We lived in Rockridge so I went to Claremont Middle School and then Oakland Tech. I graduated in 1940 and so did my husband.

Some of my best memories about Tech include the student newspaper, The Scribe. Seems like we all worked for The Scribe. I was the girl’s sports editor. Every Tuesday after class, 4 or 5 of us went to McClymonds where there was a linotype machine. We got to put the press together there. It was sure fun to get out of class. We also got to get out of class to deliver the paper! When you wrote for the newspaper, you made a roll of all your inches. They always talked about the inches! I didn’t have that much so I never belonged to the Oakland Press Association (OPA). I was always disappointed. The people who wrote columns and stories acquired the most inches. Even so, people on the newspaper became lifelong friends. I went to visit Lois Tomsevic who was one of my fellow Scribe staff members in South Carolina. Bud Mooer and Graham Mc Call were also editors. Over the years we stayed close friends.

When I started Tech, we played 9 court basketball. I was a cheerleader for the girls and the boys were yell leaders. Boys got to yell in front of football team while the girls cheered for girls sports. That was just the way it was. Cheerleaders wore regular clothes. There were no pom poms. I always had a voice. I really don’t remember any of the cheers but I do remember there were 3 or 4 of us. Heidi Fink was a cheerleader.

I went to San Jose State for 3 years and then moved up to San Francisco State after I started to date Jim so I could live at home and take the train to see Jim who was in the Coast Guard. He went 2 yrs to Stanford and then 3 years in the Coast Guard. We spend 1 year in Alameda and 1 year in Hawaii. Jim played basketball in the Coast Guard and won a number of tournaments. Jim was always such a good athlete!

I do remember getting ready for school. I would go to bed with curlers in my hair. In the morning, I would put my scarf on and head to school early so that I could take my hair down and also see what was going on in the halls. I usually got there around 7am. I took history, math and the other college prep classes. Luckily since I wrote for the newspaper, I got out of English. This was good because I wasn’t a great English student. I didn’t take typing or homemaking classes. But I tell you one thing, I did make sure that my kids did so that they could learn to type. My mother used to type my papers for school.

We were so proud to be Tech High School Bulldogs! We had lots of spirt. We yelled at games and had a good time. You went to high school to have fun and see everyone. We loved the dances. They weren’t fancy but they were fun. And the girls at Tech wore middies and skirts in those days, everyday except Monday. I remember it was hard to get those pleats in the skirts. A middie is a blouse that zips up the front and they are either blue or white and you can wear a sweater over them. They had a square collar and it was the uniform for school. I don’t think the boys had a uniforms. They just wore jeans. When Jim was in high school he had 2 pairs of pants. One was for church and one was for school. Kids didn’t have much in those days. That was a long time ago. I am 90 years old now.

I have some words of wisdom for high school kids today. Be persistent to get what you want in life. Don’t ever give up. If one way doesn’t work, well then try something else.

Jim Pollard, Oakland Tech Class of 1940, was the California State Basketball Player of the Year in 1939 at Tech. He then led Stanford University to the 1942 N.C.A.A. basketball championship and was a consensus All-American.

After a brief stint with Coast Guard teams in World War II, Pollard joined the Minneapolis Lakers of the N.B.A., the league’s first dynasty. He was considered one of the best forwards in the 1940s and 1950s and became known as “The Kangaroo Kid” for his leaps. His Lakers team won six professional basketball titles, four in the NBA, and one each in the NBL and BAA, winning every year except 1951 between 1948 and 1954.

Pollard ended his career after eight seasons, beginning in the NBL in 1947 and ending in the NBA in 1955. He went on to coach La Salle University men’s basketball for three seasons from 1955–1958, compiling a record of 48-28.

Pollard coached the Minneapolis Lakers in 1960, the Chicago Packers in 1961-62, Minnesota Muskies of the American Basketball Association in 1967 and 1968. He then coached The Floridians of the same league in 1968 and 1969 followed by two seasons at Florida Atlantic University in Ft. Lauderdale.

Pollard married Arilee Hanson, class of 1940. He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978. He died at age 71 in 1993.

Born on April 19, 1923, in New Haven, Connecticut, Mr. Albert was left in an orphanage in Oakland, California, with his brother at age 7 and never saw his mother again. Known as Merrill “Smith” at the time, he lived in several foster homes during the Great Depression until he found a more permanent foster home with the Tuckers of Oakland, California.

Mr. Albert graduated from Tech in 1940 with high honors and was accepted at U.C. Berkeley. After completing his freshman year, he joined the Merchant Marines at the outbreak of World War II. He then discovered in a birth certificate that his true last name was Albert, not, Smith. Over the next several years, he rose to the rank of First Mate on a “Liberty” ship of 500 men, and later obtained his Captain’s papers.

After an honorable discharge from the Merchant Marines, Mr. Albert re-enrolled at Berkeley. He pledged with the Sigma Nu fraternity, which elected him its President, and was elected Captain of the Berkeley varsity tennis team for two straight years. A distinguished student at Cal – graduating with as BS in Accounting with Highest Distinction – Mr. Albert was then accepted into Boalt Hall School of Law (Berkeley Law). At law school, Mr. Albert supported himself by publishing his course outlines through the Berkeley Law School. He was elected Articles Editor of the California Law Review, which published several of his scholarly articles. He graduated sixth in the Berkeley Law class of 1955.

During the next 35 years practicing law as a trial attorney in Los Angeles, Mr. Albert tried over 300 jury cases to verdict. His clients included the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, Santa Fe Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, and the Regents of the University of California. His brilliant and at times theatrical trial tactics resulted in numerous defense verdicts for his clients and ample press coverage.

Alfred John Musante’s graduation was held in the Tech Auditorium. His brother and sister attended but not his parents. Musante speculates that his parents may not have come because they might not have felt “qualified” enough to attend. Musante was not in the ROTC but he had 2-3 friends, including Larry Bettencourt and Jack Perocel, who were and went to war. Musante said, “There were lots of casualties.” His friend, Harry Simon, went to war and survived. After graduation, Musante went into the service after graduation (in Europe.)

Musante worked for the Internal Revenue Service in Oakland. Every time the IRS wanted to transfer him to an office outside of Oakland, Musante threatened to resign. Thus, he was never transferred out of Oakland. ) He also ran an office cleaning company for years and was quite successful.

Mustante remembers his favorite classes included Italian and French, Yes, he too both languages. He also liked mathematics. He had Mrs. Hass for French. He recalls that she was from France and returned to France every summer.

Favorite classes included Italian and French [yes, he took both] and mathematics [I saw report cards for Algebra, Geometry, Trig., but there might have been more.]

Musante received very good grades except for a “D” in typing. Later, his typing teacher took pity on him and gave him a “C” instead.
Musante did not participate in extra-curricular activities, though he played some baseball and basketball, but was not on the school team. He studied a lot but also had a lot of work he did around the house as both of his parents were working outside the home. He did not attend his senior prom, which was held on campus, because he was shy.
He recalls one time when the algebra teacher questioned the answer that 5-6 of them got on their homework and she told them to come back after school to try to prove they were correct. As it turns out, the students were correct. So she changed their grade.

Musante lived on the same block as a boy named Henry LaGorio. Henry’s older sister used to work downtown at OUSD headquarters. She would give them a ride to school and drop them off in her Packard.

His same friend, Henry LaGorio, taught him how to study effectively and this ended up instilling a lot of confidence in Musante. He discovered that if he studied hard enough he could do well.

Other memorable friendships are:
Henry LaGorio
Leo Croce. Croce went on to become the Superintendent of Schools in Livermore.
Musante’s thoughts on Tech turning 100, “My God!” “Beautiful School.” “Does not look much different.” “Still does a great job.”

Musante’s advice for Technites today, “Study hard and you will receive your reward.”

During his years at Oakland Tech, Kaye Warren took every art class offered, created amusing cartoons for Scribe News and the Scribe Annual, and drew posters and signs for various school events. His senior year, he was elected assistant vice president of the boys’ class, with the distinction of being the first Asian American to hold a class office. Warren stayed on at Tech after graduation to take more art classes hoping to receive a scholarship to an arts college.

However, the war interrupted those plans and he enlisted in the U.S. Maritime services. He spent most of his 3-year term creating charts and graphs for naval operations, many of which are now displayed at the San Francisco Maritime Museum. After the war, he had a lifelong career in sand carving and commercial art, owning and operating Pioneer Carved Glass & Sign Company in San Francisco from 1949 to 1999. His works are displayed in hotels, restaurants, and offices throughout the Bay Area and in hundreds of private collections. He was referred to as the “Maestro” and the “Guru” of sand carving by protégées and colleagues. Warren was truly a Renaissance man, an avid reader and letter writer, a singer and dancer, a raconteur. He died in 2009.

Kaye’s partner of 23 years, Kay Sylvia, wrote this about him: “Kaye was an exceptional human being. He was in the company of many successful, great men, but never exploited his own merits. Kaye’s childhood was difficult and school was his salvation, a place where he could excel in his love of learning, art, and people. He reminisced often about the joy of being at Tech High and the friends that he made there. Tech High should be very proud of Kaye Warren.

I loved being in all the clubs. I was in about 15 clubs. I loved working for the Scribe – the school newspaper. I wanted to be the editor but it was an elected office and I did not get elected. A few years later it was made an appointed position. Some of the other clubs that I was in were the French club, the Latin club, the International club. We wrote letters to people overseas. I had a Dutch pen-pal.

Loma Brant Boyd graduated from Tech in June 1941. She wrote for the Scribe News. In fact, she has kept every column she ever wrote, taped end to end and neatly wound like a roll of crepe paper. At Tech, she was also a member of the Latin Club, the Delphian Club and the International Club. In the International Club, students were matched with pen pals and Loma’s was from Holland. He was killed in Java during World War II. Loma was awarded the prestigious Citizenship Cup her senior year.

After graduating from Tech, she attended University of California on scholarship. However, she did not graduate because of World War II. She went to work for the War Department driving a truck. After the War, she became a legal secretary, married Bill Boyd, and raised four boys. She enjoys getting together with other Tech alumni from her era.

Robert Webber was a veteran character actor whose diversity enabled him to enjoy 40 years of success on stage and screen. After graduating from Tech, Webber served in the Marine Corps during World War II. In 1946 he hitchhiked to New York City to seek a career on Broadway, debuting in 1948 in Two Blind Mice. In 1957 he was cast as Juror #12 in Twelve Angry Men and his career took off. He appeared in Private Benjamin, 10, Revenge of the Pink Panther, and The Dirty Dozen.

Webber’s stage performances include No Time for Sergeants, and Teahouse of the August Moon, and he performed on radio on the Starlight Theatre. His films include 12 Angry Men, The Sandpiper, Harper, The Dirty Dozen, and Private Benjamin, while his television credits include Kraft Television Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Kojak, Ironside, Cannon, McCloud, Rockford Files, many others.

He died in 1989 in Malibu, CA.

After graduating from Tech in 1942, Michael Ghiorso enlisted in the Army and spent four years in Europe during World War II. Upon his return he met and married Ida Massolo. In 1947 Ghiorso and his brother-in-law, Angelo Graziano, opened G&G Hardware & Plumbing Company in Oakland. In 2004 after 57 years of serving the community, G&G Hardware & Plumbing Company closed its doors. Ghiorso died in 2005.

I grew up in Oakland on 35th Street which is now under the 580 Freeway. I attended Sacred Heart Catholic School and graduated in 1940. I spent one year at Woodrow Wilson Jr. High and then entered Tech in 1942.

I was fortunate to find some great teachers there. Included in that group was my Social Studies teacher, Ferdinand Diel; his classes were always interesting. Mr. Diel took the whole class to a city courtroom where we tried a fictitious case and we all played parts.

Emma Schneirla was my English teacher. I think she was German but she “pooh pood” Adolph Hitler’s claim during World War II that Germans were the Master Race.
Our Dean of Boys, Elwood “Doc” Hess, was highly respected by all. He kept in touch with those of us who were in the service by sending us letters.
Wenefried Budlong, my Counselor, was someone I liked and could discuss problems with. Because of my average grades and light heartedness, she kidded me about being a playboy. I never got to tell her that later I graduated from U.C. Berkeley.

Another great teacher and coach was Alvin Kyte our baseball and basketball coach. I played Varsity baseball for him and so did my brother, Ken, later. Mr. Kyte was quite successful and his basketball teams either won or tied for the G.O.A.L. Championship for eight straight years. He was particularly helpful to those who had aspirations of becoming professional athletes. For example: he would not let baseballers Bill Monahan or Bob Trestler play on the school basketball team because an injury might hurt their chances to play pro baseball.

Coach Kyte trained Jim Pollard who became a Super Star in professional basketball. It was easy to see that “Kyte” as we called him (but not to his face) was personally interested in his players. Another player who Kyte helped become a High School Star was the talented Alan Gilberg. Alan was about 6′ 7″ tall, an “A” student, and a class person who would have had scholarship offers. He joined the Navy but unfortunately he died when the Destroyer he was on was lost in a Typhoon in the South Seas.
In those days, it was against the rules to smoke within two blocks of the school…and the rule was enforced by the Block T. A boy was caught smoking and had to report to the “Block T Court.” The guy was belligerent and cocky with the court, so because of his attitude, his punishment was a paddling. After the first two well placed strokes, his bravado melted and he started to cry; this had never happened before, so they let him go. One wonders what would happen if that were done today.

In 1943, at the end of my junior semester, I was 18 years old. I had missed a year of school when I was very young because of severe Asthma attacks. Regardless of this, I was to be drafted in September. I always wanted to fly, so I joined the Army Air Corp and became a Cadet. To my chagrin, when I arrived at basic training, I found out that they had enough pilots but needed Radio Operators. I became a Radio Operator and Gunner on a B-24 Bomber. But not before contacting a severe ear infection. When I arrived at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, it was 20 degrees below zero and I had never even seen snow before. The infection got worse and I had emergency Mastoid surgery.

After a recovery furlough, I returned and began Flight Training with a B-24 crew. We were to join the 8th Air Force in England but the war was over. I was disappointed at the time but maybe that is why I am still here. Some of my friends didn’t come back.

Going to Tech where most of my family had gone, gave me a great start in life. I made many good friends in this great school – some for life. From the baseball team: Bob Cummins, John Sorba, Les Mulcahy, Bill Monahan, Ernie Haynes, Bob Trestler and Rolf Schoenweiler. The latter three have been lifelong best friends. Some of the other friends I remember were: Gino Zanoto, Tony Mankini, Chuck Reim, Gene and Jim Gas.

Steve Garese, our Student Body President, was a friend who became a Pharmacist after the war. I became a Pharmaceutical Representative for Pfizer Drug Company and used to call on him. We had great talks about our days at Tech.

Another Techite, Andy Viscovich and I went to Cal Berkeley and both joined the TKE Fraternity. I am still in contact with Andy who lived in Stockton. Gus Chavalas and I were to be Yell Leaders in the fall but it never happened because I went into the service.

Shirley Laurette, Dolores Oneto and Josephine Viarengo were friends going back to the First Grade. Shirley Mulvana was someone I dated after the war and was very close to.
Everyone from the maternal side of my family went to Tech between 1917 and 1949. My oldest Uncle, after graduation, joined the Navy during WWI. Another Uncle quit school after the 11th Grade to go to work; it was the Depression years and things were tough.

My mother, Florence Brown, joined the rowing team on Lake Marrit, My cousin followed by brother and I in playing baseball for Al Kyte. My brother, Ken, also played basketball for Coach Gil Callies.

