And how did Paul get to both ends of the picture???

.......Who are these guys???......

Thanks , Deward Shaffer for this photo!

"Without the benefit of deep hypnosis, stirring up the dust of so many years will uncover memories not necessarily fit for publication … especially with guys. For me they are like snapshots, or moving images, and all involve people with whom I grew up and went to school.

Jack Varble was my best friend since the first grade. I can remember playing homerun derby with him in the field behind his house on Circle Drive, standing under a large maple tree, scrutinized by a herd of cows, we would hit the ball over the fence to his back yard. A number of years later that tree shaded the front yard of my family’s new house on Greenacre Court. It is no longer there.

I went to Atwater Elementary with Brad Marshall, Scott McFarland and a bunch of other guys who became good friends, and had a crush on Susie Bennett in the fifth and sixth grades, though I’m sure she never knew it. I’ve known Tom Evans since kindergarten, and he was always the attendance star in Sunday School.

At the end of summer before entering seventh grade, I met Hank Walters in Sunday School. His father was  our new Presbyterian minister, and my father was an elder. It took less than a half hour and we were both  standing in the corner with our noses against the wall. It was like that ever since.

All of us tried out and played seventh grade football. This is where I met Mike Fyffe, a really great and unpredictable guy. Every day after school we had to suit up in one of the grungy locker rooms at the old high school and hustle our asses, equipment and all, to the dirt playing fields behind the elementary school on South Court Street for practice. One day Craig Benzenberg was scared shitless when he just missed getting hit by a train running to beat it through the intersection at Purina and not be late for practice. I remember Hodgie Dade was impossible to tackle, and one of the most ferocious tackles I ever saw was a stick made on a Washington Court House runner by a little guy in our defensive backfield named Doug Thompson. During this time, my hormones were kicking in and I was fast losing interest in football in favor of girls and music, specifically rock ‘n roll. I quit the team the week of Pumpkin Show.

I think it was in the 8^th grade when we were playing intramural basketball at the old Armory. By then we knew that Mike Martindale had an unusual aptitude for the sport. His scoring was awesome and seemed to come naturally and with ease.  But I remember one game when the team I was on (I had no talent for the game … of height) was playing a team that had Stevie Dade as a player.  He was naturally talented in a number of sports and everything he did seemed to be showing off … he was that good. He was trying to in-bounds the ball and couldn’t make the pass, so he threw the ball up to the other end of the court. It went through the rafters of the gym.  And then it went through the basket. Everybody fell over. But the basket didn’t count because the ball had not been in-bounded.

As a sophomore in Mr. Poling’s home room, I met John Hang for the first time. He, Hank, Craig and I formed a circle of friends to last a lifetime.  I miss John today.

The best time of year in Ohio is autumn with football and dances, the Pumpkin Show and the Apple Festival.  I ended up playing drums in the high school band with my Davis Demons buddies Craig, Branson Hawkes, Dana Bass, Larry Downing and Marcia Brehmer.  She and her sister were truly ahead of their time breaking the gender barrier in the drum section. They were extremely brave.  For a while Karen Lane and Patty Jeffries were in the band and there was always a riot in the back of the band bus coming and going from these events.  Sometimes it was extremely cold, or cold and wet, and extremely painful to play any instrument under those conditions.

