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Welcome to the Class of '64 website. There may be another site for us on the 'net, but I haven't found it yet, so this is my effort. I've been meaning to do this for awhile—I've had my own site with my own domain name for several years—so the time seemed right.
Don't leave yet. Keep reading. You're going to be included here, too. In fact, use your newly minted domain name, mcarthur63.com. It points to this same page for now, but may eventually have '63 specific material. Tell all your classmates. You don't even need to write it down. As I said at the reunion, if any one of us can't remember mcarthur63 or mcarthur64 .com, then we probably don't deserve to see the page.
This is about all that's recognizable of our alma mater. Some of the newer structure on campus is downright hideous. The classrooms which faced Hollywood Blvd to the left (west) of the auditorium appear to be gone (seems to me most of the English Department classes were held in those rooms). The parking lot to the west of the classrooms which seemed to be the epicenter of the day's activities is covered with structure and nowhere to be seen. The school we knew essentially doesn't exist.
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A melancholy note—on the day I shot this picture from across the street at Boyd's funeral home, there was activity associated with a funeral taking place. When I randomly checked on June's website later that day, I learned the services were for a fellow McArthur grad, Steve Barkelew (I don't know what year). I wish I'd known.
We had one and it was great! I've cobbled together some thoughts (very sketchy thus far) and posted them. I didn't take but a couple of pictures but I've asked people to send any they took to me to post, so eventually we may have a nice album for everyone's reference. Click below to take a look.
Many thanks to the efforts of the Reunion Committee to make this '63/'64 reunion come together. There's already talk of not only the '50th in 2014 but possibly mini regional reunions in the by-years. It was just so exciting seeing old friends again.
If you're here and you haven't heard from anyone associated with McArthur in over five years, please make sure the Reunion Committee (doing double duty as sort of a clearing house of classmate information) has a current address. See if you're on the
Even if you can’t/won’t/couldn’t make a reunion, we sure would like to hear from you. We live in a wondrous electronic age and email can be the next best thing when it comes to reconnecting with old (I use old in the context of fond remembrances—not as an adjective denoting accumulation of seniority) classmates.
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I've scanned the cover of the yearbook—you can view it here (at left), while you're waiting for me to come up with some scintillating Class of '64 nostalgia stuff. Our stalwart officers can be seen at right. I've also scanned and coded the class pictures pages from the yearbook (link below).
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(Click on tab to go to the yearbook pages)
Other classes have their own sites. There's a site for the '60/'61/'62 grads, and one for the '65/'66/'67/'68/'69 folks. There is even an “official,” one class fits all, site, although it's sort of today's McArthur, and you'll find little to which you can relate if you're here for the reason I think you're here.
At first blush, that now leaves a gaping hole at 1963, and I don't want that to happen. So, in keeping with the Mustang Spirit, and given that there are quite a few '63/'64 couples, I'm going to include the '63s in this site until such time as an interested party decides to develop a stand-alone '63 site. Please, however, don't take offense if '63 doesn't receive the focus that my primary interest directs toward the '64 perspective. In any event, most of us were there together for two years, at least, and Royal Castle was the same to you as it was to us.
Who's the goofball running this affair? Rod Peterson, at your service (Warning! Link leads to egocentric, self aggrandizing, biographical yawn fest of little importance and less interest—don't say you weren't warned).
In order to help make this thing work, please send me an email. There's a link at the bottom of every page. I'd be glad to hear from you (even if you couldn't stand me in high school) and I'll be grateful for every tidbit of information we can add to the site that everyone is going to want to know. Spread the word. Tell your friends and family.
I just found this out, and I suspect it's been broken for a while. You can still read the entries, but you can't add a post. I'll work on this over the next few days as I'm still decompressing. No, the Reunion wasn't that strenuous, but helping #1 daughter in her move to Atlanta and taking Mom's car keys away have made for a looooooonnnnng three weeks.
Condolences to Kathy (Coddington) Matthew and family on the loss of their mother.
Rod Peterson, Class of '64
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Last updated: 13 December 2009