John Ueleke Archives

June 21, 2014

Goldwater Signs and Ugly Negatives

These negatives were so gnarly I almost didn’t post them, but there are lots of familiar faces, so I’ll just have to ask you to overlook the spots and amoebas eating our classmates. This looks like some kind of debate function, but I don’t understand all the Goldwater signs.

Click on the photo to make it larger and see who you can spot. I see Laura Folsom, Margaret Randol, Skip Stiver, Linda Stone, Pat Sommers, Mike Seabaugh, Chuck Dockins, Georganne Penzel, Joni Tickel, Kathy Slinkard, Bill East and Joe Snell, among others. Based on the mix, I’m going to guess this was taken in the fall of 1964 and is made up of the classes of ’65 and ’66 and ’67.

Ueleke, Folsom and Randol

The only ones I’m going to venture a guess on are John Ueleke, Laura Folsom and Margaret Randol. I don’t know if the older women were teachers.

Goldwater and green file boxes

Lots of Goldwater buttons and bumper stickers. I was a Barry fan and got to shoot his campaign stop in Cairo. The girl in the center must have been a debater. I still have a dozen or more of those green metal 3×5 and 4×6 file boxes full of notes and arguments.

Amoeba revenge

This young lady’s legs are being eaten by film amoebas for the way she is disrespecting the photographer. The bemused blonde has held up quite well, but actually laughing, well, that’ll earn you the photographer’s revenge.

I KNOW I should know the boy in the left background, but I can’t pull his name out of the mist.

Mystery man

The man on the right is another one of those faces I recognize but can’t ID. Ideas?

February 17, 2014

What Was Social Living Class?

I gave these photos a file name of “Speech Class” because I saw the National Forensic League (NFL) logo in the back of the room. Then, I looked at the students, most of whom are in the Class of 1965, and didn’t see a large number of debaters.

The bulletin board display, with its front pages from U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek got me thinking Current Events. (The facing portraits on the board look more like Calvin Chapman than JFK.) There are also lots of stories tacked up that may be Senior Spotlights from The Tiger.

Social Living Clue

My thinking changed when I saw the textbooks on the desks of Cheri Huckstep and Paul Schwab. They say “Social Living.” I can’t remember, for the life of me, what that class was about. Was that another name for Civics?

Photo gallery

You should have fun putting names to faces. I recognize lots of folks, but I’m going to give you the opportunity to make guesses so I don’t have to make corrections. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move through the gallery. (Check out the street scene out the window of the vertical shot with Lynn Latimore in it. I bet you can ID the businesses in the background.)

September 27, 2013

True Confessions

I have a confession to make: I’ve been binge-watching Friday Night Lights, the TV series about high school football in a small Texas town.

“Why in the world are you watching that?” a friend asked. “You don’t even like sports.”

My only excuse is that I like the photography and lighting and it reminds me of the scores of high school football games I covered. I always said I would rather cover high school sports than college or pro games because the players are real. They may have grandiose ideas about getting rich in the future, but on Friday night, it’s all about playing for their team, their school (and to get girls).

High school soap opera

Think of Friday Night Lights as a soap opera set in high school. It’s kind of like Glee, except they don’t break out in annoying singing and cavorting. I hate lip synching, particularly when the actors over-emote and look like a poodle passing peach pits in the close-ups.

Anyway, I scanned this pep rally a long time ago, but held off running it because a lot of the negatives were in really bad shape.

Coach Goodwin wasn’t Coach Taylor

NBC’s Coach Taylor character was a tough, but compassionate coach who managed to turn the role into an 2011 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and was nominated for another one in 2010.

As a non-jock, I generally flew beneath the radar of Cape Central’s Coach Goodwin. I didn’t get to see his compassionate side. I shared some of my phys ed experiences earlier.

Narrow ties and white socks era

It looks like white socks and narrow ties were the uniform of the day.

I recognize some folks

I have the luxury of being able to blow up the film like it was a crime scene photo on a TV show. When I enlarge it way, way up, I think I can pick out some of the members of the pep band: David Hahs, Lee Dahringer and John Ueleke. I’m pretty sure Joan Earley is sitting next to the band. You’ll just have to take my word for it. You CAN click on the photos to make them larger, but you won’t be able to take them up as much as I can with the raw film.

1965 Majorettes

The majorettes in the background were part of the Class of 1965, so these were probably taken in the fall of 1964 or early in 1965. I can’t remember when football season ended and basketball started. I don’t recognize the girls in the football uniforms.

If I hurry up and post this, I might be able to knock off the rest of Season 2 before I go to bed.

June 13, 2013

1965 Graduation Party

From what I read in the paper, today’s graduation parties cost more than wedding did back in our day. Here are photos from the all-night graduation party held at the Arena Building for the Class of 1965.

It’s my blog, so I’ll cheat a little and post a photo of MY date for the night: the future Lila Perry Steinhoff, at right. She gained points because she didn’t try to put a funny hat on my head like Margaret Ritter is doing to John Ueleke.

Harold Payne, never absent or tardy

The caption on the Youth Page on June 12, 1965, said “Harold Payne, the only member of the class to go four years to Central High without missing a day or being tardy reached his breaking point at the all-night senior party last week.”

Peggy Estes looks at Girardot

“Classmate Miss Peggy Estes keep semi-awake by gazing at the class yearbook.”

Called an all-night binge

The Missourian story called the party an “all-night binge.” I’d hate to hear what they’d call today’s extravaganzas. I’ll set the official Missourian story in italics.

Central High School graduating seniors, treated to an all-night binge by their parents, danced their way from last Thursday night after graduation to breakfast at 4 Friday morning.

Danced through the night

Most of them danced through the entire night, according to Mrs. Gale Heise, one of the head chairmen for the affair. An annual event, this year’s party was the biggest ever. And, according to Mrs. Heise, the seniors can thank all the parents for their complete cooperation.

Door prizes sparked the dull moments when the band took a break. Local merchants donated 125 items for prizes. And a grand prize, a portable television, which Lee Dahringer won, was purchased with money donated by parents. Fifteen prizes, including the big one, were given out just before breakfast.

Made a beeline for Arena Building

Two bands were hired for the evening – the Goldtones, which played for the first half of the evening, and Willies Band [the microfilm was sketchy here, but that’s what it looked like] which played until the wee hours.

The graduates, some with underclassmen as dates – made a beeline for the Arena Building as soon as the graduation ceremonies were over. The underclassmen were allowed to stay until 1 Friday morning. Then they left and the seniors were given a half hour to run home to change into sports clothes for the remainder of the party. [I was given a little more leeway since I had to go home to process the photos for the paper.]

Food was plentiful

Food was plentiful and free. Parents did the decorating, which followed a Mardi Gras theme. [The rest of the paragraph couldn’t be read.]

Some of the graduates dozed off for awhile, but the dance floor, said Mrs. Heise, was still pretty full at 4.

Head chairmen for the party were Mr. and Mrs. Heise, Senator and Mrs. Albert Spradling, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Knehans and Mr. and Mrs. Charles House.

Graduation Party photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the side to move through the gallery.