Barbara Kyte Wigren, Coach Kyte’s daughter, lives in Concord on the same street as I do. In 1998, I was hosting a party for some of my Tech High baseball teammates when I found out that Al Kyte was visiting his daughter. I invited him to my house and we all sat down and had a great time reminiscing about baseball days together. One thing we were all sure of – we loved Tech and had great school spirit.

Other coaches I remember were Leroy Sharp (Head Coach), Scotty Hamilton and Gilbert Callies.

Clint Eastwood graduated from Tech. Maybe you can get him to join the festivities.

After WWII, I graduated from CAL, joined the TKE Fraternity, and worked in Pharmaceutical sales and as a Stockbroker. I have two sons and a daughter. I have been married to Sharon Anderson for 45 years.

I have been participating in sports most of my life. Besides what I have already mentioned, I played semi-pro baseball around Oakland winter and summer for 17 years and also at UCB four years. I played Handball at the San Francisco Olympic Club where I am a 50+ year member. I also won a weight lifting contest there for 80+ year olds.
Wow! I’m sorry, I couldn’t seem to stop writing. Usw what you can and throw the rest away.

When war was declared in 1941, I was attending Oakland Technical High School. I was trying to do my part to support the war effort by working and attending school. I was living on Grand Avenue and would take the streetcar to school in the morning and return by 3:30 PM. Then I would get ready to walk to work at the Pacific Telegraph on 16th and Webster Streets. I arrived at work 5:00 PM and would work until 9:00 PM. Then I would walk home. I felt very strongly that I was doing my part.

I have so many happy memories of Tech and of the wonderful people I met there.

The teachers were outstanding. Paula Haas from France was my French teacher and counselor, and Nels Johnson was the Spanish teacher. Doc Hess was a very popular Vice Principle. My physiology teacher would have me leave class close to the lunch hour to get her lunch tray. Mrs. Vockel was the gym teacher and Sylvia Garrison the Choral teacher. I did some accompaniment on piano for the choral, and we went to different clubs to sing, including the Montclair Women’s Club.

In later years, I worked with Electra Kimball Price on a big reunion held in Jack London Square, at a building long since gone.
When the work of retrofitting Tech after the earthquake was completed, I attended the official opening. It was wonderful that the building retained its beautiful exterior. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in Oakland.

Having lunch on the lawn under the lovely trees was special, as was the annual Talent Show. At one of the latter, actor and singer Tony Martin was to make a surprise appearance, but he didn’t show up. His family lived very close to Tech, and one time word got around that he and Alice Faye were at the home, so a friend and I stopped there to get Alice’s autograph.

Dances were held at the Women’s Gym, and there were some real jitterbug experts there. I remember a girl named Mickey, especially, and she and her partner would clear the floor and really perform expertly. Graduations were held in the auditorium and were very special.

My Mother also attended Tech. We came to Oakland from Canada. She had been away from the business world for twenty years, and after working all day, she would walk to Tech and attend night classes to brush up her business skills. In this, as in everything else, she succeeded.

I graduated in l943 and WWII would claim many lives, including one boy I remember, Jay Rash.

At Tech I met a girl who became my best friend for the rest of her life, Rose Marie Kispert. Another girl from Tech, Eileen Wright, an artist, painted a portrait for me when we were both sixteen. She moved before graduating, and I will always wonder if she fulfilled her destiny as an artist; she was very good. Other friends I remember are Betty and Dick Wren, who work with a very good committee to arrange reunion luncheons; they were sweethearts at Tech and were married and have a family of beautiful daughters. We had every kind of club you can imagine at the school, meeting after school.

Our Class President was Gus Chavalas, a very handsome, athletic, and personable boy. I had a secret crush on him for years and found out in later years that almost every other girl did, too.

Tech helped me form a lifelong love of languages and music, and I was especially fortunate that I could attend such as beautiful high school.

I was the first African-American elected to the Delphian Society. My admission was based on my grades and teacher recommendations. Though I was discouraged by my counselor from taking college prep classes, I did and graduated in the top 10% of my class. I remember our gym teacher thought we should be strong because we may have to fight in the War. We were encouraged to bring carrots and veggies to school so we would be properly nourished. I attended Cal, got married and raised a family. I returned to school and received Master’s Degrees in psychology and education

Upon graduation, Lou entered the Naval Officers Training Program and went to UC Berkeley where he studied Mechanical Engineering and Naval Science. He received his commission as Ensign, USNR in 1946 and graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1948. Lou served as a division officer in the Engineering Department during his tour of duty until late 1952, then continued as an inactive Navy Reserve until he retired in 1985 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, USNR. Starting in 1952, Lou worked at UC Berkeley as an assistant engineer. The University of California was planning a campus at Santa Cruz in 1962 and Lou was hired by Founding Chancellor Dean McHenry as Campus Engineer to work with Campus Architect Jack Wagstaff. In Lou’s own words: “My job was a real challenge and a wonderful opportunity to contribute to the building of a new campus of the University of California. My basic responsibilities were to make sure when the students arrived the lights worked, the toilets flushed and there would be heat as well as a road or two.” Lou’s contributions to the campus included the fostering of a culture of energy and water conservation in the construction and maintenance of campus buildings and grounds that prevails to this day. In recognition of Lou’s contributions to the campus, The Regents of the University of California approved naming the central heating plant the “F. Louis Fackler Cogeneration Plant.” Lou died in 2013.

I started at Tech in 1939 after moving to Oakland with my folks from Los Angeles. We lived over on Lawton Avenue so I could walk to Tech. The school was so full that they started classes at 7 am so they could accommodate all the kids. I was the number one pole vaulter at Tech, but that’s because I was the only one! Others tried it, but didn’t stick with it or got hurt. It was a lot of fun. Nowadays, they come down on foam pads, but we used to come down in sawdust and wood chips which could be quite hard if you didn’t fluff it up between jumps. I was also the Junior Class President and I remember we had a lot of school spirit; people were proud to be at Tech. One of my memories is of a dance in the girls’ gym; the other thing I remember is that those of us who got varsity letters had to patrol the neighborhood one block around the school to make sure kids weren’t smoking!

The war was a big concern for all of us – we knew once we graduated, we would be drafted into the war so a lot of us studied hard because we wanted to get into officer’s training in college. During high school, I worked as a caddy at the Claremont Country Club, a dishwasher at a restaurant on College Avenue and at a rug company on Shattuck. All the men were drafted into the war, so youth were in high demand! After graduating, I tested into the Maritime Academy in Vallejo. The war ended before I finished my training so I never saw any action.

My kids also went to Tech even though it was a time of “white flight” when many white families were moving out of Oakland and people told us not to send our kids here. But we felt like it was the right thing to do and that we wouldn’t listen to other people’s prejudice. I kept in touch with friends from Tech but those bonds are hard to keep when you’re raising a family.

I went to College of the Pacfic (now University of Pacific) in Stockton. I majored in music and really tried to make it as a musician. I went to Hollywood, did some TV work there and with some bands in Las Vegas, but came back here and became a teacher and then a principal in Oakland (at Sherman, Markham and John Swett). On the weekends, I played bass and sang with dance bands, played at the Lake Merritt Hotel, did weddings and country clubs, even the California Country Club in San Francisco for 39 years!

My advice to students at Tech today is from a quote I saw: There is an aspect to wisdom that is learning what to ignore. We take some things so seriously and a lot of things just aren’t that important. People have issues with things they should just ignore.

I am proud to say I went to Oakland Tech, maybe even more so now. There is such a renaissance at the school that I can relate to. I have seen that school go through troubling times but there is such enthusiasm these days there. Everyone is putting such great energy into the Tech Centennial, they are such share people and their hearts are really in the right place.

When I was at Tech, we were a small minority of African Americans. There were a lot of very wealthy white students. Some even came to school in chauffeured limousines. I was the first black valedictorian. I spoke on the arts. I was already a professional dancer when I graduated. I had toured in Canada with the Katherine Dunham Dance Company for three weeks and got back in time for graduation. After Tech, I went to UC Berkeley.

I did not dance at Tech. The gym teacher, Ms. Ewing, was supposed to teach us dance. She wore bloomers and she couldn’t dance a lick! It was a waste of my time. I had been dancing since I was 3 and joined the Katherine Dunham Company at age 17, but I did other things too. My parents told me that dancing is just a part of my life, not my life. I knew I was good, but I didn’t think I was anything special. I did other things like play tennis and go to parties.

When I was at Longfellow Grammar School, I was already dancing in talent shows at movie theaters. I did contortions and I always won. I took tap, hula, Spanish, everything. When Louise Jorgensen, who did the Oakland Christmas Pageant, would come to Longfellow to select for the pageant every year, she would skip over all the black children. I never danced in a Christmas pageant. All our friends were in it. Our mothers went to the Board of Education as a group to protest that their children were being overlooked because they were black. Ms. Jorgensen said, “All right, but I will keep the fairies white.” She took two African American kids from our class who were biracial and didn’t even look black. From 1947 to 1967 I was in charge of the whole dance program at Parks and Rec in Oakland and of course I saw her because we employed her! I used to think how she had broken my heart. By the time I retired, there were black children, but I never once went to the pageant.

Tech was excellent in education. Most of the schools were. Children were very polite. We didn’t talk back. We were taught that in our homes, so the teachers could spend more time on teaching than on disciplining. It was not like today when teachers take their life in their hands. We were taught manners. The foundation that I got at Tech in education was so valuable. Tech taught you a wealth of things. They had sewing, cooking, shop, things you need. Kids today are made to feel insecure because they don’t all have computer skills. You need people to build offices for those who are sitting at their computers, don’t you? Tech was a great foundation.

We walked to school. I lived on 38th (now McArthur between Market and West. By the time we got to 42nd, there was a whole group of us walking. It was a lot of fun. Our neighborhood (which was called North Oakland then. Now it is called West Oakland) was very integrated. There were a lot of Japanese and we were all friends. The war started on my 16th birthday, Dec. 7, 1941. That was a Sunday. When we went to school the next day, everyone was crying and carrying on. People had scrolled on the sidewalk “Go home Japs!” We cried. They were our friends. After a half-day, they sent everyone home. We lost all our Japanese friends. From one day to the next they were gone and they never came back after the evacuation. We were very depressed. It was almost like science fiction. They were just gone. We had block wardens. We were one of the block wardens and people would ask us where they were. None of us knew where they had gone.

Tech was the most beautiful high school. Just look at that front! When they had graduations there, it was gorgeous. My sister was 7 years older and my twin brothers 5 years older and their graduations were out front. Our graduation was inside because of the black outs every night. If you even smoked a cigarette, people would yell at you to put it out. We’d hear the warning lights, and go inside and put up our curtains. The streets were silent and completely black. The Army and the Navy were all here and we didn’t know whether we’d be bombed. We were encouraged to volunteer at the USO. You had to be 18.

We went to the DeFremery mansion. Ms. DeFremery had been my Latin teacher at Tech. They still lived there then and during the war, they added a big ballroom for the USO events. My family had been here for many years and my father remembered fox in DeFremery Park when he was growing up. Later, when I was head of first of first recreational dance program in the US, I would have classes in that former USO ballroom at the DeFremery Mansion. I had actually applied at Parks and Rec to teach tennis, but they needed someone to teach movement and that’s how the dance program started. The classes were free. People would come from other cities to see dour program.

At Cal, there was no dance major so I had to take PE as a major. I took the dance classes they offered, but because I was already a professional, the teacher invited me to go with her to the Anna Halprin Dance Studio and later I became their first black company member. I did research in Haiti on Haitian dance and later, I opened the first Afro-Haitian dance company on the West Coast. Our first concert was in 1953 at Cal and when I retired from performing in 1961, my last concert was there too. I closed my dance studio in 1975 and went into acting and writing.

It’s great it is turning 100. It is still a great school. I have traveled the world and there is no place like Oakland. I will turn up my toes right here.

Walton Green’s yearbooks were donated by his long time neighbor and friend James Barnes. You can tell a lot about someone by his yearbooks. Walton was a star basketball player. Inside the covers of his yearbooks, he preserved an amusing drawing a friend did spoofing his basketball prowess. Many noted that he was a “swell” guy with a great smile.

A number of them are in Chinese! Walton was elected Assistant Yell Leader for his senior year, 1943. Since his graduation photo does not appear in that yearbook, it is possible that he left high school to enlist in the service. In fact, one classmate wrote, “When you’re in khaki, don’t go whacky.”

Agnes Gomez remembers that all the African American students sat on the north end of the building and ate their lunch there. She was active in athletics and received several Bulldog letters. Her art teacher told her that she had taught Walt Disney. She was interested in art and liked that connection.

Memories of Oakland Technical High School during
The World War II Years of 1941-1944

When I received an email from the OTHS Centennial Story Committee asking alumni for stories of our high school days, I eagerly dragged out my big cream-colored scrapbook crammed with memorabilia from my Tech Hi days. After graduating from the 9th grade of Westlake Junior High School in June 1941, I entered Oakland Technical High School’s tenth grade in the fall of 1941.

I remember distinctly Monday, December 8th, marching down the hall for a special assembly in the auditorium (where the library is now), to hear the radio address by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt describing December 7th, , when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, as “a day that will live in infamy” and declaring the United States at war with Japan.

In spite of ration books for food and gasoline, blackouts and security measures, our school faculty and administrators worked hard to give us an excellent education, ensuring also that we still had the fun of sports and social activities. My scrapbook of tickets, programs, and awards—all in purple and gold—attests to those many good times.

Prominently, (first page actually) is my purple silk sash with the diagonal gold letters “T-D-C”, signifying the Tech Delphian Club, a group of the top senior scholastic and athletic girls who planned girls’ events. (Probably the closest we had to a sorority.) We used to wear this sash proudly across our middies at events and meetings. (See front page of the Scribe November 30, 1943 for my article headed “Delphian Doings” featuring my picture as student body Vice-president and President of the Delphians. The article focused on revival of the traditional “Girls Day” with a circus carnival 4-7:30pm in the Girls Gym.)

Oh, yes, those famous (infamous?) middies. I’ve copied the wording in an article in the Scribe from 1941 about our agreement for girls to wear middies (white or blue) and black pleated skirts four days a week. While only one day a week we wore what we chose, most of us stitched darts into those shapeless middies to create figure-hugging masterpieces!

Over the years only two of my school things that were truly affected by wartime have frustrated me:

• Girls Athletic League: I always loved sports and participated in every sport every season,
earning my felt block T and winged T. But at 1200 points, instead of my silver T Pin, I
received a small card that says:
“This entitles you to your twelve hundred points pin when it arrives. C’est la guerre!”
• Senior Memories: Like metals, book stock and Lucky Strike green—all had gone to war!
Our 1944 Senior Memories is 1/8” thick, covers of light card stock.

I found many other papers such as a carbon copy of the Senior Prophesy written by top scholar Marilyn Baas, a pencil copy of the pairs for our Senior Ball, and even my War Ration Book. What a treasure trove is my school scrapbook!

