Patti Ridenour (Adams)

Roger McDonald

I guess one has to applaud the diligence evidenced here recently in digging up these records of our classmates' deaths.  But it is also all so sad.  So, to dispel the mood, please note the reunion of three survivors on Steptoe Butte in the Palouse region of eastern Washington State in early October.  Thanks to Malcolm Montgomery for hosting the event, David Richards for traveling from California, and to my wife Emily for putting up with three aged geezers.   (Sorry we weren't able to make the LVth.)

Diana Holmes (Brown)

Roger, sorry for bringing you sadness and I know you are not being unkind. This is the most that I have worked on a class reunion, but it made me sad in another way that so much was not known about many of our classmates. I guess you could say I have become melancholy about all of the people that I didn't know in school and will no longer have the opportunity to know. I felt it was time to make sure that we were aware of all the classmates who have passed and I have been more than happy to spend the time doing the research. Thanks goes to Larry Wilson. I have been sending all the obituaries that I found to him and he has been posting them. 
 

Happy to see that you got together with Malcolm and Dave. I always enjoy the pictures that Malcolm shares from his area. Hoping to see you all at the 60th. 

Diana Holmes (Brown)

I am trying to finish up my search for missing obituaries on former classmates. If you have seen Larry's upates, he is almost finished with what I sent him. I am down to 10 classmates that have passed that I cannot find any obituaries or dates of when they passed. I am listing those classmates and possible information that I found. If anyone can help me with information, such as date of death, place of death, obituary, etc., please get in touch with me with a private message on our website  Thanks for any help you can provide  

John Lee Babcock - Born 10/9/1949, died 8/19/2023 in Henderson, Nevada.

Robert Scott Brickels - Born 11/10/1950, died 4/20/1998 in Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Florida. 

James Henry Decker - Possibly born 6/8/1949 or 12/29/1949.  Possibly married to Martha Dick, Ruth Evans and/or Terry Berry. May have lived in Florida when he died.

Carolyn Clara Ford (Butcher) - Born March 1950, died 9/16/2018 in Florida. Married to Robert Miller (no date of marriage or divorce) and married Randall Butcher on 3/19/1994.

Karen Sue Hurst - Born 10/10/1950.  Possibly lived in several cities in Florida and possibly involved in an accident in May 1990.  There is a gravesite for a Karen Hurst at Dunn Creek Cemetery in Oceanside, Florida, but there is no date of birth or death.

Mary Lou Louden (Johnson) - Steve Ogilbee provided an obituary.

Philip Ivan Mick - Born 3/1/1950, died 6/27/2022  Lived in Crawfordsville, Georgia  

Anita Ruth More (Butts) - Born 1/29/1950, died 4/8/2011 in Columbus, Ohio. Married John Butts on 7/20/1968 and divorced 11/26/1997. They moved to Zanesville, Ohio, but she moved to Fredericktown, Ohio after the divorce.

Linda Lou Pierce (Frischen-Lee) - Born 4/7/1950.  Possibly married to William Bergin  9/15/74. Married Tom Frischen (twice) and Mark Steven Lee.

John Neil Ritchey - Gale Cady (Williams) talked to John's ex-wife,  who advised that he is not deceased and is living in Florida. 

Roderick Neil Simpson - Born 5/4/1950, died  9/6/2023 in Newark. 

Charles Price

Diana,

Sorry to have missed the Reunion wrap-up meeting yesterday. Probably would have been too cumbersome of me to participate remotely anyway. I used that time to help my son get our bees settled down for the winter here in Reno, NV. Any take-aways from the meeting would be appreciated. If it is easier to go over this by phone you could call me at 775-303-7064 but please text first to this number so I will recognize the #.  If it is not too cumbersome, I would be up for helping, though remotely, for the planning of the 60th. Also, I am trying to find something on an obit for John Babcock. Even though I live over 450 miles away I have some contacts in the greater Las Vegas area. Will see what I come up with. You could also email me directly at cprice@charlespricemd.com. Charles

Diana Holmes (Brown)

Charles, we had to cancel the meeting yesterday due to an emergency. Will probably reschedule in November. It will be posted on the website and we will let you know to expect a call. I am sure the committee will get an earlier start with the 60th and will appreciate help.  
 

Charles Price

Diana, thank you! I am having trouble finding an obit for John Babcock. Where did we receive the information on his passing? i will keep following up on this end. Charles

Charles Price

Diana,

John's daughter, Johnna Babcock Parker, posted his passing on FaceBook on 8/21. I am attempting to contact her as to an Obit. 

