The official web site of the Lowell Alumni Association

Here are a few recollections about Lowell from your fellow alumni.

Jackie (Jarman) Cato, Class of Spring 1967
I remember when we ran a "sweatshirt" design contest school-wide, back in 1967... and the winner was "Snoopy Riding Our Lowell Indian"....we had to get special permission from Charles Schultz to produce them....he was so kind, but checked with his company and said he could not give the copyright. So, we had to run another school-wide design contest. I still have my fine 1967 designer sweatshirt...I'll wear it to our 45th reunion! Also... many fine memories of great music...and great teachers, Mr. Anino... Mr. Halbasch...and Mrs. Cunningham!

Tommy Yan, Class of 1980
I remember it as if it were yesterday: It was the student/teacher basketball game of the year. A 2-on-2 battle royal between Mr. Abad and Mr. Bettencourt versus Abraham Leung and myself. Mr Abad marched his class to the gymnasium to witness the total annihilation of another pair of his scholars.

But that was clearly not the case... The faculty ran for their lives and barely eked out a victory. This was definitely not the win they had in mind. With the game so close, the student body wondered which team would have been the decisive champions had the event been slated for best 2-out-of-3.

We'll never know...Surely a rematch is in order.

Glenn Ng, Class of 1973
I remember passing by the construction of the "new" Lowell on Eucalyptus while looking for a elementary school to attend. My parents told me I wouldn't be able to attend the school for ten years. I made a promise to myself that I'd attend the new school when the time came. I graduated during the 10th anniversary of the "new" Lowell.

Norm Gilbert, class of 1966
Mr. Jamison telling me not to feel so badly about my D in Chemistry as he had failed noted KSFO disk jockey Carter B. Smith and look how successful he had become even without chemistry.

The pink AM radio on the rolling cart set up in the lobby of the auditorium on November 22, 1963, as we all gathered around to listen to the news of the JFK assassination in Dallas.

Trying to start a student run closed circuit radio station that would have been received only in the quad and around campus. We got as far as an article in The Lowell but could never pull it off. We had the call letters all picked out: KLO.

Staging Steve Levin's original musical (I forget the name at the moment) in the auditorium. I was on the stage crew and becuase of my D in Chemistry, was not allowed to do work on the show. Mr. Koening relented at the last moment and I got to design the lighting for the show.

Al Kovalick learning how to drive a stick shift by taking Mr. Koenig's blue panel truck for a spin around the track. Cutting out early with Mr. Koening to go over to the State Surplus Yard in San Leandro to pick up "junk" that was treasure to us, like old ship's lanterns to be used as lights for dances or an old refrigerator to install in our secret lounge.

Al Kovalick hacking into the school clock system and making a minute go by in 45 seconds on the last day of school so we could all go home early.

Booking Bobby Freeman ("The Swim") for a dance and then he didn't show up. But the Beau Brummels played at one of our rallies in the gym.

Setting up a "Request Phone" at one of the dances and pretending when we answered it that the caller had reached KYA. (We fooled a few students that night . . .)

The Senior Picnic at the Marin Town & Country Club in Fairfax. Seeing all the cute girls in their bathing suits, none of whom we were dating.

Discovering Dim Sum and eating at Sam Woh's in Chinatown and being buddies with the surly waiter, Edsel Ford Wong. We traded Orange Julius for Rice Noddle Roll.

Meeting Carol Channing in Union Square with our song girls and yell leaders.

Now it can be told: Making a deal with Sgt. Telesco. We'd take zero period ROTC but wouldn't have to show up, wear the uniform or doing anything to pass except to make sure he had a working PA system for all his ROTC parades.

Having keys to the school, courtesy of Mr. Koening. Being around when Mr. Koening serviced the soft drink machine and getting free drinks.

Was it Boys' Dean Harry Krytzer who begged us on the stage crew to please go to class once in awhile, because Mr. Koening would always excuse our cut slips so we didn't have to do detention after school.

Printing photos in the darkroom of Room 255 of one of the song girls with the mysterious letters PAFC in the corner. Stood for Patty Adelson Fan Club.

Learning too early as sophomores about death when we heard that upperclassman and leader of the Stage Crew Dave Nichol had died by running his car into a freeway wall. In hindsight, it was probably teen suicide but we didn't know it at the time.

Seeing and hearing the talented Linda Tillery and Roberta Bleiweiss in one of the many performances staged in the auditorium. Both went on to become well known musical performers, Linda in a rock band and Roberta in Beach Blanket Babylon.

Taking (or at least trying to take) girls for a tour of "The Beam" the secret catwalk reached by ladder from backstage out to where the spot lights were.

Hanging a mirror ball OUTSIDE the windows of the cafeteria for The House of the Rising Sun dance.

