Providence High School Class of 1959: November 2008

THE PIONEERS

THE PIONEERS

We are the Pioneers because we were the first. We started school in tents due to the steel strike in 1955. We were the only class - all freshmen, then in the following years, always the upperclassmen. Because we were such a small class, we all knew one another. We chose the school colors, uniform, and wrote our alma matter. We published the first yearbook and named it "Esprit" for our sense of spirit. And we were the first class to celebrate a 50th reunion - still the Pioneers. How wonderful to reminisce and reconnect with one another!

PHS 50 YEAR SCHOLARSHIP FUND

PHS 50-YEAR CLUB SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Following our 50-year class reunion in March 2009, the class of '59 gifted Providence High School with a special scholarship fund to be used for financially-needy students. This fund is called: PHS 50-Year Club Scholarship Fund. This fund will last in perpetuity as long as we, and other classes as they reach the 50-year anniversary of their graduations, continue to contribute to it. If you are able and willing to contribute to our alma mater, will you please designate "PHS 50-Year Scholarship Fund" as the payee on your check or credit card gift. With our assistance the scholarship will go on forever -- and the Class of 1959 will always be remembered.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Carol Ann Rando Irsfeld (part 2)

I sure am enjoying reading what everyone is up to these days, but in reading, I realized that in my haste to get my bio posted last August, all I wrote about the present was that we retired to Alaska and we love it. True, but we are busy too.
Both Peter and I are CASA volunteers. CASA is short for Court Appointed Special Advocate. CASAs work with children who have been removed from their home, usually from abuse or neglect, and are in foster care. We visit the children and make sure they are getting the services they need; we CASAs are the squeaky wheels and mostly fill in the cracks and do those things an overloaded system isn't able to do. In short, CASAs stand up for abused and neglected kids.
We also do a lot of traveling, just about all family related. We are both blessed to still have our dads; Peter's dad is 96 and mine is 98. We visit them at least every three months, and also visit our kids and grandkids.
Our life is full and we enjoy every day, thankful for the blessings of family, friends and good health.
Carol Ann

POSTED BY CAROL ANN RANDO IRSFELD

Monday, November 3, 2008

Caryl Harvey Prati

When I graduated I was one of 7 classmates to enter the Sisters of Charity of Providence. I was very confident that this was what God wanted me to do with my life. Fr. Throckmorton taught classes on the sacraments. One afternoon during the sacrament of Marriage class, I "heard" a message that I would better serve Him in marriage. That was the farthest thing from my mind and it took me into my second year to request to return home in 1961. From 1962-1964, I studied nursing at LAVC. I didn't meet my spouse, John Prati, until Friday, June 13, 1969. We married November 8th, and we started our family without any waiting too, Sylvia. David was born in 1970, MiShell in 1972 and JoAnne in 1974. All of them are happily married and college graduates. As you can see in the photo, we have four grandchildren. We lived in MI for 28 years and our son, Aimee, Steven, Jacob and 1 yr. old Sarah live there. JoAnne, Red and Morgan live in OK and will soon gift us with a fifth grandchild. MiShell and Glenn are in the Seattle area and have gifted us with 2 "grand-pups".

Nursing has been a blessed profession for me. That was another thing that I didn't think I'd like. Interesting how life develops, isn't it? I earned a BSN in 1984 and a MSEd in 1994. I am still active in nursing, as a part-time paid parish nurse at our church, St. Andrew Catholic Church in Moore, OK. I joined several colleagues in forming the statewide Faith Community Nursing Association of OK. We actively promote parish nursing throughout the state. OKC is a good place to retire. It is a big, little city with lots of community activities: theater, a philharmonic, Museum of Art, sports galore, and a developing downtown. The cost of living is very affordable e.g. gas just dropped to $1.91 this past week! Do you remember when we had gas wars at $.10 per gallon in the 50s? $2.00 would fill up your car. We have learned to listen attentively for the tornado warnings in May and October and take our tornado precautions.

By the way, Cecile Condemi Fraley and I just got connected. She lives in Owasso, outside Tulsa, OK, about 2 hours from OKC. She wants to come for our reunion. We hope to get reacquainted now that we have found each other. How about that ...two PHS graduates in OK!

I can't imagine living 67 years of life without Our Lord. I'm so grateful that our parents brought us to Baptism and into this Catholic Christian life. Oh, I sadly separate myself at times like everyone else, but I am confident that I "have not here a lasting home" and try to live every day with Him. When I moved to OK in 1999, I made a decision to reflect on Scripture before reading the sports section in the morning. It's not easy to do in this college town! Yes, I'm still a jock at heart. I read the sports and John reads the comics. But, I last played competitive softball when I was 44. Once you start trying to put God first, it's not so hard to Let Go and Let God". it sounds like many of you know this too.