TECHNICAL HIGH GIRLS RETURN
TO MIDDIES, SKIRT UNIFORM
Scribe, 1941

Middies and skirts are again the regulation dress of Technical High School girls. After months of wearing informal sports clothes. the girls were required to return to the uniforms. For many previous years, middies and skirts have held their place in the lives of Tech girls. Due to economic pressure and the rise in price of clothes, it was decided by the Delphian Board, Technical girls’ representatives, to wear the regulation clothes. “Uniformity of dress,” Miss Anna Ruth Wilder, Dean of Girls, said, “seems to encourage and promote friendliness among students.” “With everyone wearing the same thing, there is little chance of cliques forming, and snobbishness resulting,” Miss Wilder declared. “Many of these girls and their parents have written letters to us requesting that we adopt the middie and skirt plan once again, until the war is over and prices of materials return to normal.” Several girls expressed their reaction to the middie rule, and among them were Betty Jane Christensen, girls’ vice-president: “I don’t see why some of the girls object to middies. They always look so neat, and with a variety of different ties and sweaters a monotonous appearance can be avoided.” Eleanor Tomsovic, sophomore president, “They sure save a lot of trouble when the question of clothes arises.” Elaine McCoy, Assistant Editor of the Senior Memories: “I didn’t want to wear middie at first, but now it really seems good to be wearing them again.”

(Richard) We’ve been together for 66 years, having met at Tech High which is what we called it back then. My family came from Watsonville and I lived on Piedmont Avenue; after Westlake Junior High, I went to Tech High and then the War. Back then we used to meet out under the oak trees for lunch every day, the big one on the right side of the school. I brought lunch from home and we all ate there as a big group. Most of us kids were from Piedmont Avenue and had been in school together for years. Midway through high school, my parents moved to Berkeley so I used to take a streetcar back and forth to school (it stopped right in front of the school).

Every day after school we’d go to the Bulldog (across the street from Tech) for a Coke. When Betty and I dated, it was by streetcar. We’d take the streetcar to the theater. I remember a science teacher using me to demonstrate pressure points and I passed out right in front of everyone. I woke up, curled over the wastebasket. I was class president one year which I really enjoyed because it got me out of class. A friend asked me to run for class president and he took over, promoted me and ran the whole campaign. I really didn’t plan on being president. Maybe it wasn’t that simple, but that’s how I remember it.

I was also in ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps), ran track and was part of a singing quartet that promoted Tech High to the local Junior Highs by singing a capella. The ROTC was a choice for boys __ you could take ROTC or gym. I loved to run track but in ROTC we’d come to school wearing our uniforms and would pretend we had guns, even though we didn’t. It was play-acting, but it was a big deal for us. The war was on everyone’s minds.

I remember knowing a Japanese girl in class who all of a sudden never came back to class. We all knew what happened, but there wasn’t anything anyone of us could do about it. I also remember Betty running home from school one time because we’d had an alert. What I learned at Tech is how easy it is to get along with people and of course, meeting Betty was a high point! Our Class was the smallest one at Tech, just 143 kids. After Tech, I went to Arizona State Teacher’s College for my Navy Officer’s training. High school was fun and I never had any trouble with school. If you’re at Tech, have fun and pay attention!

(Betty) I was born in Fresno but then moved to Oakland and except for three years in Emeryville, I’ve lived here my whole life. I should have gone to Emeryville High School but I got a transfer to Tech where all my friends were going. Most kids walked to school like me, from San Pablo Avenue, although some kids had cars. Tech was great, lots of sports and activities that I participated in. I have lifelong friends from Tech who I still see.

I was President of the Delphinians which had little luncheons and did small things to help the school. I also remember taking home economics where we learned how to cook. I loved going to Tech and am so proud of my school even today. I love that it looks so great and that it’s so solid scholastically. I’m glad the school has survived the tough times and has bounced back. After Tech, I got a job at PG&E in San Francisco where I worked until we got married and started having kids. For today’s kids at Tech, I would tell them to really try to enjoy this time of your life. Pay attention and try to learn something but maybe not too much!

I graduated Oakland Technical High School in February, 1945. My parents moved to Oakland in 1923, I was born in Oakland in 1927. We lived on Boyd Avenue until 1953. I attended Oakland Tech after attending Rockridge Elementary and Claremont Junior High.

At the time I was ready for high school there were only two high schools in Oakland, Tech High and University. Since University was due to be closed the only choice really was Tech. Oakland Tech was an academic school but it also taught trades. For example, it had a metal shop, body shop, etc. This was important as many needed to have a trade upon graduation.

Tech was a good school for education, the teachers were strong scholastically and they took an interest in preparing one for the future. I was lucky to keep in touch with several of my teachers as they became future customers of my business Levant Rug Company on College Avenue. Howard O. Welty, the principal for many years, was a good friend and customer. My father attended Tech Night School to improve his English skills and take citizenship classes. My sister, Esther Wilson, also graduated from Tech High in 1943. She resides in Scottsdale, Arizona and visits Oakland at least once every year.

I have attended many reunions in the past and keep correspondence with several members our classes, mostly by phone and letters, no email yet! Unfortunately, some are not lucky enough to still be here. It is always great to chat up good school memories. I was personally involved in the group that lobbied to keep the school building as it has been historically. I helped canvassing and made donations to support the preservation efforts. Had there been children in my life, I would not have hesitated sending them to Oakland Tech. I still remember the Bulldog Fight Song we used to sing at school rallies. “Ku, Man, ti. Ku, Man, ti. Growl wa.” I still don’t know what it means!

I was born in Wichita, Kansas and lived there until I was about 9. Times were tough during the Depression although my dad had a bunch of jobs. He was a pharmacist, worked in a paint store, was in the Navy and Army. In 1936, we moved to Oakland, an apartment on Colby Avenue above a deli. It was $60 per month, fully furnished. That was a lot of money for us and we soon moved to an apartment that was $22 per month.

I rode my bike to school everyday. During the war, I bought a motorcycle and used to ride that to Tech. Those of us who had motorcycles, and there were a few of us, got a lot of attention, but not necessarily the good kind! And, it was hard to get gasoline during the war. I remember one guy had a 1938 Packard convertible and he was definitely the king of the campus. Most kids didn’t have a car. Kids definitely hung out in packs and everyone had their own area at lunch time.

Doc Welty was the principal, who was very distinguished and Doc Hess was the vice principal, who ran the school. He knew all the kids and they all knew him. I remember kids cutting school to go swimming at Lake Temescal. One time Doc Hess caught us, but I hid under a float at Temescal and didn’t get caught!

Mrs. Anga Bjornson was a very impressive teacher; she was very outspoken and critical of Sacramento and state politics. She even ran for State Assembly later on, but didn’t have the blessing of the Democratic Party and didn’t win. Mrs. deFremery was a very nice, and very precise teacher who taught Spanish and French, part of the deFremery family that was a pioneer in Oakland. Al Girard was the drama teacher and had the most interesting and fun class in the whole school. He wore really expensive suits and was such a funny guy that we all loved him.

There was a lot of school spirit, kids always turned up for the football and basketball games. I was mostly interested in art and wanted to be a commercial artist. I took night and weekend classes at the California College of Arts and Crafts. After graduation though, I joined the Merchant Marines and sailed on a liberty ship (cargo ships built during the war) for one year. In 1946, a friend suggested we join the Marines and I went through boot camp in San Diego where I worked on fighter planes.

After the war ended, I went to art school but didn’t love it because it wasn’t as creative as I thought. I met my wife, Vanna, we got married and then I got drafted for the Korean War. I was nine days short of serving an entire year when World War II ended, so I wasn’t exempted from the draft. I was in Korea for one year and then came home and joined the Oakland Fire Department which was my true calling. I was there 27 years and retired as Chief of the Department. I have three honorable discharges, from the Merchant Marines, the Marine Corps and the Army. My daughter, Deborah Moore Brooke graduated from Tech in the late 1960s and became a technical writer in Silicon Valley.

Tech High is where I learned to be more socially adept and was exposed to all different types of people. My advice to kids today is to enjoy school because you will remember it for the rest of your life. Pay attention to who you’re hanging out with and pick your friends carefully.

I’m so happy Tech is celebrating 100 years. The building is such a trademark and so unusual looking. I am glad the school is so strong academically now.

There were lots of great teachers when I was at Tech. The younger ones got drafted so there were a lot of older teachers. I remember the Port Chicago explosion at the end of the Concord munitions depot where they stored live ammunition. That was the summer of 1944 and you could hear the boom from Oakland. It was like a small A-bomb had gone off. I was outside at the time. And I remember seeing a P-38 aircraft fighter fly real low over 51st and Broadway. I have kept in touch with a whole group of classmates. Now, there aren’t as many of us left. I made lifelong friendships at Tech. Those were good days.

Some of my memories of happenings at Tech were eating my sack lunch with classmates on the front lawn and waving at the truckloads of servicemen going by from 1942 to 1945 headed for the ships that would take them out under the Golden Gate Bridge overseas to the South Pacific war zone. I was circulation editor for the school newspaper, The Scribe, and we sent the paper through the mail to the servicemen who had gone to Tech. Very often girlfriends would put notes into the rolled up papers which made a bit of fun for those Tech servicemen when they received the papers. They said they really enjoyed hearing from Tech and getting the notes too.

A lot of the teachers were elderly. Many of them came out of retirement to help with the influx of students that WWII had brought to the area. The teachers were excellent and very often had been teaching at Tech when some of the students’ parents attended Tech. Those teachers very often would make reference to that fact which brought laughter to the class.

As far as funny stories about things that happened at Tech, one that is vivid in my mind is when Tech and Uni were scheduled to play their annual football game and some of the jokers from Uni came over and painted part of one of the columns out in front of Tech blue and gold. I believe it was in retaliation for Tech’s placing an old model “A” Ford coupe up on the rooftop corner of Uni (or on the front steps of Uni) painted purple and gold.

There has never been any doubt in my mind that going to Tech was one of the most important parts of my life. I have stayed in touch with all of my high school friends for a lifetime.

My father came to Oakland from New York City, the Lower East Side, at the time of the 1906 earthquake. He settled in what is now Chinatown. My mother came to visit from Philadelphia and stayed. He built the first supermarket in Oakland, a 4-story building with apartments upstairs and the store downstairs. It had a groceteria, a deli, and fresh foods. That was novel at the time. He lost it in the Depression. When I was at Tech, we lived on 40th Street between Telegraph and Webster.

Most kids in the neighborhood went to Tech. It was mostly white middle class kids, including a lot of Italians, and some black and Chinese kids. It drew kids from Temescal and the hills. I was one of only a few Jewish kids. In fact my father bought Tony Martin his tallit for his bar mitzvah! My father had lived for a while with the Smiths who were Tony Martin’s (Alvin Morris) godparents. Tech was considered kind of a tough school compared with Oakland High and Fremont. We were Depression era kids and a lot f the fathers didn’t have jobs. With the war, all of a sudden, there were jobs. It kind of saved us. Tech High was a very good school academically and it had the best shops¬ an auto shop, an aviation shop¬ where kids worked on airplane engines. Tech was noted for its athletics and for scholarships. Al Kyte was the coach of the basketball team. His claim to fame was that he could sink a bucket from mid court. The playground was open all summer and he ran it.

We had excellent teachers at Tech like Elena deFremery who taught Latin. There is a deFremery Park in West Oakland named after her family. When it was time to think about college, she went to my parents and offered to pay for my college education. My parents were too proud to accept her offer. She could have been governor of the state. She was so smart. I remember Anga Bjornson (I think Bjornson Hall in Oakland may be named after her family) who taught civics. She talked with us a lot about the war. She could have been a lawyer. Doc Hess, who later became principal at McClymonds, used to administer corporal punishment with a paddle. He was beloved by the kids despite that! There was a different attitude towards discipline then. A lot of kids were hit at home. Doc Long was head of the Science Department. I remember him saying, “Someday you’ll be able to take a thimble full of nuclear energy and power the Queen Mary with it.” I don’t remember having any teachers who weren’t good.

My English teacher was Jessie Smith. She oversaw Scribe News, the student newspaper. I was the editor-in-chief my senior year. High school newspapers were ranked in those days. We had an “All American” rating which was a big deal. The print shop was down near the Board of Education and every week we’d go there, all the editors, and they’d already have typeset our pages. We took the “slugs” and formatted our pages, the editors each doing their section, and then they’d print it. If you worked on the Scribe, you were excused from English class. The only piece I remember writing was my editorial about FDR’s death. Most students were heartbroken. I was taking ASTP (Army Special Training Program) down at Lake Merritt when the news broke that FDR was dead. He was a big hero to us. When Roosevelt gave a fireside chat, you could hear it on everyone’s radios as you walked around the neighborhood.

The Depression hit us hard. My mother was the only one with a job in the family. She had a WPA (Works Progress Administration) job as a stenographer. My father lost everything and couldn’t find a job because there were no jobs, but he told us to give 50 cents and a meal to anyone who came by asking. I worked hard in school because I understood that academics would be my entrée into the middle class.
My high school years were the years of World War II. It was a very patriotic time. You were proud to be an American. Assemblies were patriotic in theme and the flag flew out front. I remember kids like Chuck Hedlund leaving school to enlist. Because so many men had gone off to war, a lot of kids had jobs. Southern Pacific hired us kids (13-14 year olds) for 50 cents an hour on Saturdays and 75 cents an hour on Sundays to lay track and clean up. I remember the troop trains passing through and once one of them pulled up to the Oakland Mole (the Oakland Long Wharf) as I was trying to hit a spike. I kept missing, and when I finally hit it, they cheered. I was so embarrassed! We were happy in a way that we were in the war. Since news of casualties was kept from the home front, we didn’t realize how bad it was, so people were very enthusiastic. I remember my friend Frank Serra whose dad had a cleaners on Broadway and 40th. A story was going around that his dad was an admiral in the Japanese Navy and one day he just disappeared. Their family was taken off to an internment camp. We didn’t really question Roosevelt. He said that this war was the right thing to do and we believed him. There were scary moments like when the Japanese shelled Point Lobos. A lot of boys left school to enlist. 17 was the age, but some lied to get in. I tried to volunteer but was told to go home and finish high school. I was nearsighted. We all had maps on our walls with pins stuck in them to show where the American troops were.

We had an active ROTC unit. I was a captain and carried a saber. In ROTC we learned how to shoot a rifle on a range near the boys’ gym. There were over 100 kids in ROTC. We’d march around with old British Enfield rifles. The big attraction was getting to play with guns. Sergeant Okie seemed like he was 100, but he was probably in his 50s. Girls weren’t in ROTC, but I remember Rosemarie Ginnocchio was “Commissioner of War Activities” at Tech. We had war bond drives quite often.

Kids hung out at Fenton’s, which was on 42nd between Broadway and Piedmont where the post office is now. They had a juke box there. We listened to Spike Jones’ “Der Fuehrer’s Face” over and over. A song was 5 cents. Chris’s Hot Dogs was right across the street. And the Bulldog was on 47th near Tech. It sold snacks and flavored ice drinks. Kids used to cut class and go there.

The war ended just before we graduated. Thera Samuels and I were the class valedictorians. I graduated and a few days later, I started at Cal. It had 3 semesters then. A semester at Cal cost $18.50. When I went to Boalt Law School, it cost $50 a semester. Most kids didn’t go to college. I have kept a few friendships– with the Rego twins, Eugene Newman, John Canestro, and Eleanor Wilkinson, but I moved on pretty quickly.

Bernie Hamilton, Class of 1946, was an actor best known for his role as Captain Dobey, the gruff police captain, on the 1970s television series Starsky and Hutch. He was born in East Los Angeles and had six siblings. He ran away from home and, according to his obituary in the New York Times, lived in someone’s garage while attending Oakland Tech, where he played football and studied acting.

In 1950 he got a role as a baseball player in the movie The Jackie Robinson Story, and that began a long career in television and on the big screen. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he operated a nightclub in Los Angeles. One of his brothers was composer and conductor Chico Hamilton. Other screen credits included The Young One, The Swimmer, Walk the Walk, and Scream Blacula Scream.

