1.  Alan Schultz

I remember when myself, and Al Gerth towed Sam Tisdale, and Bob Taylor in their homemade car they built from parts they procured from Fleurys auto  wrecking.  Bob was driving and Sam was spraying the carburetor with starting fluid. It never did start but, Al almost put the truck he was driving into a ditch while trying to see what was happening behind us. Good times.

2. David Johnson

 I remember when Chris Perry and I took his blue Mercury down to Golden Gardens at Shilshole and raced.   Something broke on Chris’s car and Lee Crary and some other guys were going to give us a tow.  Well, Lee had this 50 ft tow chain and towed us home.  Problem was that Lee forgets he’s towing us, so going home on Hiway 99, Lee see’s the light turn yellow, and he gun’s to get through, but we’re 50 ft behind him, so he tows us through the red.   Fortunately it was really late, so there was no traffic.

3.  Carolyn Rommel

I’m dying here!   I’m NOT talking about me & ( some un-named gals) going skinn dipping in Viking apartments pool( my folks got divorced end of my sophomore year... so my mom & sisters moved there for awhile ... & what “gift” we left him  (pervert apartment manager old guy.) ...in a box in the laundry room!

4.  Kathy Christopher

I remember during Seafair, many of us pitched in to rent a tour boat to tie up to a log boom to watch the hydro races!  There were a couple kegs of beer, and did we ever have blast!  We wached the races, dove into the water and swam, enjoyed our friends all gathered on this huge boat!  Here is a pic of Susan Leighton, Wendy Wallace, myself, and Carol Scalf, and Loy Witchel taking the pic, as we waited to board the boat!

 

5. Stephen McKenzie

I remember looking for a secluded place where I and my friend Larry Price could enjoy some beer a fellow employee at the Enco gas station across from the Sno-King Drive in had procured for us. We headed out 196th East to Swamp Creek road(?) where I spied what looked like an overgrown gravel side road. It looked like the perfect place to pull off the road & remain out of sight while we enjoyed our suds. I turned down it and before even getting out of sight got stuck (I guess that was why they called it SWAMP creek). My  blue 4 door ‘57 Chevy just spun its tires and refused to move. I immediately envisioned Chief Glandt or one of his deputies happening upon us and hauling us off to jail.  After a few minutes I calmed down and went looking for a nearby resident. Luckily I found someone who believed our tale of looking for a place to turn around. He grabbed a rope or chain and soon had us back on tractible ground. We of course thanked him profusely and headed to Picnic Point to enjoy our beer in peace.

6.  Chris Simon

During the late autumn of our senior year there was a pep rally held in the school gymnasium for the last football game of the season against arch rival Edmonds. The senior boys planned out a skit which was only supposed to be a couple of minutes long. All of those us involved in the skit had planned that a group of about 9 of us playing as big bad Edmonds would kick off to two smaller guys wearing MHS football helmets, Steve Potter being among the two. Steve was supposed to catch the planned kick off and the rest of us would just pretty much miss tackle him, and he would run for a T/D to end skit. Great plan but poor execution. Kevin Murray was supposed to to do a lazy punt style kick off so Steve could easily catch the ball and run through us. Instead Kevin sent a towering punt that fortunately missed all of the gym light fixtures and nearly hit the ceiling. Due to his smaller head, Steve's helmet fell over his eyes and he muffed the catch. We "Edmonds" players tried our best to fumble the ball back to a helmet blinded Steve, but he could never retrieve the football. So the script was totally broken and it was ad-lib time for "Edmonds". What followed was 4 downs of total chaos in which we tried so hard to fumble and bumble the ball to Steve, but he was still bothered by the helmet and couldn't find the football. Finally the mighty Chief Steve Potter was able to uncover his eyes and scoop up a rolling fumbled ball and run for a T/D. A skit that was supposed to last at most two minutes ended taking over ten causing the pep rally to run over the allotted break period. When we finally dismissed, there were a lot of grumbling teachers outside the gym exits complaining about the rally going into their classroom time. We had a good laugh at all of the griping. At least something went right with that pep rally as we caused the whole student body to miss some class time. 
Hey Kevin, thanks for that unrehearsed bullet pass to my face during the skit. That's probably why I remember the event so well. :-)

7.  Kathy Christopher

I remember going to the service station, that my buddy Steve Favorite worked at, and got .35 gas!  He would wash my windshield, we would joke around, and I got enough gas to drive mom’s car to the A&W!  Lots of entertainment for .35!