I'm looking forward to seeing you in March 2009.

POSTED BY CARYL HARVEY PRATI

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Sylvia Livoti MacAller

After I graduated from Providence, I got a summer job at the Bank of America before I entered Immaculate Heart College. In September 1962, I was hired on as a Champagne Lady for the Lawrence Welk Show. I would perform every Friday and Saturday night at the Hollywood Palladium and do the live television show every Saturday. My dad was the Concert Master on the show and Lawrence loved to publicize the fact that we were father-daughter. I got the opportunity to travel a bit and loved doing the show.

I stayed on the show for 2 years. I also sang in the St. Charles Choir in North Hollywood where I met my husband George. We were married in 1963 and started our family right away.

Gina was born in 1964, Christine, 1965 and Michelle, 1967. I was a stay at home mom and with 3 little girls, my days were filled. I still sang as much as I could doing voice overs and performing as much as I could. Singing has always been my passion.

In addition, I joined the St. Joseph's Guild, Children's Hospital Auxiliary and started the Celebration Company, a children's musical company.

Our daughters were all a year apart and when it came time for them to enter college, we realized that we might need a supplemental income to get them through. They entered Loyola Marymount University one year after the other. I got a job as an Administrative Assistant to the President of a Real Estate company in Woodland Hills. As part of my job, I got very involved in the development of Warner Center, chaired a Deed Committee for the City of Los Angeles, served on the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and was asked to chair the Loyola Marymount Parent's Advisory.

In 1989, I got my real estate license and went directly into Commercial/Industrial real estate; my background in my community afforded me the opportunity to meet many business people so I had a great client base. In 1994, I joined TOLD Partners in Woodland Hills, a boutique brokerage where I am currently. In 1996, I made Senior Vice President/Partner.

God has blessed my life. I have a wonderful husband of 45 years, three happily married daughters and 7 gorgeous grandkids, my health, and I still sing as much as I can. Life is Good!

POSTED BY SYLVIA LIVOTI MAC ALLER

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Margarita Acosta

I remember that Margarita was a National Merit Scholarship Winner and I was very impressed when I found out later that she was in the top 1% of tested Seniors.

I also have a funny memory. Margarita convinced me to join a group called THE FIGHTING 69ers. It was for young women who would pledge to uphold the principles of the 6th and 9th commandments. Joiner that I am, I signed on and became a card carrying member until Tom Wright found the card in my wallet and MADE me REMOVE it IMMEDIATELY. I had to wait for the reason why. I don't want to offend anyone, but that is a true story. Does anyone else remember or admit to being a member of that little organization?--- Devi Savitt Bellows

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Margarita was one of six who entered the order of the Sisters of Charity of Providence a few months after high school graduation, and she was the only one who did not eventually leave the order. In 1963, before she finished college, she was called to teach biology, chemistry and Latin at Providence Academy in Vancouver. The following year she returned to Providence Heights College of Sister Formation to finish her BA and obtain grade and high school teacher certification. During the next 10 years she taught at schools in Washington and Burbank, California. In 1975 she chose to explore her writing abilities by joining the Public Relations Office of the Sisters of Providence health care corporations. She eventually became a writer and photographer for the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Seattle, all the while developing a growing interest in health planning and administration. In the early 80s Sr. Margarita received a Master’s degree in public health from Yale University, with a specialty in hospital administration, planning, marketing and finance. She was always interested in current events and the plight of the poor. In the mid '90s Sr. Margarita was diagnosed with leukemia and eventually underwent a stem cell transplant. She passed away about 2 months after the procedure. Her funeral service was at the same facility where she entered the novitiate a few decades before, and her pall bearers were 6 other Sisters of Providence.--- Carol Lex Tanner

Marcia Adams Henry

Marcia was the third of five children in her family. Her brother, Michael, who became a priest, was the only boy. She came to PHS from St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Burbank. After graduation she became a stewardess with United Airlines, based in San Francisco.
Marcia married Hal Urban, who was a basketball star at USF. They had three boys: Daniel, Mark and Michael. After a divorce, she continued to live in the Bay Area and married Larry Henry. She was the Executive Secretary for the Director of the SF Bay Area March of Dimes Foundation. She died on New Year's Eve of a massive coronary while driving a car.

