Rodney William Ferguson, June 26, 1942 - March 20, 2019

Rodney, Point Arena High School Class of 1960

Randi Olsen and Clarice Sorensen

Randi Olsen and Clarice Sorensen left Point Arena after graduation from high school in 1960.  Clarice went to San Mateo Community College and then worked for Crocker National Bank in San Mateo, CA.  Randi joined the US Army and after basic and advanced training at Fort Ord, CA he was sent to Germany where he was a special weapons specialist. 

Clarice and Randi were married in Point Arena in 1962. After their wedding Randi returned to Germany where Clarice joined him a few months later.  This is where their dream of traveling together throughout the world began coming together. 

After Randi completed his service they returned to the US where Randi worked for Pacific Telephone and AT&T.  He retired from Pacific Telephone as the Director of Engineering Technology for California and Nevada in 1986.  For the most part Clarice was a stay-at-home mother of two children, Chris and Brian.  Chris (age 47) now calls Australia home, and he and his wife, Lisa, have three children.  Brian (age 43) lives in Oklahoma where he and his wife, Becky, have four children.  Clarice and Randi will both tell you that their greatest accomplishment in life has been getting both of the boys through their respective universities and on their own without student loans to pay back.

Randi with help from Clarice formed an international consulting business after retiring from the Bell System. They have worked in, traveled to or lived in 56 foreign countries.  This “need to travel” continues today, and they plan to travel to this reunion in their RV from Florida where their permanent home is located. 

When Randi and Clarice returned to the US they moved on to their 38’ sailboat, Credence, and spent 8 years sailing around the US.  They also purchased a small ocean rescue business in Florida and managed that for 8 years.  Randi and Clarice spent five of those years working as volunteers at a boys’ home in Florida and received national recognition for the work they did with troubled youth.  Clarice is an accomplished genealogist and has researched family records going back to the 1600’s.

Last year they spent three months traveling in Canada, Alaska and across the US.  The plans they have for the coming years are to continue traveling as long as God will give them the ability to do so.  They have been married 53 years and are looking forward to many more years together.

Gloria (Klug) Sparks - Class of 1960

I’ve been through a lot this year health wise. I have congestive heart failure. I have diabetes but under control. No shots. Just watch what I eat. I lost 70 pounds. Had a tooth pulled. Went off my (medicine) a few days. It finally stopped bleeding.


Other than that I’m fine.

My husband Allen and I have been married 40 years.

My sister is my closest friend, Debbie. She’s been fighting cancer for years. Still is. A tumor they can’t operate on.

My youngest brother lives about one mile from me. Took care of my Mom for years and she passed away. I think she’s been gone four years now. I lost my Dad 20 years ago.

Just have a cat. Couldn’t have children, lost them all, but we’re happy anyway. I have nephews.

I like to shop, have tons of (necklaces). I like them different. Love pusses. Shop at TJ Max.

I don’t use the Internet.

Sorry about my writing. I do think of all of my friends from school. Miss you all.


Gloria

We'll miss you too, Gloria. Gloria's husband Allen phoned me the sad news that Gloria lost her battle with illness. 

Carol (Piper) Canevari - Class of 1960

I probably will not be attending the reunion as I have been slammed with some health issues that has left me with little interest in traveling now. Acute pericarditis and pneumonia.


Really hope everyone has a great time.

As for my biography, all I have to say is that my husband of 49 and a half years and I live on our ranch near Dairy, Oregon. We have 2 children, Jon and Theresa.

Carole Canevari

Sam Oglesby - Class of 1960

Fellow Pirates,

Wow, 50 years!

I moved to Point Arena, along with the rest of my family in September 1954 ready to start the 7th grade. There were previous stops (reverse chronological order), 6th grade, Bayside, CA, 5th grade, Yokohama, Japan, 4th grade split between Okinawa and Eureka. 3rd grade in Indiana, 2nd, Marysville and 1st, Willows (where I was born). My 5 years in Point Arena qualifies it as my hometown, this is where I grew up.

