CUBDEC19-Color 1

MEETING The Campus Cub MEETING SAT., DEC. 7, 2019 SAT., DEC. 7, 2019 10:00 a.m. - HUB Building 10:00 a.m. - HUB Building PUBLISHED FOUR TIMES A YEAR BY THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF SAN JACINTO HIGH SCHOOL - 1926 - 1971 VOLUME XXXVIII HOUSTON, TEXAS DECEMBER 2019 NUMBER FOUR Come & Join Us in Holiday Cheer! President's Corner The State of the San Jacinto Alumni Association Greetings! tance to digital integration into their lives. We un- Thank you, one and all! derstand! All things considered, Alan Finger, Treasurer much has occurred since In rough numbers, we presently have 3,000 “surviv- Class of 1954 our last communication ing” Golden Bears who are considered reachable ei- from the San Jacinto ther by “snail mail” or e-mail. Since we no longer Not that long ago, some- Alumni Association. As have new San Jacinto graduates and our chances for President, I thought it was adding future San Jacinto students is diminishing one reminded me that the appropriate to quickly ad- by the hour, we know there will probably come a two most appreciated, but dress some of the realities time when the Campus Cub will quietly “go away”. least-used words in the Eng- we are all facing both with Between Father Time and the Grim Reaper, we are lish language are: respect to the SJAA and shrinking – as a group – by about 400 Golden Bears Thank you! the Campus Cub. annually. Do the math! The last graduate of San The passing of Jay Lefkowitz Jacinto High School walked the stage in 1971. That’s not that many weeks ago First, a little history: 58 years ago! triggered an unanticipated burst of activity that, apparently, resonated with a sizable number of In 1954, for openers, the USPS offered a “penny post Let me also tell you we want you to continue to sub- loyal, interested San Jacinto High School gradu- card” for a penny. Today, a First Class stamp costs mit stories, but we urge you to do your very best to ates who want both the San Jacinto Alumni Asso- $.50. keep your submissions both short and memorable. ciation and the Campus Cub to continue into the Think of 500-words as the “top” end. Photos with foreseeable future. In 1954, a daily edition of The Houston Chronicle name-and-class cutline will be welcomed. Within days, the checks and personal notes and cost 15 cents. Today, it will set you back $1.00. At letters began arriving. As the Board of Directors least. And you’ll shell out $.95 daily for an online, It also makes sense for us to focus on naming a single convened to consider the future, we were all grati- much shorter edition. person to represent each class. fied to see such wonderful support. Knowing what we could do and how we can best do it was an A gallon of gasoline at the local Humble Oil & Refin- Now that we’ve covered the Campus Cub situation, exercise that excited all of us as we moved ahead. ing Co. station cost $.29. Today, your friendly Ex- let’s next focus on the future. I wish we had the space to share the comments of- xon station nails you for $2.26 per gallon. Going up fered by those who took the time to reach out to and rarely going down. And they certainly no longer The next quarterly meeting of the San Jacinto High us, but a simply listing of those who have contrib- clean your windshield! School Alumni Association will be held at 10:00am uted \"so far! \"is as far as we can go at this juncture on Saturday, December 7th in the hallway outside Let’s not get into the cost of printing “then” versus the auditorium. We will have refreshments and col- · Sandra Shainock Adair “now”. lect money for the luncheon. About 10:30am, we will move to the Auditorium to recognize recipients · Don Barton, '55 Here’s where I am going with this: of our $600 Scholarship Program, hear Jim Connors accompany an old “silent movie” with · Janice Massengill Barton, '61 What was once perceived as a periodical “newslet- that old Wurlitzer Theater Organ and, perhaps, sing ter” for San Jacinto graduates is not, in actuality, a some holiday songs. A meeting will follow the mu- · Caren Bean, '44 “newsletter”, but a “newspaper”. With a press run of sic. After the meeting, we will go to Room 100 in the slightly less than 3,000, the cost of printing our little Hub Building for lunch. · Ginger Nelson Renfrow Blanton “newspaper” is brutal! There is also the cost in- volved with the “make up” of the paper plus the mail Lenox BBQ will be catering the meal and the price · Carolyn \"Connie\" Burke service plus the cost of printing and, at the very end, will be $16 per person. The meal will feature the cost of postage. It doesn’t take a CPA to show you Lenox’s fabulous brisket, chicken, sausage, · Betty Jo (Short) Burnham, '44 how quickly an organization can run out of money. beans, potato salad, bread, pickles, tea and cob- bler for dessert. · Dorothy Chesser, '56 And when was the last time you heard another prominent newspaper was “calling it quits” and “go- To make your reservation, either call me – Bob Dav- · Jeanne Emden Cohen ing digital? enport – at 281-733-4392 or e-mail your reservation to [email protected]. If you make a reserva- · Edward Earp, '43 Here’s the punchline: tion, you can pay at the door with a check payable to San Jacinto High School Alumni Association. · Jerry Evans As we assessed the expenses of the “past” weighed Feel free to mail your check to: Bob Davenport, against the “realities” of the various options, here’s 2440 North Blvd., Apt. 3101, Houston, TX 77098. · Arnold Farber, '58 where we landed: But, please. Let us know if you are coming. We need to know how many to feed! Our deadline · Clark F. Flato, '64 We want to have four “editions” of the Campus Cub (was) November 20, so let us know as quickly as each year. Typically, each edition runs 24 pages, so you can. See FINGER, page 2 simply reducing the content by four pages to 20 pages, total, doesn’t save that much. And 20 pages You may park in the garage (directly east of the will be the new target. At present, our December is- school building) above the first floor or in the park- sue will be heading for the press and you should note ing lot directly behind the building. we only had sufficient stories to warrant no more than a 12-page edition. We used every story that Jay Overlooking the fact that this is also “Pearl Harbor Lefkowitz had accumulated and filed prior to his de- Day”, let’s all think of this as a positive way to “kick mise. off’ the holiday season. Rest assured we will offer up an interesting program that includes some great en- We need new stories immediately! But, you should tertainment and a delicious luncheon. regard January 31 as the deadline for our second edition, which will carry an “out date” of March 1. One more comment: On behalf of one and all, Inside this issue of The Cub thanks to the dozens of you who whipped out your The present page size is 11” x 17” and there may come checkbooks and made contributions that would al- a time when we will find it necessary to go even low us to move forward at an affordable rate. How smaller, but for now, here’s our plan. gratifying to know we have San Jacinto Golden Bear graduates now living into their third and fourth life- In the year ahead, we envision producing three edi- time subscriptions to the Campus Cub! Thanks to all tions in our traditional format and the fourth will be of you, we survived! the “first step” into the digital world. Do not panic. If you do not want to receive your Campus Cub on- Please know I am greatly assisted by an enthusiastic Feature Page line, we will simply print it out and mail it to you. band of San Jac grad supporters who have pitched in to keep our enterprise alive. Humor Us and More . . . . . . . . . 4 The second year, we will adjust to two print and two 50th Reunion . . . . . . . . . . . 7-8 digital editions. I will close by telling you I have very positive Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 thoughts about our prospects for a successful fu- In Loving Memory of . . . . . . . 10-11 The third year, as you have already realized, there ture. I feel honored to represent each and every one will be one print and three digital. of you Golden Bears! And by the fourth year, we will have progressed to Sincerely, the point where those “remaining” San Jac grads will have “eased” into the digital world and continue Bob Davenport, President u to have the option of receiving their Campus Cub ei- ther via mail or by e-mail. Here’s one more fact I ask each of you to consider. You must realize the “senior Golden Bears” are al- most, to a man/woman, opposed to doing things “online”. The older they are, the deeper the resis-