Lincoln High School - San Diego, California - Classes of 1955 to 1959
November 2024
TO MY FELLOW GRADS: Well the World Series is behind us (truly, the best team won) and the (ugh) election is over, so now we can focus on the coming holidays. My wife and I will visit our grandchildren in North Carolina for Thanksgiving and we’ll gobble up lots of turkey and trimmings. I hope your day will be equally as fulfilling. Now, our monthly get-together of the “regulars” will be on the second Wednesday of this month—November 13. We meet at the Starbucks at the corner of Clairemont Mesa Blvd. and Dianne Ave., and we go from 10 a.m. to about noon. About 12 to 20 of us, depending on the month, show up to renew friendships that go back 70 years or more. We are all truly “survivors” and it’s always great to get together!
BUZZING FROM YOUR CLASSMATES: The class of ’57 has lost another from its ranks—Roy Johnson. He died Oct. 30 from a fall at his home that quickly claimed his life. The report came from Ed Leon (’57) who said that Roy was A. I. A. architect who had designed buildings of every type here and even in Japan. Ed added that Roy and his wife, Linda, were the first American friends to meet Ed’s wife, Marianne, when she came from her home in Germany to live in the U.S. “They became godparents to our five children and, of course, lifelong friends,” Ed said. Another part of the story is that Jean Baber (’58) was a distant cousin of Roy Johnson and Jerry Smith (’58) and Roy were even closer cousins
A couple months back I reported on the passing of Larry Beveridge (’55), a retired SD police officer. Well, someone at the Union-Tribune remembered Larry as a significant officer who was a real asset to the department and wrote up a very nice obit in the Oct. 13 paper. Check it out if you can
And speaking of outstanding SDPD officers, I would like to give a big shout-out/salute to my ’57 classmate, Jim (Butch) Sing. Jim served over 30 years with the SDPD and worked hard to keep us all safe. He was a motorcycle officer, recruited and trained new officers, caught murderers during a stint in the Homicide Division and reached the rank of lieutenant and became one of Chief Bill Kolender’s top advisors. His whole career was devoted to public service. In addition, Jim is a fellow Lion with me, serving in the El Cajon club while I’m in the Downtown SD club. The Lion motto is “We Serve.” This is not an obit as Jim and I stay in touch. Hats off to a good guy!
Another LHS classmate, Ruthie Bible (’58) was featured in a U-T article last month. With her business partner, Betsy Scarborough, she owns and operates Nickelodeon Records at 3335 Adams Ave. in Normal Heights. They opened the store in 1984 and sell sell vinyl records which a lot of people still love to buy and listen to. “We knew we weren’t going to get rich selling vinyl records, but it was what we loved,” Ruthie said. Before opening the store, Ruthie worked in a bank and Betsy was a high school English teacher
Nielsine Archibald (’57) thanked me for keeping folks in the loop. “I will be on an Italy/Greek cruise from Oct. 11 to the 25th with a friend. She and I are both turning 85 in December so this is our big celebration. Please say hi to fellow Lincolnites at the monthly coffee.” (Hope you had a great trip, Niel.)
You may remember that at least two of our classmates have lost their homes due to fires in the last couple of decades. They would be Rick Smith in Scripps Ranch and Darrel Lawrence in Rancho Bernardo, both (’57). Well, my wife and I came as scarily close to that disaster as one could get without the final burnout. Remember the fire off Montezuma Road on Halloween? We live on one of those canyons and the fire came very close to our backyard and actually damaged other homes in our Talmadge neighborhood. We evacuated just after standing in our backyard and watching flames coming toward our house. Fortunately no houses were destroyed in the fire, but it was scary as hell. The SD Fire Department did a great job along with the helicopters and airplanes that dumped stuff on the fire. The irony was that we evacuated to Marianne’s mom’s house and tuning in to NBC 7/39 we saw a reporter interviewing people in our backyard. WHEW!
