PROFILE UPDATES

Official Website for VHS Class of 64

Updated May 26, 2025

Be of good cheer, "For whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.  Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.  And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.  be cheerful. Strive to be happy."*

(*Desiderada in part...)

Memorial Day  May 26, 2025

Memorial day started as 'Decoration Day' intending to honor the soldiers, (both sides) who died in the Civil War.  More than 600,000 died, and this day was set aside in May of 1866.  The practice was to decorate war graves with flowers.  Other stories of the origin vary somewhat, but it began as a nationwide practice of remembering the fallen, and the price they had paid.

Controversy has somewhat dimmed the original intent, but it's important to remember that it makes no difference what color, ethnicity, gender or age.  The intent is to honor the brave Americans who have fallen in too many conflicts that have occured all across the Globe.

Strangely, It now seems to mark the beginning of Summer. Or the day of a famous car race, and it has become the holiday many of us celebrate with a BBQ and often a family gathering. And during that celebration, we may not even recognize the true intent of this National Holiday. 

That's maybe about as American as it gets, because we're all supposed to have the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.  So, by all means enjoy the day, especially if it includes family.  And please remember the soldiers who have gave this right to America.  Never forgetting that there are those who would take those rights away from us. 

Until the day comes when we no longer have a reason to fight or defend, we will always need and have soldiers who will be remembered for the sacrifices they make. 

Memorial Day honors their memory.  But every day, we as  Americans should celebrate the freedoms we share.  Freedom has never been free.

Happy Memorial Day to the Class of '64

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Special Thanks and Respect to our Veteran Classmates

                         Image and Display Credit: Glenn Fellows

The Image shown above was a large display at the 60th Class Reunion.

Over 100 Classmates served honorably in various branches of our Armed Forces.  We owe a debt of gratitude for their service and sacrifice. It's important to also remember that the families of these classmates also shared that sacrifice (and worry, when their Servicemen and women were put in harms way).

We proudly salute our classmates (over 100 of them) and send our thanks and respect to all those listed in links below.

You can click on each name to be taken to their profile page. 

If you like, please reach out and leave a message either public or private.  Public means that all other classmates (and only our classmates) will be able to see the comments and any replies.  Private means your comment is sent to a private message board and only that classmate can read and make a replies to it. Messages can be edited or deleted by you.

A rose next to their name signifies that they are deceased and they are in our 'In Memory' section of the website.   You can leave a message there to share with classmates and the classmate's family and friends. (Our 'In Memory' page is one of several pages on our website that are open to the general public so that families can view messages left for their loved ones).

On this day, and every day, we salute our Veterans. 

David Alarid     William Allen    Ted Alley     Lucas Armijo     Samuel Baca     Kenneth Ball     Robert Barker     John Barnum     Charles Barone      Kay Bartholomew     Mikell Becker      David Booth    James Bowman     Richard Brannon    Alan Brinkman     John Budagher     Fred Byer     Michael Byrnes      Johnny Carver     Steve Cervantes    Jerry Chavarria     Kenneth Clair    Tommy Contreras    Roy Cornelius     Larry Culp     George Cunningham     Leslie Davis    Orlando Duran     Charles Fagan    Glenn Fellows     Mike Ferguson     Leslie Fluke     Hugh Formhals     Juan Garcia    David Garduno     Ray Gere      Gary Goad (Goad)    Lorenzo Gonzales     Phillip Gonzales    Dennis Grano     Richard Gutierrez     Stephen Haller    O K Odie Harris     Lou Hoffman      David Holden     Mark Hopkins     Ross Howard     James Johnson    Richard Johnston     Dennis Kimbrough     Calvin Kinsel     Jack Leverton (Rachels)     Robert Lowder      Michael Lowry     Flavio Lucero    Leonard Lucero     Tandy Lucero     Dale Lyngen    Gloria Maestas    Edgar Malloy     George Martinez     Mike Matthews     Dennis McCool    Ernest McIntyre     Tim McKinney    J. Wayne McNeely    (Lloyd) Irwin Moore     Michael Morris     Craig Murray    Eloy Pacheco     Jessie Pacheco    David Padilla     Victor Padilla     Nick Pavlakovich Jr.      Richard Perce, Dvm    Earl Plumley     Kent Porter     Jay Powelson     Robert A. Richardson    Danny Robles     Steve (Esteban) Rodriguez     Allen Rogers    Eddie Roybal     Phillip Ruelas     Tom Salmon    Albert Sanchez    Anthony (Tony) M Sanchez    Uvaldo Sanchez     Joe Sevier     Howard Shephard -Britt     Mike Sheyka      John Snodgrass     Craig Sowers      Marco Vallecorse    Verby Van Houten     John Vickers     Rupert White     Michael Williams     James Windsor     Mark Wood     Steven Woodard

Email Address Problems

We have received an increasing number of "email bounce-backs" on our web page. These notifications indicate that the email address shown in our system for a classmate is no longer current and messages sent out come back as undeliverable. Your web page administrators receive a report showing the classmate name and some addtional contact information. An attempt is then made to contact the classmate to get current email information. Please remember that if you change your email address and still wish to receive important notiffications from our system, access your classmate profile and update your email address. As the time for our 60th reunion (!) approaches, activity on our site will likely increase.

The new VHS Veterans Memorial

Years ago, a VHS classmate envisioned a unique memorial to the Vikings we lost during the Vietnam war. Eli Padilla (Class of '65) felt there should be a permanent reminder of the loss we share from that now long ago conflict. Our classmates should not be just names in a book or on a wall in DC. He wanted to remind our present day students of the cost we pay to fight for liberty (ours and others) in a hard world.

Many of us remember Eli as a star basketball player along side our own classmates, including Tony Scarton our class president. Eli went on to become a PhD professor at UNM; but he remembers well the disruption of our lives by this unpopular war (a redundancy, to be sure).

Nonetheless, many were called to serve and far too many didn't make it home.  Or they came home forever changed; in ways today's students can't even imagine.

Shouldn't we remind and make personal the sacrifices we must pay, to have the freedoms we take for granted... in a world far less free than the one we share here?

Remember those carefree days in school?  We had no idea, did we... How the world would change us. How it forever changed these young heroes, willing or not.

To learn more about the details of Eli's work (and others, including Glenn Fellows - Architect, from our class) Click on this link and learn and appreciate (and maybe even donate to the special Scolarship fund that Eli started) Click here...

And to our Veterans, where ever they are... today and every day: Thank you for your service.

If you missed our Veterans Tribute, you can find it here:

Tribute to Our Veterans

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