SWCS Class of '66 Classmate Jerry Johnson has passed away

 I received word late yesterday that SWCS Class of '66 classmate Jerry Johnson has passed away. Below is his obituary from the Jamestown Post Journal:

Jerome B. "Jerry" Johnson, 78, of Lakewood, died Tuesday November 4, 2025, in his home surrounded by his family.

Born May 31, 1947, in Jamestown, he was the son of the late Eric and Alice Anderson Johnson.

He was a 1966 graduate of Southwestern Central School.

As a gifted tool and die maker, Jerry worked for various shops until he founded Innovative Tool and Machine. He could build anything.

He was extremely proud of his Swedish heritage and was known as a master Glogg maker. His memberships include Vikings Lodge, 60-year member of Lakewood Rod and Gun Club, and Lakewood Volunteer Fire Department.

Jerry enjoyed playing drums with the Vikings Drum and Bugle Corps and the Western New York Alumni Corps. He was an avid fan of the Cleveland Browns, but more than anything Jerry loved his family.

Surviving is his wife Carol Swanson Johnson, whom he married march 6, 1987; children Brian (Diana) Johnson, Doug (Jane VanEvery) Johnson, Gary (Valerie) Johnson and Tricia (Brian) Conklin; stepchildren Ann (Peter) Nelson and Mike (Lori) Ducat; grandchildren Matthew (Autumn Cook) Johnson, Heidi (Kody Luce) Johnson, Julia (Nick Couse) Johnson, Jordan (Brett) Swan, Jacob Johnson, Avery Johnson, Eric (Karie) Priester, Nathan (Chloe) Priester, Sarah (Tom Cocker) Priester; step grandchildren Kurt (Tina) Nelson, Emily (Matt Simbari) Nelson, Madelyn Nelson and Audrey Ducat; seven great grandchildren and two expected next year; a sister Janice Jackson and niece Darla Kiernan.

A private service will be held at the convenience of the family. Visitation will not be observed.

Burial will be in Sunset Hill Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to Lakewood Volunteer Fire Department or Chautauqua Hospice and Palliative Care.

I gave the website the smelling salts

 Classmates:

I gave the website some electronic smelling salts and woke it up. While it's semi-conscious, below are some names and emails that bounced with the last email I sent to the class. Any help would be appreciated with corrections,

Michael

(Bonnie Anderson?)Your message wasn't delivered to bbyrne2@twcny.rr.com

(Sue Kettle) Address not found Your message wasn't delivered to sueptaszek@nc.rr.com

(Tom Priester) Address not found Your message wasn't delivered to tpriester@stny.rr.com

(Ingrid Lundgren?) Subject: Reunion Committee meeting
To: llinsanfran@yahoo.com

The 60th Class Reunion is ON... But it will be July 15...

 

JAMESTOWN - The SWCS Class of '66 Reunion Committee (Randy Carlson, Jim Lindell and Mike Coon) met Tuesday finalized the date and reunion venue.

The earlier announced date - July 8 - didn't work out, thus the shift to July15.

Below is the flier with the preliminary information. As I hear any news, I'll pass it along.

You can contact Randy, Jim and Mike directly, via their emails: 

Randy: (racarlson@windstream.net)

Jim: (jimrl48@gmail.com)

Mike: (mcoon2@bellsouth.net)

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Class of '66 classmate Paul Higbee has passed away

 From the Jamestown Post Journal

Paul M. Higbee, a lifelong Busti resident, passed away Friday, June 13, 2025 at the Star Hospice House in Lakewood.

He was born in Jamestown on Jan. 19, 1948, a son of the late Raymond M. and Shirley May Burns Higbee and graduated from Southwestern Central High School.

Paul was very proud of his more than 20 years as a mechanic for Jamestown Industrial Trucks. He was an avid car fanatic who enjoyed building hot rods and spent many happy years racing cars at Stateline Speedway.

Surviving is a daughter, Bridgette (David) Winters of Jamestown; two sons, Michael (Kara) Higbee of Busti and Shawn (Marianne) Higbee of California; six grandchildren: Tyler and Dylan Higbee, Taylor and Lucas Higbee, and June and Huxley Winters; and two brothers, Charles and Donald Higbee.

Besides his parents, Paul was preceded in death by his wife, Rosemary Buzard Higbee whom he married Apr. 3, 1970 and who died this past Apr. 28th.