I left PA after one week as a member of the Senior Class and moved to Cambria where I moved from 3rd string center to 1st string Quarterback when the starter broke his arm. I also played varsity Basketball on what may have been the worst team in the history of High School basketball-but we did win a game.

At Pomona College, I played Freshman Football and Wrestled for 3 seasons. I participated briefly in student government watched television, forgot to study and met my future wife, Jane. After graduation I attended Sacramento State College for 3 semesters and then joined the Army to avoid the draft.

After Basic and Advanced training I attended Artillery OCS spending 20 of 26 weeks on restriction, but I did graduate. The Army decided, probably because of my good attitude that I should jump out of airplanes. Fortunately, with the help of gravity, I made it to the ground each of my 9 jumps. From Jump School I went to the 6th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, NC. Trained for a while got married to Jane and then went to Viet Nam and ran an artillery fire direction center for a year. Luck was on my side and I got to come home without a purple heart.

Starting in 1968 I attended 2 more years of graduate school and then on to 4 years of Dental School in San Francisco. I was honored to serve as Class President and Student Body President as well as being elected by the faculty to the National Dental Honor Society.

I practiced General Dentistry in Sebastopol for 4 years and then attended an Endodontic (root canal) Residency Program at USC for 2 years. (At this point, 1980, Jane figured out that I had only worked for 4 of the last 20 years-she didn’t count Army time. Not bad until I realized that classmates who had gone into the military after high school were now ready to retire, I was just ready to start working.)

So I had a clinical practice for 20 years in Orange County, then taught full time at USC for 7 years. During that time I was President of the Southern California Association of Endodontists, of the California State Association of Endodontists, and of the Faculty Assembly of the USC Dental School. I also served 3 years on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Endodontists.

Somewhere in all of this I ran some marathons and ultramarathons, did some target shooting, read a book a week (mostly mysteries), and try to get within 10 pounds of my high school weight. I made it to the top of Mt. Whitney (on the 4th or 5th try). I spend time with my 2 daughters and 2 grandchildren as well with Jane, my wife of now 43 years. My military experience was reactivated in 2001 and I currently serve in the California State Military Reserve as a Colonel.

OK, almost time to retire. So I retired from USC (still a part time Clinical Professor of Endodontics), and took a job, in 2008, as a Supervising Dentist with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Currently I am working in Ione, CA.

I remember fondly my friends and my time at Point Arena Union High School. It was a great place, and the 1950s were a great time to grow up.

Sam

Rodney Ferguson - Class of 1960

First Grade in Point Arena. All so many years ago, riding the school bus for the first time, meeting new friends, these memories will last for a lifetime. Who would have guessed that in fifty years we would be reuniting together and sharing times where we all have gone and what we have accomplished?

I thank all the wonderful teachers that have touched our lives and prepared us towards our ultimate future. I thank each and everyone for the fine hard work and dedication that they devoted their lives towards making us who we are today.

After high school, I followed the life style that brought my folks to Gualala, working in the saw mill. Two years of hard work in the saw mill, I had enough of that and moved to Santa Clara and became a carpenter. Worked hard every day and attended school at night. I felt this was a carreer I would enjoy. But like all good things that come, there will be a turn in the road in the near future. Sure enough Uncle Sam invites me to join his fine family. Boot Camp, Midway Island and Viet Nam. I learned a lot in the Navy Sea Bee’s, respect, hard work and saving money. These rules will always provide for you in the future.

In 1970 I married my bride Judy O’Ferrall and moved to Santa Rosa, where we live today. I worked for Victor California during the day and attended Santa Rosa Junior College at night and earned my AA degree. We have made 3 moves in Santa Rosa and raised 2 great children. Michelle is the oldest and has blessed us with beautiful twin granddaughters. Scott our son, has trumped this and provided us with 1 beautiful granddaughter [older] and beautiful twin granddaughters. Two sets of twin girls, can you believe that?