We created an endless tape loop of fog horns and sea gulls and water sounds over at SF State and played it for one of the dances. we put the tape player up in one of the spot light booths in the auditorium and then dropped the loop over the wall almost down to the floor, where we put an empty reel as ballast. We were inventive but amazed that it worked and kept playing the sound effects over and over again all through the dance.

Who was the girl's dean that couldn't stand the nice "mood lighting" we had created for a dance in the gym and turned on the bright Mercury Vapor overhead lights and killed the mood of the dance?

Seeing O.J. Simpson play football for Galileo High and crush our team . . . as I recall it was a rainy day and muddy field, but I'll have to dig out my old yearbook just to make sure.

Was it Morton Stein who lead the cheer at a football game against Sacred Heart that loudly proclaimed: SACRED HEART, IRISH TEAM . . . S H * #. well, if you were there, you remember. Rumor was someone got suspended for a day or two over that little scatological incident.

Joel Chaban, Class of 1962
I was saddened to learn from the last Alumni newsletter of Bob Anino's passing. To this day I still sing the chorus of a song he wrote that we sang around Troop 14 campfires:

Hokey pokey winky wum
Poly come pinky merrily mum
Pansy wansy wirey rum
King of the Cannibal Islands

Some things just stick with you throughout life.

Jeffrey Friedman, class of 1970
1967-70 were very turbulent times due to the war in Viet Nam. I remember students going to demonstrations, carrying petitions to end the war. I remember students smoking pot in the field next to the football stadium. However I remember the absolute excellence in every endevor we took. It was a memorable time and is fond in my memories.

Jannie Tong, Class of 1993
Just visited Berkeley High School's Open House this past Sunday and saw that they had an indoor swimming pool on campus! No, definitely no swimming pools at Lowell. I can still vividly remember waking up in the wee hours of the morning every day and making it on time for those Mod 0 swim classes at Sava Pool on Sloat Ave with Mr. Low. From the survival float to the 1-minute tread, the cold showers to the rush to get back to campus for a 4,5 Math class...oh, the joys of being a Lowell student!

Roger Collins, Class of 1975
'Follies' was the musical production, and caused Joe Tanzi, the drama teacher, to nearly have a nervous breakdown. Years later, he went into construction because, as he said, the effort lasted longer. Last I heard he was back working for the San Francisco School District. 'Follies' is a VERY TOUGH and VERY ADULT musical, and I think all in all we did a great job at it. Not quite as crowd pleasing as 1974's 'Guys and Dolls' or 1973's 'The Boyfriend', but professionally done.

Another recollection is that, when filming 'the senior movie' we had a fake bomb, that looked like you'd drop it out of an airplane. Chrome, fins, beautiful. We left it here and there as part of the movie. Today we'd be arrested.

Reg was held in the auditorium as part of a lack of available classroom space. Working on stage crew, we would do things like hang a maniquin behind a scrim and lit it so you could see a body swinging slowly. We also had Kung Fu Bunny sitting in a comfy chair, reading the paper, and smoking a pipe.

You've never heard of Kung Fu Bunny? Joe Tanzy, drama teacher, had received a bunny suit from the ice capades and we used it for a couple of movies ('Kung fu bunny rides again' and 'the Bunny Connection'). The idea was a cute bunny doing kung fu and fighting bad guys. Though, in 'Kung Fu Bunny Rides Again' he was not always the good guy. He appeared in the 1976 year book, thanks to Frank Hattyar, and was used for numerous interesting events. The suit sat in my garage rotting away (the sweating actors inside the suit did a number on the goose down feathers).

I also remember that in Mr. Murray's physics class we once asked him if we could eat lunch in class, and he said, "as long as I get some at the end of the class if it smells good." That was the gauntlet thrown down. We brought in the smelliest foods possible; KFC, pizza, whatever. Drove Mr. Murray crazy. He had to wait until class was over.

Lila (Burns) Florance, Class of 1949 (June)
The security I felt in being associated with Lowell and the knowledge that you would take the privilege of adding to my education ( which was the economics and governmental future of South and Central America 49.

Mike Watson, Class of 1962 (June)
Being in the last class to graduate from the "old red brick school house" is a fond memory for me. That year (61-62), we won the AAA football championship by defeating St. Ignatius, 7-0, at Kezar on Thanksgiving Day. Playing in front of 22,500 fans and avenging an earlier loss to the Wildcats was great. Another great memory is the pep-fests in the courtyard. The Song-girls did a routine to "On the Rebound" and everytime I hear that song, I think of Lowell and my time there.

I just completed my 37th year as a teacher and football coach and even though I have coached teams to championships and state rankings, the years that I played at Lowell are still very strong in my memory.

