Tim Berger’s random thoughts from the ‘68–‘69 school year:

Once, on the sophomore football team, Coach Sanger went "nuts" and invited us to try to knock him down. We were wearing pads and he wasn't. He nearly killed us. It seemed like a scene from a Hollywood movie. I dreaded it when it was my turn to "charge".

I remember losing only one sophomore football game. It was because of me. I hiked (dribbled) the ball back to punter. The opposition just picked up the ball and ran it in for a touchdown. We lost 7 - 6.  I got dirty looks on the bus on the way home.

 

 

 

 

 

More from Lowell Lamb:  WELL... My most memorable moment was when I was in Auto Mechanics 5th and 6th hour and we had just pulled a transmission from a car and transmission fluid leaked all over me.  I was in the dressing room cleaning up and changing clothes.  Mr. Hudson and Mr. Sanderson were in the process of obtaining a Proctor to help them with their paper work, etc.  We never closed the doors there because it was only guys in the class, including Howard Faust, Larry Gilliland, & Harold Bales.  There they stood with their back to me and talking to a girl they had rounded up from 6th hour study hall.  I think I saw her about the same time she saw me ....only she had her clothes on....and I don't know who's face was the reddest.  I should have gone out for track that year because I would have won the 100-yard dash and the high jump ...it did not take me long to get over the lockers and out of sight.   She got the job and I was too embarrassed to talk to her for the longest time.  All the guys gave her a hard time, always teasing her.  The girl's name was Diana I. Dutcher.....and I married her November 3, 1972   It will soon be 33 years, 4 boys and 13 grandchildren later and we are still going strong, still in love and laughing about how we met.

 

 

 

Left to right:  Connie Becker, Debbie Fornshell, and Debbie Butterfield May 1970 - Usherettes at the West High class of ’70 graduation ceremony

 

 

 

Connie Becker remembers:

                As a sophomore, thinking I’d never be able to get from one end of the school to the other in time for class!  Trying to figure out yet another way to get out of swimming in P.E.  L

                As a junior, thinking we were pretty cool.  Spending too many hours at library doing my research paper and getting my first parking ticket because of it!  Having a wonderful time working on “Damn Yankees”.  Learning to whistle with my fingers to my mouth (I can nearly shatter eardrums now!)  Being happy I didn’t have to take P.E. anymore!

                As a senior, hating the racial distress & US Government class.  Loving the time I spent working in the theatre dept. and on “Guys & Dolls”.   Finally finding someone who had the patience to teach lefty me to crochet…thank you, Mrs. Willis!  Remembering taking Karla Burns back to school after graduation rehearsal at WSU.  There were police all around the school and we pulled up beside one, Karla rolled down the window & asked what was going on.  He said “You girls have 3 options:  go to school, go to jail, or go home.”  We chose the 3^rd option & I took Karla home with me.  We were both a little shaken and sure we didn’t want to hang around in case the officer chose the 2^nd option for us. 

 

 

 

 

West Junior Completing Boat to Escape Noise

Tuesday, December 30, 1969 – The Peach – The Beacon’s Youth Report

 

With a little help from his friends, Mike Baugh will have a homemade sailboat.      A junior at West High School, Mike decided to make his own sailboat after riding in a friend’s last summer.      “It was fun getting away from all the noise,” he said.  “Sitting in the middle of the lake, all you can hear is the sounds of the water.”      Add a little bit of boredom last summer and you have the reason why he decided to start the project.      “It’s been about 7 months now,” he said.  “All I have left is the mast and one more coat of fiberglass.”      The 12-foot sailboat, which will hold 3 people when finished, has cost him $195, about half of what it would cost him ready-made.      “I may have to put off finishing it until Spring,” the 16-year-old said.  “I can’t put the fiberglass on until the temperature is above 50 degrees.”

How do you construct a sailboat?      “I didn’t know how in the beginning,” he said.  “I sort of learned on the way.  I took some plans out of a boat magazine and modified them.  Then I went from there.”      He’s had several friends and his brother Rich, 14, help him on the project.  All have been promised rides on the completed sailboat.      Working on the boat and modifying the plans has given Mike a boost towards his career.      “I want to be an architect,” he said.  “The work with the boat has some of the same principles.”      After graduation, Mike plans to attend North Texas State.      As for the sailboat, it probably will be finished in March, Mike said.      “Then we will take it out to Cheney for its first launch,” he said.  “I know then all this work will be more than worthwhile.”

Mike Baugh worked on his sailboat. West Junior hopes to launch it in March

 

Mike says:

            I remember my days in Wichita at West the best by the things my teachers inspired me to try.  I was in Mr. Hunter’s drafting class all three years and somewhere after my sophomore year, I remember him challenging me to find a boat plan and see if I could build it.  So I did.  I found one of those “Boat Builder” (now defunct) magazines and ordered a set of plans for a 12-foot board boat (sailboat).  It was great how my parents supported my enthusiasm.  I got help from lots of friends and neighbors who were full of ideas on how best to do this or that.  In the end, the old boat was just a big too heavy to be of any real “fun” value but sure was fun to do and I learned a lot.  I know Mr. Hunter isn’t around anymore, but he still owes me for that one!

 

 

 

 

Debbie Dinsmoor & Debbie Heskett

Kay Swinson & Debbie Dinsmoor

Debbie Dinsmoor & Twila Griffith