After guest appearances on numerous television shows, Hamilton played the role of Capt. Dobey from 1975-1979. Once the series ended, he returned to his music-loving roots, producing R&B and gospel records including his own album, Captain Dobey Sings the Blues. He died in Los Angeles in 2008.

Bob Greenwood played basketball and baseball at Tech and St. Mary’s College before playing 10 seasons in the minor leagues and 2 seasons in the majors as a right-handed pitcher. He pitched in 12 games with the Phillies (1954-55), mostly as a reliever with a 1-2 record and an ERA of 3.92. He holds the distinction of being the first baseball player born in Mexico to play college baseball in America. His baseball nickname was “Greenie.”

Greenwood died in Hayward, on September 1, 1994

Don Lofgran was the California State Basketball Player of the Year in 1946 at Tech before becoming a two-time All-American forward at the University of San Francisco in 1949 and 1950, leading the Dons to a national championship. He is credited by legendary basketball coach Pete Newell as the first to use the jump shot in basketball. He was the 11th pick in the NBA draft and played four years in the league, for the Syracuse Nationals, Indianapolis Olympians, Philadelphia Warriors and Milwaukee Hawks. He is a member of the U.S.F. Hall of Fame.

He died June 17, 1976.

After being evacuated from Tech to the internment camp for Japanese Americans in Rohwer, Arkansas, Jack Aikawa returned to Oakland and graduated from Tech. Jack was luckier than many other Japanese American Tech students who did not return to Oakland or to school from the internment camps.

Aikawa earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Zoology at UC Berkeley, and graduated from UC Berkeley’s School of Optometry in 1954. Aikawa owned his own optometry practice for many years in downtown Oakland. He was active in Oakland’s Japanese American Citizen’s League and civic affairs. He died in 2010 and is survived by four children and eight grandchildren.

Jack Delinger, Class of 1946, was an American professional bodybuilder who won the 1949 AAU Mr. America and the 1956 Mr. Universe bodybuilding competitions.

At only 16 Delinger began training at the local YMCA. He looked toward John Grimek for his inspiration throughout his training. At Oakland Tech, he was a member of the gymnastics team. Soon after, he joined Ed Yarick’s gym. Yarick was a man whom Delinger looked up to and was a role model to aspiring bodybuilders.

He drew inspiration from famous olympic athletes who lifted weights and competed in gymnastics. Early in his training, Delinger promised himself that he would continue to strive towards the level of greatness he saw in his idols.

Standing at only 5 feet and 6 inches tall Deligner proved that height wasn’t a factor in becoming a legend. His first major victory came in 1946 when he claimed the title of Mr. Northern California. Three years later he ended up claiming the title of Mr. America with his shredded muscular physique, notoriously blonde hair, and dashingly handsome appearance.

His final victory came in 1956 when he won Mr. Universe at the age of 30, after which he settled down with his wife and open up a gym back in Oakland.

My parents came from Greece. I was born in Oakland. I lived in West Oakland at 16th and Castro in the same house for 37 years. The house is still there. I could have gone to McClymonds or Tech but a friend of mine was going Tech, so I decided to go there too. I took the streetcar to school with my buddies, Herb Cramer, Carter and Charlie Trimbell. Streetcars stopped right in front of school on Broadway. We bought a pass and conductor would punch a hole in it. My father had a candy store next to the Broadway Theater between 11 and 12th. Both parents worked there. There were lots of theaters on Broadway.

I had a tough time. No one taught me at home, my parents were immigrants. I had a lot of obstacles to overcome. When it came time for the tests, I always cheated a bit to see what other kids were putting down on their exam. Like in math, I was too embarrassed to ask for help. Tell kids today- ask the questions you need to ask to learn. One teacher, Mrs. Crow in junior high in the library, I never forgot her or her name. She had a little sign, “What you are to be, you are now becoming.” That has stayed with me to this day. Teachers never called on me because they knew I was struggling. Once, I thought I was ready to read in front of the class, we had to each have a paragraph prepared. I got up there and I couldn’t do it even though I had volunteered. I froze up there and couldn’t do it.

I was in the machine shop. Mr. Mc Graw, he understood a lot. A teacher at Hoover junior high called Mr. X, he taught sheet metal and we were going to make match boxes, I still have mine. It is still lopsided. I cut the tin too short so he sent me to the cabinet shop to the tin stretcher. The cabinet shop sent me to another shop and that shop sent me back to the metal shop and I said to Mr. D, (he would stand at the podium and dictate to the class from a high chair), I said Mr. D, they said you have the tin stretcher. He looked at me and said, “You simpleton. Don’t you know there’s no tin stretcher.” That has stayed with me all these years. I couldn’t go to my parents. They were out of their element. I felt inferior. My self-esteem was down to a zero.

Machine shop was more comfortable. I was very good at it. Had a lather machine and I did really well at it. Very accurate. I wanted to achieve something and I had the incentive and the will not to give up. I picked it because it didn’t involve the books. There was emphasis on shops during WWI to train kids to go into the war effort-aircraft. Welding classes for shipyard work aircraft mechanics.

I was not in any clubs or sports. Though I was in the High Y Club- a social club. I can’t remember what we did. We were sent up to the YMCA and initiated. There were 5-6 of us, Bobby Carter (he did track).  There was a big room and they had us strip and gave us names and broke eggs on our heads and poured flour on top of us but we did it because we wanted to be a part of something. That was a wonderful thing. It meant you were accepted, you belonged. They swam at the Y with no bathing suits. I didn’t know how to swim. I ran home in shock. I left and didn’t stay there.

I didn’t go to my own prom. There was an Italian girl that wanted me to take her. Why? She wasn’t Greek. My parents wouldn’t allow it.

Lunch was on front lawn with those 3 friends. We sat by flagpole watching the girls.

Graduation- My picture was on the table when you came in, mine and a girl’s, just the two of us. That was a big honor. We bought the picture. I was happy to get my diploma. Most of the guys went right into the service.

I saw Mr. McGraw once in Santa Cruz about 15 yrs ago. He was the machine shop teacher. I remember an incident with Charlie Trimble. They had to forge the metal. We were supposed to present it to the teacher so he was holding onto it with prongs. The teacher said, “Is it hot?” And Charlie said, “NO.” so the teacher grabbed it and backed off. Sidney McGraw.

Herbie Cramer and I would go to the bathroom to kill time. We flooded the toilets and that wasn’t a good thing but we did it for fun. When we got back Mr. McGraw asked what took so long and Herbie said, “That’s how long it took.” We flooded the floor.

I was in the service for 2 years right from Tech. I was in Korea before the war. Then I did real estate in Oakland, commercial and homes. I saw that the money wasn’t in sales but in owning something. At one time I owned Alameda Theater for 20 years until the city of Alameda bought it from me. They gave $50,000 to restore the mural. It took me 2-1/2 years to pass the real estate exam. I didn’t give up. I went to college for a week and a half. After WWI with GI bill, lots of people started to go to college. Before that, not that many went.

Life lessons: Don’t give up. Continue on. Keep your incentive high. Get your education if you want to eat.

I am very proud that I went to Tech even though I wasn’t a good student. I feel proud that I finished. They probably saw through me but gave me a diploma anyways.

100- wonderful! Go to school and don’t just carry your lunch.

Louis Barella enjoyed his time at Tech. He was the track manager and football manager. The Oakland Zoo was supposed to close, but Tura Hawk, the biology teacher, had all the classes do neighborhood petitions which kept the zoo open! There was a lot of fear of the war. After high school, Barella worked in the Navy for four years. After he was discharged from the Navy, he worked at Wells Fargo for ten years and then in the computer department for twenty-five years. He felt he was well prepared for life after graduating from Tech.

Nathan Rubin was a violinist and concertmaster in Oakland for forty years. Rubin showed an early affinity for music, giving a recital at the Claremont Hotel when he was 8, and appearing with the Oakland Symphony as a soloist at the age of 15. At Tech, Rubin was Commissioner of Publications, played in the orchestra, and served as sports editor for Scribe News.

After graduating from Oakland Tech in 1946, he went on to study at Julliard. In 1963 Rubin was appointed concertmaster of the Oakland Symphony and he remained in that position for forty years. He also performed with the Arch Street Ensemble, the San Francisco Quartet, and the Persinger String Trio. The City of Oakland declared April 8, 1993 “Nathan Rubin Day.”

During his lifetime, Rubin performed alongside Herbie Hancock, Aretha Franklin, Stacy Latisaw, Sly Stone, the Pointer Sisters, Patti LaBelle, Diana Ross, Jerry Garcia and a host of other popular musical stars. He has also been spotted sitting among the strings of a big-name pop orchestra playing dance music for San Francisco socialites as well as in concertmaster chairs for orchestras recording soundtracks for “Star Wars,” “Back to the Future,” “Soapdish” and “Predator 2.” He also served as conductor and violinist for the soundtrack of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

This article in the Oakland Tribune chronicled Rubin’s life after his death in 2005.

A Lifelong Friendship: A Story about Two Tech Hi Graduates By Jeanette Brock McClean:

This is a story about two boys and a friendship beginning at Woodrow Wilson Junior High and developing at Oakland Technical High School. They attended classes, were socially involved, and were active in student government. Both were on the varsity Bulldog football team under Coach Gil Callies. They graduated in June, 1947 and continued on to college. Both served in the military during the Korean War. Each took a different avenue in careers. Ed Williams became a math teacher and coached football and golf. Bill McClean entered banking and rose to Executive Vice President of a national bank. Ed and Bill each married graduates from Tech High, three years their junior. Ed married Sally Pezzola and Bill married Jeanette Brock, both graduates of the June, 1950 class. The two families raised their children and after retirement, the couples took many trips together. Ed and Bill remained fast friends, like brothers, throughout life. A simple story, much like many, but this one is being told because it encompasses four Tech High graduates, mid-20th century, who lived successful, happy, and fulfilling lives.

I graduated from Tech in 1947. The streetcar in those years cost 7 cents. At Tech, I took typing in a classroom on the 2nd floor by Broadway. In the army, you had to fill out a form about your skills, and because I knew how to type, I became a company clerk in the army. I also took wood shop I and II, and auto shop for 1 term. I was on the boys gymnastics team, but not when I came back to Tech after serving in the army. We competed against Fremont and Castlemont in those days. I did the high bars and the parallel bars. When we were kids, we ran a lot and pulled ourselves on the wires coming diagonally from telephone poles, the cables that held the pole so it wouldn’t fall. I used to go hand over hand, up and down. Mosswood Park had bars and we went there after school, so by high school, I had a lot of upper body strength.. (I still go to the gym 5 days a week.) Our team had a high bar, parallel bars, rings, spring boards (for front and back flips), and long and side horses. The springboards were in the gym with mats on the floor. After two years at Tech, I quit to go into the army. Afterwards, I had to get permission to go back to Tech because I was 21. They warned me not to “get smart” because I had a lot of experience beyond the average high school kid’s. I was in the army from 1945 to 1947 and by the time I came back, there was no more gymnastic team. Things had changed. My dad, who had come to Oakland from Italy, opened a mechanic shop thinking I would do it too, but I didn’t want my hands full of grease. I became a painter.

When I went back to Tech, I tried to make friends with some of the guys there. I didn’t talk about the war. The VA warned me not to talk about the war because I could start trouble at the school. People might see me as a killer or want to fight. I just said I was in the army. I didn’t want people thinking I was a big shot or a killer. I didn’t want any trouble.

Doc Hess was Assistant Principal. If you did anything bad, varsity guys made a tunnel with their legs and as you crawled through their legs, they swatted you. It happened to me one time for horsing around. I had aggravated my biology teacher, Mrs. Hawk. We were supposed to bring a grub to school. I brought a frog and that was what got me in trouble. The teachers meant business. You had to behave. There was strict discipline. There were no lawsuits back then! We towed the line. We weren’t like the kids today. We were there to get an education Mr. Welty was the principal. He was very nice and very approachable.

We used to sit on front steps for lunch. Once in November of 1944, I was talking with a couple of guys about being soldiers. Then I said, “Let’s go!” I would have been drafted on Nov. 18, so I enlisted on Nov. 1. I was a poor swimmer and the Marine quota was filled. I didn’t know anything about planes. The Army was considered lower level. The Marines were prestigious and it was harder to get into the Marines. I went to the Draft Board in San Francisco and was accepted into the Army. From there we boarded a bus to Camp Roberts near LA. I was in the Infantry. We learned how to shoot rifles, throw grenades, run and jump and crawl. From there we went to Fort Ord in Monterey where we got our equipment. Then we went to Camp Stolman out in Contra Costa. From there, we boarded the Ernie Pyle Ferry to San Francisco and got on a ship for the Philippines and f rom there, we shipped out to Japan. We were scared. I was just a kid. They told us to watch out for the Japanese. They said they could be in the trees and they could put wires across your path.

We were supposed to be part of the land invasion of Japan, but instead of invading, bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and then on Nagasaki. The war while we were on our way over. While we waited on the ship, scientists came over to check for fall-out and then after a couple of weeks, we went into Hiroshima. A lot of the Japanese had burned skin. Some were brought here to the US, especially the girls, to be treated in hospitals. When we arrived, at first, you couldn’t see any Japanese. They were scared of us at first. We were eating K and C rations because we didn’t yet have food from the US. Our job was to occupy the place, clear the area, and help in rebuilding. When they found out I could type, I was put in the orderly room. I made out the requisitions. I had to type up all the papers to get everyone home. I was in Japan for a year and a half. I was there for Christmas in1945 and 1946 and I left in the first part of 47.

And after all that, I went back to Tech for one semester to get my high school degree.

I married for the first time in 1952 and 6 years later, my wife got cancer and died. I met my current wife at the Ali Baba Ballroom where Sid Hawk was the orchestra leader. I saw my wife and asked her to dance. Do you drink? No. Smoke? Yes, but I’ll quit. I’ll see you next week. Her family was Italian and that made it easier. I was 33 with 3 kids. She was 7 years older. She was great with the kids and they call her mom to this day. She is 94 now and we are going on 51 years of marriage.

After Tech, I went to Laney Trade for 4 years to learn painting trade and then I joined painters’ union. I became a housepainter and decorator and retired after 35 years in the trade, but I still wanted to do something. I had all my tools, so I went back to work after about a month at home on my own doing small jobs. I had a lot of business. I promised my wife I would quit when I turned 80 and I did. Now I am 87 and I am home taking care of my wife.

I graduated in the Class of 1947. I took college prep courses and went on to Cal. In addition to academics, there were ball games and dances. Many of the girls wore purple and gold outfits to the games to support the football players. We were allowed to eat lunch on the beautiful green lawn, but if we didn’t pick up our litter, there would be a ticket and you would have to appear before a group of your peers. When I was at Tech, it was a changing time and I can remember a couple of students out of the military getting their high school degrees. I am so glad Tech was preserved and has come back academically!

I grew up a block and a half from Tech and at Christmas time, many of our neighborhood kids would get roller skates from Santa and we all would go skating at the plaza in front of Tech. I attended Tech from Feb 1944 to Jan 1947. My memories of Tech are good ones even though the war was on and many of our former students were in the service. I received a great education and had many good teachers who gave their all to educate us. We had many clubs to join. Too numerous to mention. We were allowed to eat our lunch on the lawn but the privilege was taken away if any paper or garbage was left. We had dances in the girls’ gym, which was located on the 42nd street side of Tech. Our sports teams were very good sometimes and other times not so good. We had many of our students go into professional sports. Two of them are Ricky Henderson and John Brody. Of course, we can’t forget Clint Eastwood.