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Marcia's mother's nickname, "Sunny" could easily apply to her, also....the outgoing, friendly manner, often with her cohort, Mary Baedeker.... with twinkly eyes and ready for fun! --- Kathy Thesing Ramdin

Patt Collette Scannell

I am blessed to have had Patt for my close friend for almost 50 years. We met the first day of school at PHS and our friendship continued until she died.
Patt was one of the most positive people I have ever known. She was very smart though she did poorly in school, but she worked hard and never gave up. She used to tell me that she had trouble reading, that things did not make sense to her; she found out many years later that she was dyslexic.
She raised three wonderful children pretty much single-handedly, and suffered poor health for many years. In spite of her hardships, Patt always found the silver lining. When she was going through chemo for her cancer, she told me she looked forward to chemo days, because she met many nice people and it gave her a chance to socialize; she thought maybe she even helped cheer people up sometimes. I am sure she did - MANY times. She was a person of great faith and it never waivered. She smiled far more than she frowned and she loved to laugh. She also loved Providence. Often she told me that her 4 years at PHS were among her happiest memories. How she loved to reminisce!
About 5 months before she died, she called us. We had moved to Alaska by that time. She called to say goodbye. She was very close to my husband, Peter, as well, and she wanted to talk with both of us. She told us that she thought she would not make it through the night and she wanted us to know that she was ready and that it was ok, and that she loved us and we were not supposed to be sad; she was going to a better place and she'd always "be around" watching us. It was very hard to hang up the phone, and of course, we cried.... the next day, we received another phone call. It was Patt. Her opening words "I'm back!" and she was laughing. It seems that there was an insulin problem and she was in fact, dying. Fortunately they discovered what went wrong and brought her back. That gave us an opportunity to see her one more time and talk with her on the phone often; we "heard" the smiles in her voice. I know she will be with us for our reunion; she wouldn't miss it!
These photos reflect her wonderful smile. The last one was taken at our final visit with her, less than four months before she died. We had a wonderful visit, filled with laughter and those reminiscences---Carol Rando Irsfeld

Dianne Dvorak

Dianne Marie Dvorak was born October 21 1941 in Cleveland Ohio. Beginning in grade school, Roller-skating developed into a lifelong passion. Dianne won many competitions and awards figure skating and dancing with a partner. The Dvorak family relocated to Southern California during Dianne's High School years.
After graduation from Providence H.S. Dianne started a family. Always a working mother, she sought out paid work that could be done from home until her children, Cheyenne and Brian reached school age. After twelve years of employment at United Recording Electronics Industries, Dianne moved with her family to Pollock Pines in the Sierra Nevada Foothills of Northern California.
After a divorce and a second marriage, Dianne embraced a rural lifestyle. At one point, using the telephone required driving down an unpaved road and climbing a telephone to get onto a party line ala the television sitcom Green Acres. While helping her husband to run his construction business, she and the family raised pigs on their land.
After a second divorce, Dianne continued to enjoy an outdoor lifestyle when she acquired her own ten acre property. After seeing a flyer advertising a fund raising bike ride for breast cancer, Dianne participated in a ride that sparked a love for cycling. She enjoyed dating, taking weekend road trips and took great pleasure in making many beautiful quilts that she intended to be her loving legacy to her family.
After a mastectomy in 1988, Dianne continued to live with cancer, going into and out of remission until her death in May 1994.

Frances Nairn Hansen

Soon after graduation, Frances married, had a son and moved to Philadelphia. After a short, unhappy time, she divorced and returned to North Hollywood CA, her former home, and worked as a supermarket checker. Her husband, Raymond, tells the following story: After a stint in the Navy, Raymond was hired as a box boy at the same market as Frances. When he was being shown around the store, he saw Frances coming down the stairs. He said to himself: that's the girl for me!.....He found his soul mate. They married, raised three boys and had 37 years together. She developed a brain tumor, battled for a year before the end on November 17, 2003. She will be rememered fondly for her quiet manner and sweet smile.

Janet Opperman Correa

Obituary from Lancaster Eagle Gazette (Ohio)

Janet Esther Opperman Correa, age 74, went home to be with the Lord on December 12, 2016. She is preceded in death by her loving husband, Arthur Correa and grandson, John Joseph. She is survived by her children, Dean, Melanie, Darren, and Terah; grandchildren, Avree, Skylar, Riley, Lucas; and siblings, Jack and Jean. Janet was a lover of genealogy, photography and most importantly her family. She was the greatest wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend who will be deeply missed.