Charles

Diana Holmes (Brown)

Thanks, Charles. I know some other classmates are, also, trying to get one.  I hope we do so that we can pay tribute to him. 

Larry Wilson

I sent a message to Johnna as well via Facebook Messenger.

Charles Price

Larry,

Thank you.

I am sure she appreciates contact from John's old classmates. 

And I appreciae your efforts to keep the In Memory section up to date.

Charles

Charles Price

Larry,

I have a couple of photos of John. Can't seem to post them here. Could I send them to your email?

My email is cprice@charlespricemd.com or text to 775-303-7064

Charles

Gale Cady (Williams)

Hello, all, 

I am a longtime friend of Jean Magdich, who was married to Jack Ritchie just after both of them graduated from high school. I messaged her this morning (she has a fantastic handmade pottery shop and business just outside Logan, Hocking House Pottery - you should go!) and she told me that Jack is still living and resides in Florida. 

Happy to know that he is still among us. :) 

Diana Holmes (Brown)

Gale, thank you so much. I was given his name by someone at the reunion. I will remove him from the list. I, also, searched Jean to find any information that I could. I came across the shop and wandered if that was her. 

Diana Holmes (Brown)

We have rescheduled our post reunion meeting.  It will now be at the FOP on Tuesday, November 14 at 5:30PM.  If anyone wants give thoughts, opinion, comments, etc. regarding the reunion or plans for the next reunion, please join us  or send comments to us. Hope to see or hear from classmates. 

Charles Price

Diana, Kathy et al,

If it works out and if it might be helpful, I would like to attend virtually. Either by phone. facetime, Zoom etc if that is convenient. If someone there has the knowhow to do Zoom, that might be best as many people can join by that format. I can be contacted by text at 775-303-7064 or by email at cprice@charlespricemd.com. Thank you all for the work you put in to make a 55th Reunion a happening event. Charles

David Fredrick Smith

I would also be interested in a zoom connection.  dave_ald_smith@yahoo.com

Charles Price

David,

An interesting thought. I wonder if the post-reunion committee would find a zoom connection for us that are locality challenged to participate.

Are you familiar with setting up Zoom? I am not but guess I could learn if someone with the expertise is not available.

Charles

PS: The internet gods did not recognize your email address.

Diana Holmes (Brown)

Charles and David, we would be happy to set up a Zoom meeting if we had more participants. You are the only two who have expressed wanting to participate virtually. Kathy had investigated Zoom during our reunion process.  It's not hard, but there are some problems. She would have to get FOP permission and passcode to be use their website. There is a 40-minute time limit for the meeting and she can't necessarily be at the meeting early to get everything set up to start at 5:30. She is still working and travels for her work. She and I both drive 1-2 hours to attend the reunion meetings and other members may not be there on time. The Zoom meeting may not be able to start until close to 6P and then you have to wait for all virtual participants to get online with us.  Those are the main reasons for not setting up for Zoom for two classmates.   At this point in time, we can do FaceTime, but not Zoom.  Hope this clarifies everything for you.

Charles Price

Diana,

Thank you.

Certainly it makes sense to do the FaceTime for the meeting on Tuesday.

Looking forward to planning for the 60th...

I am involved in a few organizations were Zoom is usd extensively for committee meeetings. Certainly something is lost versus in-person meetings. In my view, in-person meetings are far superior to Zoom if everything else is equal. As we all know, thinkgs are not ever (almost equal). Perhaps we can think of a Zoom component for the planning of the 60th Reunion. My wonderment is whether there might be an uptick in participation and some additional energy if such a component is available. Also think I understand the 40 minute time-limit. If my cursory knowlwdge serves, that is for a free Zoom meeting. If cost for a longer Zoom meeting is part of the issue, we might explore whether some of the committee members would like to underwrite the cost of Zoom for the longer meeting time. My understanding is that a year of Zoom for meetings that can last up to 30 hours per meeting cost arount 150.00/year and can accomodate up to 100 attendees. If we are thinking of having Zoom availability for the five years through the 60th that would be a total of about $750 which would probably extend to a post-Reunion wrap-up. I would be willing to committ to sharing in the underwriting of this even up to the full cost if no one else wants to share in the cost. This would somewhat decrease the anxiety of the 40 minute time frame. The internet issue may be able to be worked around as well. Barbara's brother Doug Pricer who owns WCLT Radio may be able to help with some ideas as well. If this potential wishes to be expored, I can look further into this. No need for you guys "on the ground" to do all of the heavy lifting.

