As the years have raced by I have come to recognize there is something unique and special about the PHS Class of 1965. It might be partly the result of how the class evolved. As pointed out above we started out with 748 students coming from several Junior High Schools. The between the 1963-64 school year and the 1864-65 year some 203 members of our class (as did a similar number from SoHo and my steady girl was one of them) transferred to a new high school (SRHS).
As a result of this movement of bodies (students) people thought students would form a new allegiance and connection at the new school. Bad thinking, I’d say. Old friendships die harder than new ones are easily formed. For more common-sense reasons than I care to go into the folks who officially transferred out of our class and attended a different school never broke their emotional and relational ties with the PHS Class of 1965 nor did we who remained at PHS with them. In my mind it has something to do with being bound together at a deeper level than just academics. Something that perhaps we should give credit for to our “spirit leaders” (Cheerleaders - it is explained later).
Again, my steady girl, Susan Warren, was one of those affected by those transfers . . .albeit she transferred from SoHo to SRHS but attended Southmore Junior High. Gets confusing doesn't it. She would tell me years later as we attended my PHS reunions, “I think I know more people here than you.” She may well have been right. At any rate she felt right at home at my reunions and never attended a SRHS reunion. Susan actually talked me into attending my very first reunion. She recognized then that strange connection we as a Class have.
For a long time, I thought it was only me until at one of our last reunions, 45th I think I mentioned it in a conversation on the balcony outside our hospitality room with Patrice Schexnayder, Sarah (Ruth) Walker-Palmer and my late wife Susan. (Wow, it just occurred to me that I am the last person in that group still living.) We all expressed similar feelings but couldn’t pinpoint any one thing that would account for it.
Patrice Schexnayder, a fellow PHS Class of 1965 graduate used to talk about what we perceived as the uniqueness of our class and what made it unique. We both felt that there were a lot of reasons but probably the overarching reason was the homogeneous nature of our class regarding our families and community. I often thought regarding our class the chant “we are family” was more than a chant. Susan once told me that our class reunions had more of a family reunion feel than a class. I think in the ways that really matter the Class of 1965 is more a family than a high school graduating class.
Over the years, as I have spoken with classmates, seen your photos, heard your stories and discovered what you value and believe, I have concluded that we all experienced life pretty much the same way. I’ve learned that your home was not that different from mine. Same pictures on our walls, same style of furniture, mom’s making our clothes (they probably knew each other from Hancock’s). Class structure was largely artificial. Patrice would say, “It’s because we were a homogeneous group” and I would reply, “Yep, we were kind of like a family.”
At any rate somewhere along the way we developed a bond that was broader than academic and deeper that social. I can still hear Paula Maddox and John Crocker and the rest of the football cheerleaders admonish us at Pep Rallies in the boy's gym with cheers such as “I’ve got spirit how about you.” Sometimes it was even a “spirit” competition between classes. BTW - We did have the prettiest girl cheerleaders, and the guy were . . . ok.
Well, we did have a spirit, and I don’t mean the exuberance of a pep rally. By the time 1965 rolled around we had quietly and unknowing developed what I refer to as the PHS Class of 1965 Spirit. Something happened from the day when 748 new students individually stepped onto the campus of the Pasadena High School that resulted in 455 students walking off of a platform at the Old High School Football stadium with a spiritual bond that would last a lifetime.
Oh, to be sure that day in May of 1965 was the day we went out to assume a roll in a greater society but for a high percentage of us the threads we wove together have proven to be resilient and strong. These connections were so tightly woven that even time and distance could not break them. So, I have concluded that what makes the PHS Class of 1965 remarkable is a spiritual connection . . . . like family . . . . it is where I belong . . . . it is my home. PHS is the place where it was nurtured but it is the Class of 1965 to which I belong. The place is the peg, but it was my peers that made it a special group with great value for my life.
Well, I still can’t define it but I thank God for it. For all of us the journey was not long but for others of us it has been long and a handful of us are still sharing the journey . . . Thank you PHS Class of 1965 for being uniquely you because in doing so you helped make us who we are.
IF YOUR A MEMBER OF THE PHS CLASS OF 1965 (or have any of the other relationships with the PHS class of 965 mentioned above) FEEL FREE TO ADD YOUR COMMENTS AND SHARE ANY MEMORIES IN THE COMMENTS.
We do like to hear from old friends.