We had Chris’ hamburger place on Broadway across from Tech. And who could forget the “Bulldog” on 45th St. where all of the “Block T” boys would hang out. I had a favorite P.E. teacher who once in a while would send me over to the Bulldog for some food. Boy, did that make my day. The “Block T” boys would also walk the area around Tech looking for kids who were smoking and if caught they would get detention. Our graduations were held in the auditorium which I understand now is a study room. Although at one time, June graduations were held in the front plaza, on Broadway.

I am so happy to see Tech make a big “comeback” and when I pass it and see the students eating their lunch on the lawn, it brings back so many memories of my time at Oakland Technical High School.

The War shaped her high school experience. As an example, dances were only held in the afternoons because of the night time curfew. She also recalled that shoes and sugar were rationed. While at Tech she dated a boy who gave her an extra coupon for shoes, and she was thrilled with his gift. Another way the War impacted Tech was the number of students whose parents had moved to Oakland to work in the shipyards.

Looking back, she believed that people, whether the person was black or white did not matter, who came from the south were educationally and culturally deprived. She remembered the term “Okie”. Tech became less of a neighborhood school because of all the new people who made their home in Oakland.

She also recalled that African Americans have a long history here because of the Pacific Railroad. After the Civil War many African Americans made their way to Chicago. Some went to work for the Pullman Company, where they were trained as porters. Since Oakland was the terminus of the Pacific Railroad, many of the porters settled here. They purchased homes and were an integral part of Oakland.

When she started at Tech, she joined the Glee Club. However, early in the school year, a young, good-looking teacher named George Kyme came to the Glee Club looking for students to participate in the Orchestra. She and two girl friends who followed handsome Mr. Kyme to the orchestra class. McCarthy played the oboe. This class was her first introduction to classical music. As an adult, she has subscribed to the Oakland Symphony for decades because of her experience.

Mr. Kyme also started a jazz band. Some of the high school players were so outstanding that they played down at Sweet’s Ballroom on Broadway between 19th and 20th. They also played for school dances. Mr. Kyme eventually went on to teach at Cal.

McCarthy remembers that ROTC had a presence at Tech. Once a month, they would march at the school. Some of the boys were able to substitute their participation in ROTC for PE. Because of the War more students worked. She remembered that Sears, which was located on Telegraph at 27th, was open on Thursday evenings and all day Saturday. Girls were paid .50/hour and for the same work boys were paid .75/hour!

She recalls a fellow student who was a casualty of the Korean War. His name was Jerry Krohn (she was not sure of the spelling). He was one year ahead of her in school. He was an outstanding student and was head of ROTC. After high school he married Roberta Goodfellow. He was shipped out to Korea in the early 1950’s. He was killed in action. She remembers being just shocked because he was such a capable, talented person. She thinks a street in Montclair is named after him–possibly Krohn Way or Street.

After graduation, she attended UC Berkeley. She lived at home and worked at Sears and at the San Francisco Circulation department while she attended college. The cost of tuition, she did not think they even called it tuition, was $37.50. She married, settled in Piedmont and raised a family. She still gives historical tours of Jack London Square.

Her advice to current Tech students is to study hard!

I lettered in football, track, and basketball earning seven letters out of a possible nine total. The general atmosphere at Tech was somewhat difficult as this was a manual training as well as a college prep school with the emphasis on manual training. In some respects, Tech was a tough guy school with numerous fights etc. going on… Most of my high school buddies have passed away and I no longer maintain any contact with the rest. Too many years have passed and memories fade……..

I am a Oakland Tech Hi graduate from the Class of June 1948, Alice Ying Lee. My parents arrived in this country from Canton, China in 1923. My mother was pregnant with her first child and he was born in Oakland in December of that year. We lived in Oakland’s Chinatown, first at 7th and Jackson and then at 6th and Webster. There were six children in the family. All but one of us graduated from Tech Hi. It was the closest high school to us at the time.

I remember my years at Tech Hi as very enjoyable. I made many new friends, one of whom I still keep in touch with, Phyllis Thompson Thomas. She married a fellow classmate, Delbert Thomas, soon after graduation and they live in Redlands, CA. I have sent them a copy of your letter and hope she responds also.

Many of my classmates at Tech were from the elementary school I attended, Lincoln, and growing up in Oakland Chinatown has given us a close relationship all these years. Most of us have left Oakland but are still in surrounding cities. I still get together with several of the girls for lunch and our junior high school class has a reunion annually.
I took a college preparatory course at Tech, but never attended college. I also took up shorthand and typing and that prepared me for my future career. I went to work directly after graduation for several federal government agencies, working myself up from typist, stenographer, and secretary to a purchasing agent. I eventually married at the age of 40 and retired to being a housewife.

After all these year, my memories of some of the activities of high school are vague, but I will always remember Tech Hi with fondness for the friendships I formed there. I have not been back to that area in Oakland in many years so realize that the new Tech Hi is nothing like the one I attended and, in some ways, that saddens me.

I have lived in Oakland since 1937 when I moved here from New Orleans at age 7 with my mother. We came to a sister of my mother’s who was living in Oakland. I lived on Center St. in West Oakland and went to Prescott Elementary and Junior High School through 9th grade, then for one semester to Berkeley High because we had moved to Berkeley, and then to Oakland Tech where most of my friends were. In those days, you could fill out a request to go to school in Oakland even if you lived in Berkeley.

Kids used to start school either in September or in January, depending on when their birthday fell. If you started in January, then you graduated in January. I was at Tech from Sept. of 1945 to Jan. of 1948. Every 6 months, a senior “memory book” was put out. We wore purple and gold robes at graduation, just like now. I remember being really glad to graduate. We used to quote a line about finishing high school: “On this date the prison doors will open.” Football games were big. My husband went to McClymonds. That was Tech’s big rival. We met at the YWCA Teen Club. We had a “Friday Night Club” at the West Oakland Y on Linden St. We had meetings and dances, lots of fun. We went on Halloween hayrides and played tennis. We even went to a Y conference once at Asilomar near Monterey. There was lots of school spirit in my day. We went all the way to Fremont or Castlemont for games. The school was mostly white with some Asian and some Mexican. I was in college prep classes and was usually the only black kid in my class. Everyone got along, but kids stuck mostly with their group, especially at lunch time. The boys sat on one side on the front lawn and the girls sat on the other.

I was a Delphian. It was an honor to be invited to join the Delphian Club. You had to excel in your studies and have good character. I remember only one other black girl being in the club, but when I was in it, I was the only one. We met once a week. On the days we met, we wore a dark skirt and a white top with a sash which was purple with TDC (Tech Delphain Club) printed on it in gold letters. The female Vice Principal, Rosabelle Scott was our leader and assigned us to do various tasks around the school.

I was also in the Golf Club. We played near the airport. And I was in Rowing on Lake Merritt. If you had gym the last period of the day, you went bowling at a place on College Ave. We loved that. One Sunday some friends and I decided to go, but they wouldn’t set the pins for us. We didn’t understand why and were confused. When we told our gym teacher on Monday, she pulled the program out of there. She was a retired military person and she really took a stand.

Joe graduated from McClymonds in ’46 and went to the army and a couple of our friends were killed in the Korean War. One boy I remembered well from Prescott, Paul Tehero, was killed in WWII. ROTC (Reserved Officers Training Corps) was at Tech. The boys in it wore uniforms on their meeting days.

Of my teachers, I remember Mrs. Kannel, my English teacher, who introduced me to black authors like Langston Hughes. Mrs. Bjornson, my history teacher, told us about the 1906 earthquake. She was in college at the time and got credit for helping after it. One time in a report, I used a quote, like it was my words, without putting it in quotes. The teacher called me in after school and showed it to me in a book. It turned out to be a famous quote. I never did that again! I had all women teachers. Boys had auto shop and wood shop. We had home ec (economics). There was art and music. I had singing. Back then, the school gave us all our supplies– pens, pencils, paper, everything.

I had a good friend, Marguerite Ray, who graduated in June. She was active in drama and went on to have a role in “The Young and the Restless,” a TV soap opera. She played the first maid, Mamie. She had other roles on television too.

Our graduation was in the old auditorium. I made one of the speeches. Someone else wrote all the speeches and we read them. Mine was something on those who shall be the makers of homes, about parenting. You read the title and then nodded. That was the cue for those who were going into that field- like teaching, engineering, different fields- to stand up and to stay standing until the end of the speech.

I liked school. I really did. I loved going to school. I didn’t want to miss a day. Since I lived in Berkeley, I had to get up early and take two buses to get there and I studied the whole time on the bus. I got a good education at Oakland Tech. I knew from the beginning that I would go to college. My mother raised me alone and never had an education. She worked cleaning houses and in a laundry, and in the Depression, she sang in a choir and did sewing projects in the WPA (Works Progress Administration). She got married at age 13, so she was a very young mom, but she had good common sense and she taught me a lot of important life lessons. Between Tech and my mother, I learned that we are here to help each other. That’s why the Lord put us here.

My sewing teacher, Mrs. Skinner, was also my counselor. She was a good teacher, but as a counselor, she was supposed to guide us. She didn’t give me the application for the university even though she knew I wanted to go to Cal. I heard from the Delphians that they had already put in their applications. I didn’t even know that you needed to apply, but when I found out, I went right over to Cal that very day and I found out that I was one day too late. I made sure to warn others younger than me. So I went to SF City College and then I transferred to Cal. I was the first in my family to go to college. At Cal I studied Home Economics and then I went to SF State for a teaching credential in elementary education. I started teaching in 1954 in Southern California where we lived for a few years and where my son Keith was born. After two years, we came back to North Oakland and I subbed for a year. Then I got a job at Klausen and taught there, at Peralta, at Stonehurst in East Oakland and at Allendale. I taught 29 of 31 years, taking time off to be with my boys Keith (born in ’53), Karl (’58), and Kraig (’62). Now I have 5 grandchildren. Kyle is the oldest and Drew is the second oldest. He will be 18 in November.

I am proud that I went to Tech. I used to point it out to the kids when we drove by. I have 2 girl cousins who also went to Tech, one graduated in 1953 and one in 1956, I think. My son Keith went to Castro Valley because we lived there for 37 years. Then he taught at Lowell and then came to Tech. When I heard he was going to teach at Tech, my old school, I was in awe. I thought, oh my, whoever would have thought that I’d have a son teaching at Tech!

When Drew graduated last year, he honored me in his graduation speech. I was so in awe, I almost fell off my seat. Here he was giving the graduation speech all these years later, in the same purple and gold robes! He spoke on the subject “Content of Character.” Drew interviewed me for the play 99 Years. He came in first place in the Martin Luther King Oratory contest all but one year. We are very proud of all our grandchildren.

About Tech turning 100, I didn’t know it was so old. I had no idea how old Tech was. I never thought of it as being old. I remember the old auditorium with a balcony. The hallways used to go all the way to the ends of the building.

As for advice to students today, set your goals and go for it. Don’t let anybody talk you out of it. And always have a Plan B.

I was born at Fabiola Hospital in 1930. We moved from Piedmont to Montclair in 1944, and I met some “neat new friends,” including one John Cooper. I commuted to Piedmont Hi for a year or so, then did the sensible thing and transferred to Tech, where my best friends were. Also, after a life in a small inclusive community, however nice, Tech Hi was like a trip around the world.

I remember the excitement of someone’s parents getting a new car! New cars were not available from 1942 to 1946, and the waiting lists were long. My parents didn’t get one until 1950. Generally our transportation for dating was streetcars and busses.

Every month or so a school social committee would decorate the girls’ gym for a school dance. Sometimes we danced to records; special dances had a band. The best band of our era was that of Dick Luciani, who later changed his name to Lane, played at Lake Tahoe and the last I heard of him he was an events coordinator or something similar in Las Vegas. I think he was in the class of 1947.

Racial issues were heating up, Bebe Patton started a religious college in Oakland, Communism was threatening and we were all aware of our parents concerns over what would come next. Seniors were preparing for college (not all, of course ) and UCB, which we called “Cal,” accepted any one from Tech who had a B+ average who passed the Subject A English test and a chest X-ray. The girl who graduated at the top of our class failed both the English test AND the chest X-ray! Therese Huang was distracted from her preparation for the English test by a very last minute change of advice by our teacher, Miss Schnerla, and did not allow enough time to finish. The chest X-ray was another matter. Therese’s superior scholarship and her student visa were keeping her mother, father and younger brother from being deported as China was turning communist. Can you imagine the stress in her life? Fortunately, by then her brother was in school and was also a superb student. The family stayed. Therese entered Cal a year later and graduated at the top of her class in Chemistry. The last news I had of her, which is at least 4 decades old, was that she’d gone to Canada, married and had 2 daughters. She was such a lovely person. I hope her life has played out well.

In terms of outstanding teachers, two young women fit the description. Virginia Jones was a tall, pretty redhead who taught history, and the boys liked to be in her class just to look at her. She WAS a good teacher. The other was Sally Rinehard, the drama teacher about whom the boys waggled their eyebrows and rolled their eyes. Miss Rinehard was also a good teacher. She had even been to Pasadena Playhouse. All of the other teachers were older, but three stand out for me. One was Jessie Smith, about whom John has written. The other two are Anga Bjornson and Talcott Williamson. Miss Bjornson taught US History to juniors and seniors. She was a self acknowledged Socialist and she told us why. She voted the Democratic ticket because it best represented the socialist goals. She was honest and fairly gave time for other views. Since my family was very conservative politically, I learned for the first time that people who disagreed with my family were not all stupid or evil. The last I saw of Miss Bjonsen was in the centerfold of TIME, with others at a Democratic Convention in Florida, wearing a big smile and a straw skimmer with a band that said HUMPHREY.

Talcott Williamson is someone about whom I knew something before I ever heard his name. When I was still commuting from Piedmont Hi, I would take the streetcar to Piedmont Avenue to transfer to the bus for Montclair. The Terminal was across the street from Pinkie’s Bar and nearly every day a yellow Ford convertible was parked within the block. It belonged to Mr. Williamson. I had the privilege of being in his “Senior Problems” class, a general discussion group of 30 or more. He would start a topic and we would unload¬ opinions only, and no homework that I remember. He called on us and asked for alternate responses. His topics were situations we should expect to find in our adult lives, and the discussions were about how we expected to deal with them. I wish everyone could experience such a class with such a superb guide.

Another one of his classes was “boys-only.” Early in the day the door to his classroom would be locked, the windows cracked open, and the cigarette smoke would pour out to the extent that at least twice, over the years, the Fire Department was called. The boys in the class were called “at risk.” They were starting to get into trouble with the police, or their families were involved with the police and were abusive, physically and/or sexually or were drug addicts or alcoholics or were inclined toward violence… you name it. Mr. Williamson’s goal was to keep them in school to graduate so that they could have a chance at a good job and a decent life. Years later John and I would read in the newspaper that an award was given by a civic organization to someone who had done something new to improve life in Oakland, not just by adding money to support an existing cause, but for innovation. In the years we were aware of this annual honor, one out of three recipients answered the question, “What inspired you…” with, “Well, I was one of Mr. Williamson’s boys…” By the way, Talcott Williamson was head of the English Department at Tech and had been mentor and guide to Thornton Wilder (the author of the famous play “Our Town.”) With a Master’s Degree in Child Psychology, he had come to Tech Hi from New England to be a part of the experimental school where social classes were mixed. Tech was nationally known for its advanced planning.

