Directory: Class of 1959, Lamar Senior High School

Mirabeau B. Lamar Senior High School Big Red

Houston, Texas
Class of 1959

Classmate Bios
(submitted 2008 and earlier)

Visit our Orenda Directory for Orenda photos and current hometown for each of our classmates, with links to the Memory Album.
Provide your current bio and Lamar memories to Webmaster@Lamar59.org for our Class on-line Memory Album
Please vist our In Memoriam page for known obituaries of deceased classmates.
For contact information on classmates, inquire at Tish@Lamar59.org

Baker, Betsy (Altenburger)

"I am retired from teaching, but tutoring Latin and English.

"We have 6 grandkids ranging in age from 8 to 2!!!  The 8 year old
thinks I'm old and 7 yr. old tries to avoid hugs lately!! All in all, great
fun.  Christmas at our house in Bellaire this year with all.

"Enjoyed reading about everyone. Thanks," Betsy Baker Altenburger - Dec 2003

Michael Blackledge | Create Your Badge

Blackledge, Michael A. See Mike's memories and photo in the Memory Album.
Class Photo: Row 12, # 2 web site with links to current life: http://mike.blackledge.com

Browne, Anne

"After years and years of saying "I'll NEVER teach school!!" guess who's teaching high school history, and creative writing, and drama (who knew?), and economics (even tho' it has MATH in it!), and government. I've been teaching at a small Christian school in Poetry, TX for the last 3 years and am currently looking for another venue for my talents -- one that can afford to pay a living wage. I have three grown children: John, who has MS and lives in Florida; Beth, a Licensed Professional Counselor living here in Terrell and custodian of my 2 grandsons; and Michael, an Army medic who is en route, with his family, to Germany for 3 years - taking with him, despite both my and her other grandmother's offers to keep her, my only granddaughter. I live with an aging Great Dane and 4 cats, am active in the Episcopal church and in my garden, and am as content as I have been in my life. Look forward to seeing all you guys at the next event that's on dry land." (posted 2 May 2006)

Clay, Sally

"I live in a small but classy house in the Outback of Florida, and 
have retired from my work as a peer advocate. I am still doing some 
editing, though, and am currently working on a book."  - Nov 2003

The book "On Our Own, Together: Peer Programs for People with Mental Illness" 
(that I have been working on for about six years) was published in March 2005. 
More info is on the publisher's page:  http://www.vanderbilt.edu/vupress/clay.html. 
A coupon for a 33% prepublication discount may be found at my website.

      Lake Placid, Florida     *    Caladium Capital of the World

Davis, Richard


"I have lived in Minneapolis the last 22 years.   I am in the electronics
 field and have been since 1962.   I maintained computers used for
the Apollo dockings and lunar landing project in Clear Lake for several
year then moved into computerized scoreboards and then sports television.
   I spent four years in the Navy with VP-26 stationed in Brunswick, Maine.
Our squadron flew patrols around Cuba during the missile crisis.  Our crew 
found the first ship leaving Cuba with missiles on board.
  
 - Dick Davis, January 2004

 <photos:  top: Dick with granddaughter; bottom: Dick with grandson 
Michael who has scored 37 touchdowns in his
first two seasons of organized football.>

Deats, Wayne Jr.

I have led a full life and a wonderful life. After high school I joined the Navy and became a navigator on a personnel transport that traveled between San Diego and Vietnam. Then on to college at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. I received a BA degree in accounting. Went to work for Ethyl corp. in Houston. Then was recruited to join Amerada Hess Oil Co. at their refinery on St. Croix, USVI. Spent 5 years on the island and was then recruited by Berry Petroleum Co. in Taft, Ca. While at Berry, I was the VP and CFO. I also served on the city planning commission and became Mayor of Taft for two terms.
A friend of mine then talked me into coming to work with him as the EVP of a large Construction company that dealt with Oilfield construction and maintenance and Underground utility installations. After 5 years the owner decided to shut the company down and go on to racing cars. Mostly midgets and sprint cars. A friend that owned an Insurance agency talked me into joining him and I have never looked back. This move has been very rewarding. It's so good that I don't even think about retiring. I also serve on several boards including the Boy Scouts of America, the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra board and the Arts Council of Kern County. I advise the Spotlight Theatre and underwrite some of their plays. I love to fill my free time with volunteering with groups that help children find a better life. (May 2009)

Duggan, Paul

"I am retired from an engineering and marketing
career at IBM, Western Digital and Standard 
Microsystems Corporation. My wife Karen and I 
live in Truckee, California in the Sierra Nevada 
Mountains."

Truckee, CA. (new e-mail address as of Feb 2006)

[photo at right] :

"We and our two children and son-in-law are seen

in the attached picture in Maui, our winter

hideaway."

Fleming, Jon Hugh

"I've been quite active with a number of projects lately including the Texas eLearning Initiative created by the Texas Legislature. We're identifying Technology Issues in public education in preparation for the Texas Legislature's upcoming Special Session on Public School Finance.