I had my first official date to a dance after a game with Susan Thompson.  And this was very cool since she was a cheerleader. I think the Fifth Order played and we rocked.  At this time the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Beach Boys were hitting the charts, and everyone wanted to be in a band. The first live band I saw was at a party in Connie Lindsay’s garage, and I think the band included Ray Ferguson and Fred Rickey, though I am not sure and don’t remember the other guys. All I know was that I wanted to do the same thing. Craig, Hank, Tom and I started a band that we called The Princetons, and we started by practicing in my sister’s bedroom where we had an old upright piano. Hank bought a bass guitar, built an amp and speaker, and taught himself how to play. Tom, who was a trumpeter, bought a Sears guitar and amp, and quickly caught on to playing lead guitar. After playing along on pots and pans and anything else we could find, Craig got a drum set and we were off and running … except for my old upright piano that kept us anchored to the bedroom. Finally, I got a Fender electric piano and our music got serious, but we could not stop fighting over who would sing and what songs to play, and we couldn’t stand practicing for any more than about an hour.  By my junior summer, I was asked to join another band and we played a paying gig on a tennis court (I think?) at the Ashville Fourth of July Festival, for which I was paid an amazing $50.  The band was myself on piano, Tim Stonerock on lead guitar (he was very good!), Ray Ferguson on rhythm guitar, Fred Ricky on bass guitar, and Bob McNelley, who always amazed us with his amazing talents, on drums. Once we played a gig in Washington Court House and nobody came. We ended up paying for the room out of pocket. We also won a battle of the bands in Chillicothe. But the most fun we had was playing dances at the fairgrounds and the Circleville Teen Canteen. We felt like celebs!

I remember being in Around the World in 80 Days, our Junior Class musical produced by Ron Mead, our speech and theatre teacher. A huge cast where just about everybody in the school participated in some way. Jim Archer, a senior, became a good friend at that time, as did Carl Cupp.  Mark Krieger and I were roommates the first year at Ohio State, and I remember Carl dropping by one evening for a visit.  He was working for a funeral home in Lancaster and had come to Columbus to pick up a body at University Hospital.  He was parked at a meter outside Park Hall on 11^th … with the body in the back of the wagon. We were floored.  He was nonchalant.  He was a great guy with an even greater sense of humor and love for theatre.  

How many guys out there remember Sigma?  

The summer between my Junior and Senior years, I had my tonsils out and managed a little league baseball team with Barry Adams. He and Danny Dick had become good friends, and we went camping at Cedar Point and snarfing 3.2 beer.  Also that summer, Danny and I were whitewashing farms out by Deer Creek, working from 6 in the morning until noon, and then going to the pool. We painted everything: house, barn, fence, pigpen, chicken coop … you name it.  I remember being attacked by wasps and huge yellow jackets. We worked for $1 an hour, and managed to save enough to buys tickets and go see the Beatles in Cincinnati at old Crosley Field.  This is when Danny started taking flying lessons, and started college in the corps of cadets at Virginia Tech.  We did this for two summers and had a gas.

I remember an early football game at the new high school.  Craig B. and I were watching from the bandstand and seniors ruled the team.  Games were mostly running plays, but on one Circleville possession, Dan Gibbs passed into the end zone and Ron Bryant reached up over his shoulder to haul in the pass and score … something not seen that often then in Ohio high school football.  From then on, we nicknamed him “Stretch.”

Flag wars! Everybody was kidnapping everybody and dumping the hapless victims out in some godforsaken corner of Pickaway County.  I was grabbed twice.  Once was at a basketball game when I was a junior, and I had just come out of the men’s room. I was dumped on the way to Five Points, and even in the dark of night, I knew the area well because Danny and I passed it every day coming and going from our painting job. I begged a ride from a farmer at a nearby farmhouse, and actually got back to the game before my kidnappers.  Another time happened when I was a senior.  Some juniors grabbed me as I was getting into my car to go to baseball practice. Having seen this, some of my classmates, namely Branson Hawkes, Dana Bass and a couple other guys, followed Dick Thornton, my next-door neighbor, and another group of guys, all over Pickaway County trying to find a place to dump me.  They couldn’t shake off Branson so they eventually let me off at home.  Talk about loyalty.

Finally, I’ll never forget graduation rehearsals. Remember the bare feet incident? Lunch break at Logan Elm Bar? Those were truly good times, and also the last time I saw many of my classmates.  I’m looking forward to seeing them once again!"

                            Thanks, Terry!  

                        Terry and his wife Donna live in Carmel, CA.

Senior Class Officers

.....The Goody Nook......

 The School Spirit!