Diana Holmes (Brown)

Sorry for the delay in posting after our post reunion meeting last week. Charles Price and David Smith joined us by phone.

The committee has decided on the bench for the class donation. It will be red in color. It will be a while before it is ready. The material will be coming from India, which will take about 6 months. Then, it will be engraved " In Honor Of The Class Of 1968". When it is finished, we will have the opportunity to decide where it will be placed at the high school.  

We are planning for the 60th reunion to be held in October 2028.  Keep that in mind, so that you will be available to attend. We really want to see more of our classmates there. 

Charles would like to get phone #'s and e-mail addresses for classmates. If you know of a classmate who has not joined our website or is not on our Facebook page, ask them for their information (be sure that it is OK to share with the committee) and forward it to Charles. He wants to get more people involved in the committee and a another way of contacting classmates.  If we can get more classmates involved, it will be more feasible to conduct the meetings by Zoom  The committee would like to have a meeting a couple of times per year for the next 4 years and then monthly starting in late summer or early fall in 2027.  There will be more time to plan for the 60th. 

The committee would like to form sub-committees for planning the next reunion. The tasks would be divided into hotels, catering, decorations/50-50 drawing, music, donations, and outreach for making contact with classmates. I will continue to maintain the "In Memory" during the next 5 years and Donetta (Phillips) Kirk will continue to be the reunion photographer. 

The committee is planning on having a 2-day event for the next reunion. The plan is to have one fee for the Saturday evening reunion and no fee for a Friday evening mixer at the FOP (just classmate cost for drinks).

Hope to see more of you in 5 years. 

Larry Wilson

Diana sent me John Babcock's obituary.  May John rest in peace and may his family and friends be comforted.

John Lee Babcock

October 9, 1949 - August 18, 2023

John Lee Babcock, 73, of Henderson, NV, passed away on August 18, 2023, peacefully surrounded by his family and close friends.

John was born in Coshocton, OH, on October 9, 1949, to the late Jesse Edward Babcock and Amanda Ellen (Thomason) Babcock. Survivors include his wife Susie and daughters, Josie, 16, and Johnna Babcock-Parker (Jason), 47, of Henderson, NV, family friend, Donna Curry (former spouse and mother oh Johnna). Grandchildren: Myles Findlay-Babcock, Dane Parker, Levi Parker and Moreea Parker. Siblings: Terry Babcock (Paula) of Walnut Creek, CA, Gary Babcock Marhofer of California and James Babcock of Canton, OH.

He was pepreceded in death by his parents and brother, Bill Babcock of Newark, OH.

Before moving to Henderson, NV, John was a mailman in Newark, OH. In 1979, he moved to Nevada and became a 21 dealer at the Barbary Coast Casino. John and Donna were entrepreneurs and founders of Subway in the state of Nevada. They opened their first location in 1983 and built many more through the years.

John married Susie Schwartz on August 27, 2005, at the Little Chapel of Love in Las Vegas, NV.

The jingle “Make new friends but keep the old” rang true for John, because he kept his friends throughout the years. He loved making people laugh. From his card tricks to magic, to his endless jokes and the stories he told made him one of a kind.

Halloween was John’s favorite holiday. He would make astonishing haunted houses every year and decorate them with all the blow-ups you can imagine.

John’s passion for basketball and collecting Larry Bir (Celtics) memorabilia was insatiable. His passion was definitely golf. He loved traveling with his best friends to Ireland and playing all of the beautiful courses. The stories they have are endless.

In honor of John, his friends are holding a golf benefit at the SouthShore Golf Course on October 10, 2023. Proceeds will go to Josie’s education fund.

John was always willing to lend an ear to friends and family and generously shared his business expertise to help many achieve their goals. His heart and soul will be greatly missed.

Johnny Mac will hold a Celebration of Life party on October 9th from 11:30 - 2PM at Johnny Mac’s restaurant.

Wonderful ‘silver and gold’ friends were there at the end to lend support to John, Susie, Josie, Johnna, and Donna. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do so.

The family would like to thank Sunset Hospice for the excellent care and support of the family. Thank you to Connie for making us feel so loved. You always made John happy.

He was a kind, generous and very humorous soul and will be greatly missed and remembered for the many lives he touched.

On the day of his death, a double rainbow appeared over the Last Vegas Valley. A rarity and a wonderful way to remember John.

John Roberts

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

Larry Wilson

Just received word from Gary Berry, through Jan Burch (Campbell), that Gloria Berry (Henson) has passed away from a stroke.  May she rest in peace and her family and friends be comforted.  I will update this as soon as I have more information and an obituary to post.  Cards can be sent to her sister, Jeri Good, 12 N. Park Place #201, Newark, Ohio  43055, or to Gloria's husband, Ed Henson, 1234 Wilshire Blvd #314, Los Angeles, CA  90017.