"From a business and professional perspective: I'm deeply involved with several strategic planning and implementation initiatives as disparately related as geo-political intelligence and an investment fund targeted to university endowments and trusts-foundations...with several in between."

Photo: Jon with his wife Cheryl, Vice President for Education of Questia - the world's largest online library. "She came to this role after a brilliant performance career in Opera and Sacred Oratorio - with an eight year stop as Dean of the Petree School of Music and Performing Arts in Oklahoma City.

"Cheryl and I are expecting two granddaughters in July (2004) which will bring the total to six girls and four boys. We have four Australian Shepherds which keep us company on the ranch."

"Life has blessed us beyond all hope and expectations and we can't wait to see everyone at our upcoming Reunion. Go Lamar!"
(March 2004)

Hattwick, Mike - President of Woodburn Internal Medicine Associates, a private medical practice of internal and preventative medicine. Dr. Hattwick earned a bachelor's degree (cum laude) from Harvard University, a medical degree from Baylor, and an M.P.H. equivalent degree from the University of London. He is board certified in both preventative and internal medicine. Dr. Hattwick is currently a clinical assistant professor for the Departments of Medicine and Community and Family Medicine of Georgetown University School of Medicine, a Member of the Governing Council of the Virginia Chapter of the American College of Physicians, and a Trustee of the Virginia Society of Internal Medicine. Since 1978 he has been actively using computers to implement preventive medical guidelines in his clinical practice. (Bio from Telemedicine - 1996)
... transcription of 60 Minutes interview re: swine flu vaccine - 1979

Hughes, Sam
I have been living in an old five bedroom house in Raton, NM (on Colorado border) for the past ten years, before that in Farmington, NM. Working as an artist. I also have a make-shift studio in Albuquerque, as I frequently visit my girfriend Elizabeth who makes silver jewelry.
I do various types of art work, relying mainly on scenic watercolors for positive cash flow. My heart is in my surrealistic and allegorical paintings in oil, with which I expect to climb to greater heights economically and in interest to the public.

Kalb, Jon
"From 1959 to 1969 I participated on expeditions in Mexico, Central and South America, the Carribean, and the South Pacific, pursuing my interests in geology, paleontology and archeology. During the mid- to late- 1960s I worked at the Smithsonian and Carnegie Institution, while studying geology at American University and Johns Hopkins University. In 1966 I met Judy Carr from Seattle and in 1968 we were married in Washington D.C. We soon were blessed with two daughters, Justine and Spring, who now live in New York City and San Francisco respectively.
    "From 1971 to 1978, we lived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from which I conducted explorations in Ethiopia’s infamous Afar Depression, which lies at the southern end of the Red Sea and the northern end of the East African Rift. There I discovered a number of fossil sites that have produced a stream of early human ancestors dating to nearly six million years old, and perhaps the oldest stone tools known dating to at least 2.5 million years.
    "Following the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974, my family and I lived through four years of a Marxist military dictatorship. We returned to the U.S. in late 1978 and settled in Austin, where I am a research fellow with the Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory at the University of Texas."    (July 2004)

Jon's book, "Adventures in the Bone Trade" is available through his web site. or any major on-line book store.

Jon Kalb
in Omduuman, Sudan, c. 1994

Kinzbach, Letitia (Keller)
" I have an Adjunct Faculty position at Austin Community College. I teach in the Computer Science department. They have asked me Fall 2000 and Spring 2001 to teach full-time for them with the pay, but not the benefits. I like that. I recently interviewed for a full-time faculty position there. I will also apply at other local colleges. I'm taking online courses from the University of Maryland University College. It's wonderful! I'll have 18 graduate hours in CS by August, 2001. That gives me better credentials in many ways. I'm also slowly building the equipment, people, and network to begin my own database consulting business. It's on hold (or extreme slow-down) while I hustle in my courses (3 this semester and 2 this summer). I think I like being in charge of my time and efforts. I enjoy getting free copies of CS books (I read lots of them). I'm just a learner at heart." - Letitia, March 2001 -
Letitia Keller | Create Your Badge

Tish with Grandkids: Sarah (3) and Arturo (1) in the Easter outfits their grandma made for them! Oh, those Lamar Home Ec courses do pay off !

Lilliott, Rick

I'm still a practicing CPA in Houston. Probably the most interesting career stretch for me was auditing Howard Hughes' books. I spent many an hour in the the cages and pits of Las Vegas in the "old days" 1968-1974. But then again, how many people do you know that have accounting or insurance for a hobby?

I've been married to Gwen Davis Lilliott since 1963. We met in Yellowstone Nat'l Park between my sophomore and junior years at Rice. Gwen is a Wyoming Prep and U of Wyoming graduate and a practicing medical technologist at Memorial-Hermann Memorial City Hospital. We have three grown children (6 degrees among the three) and two granddaughters.

Picture of me is in December 2003 with my younger granddaughter, Julia Madden Chapman, who is Barry Madden's great niece.