Tech Hi opened the world for me: I continue to look for variety in life, lives, experiences, reasons viewpoints, etc. and Tech Hi gave me a really solid start.

My husband and I are both part of the class of 1948. Four of our wedding party (1951) were Technites, three of them still alive and in touch. We are probably in easy reach of a dozen more…actually more.

My advice to current Tech students: pick your teacher’s brain. Do not interrupt or challenge, but show an interest in SOMETHING when it is convenient for the teacher. You’ll be surprised at the fascinating things you’ll learn

John and I have been married for 63 years and have 4 children, all well. That is the 2-sentence summary of my fortunate life. From 1962 to 1967 John worked in Washington DC. We attended the Kennedy funeral parades, were acquainted with some legislators, and our older children were schoolmates of the children of others. It was a most interesting time. One of my memorable experiences was phoning a Senator whom I’d not met, and apologizing for my 5th grade son beating up his 5th grade son and sending him home in tears. I was terrified that John’s job might be endangered. I am glad to say that Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin, who invented Earth Day, was one of the nicest men on the planet!

In 1969, John ran for School Board in the Richmond Unified District (now I believe it is West Contra Costa). The big issues were taxes and integration. John lost, but in the campaign we associated with people from the very conservative to the Black Panthers. It was rather like being back at Tech Hi, which John mentioned often in his campaign. It all started with Tech Hi.

One last memory: 1947, the auditorium, a morning assembly. On stage are two actors, Mel Silverman (1947) and Kenny Snyder (1948) in renaissance costumes and make-up……velvet bloomers, big floppy hats, ostrich plumes…… a portion of one of the “Thus , … I die…” scenes. Mel lies down, hat on abdomen, rising frequently for another “last word” and Kenny, arm reaching to the audience, orating….. The ostrich feather on Mel’s hat aims at Mel’s face. There are a few snickers in the audience. Kenny glances down and begins to convulse. Mel opens an eye, starts a helpless chuckle and the whole audience explodes. You can see a picture of Mel in some of the costume at the top, center of the last page of pictures in the June, 1947 yearbook.

We used to say, “Once a Technite, always a Technite.” It was just something that we said. We loved our school. Tech was our second home.

I grew up above my grandparents’ store on the corner of 51st and Broadway, where the empty car lot is today. When they widened 51st Street in the 60’s, they took our store. 51st used to be just a regular street. My grandfather came from Italy to work in the quarry on 51st. He built a store with an apartment upstairs and then went back to Italy to the rest of the family. He was one of the founders of the Columbo Club. I remember dancing with my grandfather there on New Year’s Eve. When I was a student at Tech, some of my teachers used to come and eat in Mama’s grocery store at lunchtime. She made great sandwiches. Since my teachers knew my mother, I couldn’t get away with anything!

I went to a Catholic elementary school, but then my parents wanted me to go to public schools where I’d meet all kinds of people so I went to Claremont Junior High and then Tech High. There were all kinds of people at Tech– Irish, Italian, some African-Americans, Chinese, Japanese. The Japanese kids came to Tech right out of internment camps. I had friends who’d been in camps during the war, but they had no animosity to us. We were all there to learn and we respected each other and enjoyed each other’s company.

Our teachers were ladies and gentlemen. We really respected them. In our day, we were afraid of the teachers. They were strict and powerful, but fair. I remember Mr. Ferdinand Diel. There wasn’t a girl in the school who wasn’t in love with him. Miss Rosabelle Scott was the girls’ counselor. She was very strict, a bit overboard sometimes, but I never got in trouble. The boys all liked Miss Alice Skinner because she was so pretty. I remember our English teacher old Mrs. Hollis, bless her heart. I remember she once talked to the doorknob. She was a great English teacher and never lost her ability to teach. She just wanted to get our attention. She wore almost Victorian clothing. I remember she taught us lots of grammar. We did sentence diagramming. We got a really excellent outlook on life and everything else from our teachers. They taught us etiquette too, like Emily Post, so we knew how to behave properly. Girls sat with their ankles crossed and their feet on the floor. We were very modest. We didn’t use vulgarity.

But honestly, history wasn’t taught the way it should have been taught. We learned it from books, except with one teacher, Mrs. Bjornson, who was born in Scandinavia and who taught us things not in the books. We learned about African Americans who made inventions like Eli Whitney making the first cotton gin. She taught us that it wasn’t just white people who did things for our city. She even ran for city council, but I think she was too forward thinking to make it. She told us about what was happening in the world. We had to read the newspaper.

The war was still on when I started high school. Everyone was involved in the war. Lots of Italian boys fought in the Pacific. The Japanese boys fought in Europe. There’s a plaque to Tech boys who died in World War II in the front lobby. Some boys went to the war and came back to Tech. And some Japanese came to Tech right form the internment camps.

In my day, the girls wore skirts, just below the knee, with a blouse or a sweater. We wore short sox, any color, with saddle shoes. The boys wore Levi’s with the bottom rolled up or ordinary slacks like what a workingman would wear, not too tight, with white shirts or T-shirts and sweaters. We looked like ladies and gentlemen.

I didn’t socialize a lot. I studied real hard. I wanted to go to medical school. I was given the “Golden T” for straight A’s three years in a row. We were called “nerds,” but we didn’t care. We stuck to our books. My parents, especially my mother, were very proud of me. I was on the “Maintenance Board” which picked up litter after lunch. We all did our share in keeping the school immaculate. And I was in the Girls Glee Club and the Acapella Choir. Mrs. Garrison taught the Acapella Choir and Mrs. Martin, an ex-Marine, taught Girls’ Glee and boy, was she tough! We performed a lot at churches and at schools especially around the holidays. I was in the Music Club too, which some of us formed ourselves because we were asked to perform so much that we needed time to practice. I was also in the Senior Chorus and we performed at graduation and before school plays. I was in the Italian Club too which was for outings to museums, the zoo, libraries. And I was on the Senior Day Committee. We would get together to talk about how we’d miss our school! We were all sad about leaving and we knew we would miss each other.

Most of us went our own way after graduation. A lot got married and moved out of town. I also enjoyed ice-skating at Iceland in Berkeley (I trained with Jack LaLanne when he had his first gym in Oakland) and horseback riding. On the weekends, I liked to go ballroom dancing at Lynn’s on Broadway above Woolworth’s, at Sweet’s Ballroom on Franklin St., and at Alibaba on Grand Ave.

We weren’t prejudiced. I had a varied group of friends whom I had lunch with and sometimes would take them home with me to eat. My folks were from Italy and they knew what hardship was. Our history teacher Mrs. Bjornson taught us that there are two sides to everything and you have to look at everything with an open mind. My mother taught me the same lessons. One day some of us girls were studying together¬ black, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican¬ and my mother came in and said, “I’d like to do a study today.” She handed each of us a needle and told us to prick out fingers. Then she asked, “What color is your blood?” We said, “Red, of course,” and she said, “Remember that as you get older.” She also used to say, “Remember, Africa is one of the oldest continents.” The things my mother and Mrs. Bjornson said have stayed with me. I still have two sweaters she gave me from Norway. She really liked my mother. They were both Democrats. They used to talk politics and discuss the problems of the world.

I have so many happy memories of Tech High School. I remember the ROTC. Tech had the best ROTC marching band and the best jazz band. They practiced out on the field. They’d patrol the grounds and police the place. Tech had lots of things other schools didn’t have. We had a tumbling team that did fancy legwork. We had a jazz band that was invited to play in clubs. And Tech had marvelous woodworking and automotive shops.

We used to hang out at Chris’s Hot Dogs across the street from Tech. They had the best hot dogs in town, foot long ones. It was where the donut shop is now. And there was The Bulldog on the corner of 45th and Broadway where the Human Resources is now, the welfare office for Alameda County. We went there for candy and soda. We also went to Fenton’s. It used to be on 41st and Broadway in my day.

Our graduation was in the auditorium. The girls wore gold and the boys, purple. I remember throwing my hat up in the air.

I married right out of high school instead of going to medical school as I had planned. That didn’t last long. Then I went to work for Ma Bell and made enough to go to Healds Business College for 4 years. I worked at Ma Bell nights. After graduation, I worked in hospitals as a medical transcriptionist. I knew a lot of Latin from being Catholic so it wasn’t too hard for me. During the Korean War, I volunteered and ended up at the Yokuska Naval Hospital in Japan. I married a serviceman, but that ended in divorce too. After the war, I worked at Oak Knoll on MacArthur and married James Clevenger, who graduated from Hollister High School in 1941. He was a journeyman plumber. That marriage lasted¬ 50 years, 4 months, and 27 days!

I was very upset that they destroyed so much of the old school. They said it wasn’t safe for earthquakes, but it is built on blue rock. It never would have been hurt in an earthquake. We all wrote nasty letters to the superintendent when they wanted to destroy the school in the 1980’s. There was nothing wrong with that school! There were two huge trees on the front lawn¬ huge, with low branches. They were very popular at night. People used to call them “the necking trees.” A lot of us got so upset when they took them down in that remodel. They had no right to take them down!

We were all proud of Tech. She went through some bad times, but we knew that she’d straighten out.

I think it is wonderful that Tech is turning 100. I hope it turns 200!
To today’s students I would say, Keep up the good work. Study hard. And always be loyal to your school.

I graduated from Oakland Tech in January of 1948. We still had twice a year graduations in those days. I actually graduated early as I had skipped a grade or so in elementary school so think I was a little bit younger than most of my school mates. I still have a copy of our graduation pamphlet and my senior year book. I graduated first in a class of about 200 students. Of course we all promised to keep in touch with each other, but I’m afraid that didn’t happen for me.

I grew up in Oakland, but had actually been born in New York City. My folks moved west a couple of years after the big crash in the hope that my dad could find work out on the coast. (He was a ship’s pipe fitter). When we first arrived we lived in Hayward, which at that time was all small farms and open fields. My brother David was born there in 1932. Eventually, as the depression began to end and the preparations for WWII created more ship building, we moved closer to Berkeley, and by the time I was ten we were living on Boyd Avenue near the Rockridge district. I attended Emerson Elementary School and then Claremont Junior High and ended up going to Tech because it was the closest high school to where we lived. I had actually wanted to go to Berkeley High, but would have had to take a bus every day instead of walking and my parents did not want me doing that.

I actually loved high school. For me it was a great place to be. I had some fine teachers, and almost from my first year I worked on the school newspaper, eventually becoming its editor. My favorite teacher was Jesse Smith in journalism, but I also remember a wonderful history (social studies) teacher, Anga Bjornson , who wasn’t afraid to voice her liberal opinions, and my biology teacher Miss Hawk who taught me not to be afraid of creepy crawly things. My English teacher was Miss Dawson and I think she instilled in me a lifelong love of the classics as well as the English language. I never enjoyed Math, though did well in it by sheer hard work, but it was Dr. Marchus who taught me how to study. I think I heard that he went on to become Supervisor of Schools later on.

I had Mr. Johnson for Spanish and while I remember liking him, I’m glad I didn’t copy his accent when I later majored in that subject.

The best things I remember about Tech: Fridays at Laney print shop downtown…it was the technical school where we set up our newspaper… I can still hear the linotype presses going like mad and can still read upside down and backwards which was what one had to do in setting up the press. I think being in Miss Smith’s journalism class and working with the great crew who put out the Scribe is probably the thing I remember best about those days. Being elected to the Delphian Society, (it consisted of the twelve most outstanding senior girls in the school)–and being so delighted that most of my friends were elected at the same time—Pearl Fong, Cecilia (Peachy) Corioni, Laura Insigne, Dorothy Jui, Theresa Lee… those are the ones I remember. I think, too, that I loved the diversity of our school. There were not many African Americans there at the time, but there were some and there were kids of almost every hue…lots of Chinese students, a small Jewish population and many Italians, as that part of Oakland had a very large Italian population. Oakland felt much less segregated then than it does now.

My one bad memory is being accosted in the hall by a boy I didn’t really know, but who was, I later learned, a member of a secret fraternity. I had just recently learned about these fraternities (which I don’t think were actually legal in our school) and had written a very critical column about them in the Scribe. (I wrote a weekly column called Water Under the Bridge by Creque (which is a good pun if you know that Creque is pronounced Creek). He pushed me up against the wall and threatened me – though I no longer remember what it was he said, nor what I replied. But nothing happened so I guess it all calmed down eventually.

I do have some rather bad memories about the kinds of advice we girls were given by counselors in those days…especially my Chinese friends who, smart at they were, were not encouraged to go on to college (though, thankfully, many of them did). I think the assumption was that no matter how much schooling we might be planning on we would all eventually marry, have children and settle down…or pursue careers in teaching, nursing or librarianship. There weren’t that many alternatives for working class kids in those days.

I’m still in touch with a couple of my high school buddies. William (Jeep) Forester and Pearl Fong got in touch with me some twenty odd years ago and we’ve been in touch every since. One of my best friends was Ruby Poore who graduated a year before I did and went on to Nursing School. I was in touch with her until her death a few years ago.

A few years after graduation I bumped into Willie Mae Bailey, who was not in my class, but was a friend. She had had the most beautiful singing voice, but as an African American from a very poor family, she ended up cleaning houses for a living and not going to school at all. She and I were refused service at a restaurant on College Avenue and when I reported that to my buddies at Berkeley (I was a member of the Committee on Racial Equality) they sat in at the restaurant until they shut it down. I became a political activist during those years.

I’m not sure Tech prepared me for the life I’ve lived since graduation but I really don’t know what it could have done to prepare me any better. I left Berkeley early, marrying in my sophomore year and moving with my husband to Mexico. We lived there a few years and my first child was born there. I graduated from college there and became fluent in Spanish and it’s been part of my working life ever since.(I taught it for a number of years in various places) That marriage broke up early and I remarried, moved to Canada where I ran a free school, raised my four children and sheltered Americans fleeing the Vietnam war. Unfortunately my husband was a rather disturbed person and eventually I left him, returned to the States and went to Library School at Berkeley.

In 1970 I met Edward Ormondroyd, a writer of children’s books and also a librarian. We moved east with our kids (his three, my four)—or at least the ones that weren’t already in college…and have been together ever since. I served for twenty years as a reference librarian at Cornell University while Edward wrote more books and worked in a library in Ithaca. We live on 8 acres of country land, have a huge pond, spend a lot of time reading, birding, doing various sorts of volunteer work, entertaining our friends, and loving retirement. We’ve traveled a good deal–mainly in Europe–and go to CA at least once a year as our kids have little by little settled there.

I don’t really have a lot of advice for kids today, except that I’d like to see them walk away from their
electronic devices once in a while and really get out and enjoy the world of nature. A walk in the woods, a picnic in the park, watching birds at a feeder….those are the kinds of activities that are good for the soul.

My name is John Cooper. I graduated 8th in a class of over 400 in June 1948. My immediate family came to the Bay Area from Washington D.C. in the fall of 1945. I had come earlier that summer and stayed with my aunt and uncle and cousins (one of whom was to be a senior at Tech the fall of ’45). We lived on Broadway Terrace in Montclair. I started in the 10th grade at Tech, because my cousin went there and because it was the most convenient school to attend. It also had an excellent reputation as a college prep school. Although at the time I did not know where I might go to college, I knew I would go on from high school.

Tech in those days was three schools in one: kids like myself who planned to continue on to college, kids (girls primarily if not exclusively) who took shorthand, typing, etc. to prepare them to go directly into the work place, and boys who were in the shops learning carpentry, metal working, automobile repair, etc. Except for gym, study hall, and one class I will describe below, there was little mixing of the three groups.