The family will receive friends from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 22nd in the Lind Funeral Home.

No formal service will be observed; however, a time of family sharing will take place near the end of the visitation. To share your condolences, please visit www.lindfuneralhome.com.

SWCS Class of '66 Reunion IS ON for July 8, 2026

JAMESTOWN - Mike Coon reported today that Randy Carlson and his band of SWCS reunion organizers on the ground in Jamestown have asked classmates to save the date of July 8 for our 60th Class Reunion.

Woo-hoo! It's going to happen.

They are scurrying to find just the right venue and need a good head count of classmates who will attend. They also need to know whether classmates will be alone or with a plus 1. 

When we first started chatting about this, I collected a list of names (published here on the website, upper left corner) of people who told me they were definitely in. That said, now that a firm date has been set, it's a good idea for people to reconfirm by emailing Randy Carlson directly. Please let me know, too, so I can keep the list on this website up to date.

Mike also said that details about where the reunion will be and all that goes with it will be available in a few weeks. As soon as those details are confirmed, I'll post something here. And it's possible Randy and the reunion wranglers might send something out directly via email, too. 

See you next year, classmates.

 

SWCS Class of '66 classmate Pat Levin has passed away

Classmates: We've lost another member of our class, Pat Levin.

The news of her passing two days ago is noted on Facebook (at the FB page, Class of 1966 SWCS). 

Here is the link to the Lind Funeral Home obituary. Below the link is the text.

https://www.lindfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Patricia-Levin?obId=34185333

============================================

 From the Lind Funeral Home website:

Patricia A. Levin, 76, of Jamestown, died Sunday, December 22, 2024, in UPMC Chautauqua.

She was born March 17, 1948, in Jamestown, a daughter of the late Ernest and Alice Engstrom Levin.

She was a 1966 graduate of Southwestern Central School and attended Brockport State University.

Prior to her retirement she was employed by the Center for Dispute Settlement, Auburn, NY, as a mediator.

Surviving are seven nieces and nephews Scott (Amy) Seekins of Jamestown, Lauri Bachman of Las Vegas, Kimberly (Jeff) Gregorec of Minooka, IL, Keri (Brian) Cassidy of Westfield, NY, Debbie Levin of Jamestown, Rob (Darlene) Levin of Wittmann, AZ and Steve (Teasia) Levin of Cheyenne, WY; a sister-in-law Darlene Levin of Jamestown and many great nieces and nephews including Tyler Chase, Amanda Rizzo and Grant Beadle with whom she shared a very special relationship.

Besides her parents she was preceded in death by a brother Donald Levin; a sister Dorothy "Dottie" Levin and a great nephew Sam Bachman.

In keeping with Pat's wishes, no funeral service or visitation will be observed.

Burial will be in Sunset Hill Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to the Alice and Ernest Levin Fund, c/o of the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation or the Chautauqua County Humane Society.

You may leave words of condolence at www.lindfuneralhome.com.

SWCS Class of '66 reunion in 2026, where are we?

RIVERS BEND MARINA, Scappoose, Oregon - I had a Jamestown-SWCS-snowstorm-Lakewood Beach dream last night. No idea what triggered all those images.

It was all pretty good, except for the blizzard, 

It reminded me that some of us on this list months back said "yes" to a class reunion in 2026. (Names listed on the left top.) And it also reminded me that it's been pretty quiet since.  We are not a quiet bunch. Not really.

So today's gentle reminder is that if this reunion is going to happen, someone or someones will probably have to raise a hand or hands to get it going.

There it is.

One problem is the folks who still live in the area are the obvious ones to handle some tasks: finding a venue, lining up a hotel, and other details of which I am admittedly ignorant. And in the past they have done yeoman (and yeowoman?) service getting the reunions together.  At all our past reunions - which I have to say were amazing - I was pretty much a passive attendee, showing up, eating and drinking (ok, especially drinking) dancing and then heading home.

I am very willing to do promo work via this blog as in the past, as well as, well, to be determined right?  Perhaps we could do some organizing via Zoom to get this thing started.

I'd really like to have another get-together, classmates, I would, I would. So let's talk. 

That's all I got, amigos. Enjoy these early fall days.

Fitz, SWCS Class of '66