North Salem High School Class of 1963
Valentine’s Day Update - February 14, 2025
There really isn’t anything to update since our 60th Reunion that was held in September of 2023. It staggers the imagination to think of things 60 years ago. Reviewing the yearbooks of our times at North reminds us of who we were, looking at the fresh faces, seeing the smiles in all those photos, and recalling the uncertainty of where we might go and what we might do in the years ahead. And here we are, looking back at what we did and the journeys taken, and yet, still looking ahead into the future with that same uncertainty of where we might go and what we might do in the years ahead. Sixty years did not erase that sense of wonder and adventure.
I took particular interest in seeing our teachers again, and admiring their courage and determination, forever with hope in their eyes, the coming year would be a successful endeavor for all involved. I believe they did an outstanding job. My weakest subject was English (Language Arts) but Margaret Simms and Anne Brooks never lost their faith in me, and kept pushing me. I never received an A grade from them, but oddly enough I remember them most. And later in my working years I wrote many things for the Congressional Record, State Legislative testimony, federal policy papers, and so forth. The irony of that never escapes me. My weakest subject. (I am confident both Ms. Simms and Ms. Brooks would advise my using the phrase “and so forth” is not effective communication).
One teacher has always been my favorite. Miss Leila Johnson. In my sophomore year she taught Geometry. I liked that class and achieved an A- in one grading period. I wasn’t the student to get top grades: that’s not new. As the school year began to draw to its close, one day as the dismissal bell rang (or buzzed?) she asked me to approach her desk. She then handed me her personal Geometry book, very worn and well-used from her many years of teaching, and asked that I keep it. I was unsure what to say, and did not understand in that moment that this would be her last year teaching. She retired that spring of 1961.
That concludes this Valentine’s Day message. Thank you to our teachers and to their students.
News of the passing of classmates has been received recently:
Michel Gene Starck March 15, 2024
Terrie Ray Johnston September 2, 2023
Carolyn Henrietta Dokken Bagley February 11, 2023
Delbert Lemoin Barber 2023
Patricia Sue Allison Egesdahl 2022
David Paul McDonald November 21, 2022
Bonnie Burkhart Boles November 9, 2022
Lauren Henry (Hank) Gale 2022
Audrey Lee Krueger Manning October 5, 2022
Donald William Duffus 2022
Donna Lee McCool Scism 2022
William Dale Haffner July 19, 2022
Jeryl Lynn Strickfaden Lund May 22, 2022
Judith Kay Lakie Sailor April 29, 2022
Danny Paul Rickard February 5, 2022
Curtis Allen Smith December 2021
Diane Lidette Fisher Reinwald August 4, 2021
Janelle Kathleen Jones Shelley January 2021
Charles Howard Dunn July 30, 2020
Carolyn Marie Veer McClaughry July 1, 2020
Douglas William Fejes June 26, 2020
Cheryl E. Merrell Melendy June 2020
Ronald Amick February 4, 2020
Diane Marie Gourley December 28, 2019
Kenneth Burt Bushnell November 13, 2019
Virginia Ann Wallace Salter July 18, 2019
Robert Arthur Willmschen June 17, 2019
Joan Sharrel Mischke Hilfiker May 21, 2019
Michael Leon Smith March 16, 2019
Steven Edward Wagner February 1, 2019
Gene Leslie Salter September 15 2018
Margaret Louise Torok Gaffrey June 30, 2018
Roger M. Roth January 25, 2018
Gary Lynn Thorson January 15, 2018
David Steele Shuford December 22, 2017
James Stanley Bush (Kerne) September of 2017
Gary B. Read (Alkire) July 31, 2017
Kenneth Paul Jacobsen May 26, 2017
Neal Alan Bentley February 11, 2017
Michael Eugene Malone September 25, 2016
Thomas Reno Brantner June 22, 2016
Garry Dean Lienhard May 23, 2016
Nanci Anne Anderegg Gogle April 9, 2016
Karyl Kay Luman February 13, 2016
Judy Gay Stone Stanley August 9, 2015
Lester Lloyd Perry August 5, 2015
Lewis Franklin Skurlock Jr 2015
John Allen Anderson May 26, 2015
Brady Leonard Adams April 13, 2015
Leonard Robert Anderson April 10, 2015
Darlene Marie Holland Storm February 4, 2015
We are always saddened with such news and recall them from memory with fondness. They are missed.
This website will remain open and updated until the next reunion. Please be mindful several of the pages you may encounter on this website have now become obsolete, but will remain as place holders, in order to make it easier to revise them eventually for the 65th reunion. It seems much easier to edit them in place, rather than recreate them from scratch, as my skills are limited.
Ongoing work is being done on our data base of addresses, phone numbers and emails. If anyone has made a change please contact Penny Holstad (jholstad42@gmail.com). You can find her mailing address, phone and email address on the Registration Form you may still have, or which is a link on the bottom of the Registration Instructions page on this website. Go to the menu above, hit Registration Instructions and Forms, then on the page it presents, go to the very bottom of it and hit the blue colored link for Registration Form, and on the form you will find her about half way down the page. Let her know so we can stay in touch over the years ahead.
If you have changes or new information concerning the In Memoriam page, you can let Penny know.
If you have changes or new information concerning the Missing Alumni page, you can let Penny know.
Again, check back here from time to time, as new information is being posted as it becomes available.
Thank you.
Last update: February 14, 2025