Yuma High Class of 1959 prepares for reunion

Because of the postwar boom full of rock music and poodle skirts, the '50s have often been touted as America's "Golden Years," and those who grew up during that time period remember it fondly.

This month graduates of Yuma High School's Class of 1959 will be getting together for their 50th year reunion.

The reunion will kick off at 6 p.m. Oct. 30 at Lutes Casino and will conclude Nov. 1 with a memorial service on Doan Field.

During the memorial, Yuma High's varsity marching band will play and will feature alumnus George Walker on the bag pipes. For more information about the Yuma High School Class of 1959 reunion, call  344-1038 or send an e-mail to cstanleyc@aol.com.

Recently the Yuma Sun sat down with seven graduates from that year to discuss what things were like back in 1959.

"One of the nicest things about going to school in the '50s was that it was an innocent time, and even if we went drinking or whatever we did, our parents didn’t let us get very far," said Valerie (Mcullough) Drysdale. "There were about 12,000 people in the city and everybody's parents knew where they were all the time."

Claudia (Kornegay) Cox said there were really no strangers in Yuma.

"It was such an easy time. You could go into any store on Main Street and they always knew your name," Cox said. "That was quite a year. I graduated and got married to Ord Cox, who had graduated from Yuma High in '58. It was really neat to live when there was only one high school and everybody went. I really liked that."

Barbara (Bann) Koenigs said it was very different to have one high school in Yuma County.

"Everybody went to Yuma High at that time, so people would come all the way from Wellton and Bard to go to school," Koenigs said. "There were no other schools, and the entire county knew each other. It's not like that anymore."

Koenigs said there wasn't much around to corrupt the students in those days.

"Those were innocent times. Instead of individual dates we would get together as groups. We had a very close knit class. It was safe, and we didn't even know about drugs, including marijuana. There were really no drugs."

Koenigs added that she doesn't feel sorry for the students at Yuma High today who are now required to wear school uniforms.

"Yuma High had strict dress codes when we went. We couldn’t wear shorts to school, only dresses," she said. "We don’t feel bad for the kids who have to wear uniforms now. It’s good for them."

Koenigs said the parents would look after any of the kids, even if they weren't their own.

"Our parents watched out for all of the other students, and I don't think our parents had to worry so much. My mom always said to be careful no matter where I went in Yuma because there would always be someone there to see what I was doing and she would know about it. We had curfews, and knew when to be home, or we'd get grounded. It was a fun time, and was absolutely different from now."

Caryl (Rambo) Stanley said the Friday night football games were the place to be in Yuma.

"Dressing up for the football games was one of the funnest things about high school," Stanley said. "We would wear high heels and then go to the parties afterward which were always held in the cafeteria. Everybody went and there was always a live band."

Stanley said people loved to dance.

"In the summer we would cruise Main Street. We would talk to the people in the other cars, and agree to meet up with them near the old sheds at the end of 10th Street and  Arizona Avenue. All the cars would tune to the same radio station and we would all dance."

Tina (Olberg) Kubishke said one of the biggest differences between then and now was the absence of any air conditioning.

"In our high school days we wore heavily starched petty coats under our dresses. I remember I had an English class in the administration building, and it was so hot in the afternoon because there was no air conditioning," Kubishke said. "We would sit in there for an hour listening to something we didn’t want to know, and the sweat would be pouring down our legs. It would mix with the starch and get sticky."

John Lobeck said he enjoyed being in the varsity marching band.

"I was in the band for four years and I played trombone and the baritone. We did travel sometimes out of town to attend festivals," Lobeck said. "We always got out of class to go to ensemble practice, which was really cool. Our marching band was one of the best in the state at that time."

Doug Stanley was a fan of the athletics department.

"One of the things I remember most about high school was the sports program," Stanley said. "We had a lot of good athletes in all of the programs. I really enjoyed football, and our team happened to be No. 4 in the state. Everybody went to the football games, not just the students but the entire city. Yuma would shut down, because that was the thing to do."

Stanley said families were tighter knit in the '50s.

"Just about everyone went to church every Sunday, and we respected our parents and our friends. Back then our parents were always there for us, and we always ate dinner together, no matter how late it got."

When asked what they missed most about 1959, the group of seven unanimously agreed: "The innocence."

Important events of 1959

• Jan. 3 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
• Jan. 29 – Sleeping Beauty shown in theaters
• February 3 – A chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper goes down in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing them all in a tragedy later referred to as "The Day the Music Died."
• March 9 – The Barbie doll debuts.
• May 28 – Two monkeys, Able and Miss Baker, are the first living beings to successfully return to Earth from space.
• Aug. 21 – Hawaii is admitted as the 50th U.S. state.

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Chris McDaniel can be reached at cmcdaniel@yumasun.com or 539-6849.