I have spent 12 years in the welding industry. Learning different phases of welding and different types of welding. Learning inside sales, outside sales, how a business should run and how profits are made. Another 20 years working for myself. I have owned several successful businesses during this time. I still put in 40 hours weekly and some day plan to retire, but not for now.

Judy and I would like to start traveling in a couple of years. We have a 1964 Corvette with less than 80,000 miles and a 1937 Ford 2dr hump back sedan. Future plans, to travel the States and relax on Cruise Ships.

Education: SRJC, [was on the honors list], Hobart Welding, Lincoln Welding, Miller Welding, Victor Equipment, Real Estate Appraisal and Stock Investment.

rod_ferguson@comcast.net

Stan Solbeck - Class of 1960

My family moved to Gualala in 1950. My dad and his partner built a mill about a mile north of Gualala and were in the lumber business for several years. During my high school years, I worked summers in a couple of the local mills. My mother maintained a residence in Gualala until 1974. After graduating from Point Arena High School, I attended Cal Poly and obtained a BS degree in Mathematics. I kept up my interest in music as a member of the men’s glee club for two years. After graduating from Cal Poly in 1964, I went to Colorado University on a teaching assistantship working in the computer lab. While at CU I was a member of the water polo team. I spent a year at CU before entering the job market. I took a job at Vandenberg Air Force Base doing computer work related to long-range missile tracking. A year later, I left and went to work at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. During my career at the Lab, I worked as systems software programmer. I semi-retired in 2002 but still work at the Lab two days a week.

I met my wife Angie at the Lab; we were married in 1969. We have two children. Our daughter is 40. She was married two years ago and has identical twins that are a year old. She is married to a doctor and works part-time out of her home. Our son is 38 and has been married five years. He and his wife have a daughter one and a half years old. He works in the computer field as a system administrator. We waited a long time for grandchildren but were blessed with three last year.

Angie and I maintain a residence in Livermore Ca. She volunteers at the Livermore Park and Recreation District doing secretarial work. We are both active. I play racquetball several times a week and we both walk a couple of times a week. Angie spends her spare time gardening and works on projects at home. We travel occasionally but really are more home bodies rather than travelers.

Joan (Warner) Farley - Class of 1960

Chip and I will not be able to attend the class reunion due to a prior commitment, but here is a brief biography.

Joan Warner Farley lives with her husband ,Chip, 4 dogs, 3 horses, a cat and a parrot in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I worked for State Farm Insurance in Santa Rosa 1963-1968, then transferred to the Pleasant Hill Office when I moved to Walnut Creek in 1971. I then joined the newly opened office of a Los Angeles based insurance company and worked for them until I retired in 1998. I also ran a horse boarding and training facility in Danville, Ca for 15 years.

After I retired, we moved back to Gualala. I traveled the world with Chip until he retired from Bechtel in 2002.

Unfortunately, the Coastal climate is not arthritis friendly and we moved to Santa Fe in 2007.

I have 2 children and 4 grandchildren, Chip has 3 children and 9 grandchildren.

Ed, Class of 1951, And Alice (Parks) Garrett, Class of 1960

Alice, 1960 graduation photo

Ed, 1960 faculty photo from our Foghorn Annual

Ed is a 1951 graduate of Point Arena High School and went to Cal Poly and San Francisco State where he graduated in 1955. After two years in the Army he got his teaching credential. He taught and coached at Point Arena from 1959 to 1965.

Alice graduated from Point Arena High School in 1960 and the Monday after graduation went to work at the Bank of America in Point Arena. We started dating and married in 1961. We had two daughters in Point Arena. Ed changed teaching jobs and we moved to King City in 1965, where he taught and coached. Our third daughter was born in King City. Alice worked as a bookkeeper and was active in Junior Women’s Club and her art.