8.  DyAnne Sateren

I  really loved being in Art class with Dave Munson,  a brilliant and gifted artist.  What minimal talent I had was translated into forging “excuse notes” from parents for student’s school absences.  All my friend had to do was show me their parents signature and I could mimic it perfectly and their free pass from class/school was realized.  (Such a sickly group of friends I had with audio and visual challenges and poor teeth as well, not to mention all the relatives’ funerals and various familial demands).  I missed 47 days of school my senior year partying with Loy and others not to be named.  Only the grace of God and the kindness of teachers allowed me to graduate!  And fortunately, I left this nefarious skill behind at MHS.

9.   Don Miller

The Rise and Fall of a Long Distance Runner. part 1

Ok, it's early September 1964 when a skinny 15 year old, sophomore, who had never played organized sports, decided to turn out for the Meadowdale High School Cross Country team. Did I say "skinny, 15 year old, sophomore, never played before?". Anyway, I can't remember where I got the courage, but I do remember wanting to be one of the cool kids and the athletes pretty much had the lock on coolness from where I stood. So the first day of practice coach Eason had us do the basic warm up and stretching exercises while we watched the 'really' cool dudes on the football team going through their work out. Most all my other friends were on the football team. John Fyall, Rick Steinmetzer, Bob Yuill and the rest of the popular boys I knew.
So anyway, about halfway through our practice coach says we are going out on a 2 mile run. TWO MILES? Do you know how far two miles is? And we're going off by ourselves into the unknown wilderness somewhere toward Paine Field? What if we get lost? Remember, 15 years old and never been to Paine Field. I do remember Terry O'Malley and I running, and walking a little, trying to keep the leaders in sight so that we wouldn't be embarrassed by getting back to the school after dark. I was pretty proud of myself when we got back to the track without any major issues. After Coach got us all huddled up again he announced that we would take one more run around the track. Four laps. One mile! Give me a break. Can you hear the grumblings of" this is too hard, coach". "What do you think we are, machines?" 
The funny thing was, I won the damn thing! Yeah, I know. I wasn't the only one shocked by that. I remember one of the senior stars tried to catch me right at the end. Wouldn't want to be embarrassed by a weany ass Sophomore. Couldn't have that.
My little high school world changed that day. Wow, Donny boy, you have made it! The first sophomore in the first sophomore class to get a letter jacket. Come on girls. The dude is ready to receive your admiration!
Yeah, right.
Unfortunately, Donny, the weany arm, socially inept boy child was still afraid of all those beautiful, almost women and a bunch of tough looking dudes that hung out with them. The halls of Meadowdale were still kind of a scary world to navigate.
I have to say though this was a better way to start out then I would have expected. Hangin' with friends and partying on weekends became the norm by year end. And I know that because of the common thread of comments from those who signed my 1965 annual.
"Lay off the booze and women"
"Well, there goes another year. Remember my party? Oh, maybe better not"
"Don, someday we're gonna go out and get really boozed up. Until then don't get caught".
"Don, if you mother reads this you have had it".
So much for the shy, quiet boy that never gets in trouble. Part 2 coming soon.

 

Rise and Fall part 2 (if you missed part 1 just scroll down)