I was extremely active in clubs and committees throughout my 3 years at Tech. I started in the 10th grade, with Scribe News, instead of English. That was my major focus. In my last semester, I was editor of the paper. Thanks to our journalism teacher, Jessie Smith, who taught me and hundreds of others how to write, our paper continually won national recognition. She and Talcott Williamson were the most memorable of my teachers. “Tully”, who was head of the English Department, taught a class which he refused to have limited to college prep kids. He taught all of us how to think (!)¬ imagine that! Not simply to memorize facts or learn tables, but to think.

My wife, Ann, who also attended Tech, and I have maintained about ten or so high school contacts over the 66 years since we graduated. Several of us continued on to UC Berkeley where I received an AB in 1952 and, after several years in the army, a law degree from UC’s Boalt Hall. Over the years our class has held several reunions, the last being our 50th in 1998.

One lesson learned at Tech: how to get to know and get along with kids of different races. About 10 per cent of our class was black and there were also many Asians and a few kids of Spanish background. Many of the blacks were children of Pullman porters. Some were strongly encouraged to go on to college and many were not, some being children of World War II defense workers with no concept of the importance of higher education. Yet we all got along.

I’m proud to have gone to Tech when it was in its heyday years. I am also pleased to learn that it once again has a college prep program that I understand is drawing more academically inclined students back to the school.

My advice to current Technites: read, read and read. Perfect your writing skills. And be tolerant and keep an open mind.

After the army and law school, I went to work for PG&E in San Francisco, first as a lawyer, then as a department manager of several different groups, including the one that started the company’s energy conservation programs in the 1970s Then I was vice president of customer operations, then, for my last five years, I was a senior vice president and served on the company’s management committee. I retired in 1986 and now live in Rossmoor (part of Walnut Creek).

I was in 11th grade when I chose drama for English. Sally Rhinehart was the drama teacher. I wrote her a long letter once after I came to LA and started working, but I never heard back. Sally had just graduated from College of the Pacific. She was young. She was a great teacher. She brought out each of us, took an interest in each of us. Young and enthusiastic. Wet my appetite. I majored in drama at Cal. Bernie didn’t graduate, but he is in the yearbook in the football section. Maybe he graduated in 49? Or came back to LA to graduate.

After Cal, my mom insisted I do something practical and I discovered field of recreation. I would have graduated in 1952, but took an extra year to get a degree in Recreation specializing in Drama. Drama, dance, PE. I have been active in the drama department at Cal.

After I graduated, I worked in Berkeley as recreation director. I read in a magazine that they needed directors in Europe so I went to Germany and worked on the army bases as a program director. Then I moved back to San Francisco. There I really got the acting bug and I, along with Henrietta Harris, we had a black theater Aldridge Players- black acting co in San Francisco. I was doing plays and even an opera in Die Fledermaus. After working in San Francisco as recreation director, I decided to move to Los Angeles.

I started getting work right away on stage and in television. I never worked too much work in the movies, mostly theater and television, including “Sanford and Sons” and but 10 years on a soap opera, “The Young and the Restless” in a new role of Mamie. I was the first black to have a contract on that show. Now half the cast is black. It is one of the most popular soap operas. After “Sanford and Son” there a revived show as just “Sanford” and I was on that with Red Fox, same character and different script. I played his fiancé, the Beverly Hills widow, for a year. Then I had some health issues and retired about 7 years ago. No more acting. I had an auto accident and can’t drive anymore. You have to drive to interviews and I can’t drive. I get my pension from the Screen Actors Guild and Equity (stage) Actors Equity Association.

At Tech- I did technical work, but was never on stage. I did exercises in the classroom, scenes from plays. I was never cast in a play. When Sally got there, the drama department was new. There were only two term plays when I was there. I don’t remember a drama teacher before Sally.

I was a Delphian. That was an honor society as I recall. You were voted into it. Anita was in it before me. It was just seniors. Anita told me that I’d been chosen. It was an honor to be in it. I was the third black girl in it. Anita and I grew up together, junior high school, I wasin her wedding. She is an English teacher from College of the Pacific. She used to tell about Sally at college- and told what a great actress she was.

When I got the job on the Young and Restless, Jeannie Cooper had just died (oldest actress on the show) and she had been at college with Sally Rhinehardt! When I wrote to Sally, I told her this, but she never wrote back. I suggested we get together. Jeannie died just last year. She was on the show since it started.

We had assemblies once a month. Nate Rubin playing violin. Ralph Edwards is the only one I remember. There were very few black students, but it was not controversial. I enjoyed my time at Tech. I did not have any negative experiences. There were so few of us, but everyone got along fine. I had an argument with Ms. Vogel, my counselor, because I told her I was taking college prep and she wanted me to take commercial. “Commercial would be better for you to get a job.” My mother instilled in me that I would be going to college. Tech High at that time was a prep school for Cal, we all went to Cal. Half of the black students went to college. Gordon Coleman, his brother, Washington Burns, Hank Clarke (Henry) all went to college. Hank went to SF State and Cal and was one of first blacks to get a McDonalds franchise- in Oakland- when McDonalds was new.

We bought every yearbook, from beginning of my time at Tech Hi.

I grew up in Rockridge and went to Claremont and then Tech. Tech was a wonderful school to go to. All the students had the best camaraderie, with lots of school activities. I don’t remember drugs or riots, it was just a good, clean school. There were very warm interactions between the teachers and students. Back then we used to call Tech “Little Italy” because the school had so many Italian-American students.

Most days I walked home for lunch. I played on the football team and was a center/linebacker. But it was a different kind of football back then. The kids today are twice our size. If you were good, you played offense and defense; nobody specialized like they do now. We were still using leather helmets and looked like old time football players because everyone else was getting plastic helmets. I remember having a leg injury that wiped me out for part of the season; everyone signed my cast and I felt like a hero. My last two years at Tech I was on varsity which was quite an experience. We were a strong team but not lucky so we didn’t win a lot of games. Castlemont was our big rival. I was into sports more than having a social life. One of the best compliments I got was a woman told me after graduation that I was the nicest boy she’d ever met.

I liked all my teachers, even the substitute teachers! I was good at math and liked that class. I remember Tech being well-respected for its preparation for technical jobs like aircraft mechanics and auto body. I was on the track team and worked after school at a grocery store as part of the war effort. During the war, all the classes saved the foil from gum wrappers; every classroom had a bin to put them in and over the course of the semester, they would fill up. We felt very patriotic doing that. But still the war didn’t feel very serious to us. School assemblies would be used to recruit students for the military after graduation. ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) was very visible on campus.

After graduation, I worked at the Standard Oil gas station before deciding to join the Marines. I served there for four years, was in boot camp in San Diego and then served active combat in Korea. My specialty was aviation and eventually came home in 1952. Then I went to Cal and played football there, but I really wasn’t ready for college-level football. I was married and had a child and couldn’t devote myself to football. I worked part-time for Oakland Parks and Recreation and graduated with a degree in Physical Education because I wanted to be a football coach. I stayed in Oakland, working as a supervisor in Parks and Recreation for a while and ended up being a Director of Parks and Rec in Fremont. Later, I began substitute teaching part-time and I was good at that job. I also taught evening school in Hayward, teaching U.S. history and economics for 10 years.

I can’t believe it Tech is turning 100. When I’m driving by, it looks the same and brings back so many memories. So many people were killed during the war years because just about everyone went into the service.

While at old-man chores, I muse about the 1940s. Then, as now, government policies seem a mix of folly and wisdom. In 1942, we citizens, largely mute, collectively failed to challenge governmental “Relocation” of Japanese American Citizens and their families to remote camps, totally disrupting their lives. Relocation started in 1942, during my first weeks of junior high school. Most folks scarcely noticed Relocation apart from passing newspaper coverage; no debate and too much cheering. Racism was always thematic in our land; in this lately-declared war, American Jingoism too surged to the fore.

1942 was the year. That was the season I first rode Key System Transit to school. The #59 bus meandered down from hilly Montclair through the Rockridge District. At the intersection of College & Broadway we transferred to a #6 streetcar, which carried us out College Avenue to our school, Claremont Junior High. As a kid from the lily-white hill district, who had attended a lily-white hill elementary school, I had never encountered a citizen of Japanese ancestry. Narrow? Indeed! Blasé? Sure! We lived with whatever innocence was possible in a culture shot-through with racism. At Claremont I met, and soon learned to really like, Stuart McCormick. Stu recently died; his memorial will occur tomorrow. The changes of circumstance — from the Great Depression to WWII mobilization — impacted our juvenile lives. Mobilization took millions of men from the national labor pool; it afforded energetic kids increased opportunity to earn money — doing paid work of many types. Kids still played, and attended school as usual, but many worked for wages. Life without smart phones was neither dull nor idle.

Stuart worked at Auer’s Market on College Avenue. Al Mendoza sold newspapers at 40th and Broadway where the C trains dropped commuters to/from San Francisco. I worked as a parcel handler at the United Parcel Service plant on 24th Street. Forty-two cents per hour was real money, needed by the poorer kids/families, and appreciated by the rest. Depression prices meant a nickel had measurable purchasing power. A Coke or a Mars bar could be had for a mere Buffalo-Nickel. A long ride on a bus and streetcar cost 1/14th dollar; seven tokens for fifty cents. The public transportation systems were crucial to our mobility. For example, the Key System carried me to/from school. With frequent service, it also carried me to/from work six evenings per week, always well after dark, with but one transfer at College/Broadway.

Perhaps by courtesy of the national propaganda apparatus (the national Office of War Information), the Claremont Junior High School student body were treated, en masse and free, to a spectacular one-man show. A (presumably Russian) man brought to our school stage an array of fifteen different-sized Balalaikas. This vaudevillian strummer-singer made those Balalaikas cry, croon, or thunder, as he plucked the strings of exotic guitars with triangular bodies! He played/sang Russian tunes, ranging from lullabies to martial music. Fancy that! Trying to teach American juveniles the art of the Balalaika! Well, I suppose we may have learned Stalin was our ally, for that present moment. After the war we were taught wartime friendship can be a temporary expedient. War morale was high; a priority. We patriotically saved tinfoil, rubber-bands, and animal fats; we longed for more gasoline, meat and butter than was allocated. We bought war stamps/bonds, sang patriotic songs, and read newspapers.

In 1942, Claremont Junior High School had an ‘open-campus’. Did we have learning opportunities? The amenities of the streets of North Oakland, including varied bakeries, creameries, soda-fountains, burgers & hot-dog joints afforded an ample landscape for adolescents to experience new, and ever-broadening, educational, social, musical and recreational opportunities. Our classes, noon dances, school shops, Lake Temescal Park & playfields, Forest Pool, the Cal Stadium, the College Bowl, Radio was everywhere; movie theatres too were a part of this rich tapestry of learning opportunity. With the use of public telephone booths and an occasional movie, we were inevitably growing toward adulthood.

In January 1945, Stu, I, and a couple hundred other graduates of Claremont Jr. High matriculated at OTHS. Tech served large chunks of our city that was both polyglot and polyethnic. My classes were increasingly ethnically integrated; soon I had scores of friendly Asian classmates; I began learning something of Chinese culture and cuisine; both vastly rich traditions.

After one term of high school English, I opted/gravitated to the staff of the school newspaper, the Scribe, and in senior year I worked on the Jan 1948 Yearbook. I recall a very busy, largely carefree whirl of activities; a very happy time. Putatively more mature at age 17-18, nevertheless I was oblivious to the low-profile presence of a handful of new classmates; the class roster had recently enlarged a bit. The names were clearly Japanese. These students had lately returned, to their home turf, after release from the War Relocation Camps. Yet I failed to notice their return; not to mention their departure back in 1942.

After the abuse of their rights of citizenship for four years, these late comers should have been warmly recognized, welcomed and invited into the school’s circles of friendship. As our editorial crew worked over the details of the graduating class, the Japanese names should have been noted, but in fact they were never mentioned. To my enduring shame I failed to observe their presence. I failed to acknowledge them with a friendly word.

Only in 1950, at UC Berkeley, did I meet Toyo Masa Fuse, then a UC foreign student from Japan. In summer 1951 I was first acquainted with Grant Noda, a Nisei ‘Relocatee’. My first taste of Japanese food occurred late in 1952 at Azuma Tei, a restaurant of Monterey.
Ten years later, as Stu and I did, most of our peers went to the Korea War. A few died, more than a few gravitated to a life as military careerists. Most came home to continue their lives. While stationed in Tokyo during the Korea War, I learned a good deal of Japanese culture, decorative art, performance art, and cuisine. My interest in Japanese persons, issues, history, art, culture etc. has been life-long.

Through past decades, each time I browse our 66 years old yearbook, I see names and photos of a half-dozen [probably Nisei] Technites of Japanese extraction. They are: Glenn Kawamoto, Kayoko Mary Kita, Kimiko Wong née Kitagaki — thought to reside in SF’s Sunset district, Sunao Morizomo d. April 19, 2006 Danville, CA, Mayumi Shiozawa, Ed Takeuchi – d. August 24, 2013 Pinole CA. Logically all six must have been relocated. As a lifelong card carrying civil libertarian, I now abjure the shameful history our Japanese American classmates endured.

Alfred Delucchi served as an Alameda County Superior Court Judge for 23 years. The son of a garbageman, he served as student body president while attending Tech; upon graduating he attended UC Berkeley, then joined the Navy and served until 1957.

He earned his law degree and served as an Alameda County Deputy District Attorney, and then became a judge for the San Leandro-Hayward Municipal Court in 1971. In 1983 he was confirmed as an Alameda County Superior Court judge. Delucchi presided over the trial of Scott Peterson for the death of his pregnant wife, as well as the trial of Tyrone Robinson for the murder of Tech alum Huey Newton.

The information below on Eastwood’s life before 1951 is from American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood by Marc Eliot (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2009)

Clint Eastwood’s parents, Clinton and Francesca Ruth, met as students at Piedmont High School and after graduation in 1927, got married at Piedmont’s interdenominational. Clinton Jr. was born on May 31, 1930 at St. Francis Hospital in San Francisco. Desperate for work in the Depression, Clinton Sr. moved his family to Sacramento and to LA in 1934 after the birth of a second child named Jeanne. By the time Clint was 9, they were back in Piedmont where he attended Piedmont Junior High School. At Piedmont High, Clint played basketball and played the lead in a one-act play his English class put on for the entire school. Clint is quoted in the book as saying, “We muffed a lot of lines. I swore that that was the end of my acting career.” Because Clint was working a number of physically exhausting jobs after school to pay for maintenance and gas on the “beat-up cars” he loved (one of which he called “the bathtub” because it had no top!), he fell behind in his work at Piedmont High School and his parents transferred him to Oakland Technical for his senior year so that he could take vocational courses and, they believed, have a better chance of graduating.

According to Eliot’s book, at Tech, Eastwood took “aircraft maintenance… After school, Clint hung out with a crowd of tough-looking teens decked out in leather and T-shirts, with greased back long hair. All strong, tall, and lean, they tucked cigarettes behind their ears and held bottles of beer in one hand while they drove, usually to the local dives where the hottest girls hung out. And they were all into jazz. Most often they found themselves at the Omar, a pizza and beer dive in downtown Oakland where Clint liked to play jazz on a beat-up old piano in the corner.” Clint liked going to the small clubs in Oakland to hear Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Flip Phillips, Lester Young, and Charlie Parker. His favorite was Parker. After he graduated in January, 1949, Eastwood’s parents and younger sister moved to Seattle, WA, but he stayed in Oakland with his childhood friend Harry Pendleton. Until the Korean War broke out in 1950, Eastwood worked tending blast furnaces for Bethlehem Steel and then for Boeing Aircraft. Since he wasn’t enrolled at a 4-year college (his grades weren’t good enough for him to enroll at Seattle University), in the spring of 1951, he was drafted into army at age 20 and sent to Fort Ord for training.