In 1992 we both retired and moved to the Parks Ranch on Miller Ridge (Stewarts Point) where we built our home. After our parents passed Alice took over the sheep business and with her many hobbies is very busy. Ed is busy keeping the roads open, collecting and reading books, and writing his “Fading Memories.”

We are looking forward to our 50th anniversary next year. We have three wonderful daughters and sons-in-law, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandson, which we enjoy. Two of our daughters followed their Dad and are teachers and the oldest is a tax assessor.

HOW ABOUT THAT!!

Gary Cooper - Class of 1960

Wow, can you believe it’s been 50 years!

Betty and I are enjoying retirement in Beaverton, Oregon and recently celebrated our 46th anniversary. I retired in 1998 after 34 years with the U.S. Forest Service. Our two daughters, son-in laws and six grandchildren live in Tigard, OR, only about 10 miles from us. It is a real blessing to have them so close.

We keep busy with our grandchildren(our oldest is 6), gardening, traveling, hunting, fishing, crabbing, sewing (Betty), church, reading, wood cutting (We still heat with wood), and all of our miscellaneous hobbies. We recently enjoyed a trip to Israel and have a trip scheduled in September to Rome and northern Italy (sorry to miss the reunion).

After graduating from PAUHS in 1960, I worked the summer of ’60 on my uncle’s rice farm in Maxwell, CA, where I decided that I did not want to be a farmer! In the fall, I enrolled at Humboldt State College along with Mike Combs and Gary Phelps. I worked the summer of ’61 as a firefighter with the California Div. of Forestry at Clearlake and the summers of ’62-‘64 with the Forest Service. While at Humboldt, I met the girl of my dreams, Betty Covington from Trinity County. We were married in 1964. I graduated with a BS in Forest Management and accepted a forester/silviculturist position with the U.S. Forest Service at Coffee Creek Ranger District (RD) on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest (NF).

In 1967, I was promoted to District Lands Officer on the Big Bear RD on the San Bernardino NF. I was responsible for land adjustments, land use, minerals and resource management. Some highlights at Big Bear were administering movie and TV use permits and overseeing a landmark Supreme Court decision involving a minerals case. Betty worked at the Big Bear Lake Sears Catalog store.

In 1971, I accepted the Land Exchange Officer position on the Tahoe NF at Nevada City, CA (we lived at Grass Valley). In addition to completing land exchanges, I became certified as a paraprofessional archaeologist and a qualified land and timber appraiser. Betty worked at the Grass Valley Credit Bureau until 1973 when our first daughter (Kelley) was born. She then worked even harder as a stay-at-home mom!

We moved to South Lake Tahoe in 1976 where I became the Forest Lands Staff Officer on the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit with primary responsibility for a multi-million dollar land acquisition program. Some major acquisitions included Zephyr Cove Resort, Jennings’ Casino Site, Whittell Estate, Fibreboard and Harrah’s Beach Front. Our youngest daughter Megan was born at Lake Tahoe. While at Tahoe, I realized that something was missing in my life. I began attending church and became a born again Christian by accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. What a change in my life!

As with all Forest Service employees, there are “other duties as assigned” with a primary one being fire fighting. I have fought fires throughout the west, beginning as a “grunt” firefighter and then in other positions as crew boss, sector boss, intelligence officer, maps and records officer and plans chief.

In 1980, I accepted a position as Group Leader-Land Adjustments for the Pacific Northwest Region in Portland, OR. On May 18, I was driving our 1968 Cougar (which we still have) from Tahoe to Portland to report for work when I saw an unbelievable sight, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. What a grand welcome to the Northwest!

In my new job, I immediately became involved in drafting legislation and land acquisition for the new National Volcanic Monument. In managing the land adjustment program for Oregon and Washington, I was responsible for land purchases, donations, exchanges and land status. I assisted Congressional staff in drafting legislation for nationally designated areas including Columbia Gorge, Mt. St. Helens, Hell’s Canyon, Wild and Scenic Rivers and Wildernesses. I also served on the Regional Planning Team, National Forest Service/Bureau of Land Management Interagency Team, and was unit leader on the National Lands Training Cadre. Other duties as assigned were several detail assignments to Washington DC.

