Class of 1974 Photo Album
This page is dedicated to the memory of
Thomas Ortega
(1956-1997)
Send your pictures (in .jpg format only, please!) to me at:
That way, you don't need a SASE, and you don't have to worry about me sending them back.
Sorry, kids: None of the photos on this page can be enlarged.
Merle "Duke" Vernoy -- March, 2001With his wife Norma behind the camera, your Webmaster is pictured at the keyboard of his Gateway Essential computer. Please note that he seldom lets his hair get THAT LONG these days (except during a Montana winter).
--Photo courtesy Merle and Norma Vernoy
-- Courtesy Randall Lakin
BANNING HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1974 -- 20-YEAR REUNION (1994)
FRONT ROW: Ron Lakin, Jim Beal, Donna Cockron, Shelly Barris, Wendy Whitmore, Mimi West, Jayne Kennedy, Ann McLean, Stephanie West, Jennifer Engel.
ROW TWO: Mark Echols, Jack Kraft, Mark Heslop, Ray Contreras, Ernie Garewal, Chuck Enriquez, John Walls, Randy Lakin, Frank Becerra.
ROW THREE: (still have no idea who she is!), Jackie Leary, Roxie Hall, Jolene Betlach-Goff, Dawn Porter, Carol Hildahl, Susan Scrivens, Claire Herrera, Josie Rodriguez, Chris Brown, Debra Carner, Debbie Childress, Maggie Rodriguez, Sue Mellor.
ROW FOUR: Randy Williams, Allison Andrews, Carmen Reidhammer, Carole Thormodsgard, Glenn Sapaden, Debbie Wall, Susie Miller, Gloria Stockdale, Rhonda Lewis, Kathy Little, Pam Morrisette, Cheryl Krutsinger Devinny, Nancy Jesson, Donna Richards, Brian Costello, Yvonne McGillivray Hamby.
BACK ROW: Steve Lesh, Brad Brower, David Mackie, Jim Herra, Dan Devinny, Marion Landry, Kevin Ball, John Lara.
UPDATE: Thanks to Pam Morissette-Hall, one of the two unidentified "warm bodies" have been identified. That's Stephanie West (Mimi's sis) in the front row between Ann MacClean and Jennie Engel. That's established. We've also established that Rhonda Lewis is in the middle of Row 4, between Gloria and Kathy Little. So...the question remains: WHO IS THE GAL AT THE FAR LEFT OF ROW 3? It looks like Charlene Osborne...but how in the heck would I know? I wasn't there!
Now...for a bit of nostalgia:
--Leonard McCulloh/McCulloh Studio Photo
The teacher -- at the far left -- is Miss Odessa Payne. These are the names Cynthia Brown Gillis and I came up with (keep in mind this picture was taken 38 years ago):
FRONT ROW -- Charlene Osborne (far left), Randy Williams (2nd from left), Cindy Brown (4th from left), Dana Sheeks (5th from left), Steve Lesh (6th from either side), Jim Beal (5ht from right), Mark Echols (4th from right ?), Donna Richards (3rd from right), Jean Crawford ? (far right); MIDDLE ROW -- Billy Reynolds (far left), Valerie Johnson (3rd from left), Denise Beasley (4th from left), Eileen Mills (5th from left), Shari Bird (6th from left), Curt Curtis (6th from right), Chris Brown (3rd from right), Kevin Ball (2nd from right), Freddy Nelson (far right); BACK ROW -- Charlie O'Malley (far left), Carol Hildahl (2nd from left), James Burks (4th from left), Merle Vernoy (5th from left), Danny Blair (6th from either side), Mark Bailie (5th from right), Sheila Rutherford (4th from right), Susan Holton (2nd from right), Brad Brower (far right).
Note all the missing teeth...all the girls wearing dresses...all of us guys still had hair...Wills' bow tie...the many "forced" smiles...and Miss Payne is the only one in the whole picture wearing glasses.
Keep in mind that this picture was taken in 1963...the year President John Kennedy was murdered...the year the Dodgers swept the Yankees in the World Series...and the year former Bronco basketball coach (and current Superintendent of Schools in Beaumont) Raymond "Bear" Curtis graduated from BHS.
--Leonard McCulloh/McCulloh Studio Photo
Mrs. Foster's 2nd Grade Class at Hemmerling (1963-64)
What a difference a year makes? Jack Kraft and I worked on this photo, and we still didn't recognize everybody....but here's who we came up with:
FRONT ROW (left to right): unknown, Eileen Mills, Mike Miranda, unknown, unknown, unknown, Toni Kelsey, Terry Harris, Randy Williams, unknown, Bruce Bailiff, Fred Nelson, unknown; MIDDLE ROW: Mrs. Foster, unknown, Bill Reynolds, Jack Kraft, Angela Williams, unknown, Shari Bird, Valerie Johnson, Denise Beasley, unknown, unknown, Beatrice Valenzuela, unknown, Pamela Morrisette; BACK ROW: unknown, Carol Hildahl, Danny Blair, Joe Langberg, Kenneth Brown, Diane Link, Charlie O'Malley, Dan Devinny, Merle Vernoy, Sheila Rutherford, Susan Holton.
Help us fill in the "unknowns"...email me (use the link in the left hand navigation bar).