Clint Eastwood went on to become an Academy Award winning actor, producer, director, pianist, and composer. While stationed at Fort Ord, he survived a plane crash near Point Reyes by swimming three miles to shore. A movie executive filming at Fort Ord noticed Eastwood, and made connections that led to him signing a contract with Universal for $100 a week, and the first of several uncredited bit parts in 1955. From this humble start, Eastwood went on to become one of the best known and most revered actors in American film, heading franchises in the 60s and 70s like the Fistful of Dollars and Dirty Harry series (though he turned down the offer to play James Bond when Sean Connery retired from the role.) He was closely associated with Westerns and the roles he played were often of anti-hero, complex characters whose goodness was not without shadows of pain.

By the 80s, while still acting as a leading man in films like Sudden Impact and Tightrope, Eastwood was also turning his hand to directing. He continued to mix directing and acting, often starring in his own projects; his 1993 film In the Line of Fire is the last in which he starred, but did not also direct.

Eastwood added “politician” to his list of job titles in 1986, when he became mayor of Carmel by the Sea near Monterey. He held the job for two years, and remains active in politics, serving at different times on the California State Park and Recreation Commission and the California Film Commission. A self-professed Libertarian, Eastwood has thrown his support to both Democratic and Republican causes.

The list of awards given to Eastwood is formidable. He is one of the few actors-turned-directors to win an Academy Award for directing, and is one of only three living directors to have directed two Best Picture winners. Eastwood has also directed five actors in Academy Award–winning performances: Gene Hackman in Unforgiven, Tim Robbins and Sean Penn in Mystic River, and Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby. He has also won awards from the Directors Guild of America, Golden Globes, and People’s Choice, not to mention awards from the governments of France and Japan. Eastwood was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2006, and Oakland Tech’s Hall of Honor in 2015.

I was born in the US in 1929, but when I was 1 and the Depression hit, my grandfather decided we should move back to China. When I was 9, the Japanese invaded China and my grandfather thought my sister and I would be safer in America so we were sent back. My parents had already come back and were divorced by then. Since neither one was interested in taking care of me, I was placed in an orphanage in Oakland called Ming Quong. I didn’t speak a word of English. (Editor’s Note: Located on 9th and Fallon, where the Lake Merritt BART Station is now, Ming Quong (meaning “Radiant Light”) opened in 1915 in Oakland and in 1936 in Los Gatos to care for orphaned and at risk Chinese American girls. The first institution in the US to care for Chinese children, Ming Quong was run by the missionary wing of the Presbyterian Church.)

Ming Quong was pleasant enough. It was a safe place for me to be, but I didn’t form any close friendships at Ming Quong and once I left there, I lost touch with all but one of the girls. She turned out to be not very nice though and we lost touch too.

Girls usually stayed at Ming Quong until age 16, but when I was 15, they sent me to a family where I was a live-in maid, cook, housekeeper and babysitter. There wasn’t too much inspection of the people who hosted, and a lot of the people were very abusive and took advantage of the girls. That whole time, at Ming Quong and in all those homes, was very confusing. A lot of us had really bad experiences. Once you were placed, there was no follow-up from the Presbyterian missionaries. I went to them a couple of time when it got really bad and got moved, but there were never any consequences for the people who had mistreated me. I moved form one home to the next because of incidents that happened.

I went to Oakland Tech during the day, but had to go home right after school to work, so there was no time for clubs or anything like that. High school was a very hard time for me. I was always doing something at the house – ironing, washing, cleaning, cooking, and babysitting. By the time I got to my homework, I was too tired. Because I was so tired and sleepy in school, I wasn’t the best student. One or two teachers suggested I nap at school instead of going to gym, so I did that. Once I almost failed my science class. Back then you did experiments in the dark, and I just fell asleep, but I needed that class to graduate. So the teacher talked to me about napping at school and after that, I got my grade up to a C+.

My best memories are studying drama and music. I participated in drama, sang in the glee clubs, and danced. I wanted to be an actress. I’ve always loved to perform and to sing and dance, even as a child. My drama class at Tech was a salvation. It was an escape from life. You could take English or Drama, so I chose Drama. My favorite teachers were Sally Rhinehart who encouraged me in acting and all my singing teachers. I remember I was in a musical version of Little Women and I performed in various talent shows. I am proud that I was a classmate of Clint Eastwood. He was Clinton then! We were in the same drama class. He was quiet, just one of the students, but he was the favorite of the teacher. He was also in glee club with me. He was involved in a lot of music too. He was very talented. He seemed to know then that was what he was going to do.

I was friends mostly with Chinese girls. There was a sizeable number of Chinese. There weren’t too many black kid there then, but I remember singing in a performance with a black girl. I can’t remember her name. More black kids came in during my last year. Everyone pretty much stayed with their own race. You sat on the front lawn with your friends at lunch. All my friends knew about my life, but their lives were so different. There weren’t any others from Ming Quong.

I am still in touch with friends from Tech, mostly with the ones that I also went to Lincoln Grammar School with. We get together every few months.

My life was pretty tough after graduation. I got married right after high school, at age 18. I was looking for the security that I never had. That’s why I married so young. After I married him, I found out he was still married to his first wife! So we got divorced, but I was already pregnant. After high school, I moved to San Francisco and I never lived in Oakland again.

Raising children on my own was hard. I worked in nightclubs for many years. I worked at the Forbidden City in San Francisco as a singer and dancer. (Editor’s Note: The Forbidden City was one of about 12 Asian-themed nightclubs in San Francisco’s Chinatown. These clubs, which served primarily non-Asian clientele including a lot of soldiers passing through San Francisco, were popular from the 1930’s through the 1950’s. The Forbidden City was the most famous and showcased Asian-American singers, dancers, magicians and musicians. The club inspired a book (and later a musical and film) called Flower Drum Song and was the subject of a 1989 documentary film called Forbidden City U.S.A.)

It was pleasant enough working there, but it was tough too because I had a child to raise. I had someone come in and live with us to care for her. I was at the Forbidden City for almost 10 years and then at another club called Sky Room in Chinatown and then at the Club Shanghai. After that, I went on the road to Canada with another group and my daughter stayed with friends. I performed in clubs and on the road for about 18 years. I had a second husband during that time and we had a son, but that marriage also didn’t turn out. Then after all that, I married the third one, Bob Kelley, when I was almost 50 and we have been happily married for 37 years! We have a good life.

After I stopped performing in clubs, I decided to start my own group and I have been doing that for 25 years! It is called Estelle Kelley’s Performing Arts Group. We entertain at nursing homes, senior centers, adult living facilities, hospitals, and private parties. We do about 60 performances a year and include lots of different dance styles like tap, ballet, Hawaiian, Irish, ballroom and Eastern and songs from musicals of the 40s and 50s, things that appeal to older people. There are 8 of us, mostly past professionals. It is wonderful to sing and dance and bring smiles to so many!

My advice to students today is: Do your best and you will be successful!

My years at Tech taught me that if you have a dream, pursue it! Don’t let anything get in the way.

1.Name : Gordon Coleman
2.Year of Graduation:1949
3.How did your family get to Oakland: Family moved to Oakland in 1920’s from Virginia. His grandfather was the first (African American) minister with a PhD.
4.What part of Oakland did you live in? Near Mac Arthur and 39th
5.Why did you go to Tech: Neighborhood school
6.What was the general feeling /atmosphere at Tech in the years that you were there ? Lot’s going on, Gordon was involved in many activities and clubs. It was a lot of fun and Gordon was in the center of everything, He was on student council and was class president and vice president. From Gordon’s perspective as an African American ,the students had a lot in common inspite of racial and ethnic differences.The students were from the same neighborhood and of similar economic standing. The parents watched out for each others kids. There was a sense of community.
7.What were some of the main things that you remember from High school years, both good and bad ? His classmates:
-Clint Eastwood-friends with Clint, Gordon would go to have dinner at Clint’s restaurant (Hog’s Breath) in Carmel
-Diane Dealore
-Maria Lieberman
-Bernard Hamilton- played in Starsky and Hutch
-Hank Lucahsitti-1947-49 went to Stanford
-Roger Romine class of 1938-Tuskegee Airman (Group of African American pilots who fought in World War II, they were the first African American aviators to fight in the US armed forces) that shot down 4 German planes. He was killed while landing his plane as he was trying to avoid hitting a man who was leading oxen.
-Rene C Davidson- County Clerk, Alameda County courthouse is named after him.
-Maguerite Ray- actress who performed in Sanford and Sons
-Bob Beyers-Judge class of 1949
Nathan Rubin- First Violin in SF Symphony
John Brody = Football player. Quarterback for the 49ers

Gordon remembers he and other kids setting off fireworks at school and being the one getting caught when everyone else ran away. Gordon had a Jewish girlfriend throughout high school. He was a flirt. One time a girl pulled up her dress to show her fancy petticoat to Gordon. The principal walked by and blamed Gordon for the indiscretion.
He went to school with Bev Fenton of Fenton’s Creamery. After school, the kids would go over to the creamery and Bev would make them free sodas.
8,What activities did you participate in ? Gordon was in the leadership council, he was class president and vice president. He was involved in many clubs and organizations, including the Japanese club. He played basketball.
9. How did Tech prepare for your life afterwards and what did you do after high school?
Gordon went to Cal Berkeley for a while . He then joined the military during the Korean War. He was the only black in his military class in war college. The others in his class became generals, he retired as a colonel. He ended up getting a Master of Science. He worked with the Alameda Department of Health with a staff of 40. He spend a year in Kenya teaching environmental health. While in Africa , he met Nelson Mandela. Gordon met and interacted with historical figures over the years. While in the military, he was asked by the government to intervene with Huey Newton and the Black Panthers. He met with them and gave a warning that violence was not the way to go. He also knew David Hilliard with the Black Panthers. Another person that Gordon knew was Ron Dellums.
10. Describe some of relationships that you formed at Tech, Are you still in contact with anyone from high school? Once a year he gets together with his old buddies of all races from Tech. HIs old friends still hold it against him that he married a French girl from Fremont. He still is in touch with his Jewish girlfriend from Tech. His heart is still with all his old girlfriends.
11. Anything else that you might want to add? Gordon had shared memories of his life through the Oakland Oral History Project, the materials are in the Bancroft library at Cal. Also at the Oakland Main Library, there is oral history information stored.

During the time I was at Tech, Afro-Americans/Blacks were called Negroes. While I was a student at Tech, there weren’t any black teachers. The administrative, teaching and counseling staffs were all Caucasian until the 1960s. For a period of time when we (black students) got off the bus in front of the school, Mr. G., the principal, would stand on the front steps of the school and direct us black students to enter the side or back doors of the building. He said, “We are trying to preserve the front doors.” The same doors are still there and the bus stop is still in front of the school. I don’t know if any of the black students ever walked through the front doors, and if they did, I don’t know what happen to them afterward.

Counselors would direct the black females into Home Economics classes, and the black males into shop classes (auto/fender repair, radio, wood, metal) instead of college preparatory classes. After World War II, Tech offered technical shop classes to the veterans. I had a white English teacher who said to our class, “You people are going to speak like people in your environment. I’m going to sleep, do what you want to do.” Then he went to sleep in class. Black parents didn’t go and talk to the teachers and/or counselors like they do today. Back then parents were working or from the old Southern school of thought, where parents felt that the teachers were always right and the parents didn’t believe in challenging the teachers.

I didn’t play sports, but black students who participated in the athletic program had to be outstanding athletes to get on the basketball and/or baseball teams. The Tech athletic program had a quota system. Coaches were partial to the Caucasian students. Only so many blacks were allowed to play on the basketball and baseball teams. There were ten to fifteen players on each team, and only three to four black players were allowed on each team. There weren’t any limits to the number of black participants on the track and field teams.

During that time, Tech had two graduations, one in February and the other in June. I graduated from Tech in the June, Class of 1949. Only a few black students were able to get scholarships to a four-year college. Most black students went to junior college after graduation. I attended the City College of San Francisco, and then transferred to Contra Costa Junior College, which today is Contra Costa Community College.

I graduated from Tech sixty five years ago and I’ve never been back.

I grew up near Chinatown next to the Oakland Auditorium. Most of us went to Lincoln Junior High and then to Tech. It was a challenge to travel that far on the bus and streetcar. The friends I went to Lincoln with are still my friends to this day. We have lunch regularly and I love getting together with them!

At Tech, modern dance was my favorite activity and the dance teacher, Mrs. Ewing, was my favorite teacher. I also remember Mr. Paulson, the mechanical engineering teacher; Tura Hawk, the science teacher (not my favorite, but memorable!); and Mrs. Martin, the sewing and homecraft teacher. The school dances were really fun, especially the Senior Ball. I went with Clint Eastwood! Memorable! He had a hotrod car that had no top and you had to jump over the door to get into. He loved that car! He had no fear. His mom allowed us to go to Hambone Kelly’s (a jazz club in Oakland) once to dance. She advised us to order one drink and said we could dance all evening. The summer after we graduated, Clint moved to Seattle and his family invited me to dinner at the Lake Merritt Hotel before they left. He was the nicest boy I ever dated. He was so polite. His mother was so nice. He wrote a whole page in my yearbook. Senior year was the most enjoyable year!

Tech prepared me for my life afterwards, but I can’t really say how as I got married (to my old boyfriend) the August after I graduated. I have 6 daughters, 4 sons, and 54 grand and great-grandchildren. The sewing classes, homecraft, and cooking classes came in very handy!

My years at Tech taught me that life is all about learning and growing and connecting with people.

Time doesn’t stand still! I can’t believe Tech is 100 years old!

To current Tech students, I say, learn all you can while you have the opportunity and enjoy this time because it goes by fast!

I moved to California from Indiana in 1919 and then to Oakland when my dad was transferred there in 1930. I grew up in the Temescal District of Oakland, a great place to grow up! I thought I would go to University High School where my four siblings went, but that school closed in 1946 so I enrolled at Oakland Tech.

Tech was a fun and friendly place to be at; my very best memory was taking Peg Miller (also a Tech alum) to my Senior Ball. We married in June 1951 and were delightfully married for 53 years before her death. I don’t have any bad memories of Tech, other than the occasional losses of our sports teams! I played some intramural sports but was mainly involved in academic and social activities.

Two people who influenced me were Mr. Fred Boettler from Study Hall who would gladly discuss and educate us on a wide range of topics and was always friendly and helpful. The other was Virginia Jones, my counselor who gave me a lot of help and encouragement for my enrollment to the University of California. My wife’s favorite teacher was Peter Cuttitta. At Tech, I learned a lot about building solid work habits and the importance of friendships, along with the value of preparation and presentation.

Aside from my wonderful wife, I had and still have between 30-40 friends from Tech. Many of us live close by and remain close. In fact, my golf foursome for more than 30 years has consisted of friends from Class of 1949. I’ve always been proud of attending Tech, although still a little frustrated by not being able to go to University High, Tech’s archrival.

I am thankful for what Tech has done for so many people for so many years. My advice to students would be to devote sufficient time to your studies. You will be extremely happy that you did so in the future. I cherish the many friends I made at Tech– you can’t beat those old, sweet memories!