(April 2004)

Lipscomb, Fred

I am married with four children and five grandchildren. I flew at Northwest Airlines for thirty years, and owned a cattle farm here in Mississippi up until a few years ago. Sold farm, and retired from flying, and now do mission work in

Honduras

on the Mesquitia Coast. For several years now I have helped support a missionary and his family down there and each year I take teams of men down to create water systems for the villages of Mosquitia Indians in

Honduras

. Our primary mission is to put water systems in each village and hand pumps at individual huts when possible. Some of our mission work is described at our web site. Also included are medical teams when available, and of course we support existing churches. Anyone interested in going down with me later this year, or next, can get in touch with me. (March 2004 - Hernando, MS 38632)

McCallum, Orlean (Anderson)
I have enjoyed life in Washington DC since 1972 when my husband and I moved here, I to teach, he, to work in architectural preservation. Now, a widow, I still thrive on the excitement of Washington politics, arts and museums, and sports - though cable TV gets most of my money because of my addiction to the Rockets and Astros! …I must be a masochist!...Surely Roger will break the spell.

I am in Houston often for most holidays to see my wonderful mother and dad who still live in the house we bought when I was a senior at Lamar (Betsy and Bette always said I lived “across the tracks”!) and to watch my nephew set 9th Pole Vault records at Memorial High School! I am a VERY biased aunt!

My life has been blessed by a wonderful, smart, handsome son and a career as a teacher. I have loved every minute teaching high school kids about the power of language, the thrill of writing a piece that “satisfies” the writer and moves another person, the joy of reading a book that introduces other worlds or new ideas. I have been fortunate to be involved in many areas of staff development so that I have spent almost as much time working with teachers as I have spent working with students. I served as an English department chairperson in a high school of three thousand students and now am finishing my career in a “second chance” alternative school of three hundred…a job which turns me gray and keeps me young at the same time.

I spend time reading, traveling, taking photographs, writing poetry, following baseball and basketball, and loving music.

I am sorry I will not be at the 45th Reunion to see how young and beautiful everyone looks! (April 2004)

Robinson, Reed

At 63, after retiring from teaching English to college-bound seniors at Robert E. Lee, and a mild stroke, I'm still going strong. Just show me a diving board I can't fall off !! I plan to be at all three events (at the Reunion) and hope to see everyone at each. (March 2004)

Stults, Thomas Whitaker

Thomas Whitaker Stults

Intelligence - Good Looks - Discretion - Maturity – Experience

Philosopher, Poet, and Connoisseur. Celebrated International Jewel Thief and Cat Burglar, bon vi bon, Weapons Broker, Trained sniper, Lover of Beautiful Women (Widows Consoled), Adviser and confidant to Kings, (especially the King of Norway) Potentates, Popes, Patriarchs, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Heads of State, (including selected Emirs of the United Arab Emirates) and the International Intelligence Community. Whiskey sampled, Prize fighters trained, Cattle rustled, Revolutions planned, bar rooms cleared, Assassinations plotted, Strikes broken, butts kicked, names taken.

832.275.2881

i-2-i@att.net (August 2008) See the Memory Album entry for Thomas

Jeremy Wicker | Create Your Badge

Wicker, Jere see the Memory Album entry for Jeremy

End of Bio Archives, Lamar Class of 1959. To add or update your information or photos, e-mail Mike@Blackledge.com

Please check this list of Missing Classmates - can you provide information on any of these individuals?
Our current list of deceased members for the Class of 1959 can be found in PDF format here; known obituaries are added here.

Please provide your Class Directory corrections and additions to Tish Kinzbach Keller

Lamar '59er's Lunch - a monthly tradition:

The Lamar '59er's Lunch is currently held at Marathon Oil Bldg. Cafeteria, 5555 San Felipe at Yorktown, Houston. Underground parking available. These lunches are held on the first Thursday of every month, so plan ahead..... Please pass this info on to any of our classmates that you may be in contact with.

We don't want to leave anyone out. I sent out postcards to quite a few of those that don't have e-mail. See you next month on [the first] Thursday. - Bette Azadian Leonard

Links:
   The words for the Lamar Fight Song can be found at:
  http://hs.houstonisd.org/lamarhs/handbook.htm
which also contains the words for the Alma Mater, and other information.  The words and music for 
both were contributed by Lee S. Keding.
____________

Fight Song:

Fight Lamar forever, we will see you through
We'll defend your honor all brave and so true
Fight! Fight! Fight
Hail, Hail, the gang's all here
Sound your colors true
We'll fight forever for the crimson and the blue
L-, L-, L-, A-, M;
M-, M-, M-, A-, R-,
L-, A-, M-,
M-, A-, R.
GOOOOO LAMAR!
Fight! Fight! Fight!

Dateline, La Madeleine's Restaurant: This group of 59ers was found in November 2003, already thinking about the 45th reunion in April 2004 ! From left to right: Wendell Mendell, Jim Jennings, Rick Lilliott, Kathleen Much, Gwen Lilliott, Carol Childress Turner.

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Send information and photos for this site to Webmaster@Lamar59.org
Last updated on 21 November 2009.