I don't really remember Junior year. Well that's not quite true, I just don't remember my classes or even the Cross Country season. I know the team was pretty good, we won the Western Conference championships again this year and I earned my second varsity letter but the rest of the year is kind of a blur... except the part where I bought my first car.
My parents weren't too keen on letting me get my license when I turned 16. I had to be a good boy for quite a while to show them I was 'mature' enough to handle the responsibility. Good luck with that, right? I mean, really, we were hardly formed at 16 years old. Speaking for myself at least, I knew everything and nothing at the same time. But damn, was it ever fun!
My first car was 180 degrees from the 'Momma's' car I had been forced to borrow until that amazing day. $1000 bought me this 1962 Dodge muscle car, jacked up in the front and racing slicks on the back. What were my parents thinking? And what did the girl's think? Girl catcher first class. Yeah, baby!
So I ask you this question. Do you remember those very heady days of yesteryear? Independence, freedom and the sense that everything is just waiting for us to take and run with. I give you this vision that still lives in my mind. Windows down, cruising down the highway, radio blaring and me singing at the top of my lungs "Like a Rolling Stone.
"How does it feel, how does it feel
To be on your own
A complete unknown
Like a rolling stone"
Ok, let's try to bring Don back down to earth. That car and the still trying to figure things out 16 year old had a whole bunch of great adventures and still managed to graduate to senior year.
Comments from our '66 annual,
"run hard this summer and you'll be first man next year"
"you are the picture of health. Oh, I can't say that now, can you? Boy, we've had fun times together"
"Actually, you're not really a bad guy. It took me a while to figure that out though"
" The Junior cruise was a blast. You sure did start a scandal though"
" When I was little I dreamed of having a friend I could always trust. I have not found one. I hope you do."
" When you become what you want to become will you know it?"
" Well this year has been a blast. I'm sorry I puked all over your basement, Yuk, yuk!"
I hope you can all relate to some of these musings. Though 'partying' is a main theme here I think that finding a way to grow up in these now ancient times is the important story. Senior year next.

 

Rise and Fall part 3

Cross Country as a senior started with high expectations. Coach Eason put me in the first heat, theoretically the strongest runner on each team, at the first meet, the first week of school. Long story short I wasn't in shape. Being known as an athlete was no longer at the top of my list. Summer had been a gas. A new car, a new girlfriend and sneaking a puff or two off a friend's cigarette had changed the priorities of this now not so shy high school senior. Pushing the boundaries of socially accepted behavior seemed more to my liking. I still felt loyalty to the team but with Jerry Richmond coming on strong and a new junior pushing him, I slipped easily into a 3rd place position. We won the conference championship again and I think ended up 3rd in state that year so not all bad but my heart wasn't in it anymore.
Did I tell you I had a new car? 1951 Plymouth 2 door wagon, back seat folded down with a bed and female manikin laid out on it for shock effect. Oh, and it was bright canary yellow with a black racing stripe. And the new girlfriend who went to a different school and that was cool.
Remember the 15 year old from early sophomore year? He's been gone for a while now and 'full of himself' dude is in full bloom.
My school credits were still in good shape to graduate so I organized that last semester as a cake walk. With a teacher assistant period that didn't need assistance and early release for work at Lynnwood Hardware, I was having lunch at Mr Steak with my buddy Bob Yuill every day by noon. That worked pretty well until 3 days before graduation when I got stupid cocky in one of my classes and blurted out "Nobody's listening" in a moment where nobody but the teacher was listening. The teacher, of course, couldn't let that slide and made me stand up and tell the whole class before being sent to the office and being suspended for 3 days. Mr. 'full of himself' will now have to come in with his parents and apologize to said teacher in order to graduate. Even though I certainly knew more about everything than my elders an apology, in order to graduate, made good sense.
My last memory from that last day was waiting to pick up my diploma and seeing Paul Andrews and Donald Henderson, acting a little sneaky, while doing the sound system from back stage. They were playing Dylan's, Ballad of a Thin Man, not very load but enough for me to hear.
"and you know something is happening,
but you don't know what it is,
 Do you, Mr. Jones"
I always wondered if that was their version of a senior prank.
A couple quotes form the '67 high school annual
"You are good looking, athletic, very rich in humor, have a nice car and most of all you are a friend. I hate your guts!"
"boy are you ever a weird guy"
"Did you want to be different, or did you want to be you?
"After this - everything is for real"
Hopefully some of this story about 'me' rings true for some of you. I believe we are a truly blessed generation. We 'grew up' in amazing times. Now to just keep it going as long as we can.

10.  Linna Carlsen

One day in Mr. Ridge's world history class we had a big writing assignment due.  Mr. Ridge asked us to all pass our papers forward.  They were just normal notebook papers neatly stapled together, but when Mr. Ridge started to assemble them he noticed one looked different. He turned purple in the face, his eyes bulged out, and he started spluttering and yelling. If you ever had Mr. Ridge as a teacher or a coach, you know what he was like.  Now I could be wrong about the owner of this paper, but I'm 99% sure it was Rick Steinmetzer. ( Rick, tell me if I'm wrong.) The paper was crumpled, dirty, and had a big black tire tread mark right down the middle.  We kids thought it was the funniest thing ever but didn't dare laugh out loud.  Mr. Ridge had some choice words for Rick who had his paper thrown back at him.