Perry Pong, Class of 1979
I remember the dedicated superb teachers we were honored to have -- Ms. Fuller who taught us (before Nike) Just Go Ahead and Write; Ms. Lewis who opened my eyes to the beauty and discovery of universal human themes in literature; Mr. Dahl and Becker who made Chemistry fun; Mr. Bahnsen who made old historical documents come alive and the many others who added to the Lowell experience.

I remember school dances - we were John Travolta wannabe's then, but without the wardrobe or dancing skill. A dance was a chance to dream, to circle the gym and find that new face, or maybe to remind you that the people you knew already were cool, hip and nice. We'd go out afterwards to eat pizza at Pasquale's or the Front Room and talk for hours about those chance meetings on the dance floor. The bands were "soulful" and the boy's room full of guys slicking their hair, adjusting their gold chains and hoping to be the one that night.

Tony Llanos, Class of 1988
I always remember the Kermesse days when we sampled a lot of the foods from all around the world. The teachers would let us out of class early and we would fill the courtyard. I enjoyed food and then took up Hotel Administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I returned to San Francisco where I work in the hotel industry as a Controller; and, yes, I do get to see my old classmates from Lowell each week for dinner.

Leonard Cecil, Class of 1970
When I attended Lowell it was a 3-year high school. I had come from Herbert Hoover Jr. High, which was grades 7-9. I enrolled at Lowell for one reason: the music program. Jack Pereira was our inspiration and moving force in our lives at the time. He motivated us to exceed our own expectations and expand our musical abilities. The 1970 trip to Japan with the Lowell Orchestra was the absolute high point of my time at Lowell.

My experience at Lowell was the motivating factor for me going into music and music education myself. Although I "retired" from teaching last year in order to go in a completely different direction in terms of my profession, as the saying goes "You can take the boy out of the band, but you can't take the band out of the boy." No matter what else I do with the rest of my life, I'll always be a musician at heart and that heart was set musically pumping via Jack Pereira and his Lowell Orchestra experience.

Chuck Everett, Class of 1965
Here's a few. Carl Koenig's physics class, always provoking, always fun. Bill Fieling's swimming team, that "practiced" at Fleishacker pool by the ocean. The announcement of the death of John Kennedy by Floyd (the janitor) during Mrs. Brash's english class.

Raymond Landy, Class of 1942
Remembering the long ride out to the beach to practice soccer on the city soccer fields, the bamboo shin guards, and the hard soccer balls. Going to football practices at kezar stadium. Now all of these facilities are right on campus.

Kenny K. Wu, Class of 1991
There was that time Mr. McMains wanted us to make him look good for his supervised teacher evaluation. He informed us that he was going to be asking a lot of geometry questions that day. If we knew the answer and wanted to be called upon, we were instructed to raise our right hand. If we didn't know the answer, we were instructed to raise our left hand. This resulted in the most eager and enthusiastic student participation ever seen on campus.

I also fondly recall sitting on the lawn during mod 14-15 with my walkman during game 5 of the 1989 playoffs. When Clark singled up the middle, there was this sudden and spontaneous eruption of yelling, screaming, and cheering heard throughout the Lowell campus. It was as if nobody was paying much attention in class that day, but instead, everyone was huddled around a radio somewhere. Of course, two weeks later, none of this mattered as the Loma Prieta earthquake left most of the student body quite shaken. (no pun intended)

Heather (Robison) Tanner, Class of 1991
I, too, remember the 1989 Bay Bridge series. At first, the teachers tried to get us all to forget it. By about the first inning of game two, they gave up. Teachers set up t.v.'s in the gym and, it seemed like everyone was watching it everywhere! That was the beauty of Lowell. We respected each other.

I also remember one night senior year where we decided for our senior prank, we would climb over into the middle courtyard, spend the night, and everyone would stay in the courtyard the next day instead of going to classes. A group of about 40 of us showed for the prank night. We had all agreed - NO alcohol, nothing but the class having fun together. It was cool because everyone respected that. Of course, the plan got foiled, and we all spent the night at a tennis court drinking... LOL. But, we had so much fun as a class!!

I remember stage crew, too. We would do Kris Kringles every year and you could hide your gift anywhere in the whole back stage area and leave your clue on the board. It became so much fun to find a new and clever place to hide it every year.

I also remember the play where we spent the whole time on the walkie-talkies making up a soap opera. LOL!! That is, until the director (it wasn't Don at the time - it was some lady collaborating with him) got upset at us and told us to knock it off.

That same play, I was a palm tree and had to hold this pole inside a fabric tent that fit like a unix skirt. I got in trouble for swaying in time to the music... LOL!!

Ahhh... so many good memories. Does anyone remember when Susan Lehman and I were TAs for Zahtilla in band? I don't think he knows that we gave two different written quizzes - the ones we showed him (with an extremely high pass rate...) and the ones we administered - True or False - marches are all written on half-sheets of paper... LOL!!!

I could go on and on.