1974 1989 2001
PATTY PALMER RAMIREZ -- BEFORE AND AFTER
And for those of you who are wondering, that is the late actor Claude Akins
(from "MOVIN' ON") posing with Patty in the middle picture.
--All photos Courtesy Patricia Ramirez
And with apologies to Lisa Ball for getting these on the site so late....
LISA BALL and FRIENDS
Lisa, a producer/director at a Eugene, Oregon TV station, is shown hangin' with some friends on the left, and rafting down a river in the Cascades on the right...obviously before they hit the whitewater.
--Both photos courtesy Lisa Ball
Ok, Jolene....where's your skydiving pics?????
RON AND RANDY LAKIN
Would you buy a used car from these guys?
(Taken shortly after their 45th birthday)
--Photo courtesy Randall Lakin
1974 2001
JOLENE BETLACH BILICKE -- Then and Now
The picture on the left was changed by popular demand -- namely, Jolene's. Just something about that cowboy hat she doesn't like. (Looks like I'll leave my black Resistol at home for the reunion!) I'm still trying to talk her into sending her skydiving (yes, skydiving) pics.
--Left photo from 1974 San Gorgonian; Right photo courtesy Jolene Bilicke
MR. & MRS. M. L. "Duke" VERNOY (1998)
OK...you've heard me talk about her. You've seen me write about her (all complimentary, of course). Some of you have even had the pleasure of talking to her either on the phone or on the pooter. Now you get to meet her: my bride since February 12, 1993, Norma Jean. Yes, she's the one without the beard. By the way...if I look really big in this picture, it's because I tipped the Toledos at 260 pounds.
--Photo courtesy Merle and Norma Vernoy
JACK KRAFT -- Before (1974) and After (2001)
For a change, I'll be nice and won't make fun of the hairline.
(But I still have most of mine left!)
--Left photo taken from 1974 San Gorgonian; Right photo courtesy Jack Kraft
CHERYL (1974) THE FAMILY (2001) DAN (1974)
THE DAN DEVINNY FAMILY
In the center picture, from left to right -- Son Jason, Mom Cheryl, Daughter Bethany (in graduation gown) and Dad Dan. This picture was snapped June 6, 2001, the day Bethany graduated from La Quinta High School (NOTE TO BETHANY: Start your alumni site EARLY!!!!!!).
By the way, Dan is a motorcycle police officer with the Rancho Mirage P.D. So if you're cruising down Highway 111, for Heaven's sake: SLOW DOWN AND WAVE!!! (preferably with all five fingers, please)
Left and right photos taken from 1974 San Gorgonian; Center photo courtesy Dan and Cheryl Devinny
1974 2001
ROXIE (HALL) SANTA CRUZ
See? I told you she was a blonde! She's also a very busy single parent raising her 15-year-old son and 5-year-old grand-daughter (she also has a 24-year-old daughter).
And she misses Rosie very much. We all do, sweetie.
--Left photo taken from 1974 San Gorgonian; Right photo courtesy Roxanne Santa Cruz
DUKE'S "BABY GIRL"
I decided to allow prudence to be the better part of discretion and replaced the picture which formerly occupied this space with one of my 17-year-old daughter (as of December 19), LaToya Lynn. She has since broken up with her fiance...but this is a better picture of her regardless.
--Photo courtesy Merle and Norma Vernoy
1974 TODAY
LuANN MAYHOOD VAN POOL
LuAnn, pictured with her husband of three years, Rick Van Pool, is currently teaching 2nd graders at the all-new Cabazon Elementary School.
She's a mother of two and grandmother of two.
--Left photo from 1974 San Gorgonian; Right photo courtesy Rick and LuAnn Van Pool
"THE HILLS ARE ALIVE...WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC..."
No, this was not taken at Disneyland...or DisneyWorld, or anything else Disney, for that matter. This picture of Mabel Petty Zanforlin and her family was actually taken last summer in Switzerland -- that is THE Matterhorn in the background. Mabel is in the foreground, husband Elmar (a Swiss native), daughter Gabi and son Andy (riding on Dad's shoulders) behind her.
-- Photo courtesy Mabel Petty Zanforlin
GEE...I HOPE IT'S NOT LOADED!
This picture, taken in December of 2001, is of Randy Roffers and his wife of 23 years, Stella, posing beside a 24-pound cannon on the Citadel at Brimstone Hill Fortress on St. Kitts Island (also known as St. Christopher) in the West Indies while on a Caribbean Cruise. And, yes ... that is the Caribbean Sea in the background.
-- Photo courtesy Randy Roffers
1974 2001
CARMEN REIDHAMMER SCHMIDT
Car hasn't changed a bit ... has she?
-- Left photo from 1974 San Gorgonian; right photo courtesy Carmen Reidhammer Schmidt
and now, by popular demand...
(drum roll, please...)
GERONIMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This gives "taking the plunge" an entire new meaning. Yes, that's Jolene taking her first skydive, accompanied by her instructor (in tandem).
This, of course, means we can't hold our 30-year reunion in a building more than two stories high.
Oh ... there's more:
...AND THE CHUTE OPENETH...
Am I wrong, or does it look like Jolene's trying to hitch a ride with a 767?