11.  Pat McCune

Mr. Ridge was not my nemesis – oh no- it was Mrs. Paris for two years of French. 
She had such an imposing demeanor and strict rules of conduct / expectations.  I was never unprepared for class, missed an assignment, or slacked off.  However daunting as it sounds there was a silver lining – the final ‘exam’ was a presentation delivered entirely in French on the subject of our choosing.  Of course, I selected a topic completely unfamiliar -- a historical cathedral.  Yeah, what was I thinking?
If only we had the internet for research and Power Point for the slides back then? However, the experience paved the way for future research assignments.  I didn’t realize at the time how significant that experience would help me later in college and my professional career.  Not only did it spark an interest in architecture but speaking in front of the whole class allowed me to develop the confidence needed in many other aspects of my life.  
So – thank you Mrs. Paris for the kick in the pants I really needed to step out of my shell!

12.  Stephen McKenzie

One day Mr. Ridge handed out geography assignments to the class. He designated who would be in which group and who would be the presenter of that groups work. I and three other students were assigned to study the country of Argentina. He told me that I would present the report, basically teaching the class when it was completed. I tried to refuse or talk him out of it but he would not budge. When the day came my stomach was full of butterflies as I walked to the front of the class and began the report. Soon I got into the swing of it and the rest of it went fine. When I was finished I walked back to my seat and Mr. Ridge said Steve you did a great job and I would’ve given you an A but because of your at rotten attitude you’re only getting a B.

13.  Rick Steinmetzer

it was afternoon on an early fall day. there was a knock on the door of my parents' house. my dad answered and opened the door. i looked over his shoulder and saw Lee Crary standing there. Lee addresses my dad by saying Mr. Steinmetzer, most people called him Rocky, may i borrow your hose? my car is on fire. my dad said holly sh........... yes  its over there.  i ran out with Lee to his 56 Ford wagon that he had just put a big block engine with lots of carburetors in and put the fire out. Lee coiled the hose back up and said thank you so much Mr. Steinmetzer. I'm not sure how much damage there was but Lee was able to get the car home. my dad turned to me and said what a polite boy Lee was. i responded was dad yes he is.

14.  Marjorie Duff

Story time...We all pretty much would have expected Steve Favorite to get suspended from school, but me?  Me and my steady boyfriend at the same time?  For a whole, unsupervised day?

Here we were, honors students, Impressions, etc.  [I actually got along very well with Mr. Ridge and Mrs. Parris. Teachers' pet and all. Mr. Ridge liked me because my dad was in civil defense, teaching us all to "duck and cover" because the Russians were going to bomb us any day (not like now, of course...) And I went to France with Mrs. Parris. So I have no fun stories about them.  (Cec may have a few about that France trip...)]

But Don and I, being music students for 2-3 classes per day, liked to park behind the music rooms. We were not told not to (except maybe that "no parking" sign, which, being teenagers, we felt didn't apply to us.) At any rate, no warning message saying they were on to us. Just suddenly one morning we got suspended for the day for parking in the wrong place.  Jerry Karnofski knew that all four of our parents worked during the day and that we were going steady. 

So, who thought suspending us, to leave us  without any adult supervision for a whole day, was a good idea?

15.  Mary Ferchen

I actually liked Mr. Ridge.  I remember the first day of class staring at his eyes. 
 that were two different colors.  He must have noticed and stopped in the middle of his lecture, looked straight at me and said, "Yes my eyes are two different colors".  He then went on with his lecture.  After getting the results of our first test, I was upset about getting a B-.  After a long talk with him, I found out what I needed to do to get a good grade in his class.  I ended up doing great and actually had another history class in my Senior year from him.  I thought he was a great teacher and was never afraid of him.  The teacher that embarrassed me the most was Mrs. Paris.  I dropped out of my second year of French after the day she drew a big sun on the board and laughed at me.  It did not deter me from taking other languages in the future though with great college professors.  I t took Italian, German and Norwegian and loved the classes.  I did not know she was going through a divorce and she never apologized for insulting me.  I had never experienced a teacher like that before.