Larry Wilson

I finally found Gloria's obituary.  It was in the Advocate yesterday.  She accomplished quite a bit during her life and will be greatly missed by friends and family.  Rest in peace, Gloria.

Gloria Berry (Henson)

March 19, 1950 - March 28, 2024

With great sorrow, the Henson and Berry families announce the unexpected passing of our kind, brave, caring and unimaginably generous wife, sister and friend, Gloria "Glo" Jeanne Henson (nee Berry) on March 28, 2024 at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Her family is deeply saddened and shocked by her sudden death. She was only 74 years old. Gloria was born on March 19,1950 in Newark, Ohio to the late Henrietta Robertson Good. She attended Woodside, Central, and Newark High School in Ohio where she graduated in 1968. Shortly thereafter she headed to the bright lights of Hollywood, California where she joined her Aunt Mamie Robertson and sister Sheila. Gloria continued her education on the west coast and attended West Los Angeles College. Additionally, she completed a modeling course with John Robert Powers Modeling Agency and modeled briefly at the prestigious Bullocks Wilshire Tea Room. In 1975, at the Red Onion restaurant, Gloria met the love of her life, Edward "Ed" Henson. Ed was immediately smitten by her beautiful smile, sharp wit and classy style. The two married in 1978. In 1980 Ed joined Gloria in New York City where they initially established residence in Queens. Eventually they settled in the now trendy Chelsea neighborhood. As time went on they traded the grit and grime of the big city for the sunshine of the west coast and moved back to California. The couple landed in San Francisco for Ed's job and eventually found their footing in Los Angeles. Their marriage would last for the rest of Gloria's life. Gloria had many professions throughout her life. She began in banking, working for Security Pacific Bank and City National Bank, she then switched to the retail world and worked for Orhbach's. Orbach's appreciated her tenacity and strong work ethic and sent her to their executive training program as a buyer in New York. In 1999, Gloria fulfilled a lifelong dream and opened her own store inside of the Ketchum downtown YMCA. The store was called "Glo's Sports Stuff" and was a thriving business for 10 years. After closing the store, she worked part-time at Pantages Theatre, the Census Bureau and Hallmark Cards. Gloria's charitable endeavors included organizing silent auctions for the Peoples College of Law, PEN Center West, Ketchum YMCA and Jim Brown's Amer-I-Can Foundation. She proudly received a George H.W. Bush Points of Life Award in honor of her volunteer work at the YMCA. In her younger days, she took an active interest in current issues of the day which led her to work on political campaigns. However, mentoring young women of color was her passion. She enjoyed helping the young ladies find their footing in life and setting them on a path to achieve their dreams. Gloria was never afraid to take on new opportunities. She was admired by many for her drive and did everything with honesty and integrity. She had very strong values, held steadfast in her decisions, was organized and creative and was liked by everyone. Her heart was big and if she sensed a need, she would give the shirt off her back and do without. She was a brilliant out of the box thinker who loved life. Gloria enjoyed music; her favorite artists were Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Johnny Mathis and Barbra Streisand. Be it a restaurant or a store, Glo always knew where the hot spots were and which were trendy at the time. Soap operas and reality television were also among Gloria's favorite things; namely General Hospital and Survivor. Her love of travel once took her and sister Jeri to New York for a 3 day weekend. She traveled annually to the east coast with her husband Ed and sister Jeri to attend the Congressional Black Caucus week in Washington D.C. and visit Ed’s family in Baltimore, MD. In later years, accompanied by her mother, sister Jeri, and close family friend Debra Simmons, a trip to Paris, France fulfilled a lifelong dream. Gloria is survived and missed by her loving husband Ed of 46 years. Forever cherished and remembered by sisters Sheila Berry and Jeri Good, nephew Travis Berry, Aunt Edna May Bayless, Uncle Bob Bayless, first cousins Joe McMullens, Chuck McMullens, Ed Bayless, Alaine Bayless, and D'Arcy Nunn, sisters-in-law Joy Owens and Del Henson, brothers-in-law Dan Henson, Eric Henson and Brian Henson. Her memory will live on with many more family members and friends she made over the years. We lost a great lady and an incredible human being. She will be missed, but will never, ever be forgotten. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Gloria Berry Henson may be made to the Ketchum YMCA, c/o Carol Pfannkuche, Executive Director, 401 S. Hope Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071.