fisher who recently visited with her husband Larry or Margie (Thompson) Cummings who acted as our decorater.
    Randy was able to retire this past February after 30 years with QWEST Communications and promptly went to work for his Uncle who owns the mill that manufactured the logs for our home. Between his new job, fishing, hunting, and golfing he has little free time. However, we do manage to sneak in some travel here and there (NC; AZ; Maui; Mayfield Lake and Ocean Park, WA; OR and Whitefish, MT) and enjoy our time together. I have kept busy with a book club, bowling league and landscaping our yard these past couple of years.
    I hope all of you have a great time at the big doings. Hats off to the committee for all of their hard work. If you would like to contact Randy or myself you can email us at: vicrantwo@msn.com and if you are ever in the NW corner of MT please look us up. We would love to see you!

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Jeff Weber - 1999

    Still married to wife Sandy of 23 years.  Three kids:  Adam, 22; Jaime, 20; and Mandy, 17.

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Patty (Weisenborn) Akerill - 1999

• Husband:  Ken.
• Children:  Brandon James, 20; Nicholas Lee, 19; Steven William, 11; and Kenny James Jr., 10.

    In the midst of building a house with two boys of my own and two step sons.  I lost my job after 16 years at Blue Bell Potato Chip.  We closed down, but I worked till the last day:  June 5, 1995.  Two weeks later I took the flagger test, which I passed, and the next day I went to work for Tapani Underground.  I worked there till December of that year (laid off).  I was eligible for benefits to go back to college through the Private Industry Council, so I did 18 months later.  I graduated with a 3.57 GPA.  I was very proud of myself.  This was in June of 1997.  Well, then the resumes went out.  No job.  No experience.  So I worked for a friend at the LC Video Store, where I met a member who offered me a better paying job as a CNA (certified nurses assistant) in a foster home.  I worked nine months and my sister called with a job offer at Family Medicine.  We are the three-year residency program for physicians who want to establish a family practice.  I love it!  I started in medical records as the runner, and after ten months was offered a promotion with a $2.39 raise as a scheduling coordinator.  SWMC will pay for me to go back to school and with this success now, I may not stop.  I want to be a massage therapist with an offer for my own shop in LaCenter.  This is my goal.  Hopefully by the 30-year reunion.  This will be my greatest success. 

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Donald A. Wellman

• My wife Pam and I have three boys.  I'm still working in construction.

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Donna Wheeler

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Mary Jane Wilkinson

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Guy Williams 

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Loren Williams
Loren's FutureWorld Blog

Star Williams 
Dan Willmschen

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Frank Wills
    Hi,
     I was on my computer this morning and ran across the website for the Class of 1974.  Man, what a shock to my system—35-year reunion. Wow! I'm still in shock.
     I am employed nowadays at the Nutter Corporation as a heavy equipment operator. My wife, JoJean, and I have no children; however, we do have some very special nieces and nephews that we love very much.  Our two Dobermans (Boss & Jacoby), they are our babies :-)  We love camping, hunting, fishing, working on our property, and just being US.
    Have a great day! 

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Gary Winters
Hello to all,
   Very busy these days. Been working my tail off, might keep up with the tax man. Keeping up with what will make a new day better than the last.
   I will always be a Battle Ground Tiger.
   Hope everything is fine and dandy with everyone. Might not be at the 35th cause I’m scheduled to be out of town on that date,
   Kindest regards,
Gary Winters

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Eric Wise
Rebecca (Wisner) Fridrichsen
David Woodard
Don Woodhouse
Dan Weirsma 
John F. Woodruff

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John Yost
Susan Young

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Cindy Zintz

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In a quiet place of remembering, these friends are a chapter in our lives.  A moment shared, or just a smile, makes them always a part of us.  We remember them with certain fondness and joy in having known them.   Rick Alsteen Jim Annis Delton Bellomy Gary Cobb Nelson Copeland Jeannette (Dewey) Francis Steve Elder Joe Emineth David Evans Charles Finnegan Terry Frazier Paul Goff Rock Goldsmith Todd Hamann Sue Harper Pam (Holter) Borden Ward Hust Steve Irwin Tom Johansen Doris (Jones) Lund Bill Kauppila Shannon Marler Van Matson Doneta (McClellan) Christensen Dan McDaniel Sue (Merriman) Nelson Ronald Murphy Linda (Neal) Barnes Tim O'Connell Delores (Rabitoy) Becker Shari (Rea) Fenton Jim Roeske David Rogers Patty (Romey) Wallway Dave Santos Carl Savage Scott Schrader Gary Smith Margie (Thompson/Lawson) Cummings Gayle Waser Dean Yankee Robert Zawerucha