16.  Wendy Wallace

I gave up early in Mrs Paris's class, she embarrassed me so bad I dropped out.  When my mom and I went to teachers conference she apologized and said she was going through a divorce.

17.  Jeannine Cook

Well, he wasn't my worse memory.  I went to Lynnwood Jr High and had an  overly obese teacher for math.. Mr Thorton .. On the last day of school, he slapped me on my rear end and laughed really loud. I was mortified!!! I was still an innocent child and was glad it was my last day!   Anyone remember Miss Alm ? in gym class and those tiny little towels and she had to check us off that we had a shower!

18.  Rick Steinmetzer & Don Miller

Note to reader; The following post was facilitated by a weekend of reminiscing out at Rick's family cabin and is in no way meant to be linked with the long-winded meanderings of my last week's posts. I have tried to use mostly Rick's voice to carry the substance of our story. 

NEWS FLASH! LEGEND OF THE GREAT MEADOWDALE FLAGPOLE CAPER FINALLY REVEALED!
Note; some names have been changed to protect the innocent. On this date in history, June 8,1967, Meadowdale High School graduation, our story begins.

R.S. "This senior class sure is a bunch of weany ass chickens".
D.M. " I know man, we need to leave behind something to remember us by"
R.S. "Yeah, the class of 1967 lives on. We need to do a senior prank!"
D.M. "Right on dude! I think I have the perfect idea. Later tonight I'll climb the flagpole in front of the school and you can tie off a car tire and haul it up to me like you were raising the flag".
R.S. "Good idea except for one thing. You may be fast but there's no way your skinny ass could raise a car tire over your head on the top of a flagpole".
D.M. "Good point. So you climb the pole and I'll haul the tire up to you. Then when it's over the top and slides back down to ground level we can fill it with concrete so they can't ever get it off"'
R.S. "Ha,Ha,Ha. And we can write in the concrete 'Meadowdale, class of '67' forever".

Later that night, much later, our young criminals are at the scene of the crime. All the elements are in place. R.S. is at the top of the pole, D.M. has raised the tire, like a very heavy flag, up the pole.

R.S. "Damnit, this tire is too heavy. I can't get the damn thing over the top. Take my car and go back to my parents and get the trailer tire that's behind the carport".

At this point it's important to stop and visualize the scene. R.S. is at the top of a flag pole. D.M. is driving away and as he looks back of our hero, R.S. is clearly lit up by the street lights for the world to see. R.S. is thinking 'oh God', what if someone sees me up here. What if D.M. doesn't come back.
To wrap up this story before it gets longer in the tooth, R.S. was able to get the trailer tire over the top but it was too small to come all the way down to the ground for the concrete and signing ceremony. As we leave our criminals in their moment of glory R.S. turns to D.M. and says "How the hell are they going to get that tire off the top that pole". It was later that summer before the tire disappeared from view. It's still a mystery how it was finally removed. D.M. worried for years that the police would be at his door looking for payment of expenses accrued in the removal. At least nobody can say that '67 was a do nothing class.

19.  Steve Favorite

In my senior year, on a Saturday night, I picked up Don Thrasher, Frank Gullikson and Kenny Brooks.  We were going to a keg party in Brier that was held by Dennis Farnsworth & Mike Bozic (Mountlake Terrace).
Don sat in the front passenger seat with Frank & Kenny behind.  On our way, they wanted to swing by McDonald’s on 196th across from Bank of America.  We ordered through the drive thru and went to pick up our order.  The food came to me and I handed it to Don to distribute. Collecting our money and handing us the food was none other than Mr. Danny Fay. As I’m talking to Danny, Frank speaks up that his chocolate shake is too thick and asks if Danny can thin it out so he can drink it.  I handed it to Dan. He pulled the lid & straw off, put his two fingers in the milkshake, stirred it up, put the lid back on and said, “that should do it.”  
Frank’s face froze with his eyes bulging out and didn’t say a word.  The rest of us in the car lost it laughing.  There were tears going down my cheeks.  And, yes, Frank still drank the shake.
The party was great and we, of course, told everyone to ask Frank “how was the shake?”  I still have tears running down my cheeks today remembering Frank’s face.