When our daughters left the nest, Betty worked in interior decorating, Census Bureau, Post Office, and managed a booth at an antique mall on the Oregon coast. She has been active with the Machine Embroiderers of Oregon and Washington (MEOW) serving as area director and president.

Since retirement in 1998, we have been busier then when I worked full time!! But we are enjoying every minute! In 2004, my left hip finally gave out from a childhood disease and I had a titanium hip replacement, but it hasn’t slowed me down. Have a great reunion and sorry to miss lt.

Mike Combs, Class of 1960

Graduation, 1960

Where's my helmet?

I was born caesarean in Torrance, California in 1942. As a native born Californian, I was a rarity at that time. The doctor told Mom that she must not have any more babies, and she replied, "Put a zipper in that incision, I'll be right back." Eleven months and four days later brother Ronald was born, also caesarean, the greatest gift I could have ever had.

I often say I had the best childhood of anyone ever, and growing up with Mom, Pop, and Ron in Point Arena was what made it perfect. I've never told Ron how much he has meant and means to me, because we're guys, and guys don't tell each other that sort of thing - but we feel it anyway.

We moved to Bakersfield after the war, and I went to Catholic school kindergarten in 1947, then Pop bought a house trailer and we moved all around southern California from one drilling rig to the next for about two years. I went to the first grade in Lawndale, Carpenteria, and Fillmore, and should have in Newhall except there was too little time before the school year ended.

In the summer of 1949 my Uncle Walter, who had a small store in Gualala, wrote that "the sawmills are hiring." Mom was tired of the constant moving - she told Pop, "Honey, you've just become a lumberjack."

We arrived in Point Arena just after the Pacific Enterprise hit Wash Rock and sank off the Lighthouse Point in early September, 1949 (the 10th of September, I think). Ron and I started at Point Arena Elementary in the combined 1st and 2nd grade class taught by Mrs. Phillips.

I graduated from the 8th grade and entered Point Arena High in 1956.

After graduation in 1960, I went to Humboldt State for a year (roommate Gary Phelps), then Santa Rosa JC (roommate brother Ron). I enlisted in the Air Force in 1962, went to Russian training at Indiana Univ., and married Marilynn.

After 2 years of training, the Air Force sent me to Turkey near Istanbul to intercept Russian missile test activity. Later, the AF sent me to Univ. of Arizona for a BS in Acct.

I was commissioned in 1968, and went to Michigan State for an MBA. I was sent to England for 5 years, Illinois for 4, Hawaii for 4, and retired at Travis AFB as a Major in 1984 after 21 years in the AF.

Halloween at Lockheed, Sunnyvale, 1985

I worked at Lockheed, Sunnyvale for 10 years (Marilynn passed away in January 1988, not long after our Silver Anniversary - Alice and I met later in 1988 through Great Expectations, and we were married at the Presidio of San Francisco in 1989); then I worked at other CPA jobs at Power Spectra, Sunnyvale; NUUMI, Fremont; and Kaiser Permanente, Oakland until 1998, then retired to Gualala.

Disneyworld, 1990

Alice and I travel a lot - 4 month bike trip in Europe, 1998; two month bike trip in Scotland, 2002; Tahiti Honeymoon, 1989; and Caribbean holidays and cruises, Meditteranean and Alaskan cruises, Yangtze River (China) cruise, vacations in Mexico and Australia, October 2009 in India, March 2010 in Africa (Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda), June 2013 up the Mississippi from New Orleans to St. Louis, February 2014 in Argentina and Antarctica, and many others.

Catalina, 1991

Alice's Reseda High reunions always include a cruise, and we have been on 5 during the past 20 years. Point Arena reunions have been a lot of fun, and Alice and I danced so hard at the 1999 reunion that I had a swelling in my right ankle for eight years - but we still dance hard every chance we get!