Oral Histories from the Class of 1960
Although they were only four when WWII ended, the Class of 1960 remembers PTSD dads, overworked parents “essential to the war effort at home” - and German POWs. Worland’s population had more than doubled to about 5,000, making it the sixth largest city in Wyoming! It had three movie theaters, two flights a day to Denver, and attitude: From their 5th grade on, invincible Worland High School won the state football championship six out of eight years. Naturally, ‘60 won their senior year.
In this oral history collection, 20 classmates relive the times, sometimes with raw detail. But, when they edited and talked through their transcripts, they cut loose! Let ‘er buck! You might think their stories are tall tales, but they are true. Like: Dennis Bower really did lower his Chevy so far down he could barely slip a pack of cigarettes under it...but how did he cross the dips on 10th? Read more to find out!
By Cathy Healy and team: Bonnie Laine Bailey DeFreece, Joan Walseth Purcell, Joanne Culbertson Jeffres, Joyce Taylor Spence, and Peggy Steele Porter
In this oral history collection, 20 classmates relive the times, sometimes with raw detail. But, when they edited and talked through their transcripts, they cut loose! Let ‘er buck! You might think their stories are tall tales, but they are true. Like: Dennis Bower really did lower his Chevy so far down he could barely slip a pack of cigarettes under it...but how did he cross the dips on 10th? Read more to find out!
By Cathy Healy and team: Bonnie Laine Bailey DeFreece, Joan Walseth Purcell, Joanne Culbertson Jeffres, Joyce Taylor Spence, and Peggy Steele Porter
Alex Briceno Montoya | Oral History Interview: August 4, 2022
A natural salesman, Coulson’s Department Store hired Alex as a bi-lingual teenager to sell to the Mexican beet field workers. Before long, he played trumpet and managed his cousin’s band: Sal and the Sons of Sound.
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Carol Woodhams Day | Oral History Interview: October 7, 2022
No one describes better than Carol the games that kids played. She couldn’t resist finding out what would happen if she stuck her tongue on the freezing cold metal of the slide on the playground.
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Cathy Healy | Oral History Interview: June 10, 2022
Cathy was crazy to see the world and has. She went to Saturday matinees and Sunday matinees and when Doris Day danced on tabletops, Cathy danced all the way home.
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Cathy Salzman Gotdfredson | Oral History Interview: August 1, 2022
German POWs on their farm near Worland, switched to ranching outside Ten Sleep where Cathy became a barrel-racing pianist. So smart, her 4th grade teacher jumped her a grade. Naturally, she taught school.
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David Lloyd Scheuerman | Oral History Interview: January 13, 2022
Chores before school, right after school and weekends, with time out for church and baseball. Dave once pitched against Reggie Jackson; struck him out the first time. Henceforth Reggie skunked him. Flew B-52s with atomic bombs.
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Dean Frederick | Oral History Interview: August 10, 2022
Figured out how to sneak out of last-period home room and go to work early – until he was caught. Computer pioneer – part of the first efforts to bring down the cost of long-distance calls.
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Dennis Bower | Oral History Interview: June 27, 2022
No one was cooler—Dennis painted his cars nearly more often than he washed them. By high school, he bought old cars, fixed them up and sold them. Led the Dragging Main procession during the 62nd reunion in his glamorous ’54 Olds.
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Grant Ujifusa | Oral History Interview: June 2, 2023
Grant was Japanese on the farm and regular guy in school, as the QB of the state champs ‘59 Warriors and governor of Boys State. The Emperor of Japan knighted him for his work to redress the treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII.
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Jack Iverson | Oral History Interview: March 29, 2023
Insider scoop on the Apes and Tea Drinker cliques, how a new football coach was brought in senior year to again win the state championship, and how Jack elevated academics + sports as a national awardee principal in Cheyenne.
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Joan Walseth Purcell | Oral History Interview: June 22, 2022
Joan and her family skied at Meadowlark after church – to get to the rope tow, they got pulled across the lake on an upside-down car hood that was pulled by a tractor. Worland’s you’re-safe lifestyle trained Joan to comfortably open hearing opportunities for inner-city children in projects.
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Joanne Culbertson Jeffres | Oral History Interview: May 10, 2022
A Culbertson of Culbertson Avenue, Joannie’s great-aunt Mary came out from Iowa on a lark and homesteaded. More than a Girl Scout, with her dad, she kept bees, shot skeet, swam from her tadpole years.
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Joyce Taylor Spence | Oral History Interview: June 23, 2022
Everyone worked, the girls mostly babysat, or car hopped. The final “oil kid” to join the class, Joyce pocketed good money by painting designs on cars while free drawing for the annual and school paper. This entrepreneur advises others about their finances.
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Laine Bailey DeFreece | Oral History Interview: June 14, 2022
Quietly mischievous, Bonnie Laine made up a society-page story about her mother having a ladies party, laden with what they ate and who was there. The Daily News published it. She’s inspired kids to write with imagination in Denver, Saipan and Taipei.
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Loren Laird | Oral History Interview: August 1, 2022
Still lives in the farmhouse where his father was born. His grandfather earned the land by helping dig the canals. A bit of a character, Loreny got kicked out of UW for playing tennis naked; when he returned after the army, finally got interested in college.
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Lowell Peterson | Oral History Interview: June 16, 2022
Straight arrow who went poaching one night to help feed a hungry family, during banking days experienced an armed robbery, key in saving Worland from drinking chlorine-river water to mountain-creek delicious.
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