Entering dangerous territory for a writer

Allan Winger, 1966
Originally uploaded by Brite Lights photos.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - It's one thing to put up photos of schools being taken down, but posting yearbook photos of individuals - and writing about them - is entering the neutral zone with lots of Klingon ships nearby.

But if this website is to rake up the memories and get people talking, well... so be it.

So hello Allan Winger.

Allan's picture should be on Classmates.com in the advertisements. Could he possibly look more like a 1966 high school graduate? The glasses, the hair, the skinny tie and that great Colgate smile. Jaysus. A poster boy for that time in the 20th century.

Allan has been emailing me with lots of information about our class, the school and most recently he sent me the obituraries for two teachers most of us shared classrooms with: Mr. Butler and Mr. Stark.

Mr. Butler died Friday! Mr. Stark about five years ago. I remember both very well and in fact think about how angry Mr. Stark got with me when I had failed Math 11 and re-took the class in summer school at Chautaqua with him up front glaring at me most of the summer. I whizzed through the Regents exam at the end of the summer and when I stepped out into the hall (the first one to finish) he stopped me and said, "If you didn't pass because to went too fast..." He didn't finish the sentence, and I'm glad I didn't have to find out what he was thinking.

I passed by one point.

Allan also found the obits for Mrs. Evelyn Sternburg (who was a fifth grade teacher in Lakewood) and Doris Barrows Schobeck who was the school nurse for Lakewood from 1949 until her retirement in 1972. She passed on in July of 2001 at the age of 97. I didn't spend much time in the nurse's office in elementary school. I didn't discover that scam until junior high and Mrs. McKay. She should get an entire blog entry all to herself.

Allan and I have been emailing about Vietnam, too. Allan's a Vietnam Vet and we are trying to figure if we lost any classmates in Vietnam.

That whole time was blur for me and probably many others. I was only sure about one thing: I had no interest in the military, I never have been very good at taking orders or structured sitations. (Ask any coach I played for in high school, if any of them are still with us.)

Allan is on the email list, but if your list is not handy, it's:

Allan L. Winger - awinger@pbu.edu