50th Reunion Book

BHS CLASS OF 1974
50th REUNION
September 22-23, 2023
SCHOOL SONG
Mid the hills of old Missouri at
the gateway of the west,
Lies our dear old Bolivar High School,
loved by all of us the best!
Gather ‘round her stately columns,
sweetest memories will cling.
Of the days when dear old High School
sheltered us beneath her wing.
May thy watchword, duty, honor, be
to us a beacon light.
Guide our hearts, old dear old High School,
through the darkness of the night.
May thy glory ne’er diminish.
May thy grandeur never wane.
Here’s our toast, our pride and glory, Dear
old High School, live and reign!
Check out our Class FaceBook site:
BHS MO Class of 1974 and
Website:
http://bhsmoclassof1974.weebly.com
WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE? WE’RE

THE CLASS OF ’74---50 YEARS LATER!
*=updated in 2023 by source other than classmate
**=updated in 2023 by info from classmate
Andrews, Brian
525 Brookline Station
Brookline, MO 65619
We have no update on Brian since the 10th Reunion. We know he was in the service for
2 ½ years, and was able to travel a lot during that time. He worked at K-Mart in Springfield
for a while, but that was 30 years ago.
**Ashlock, Ken
830 E. 412th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-399-3738
E-mail: [email protected]
Kenny graduated from SBU in 1977 and from MU in 1980 with a law degree. He
worked at Douglas, Douglas, Lynch, and Ashlock for several years, and then opened his own
law practice with offices in Springfield and Bolivar. Kenny is married
and has 3 children—Kimberly, Kristen, and Keaton. He also has 3 wonderful grand-
children—Kenzie, Marshall, and Gavin. Kenny used to like to fix up old homes and
antiques, owned Hickory County Title in Hermitage, and ran a private law practice, but then
he became the Prosecuting Attorney of Polk County and served very well for many years.
He now has retired from that position, but is still doing some legal work and operates the title
company.
Ken’s favorite thing to do during his free time is traveling. High on his bucket list is a
trip to the California coast highway. His perfect day is to get to the office in time for lunch
(😊), answer a few emails or questions, and then off for the rest of the day! Would he like a
redo for anything? No. The greatest accomplishment made in his life is a very common one
posted for many of us—his kids. (If you asked for a printed copy of this Reunion Book, thank
Ken for his services!)
*Aug, Doug
1419 E. 410th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-399-3645
Doug graduated from Missouri State University in 1991, and then worked at
Southwest Baptist University for over 26 years. For many of those years, he was the
Assistant Director of the Physical Plant. He married Debbie at some point and she was
the QA Computer Analyst at Duck Creek in Bolivar. They had two children—Brett and
Jessica (Hines). Doug—besides being a proud dad—is still active in sports, and has spent
lots of time being umpire for girls softball for the Bolivar YMCA. In fact, a couple of
reunions ago he stated that he had refereed approximately 700-800 youth sports contests
in basketball, softball, baseball, and soccer in the past 20 years! His children also umped
for quite a while, and Doug said that was the most rewarding aspect of his involvement—
they were able to spend time together as a family and also accomplish something
worthwhile as a family helping youth sports. Doug had no plans for retirement at last
update and at that time worked for Stephens Pharmacy. He says if he could go anywhere,
he would revisit a trip that he and his daughter already made—hiking to the bottom of the
Grand Canyon and camping out—an 18-mile round-trip journey!
Austin, Randy
E-mail:
Information gleaned from Classmates.com last reunion told us that Randy earned an
Associates Degree after high school and was married. He named dogs, cats, and horses as his
interests and pets. Unfortunately, that’s all we know!
**Baker, Dale
300 S. Main
Pleasant Hope, MO 65725
417-467-5012
Dale is married and has four children—Shawn, Charlie, Renata, and Robert. According
to FaceBook, Dale also attended Weaubleau High School, as well as BHS and worked at
Tracker Marine from 1992 until 2008. The funniest thing he remembers about high school is
Mike Shaw running up the stairs! If he could go back to high school days, what would he
change? He replies, "A lot!" After all, his nickname is “Trouble” (also according to
FaceBook). Dale has been disabled since 2011 as far as work status, but stays busy fishing
and going to the rodeo.. He didn’t list the names of his grandchildren because he said it
would take up too much room! He has SEVENTEEN of them! Holy Toledo! He also has 4
great-grandchildren! When asked what his biggest mistake in life has been, his answer is
leaving the service. Does he want a redo? He just answered “lol”. His perfect day is
spending the day with his grandchildren. And his greatest accomplishment in life? He says
he hasn’t made that one yet! What a positive attitude! Look to the future!
Bayer, Al
E-mail:
Springfield, MO
Classmates.com
Again, all we know is what we can pick up from the web. (See how hard we work at
trying to find out about you if you do not respond to our inquiries?? We want to catch up!)
Al has been married to Susie since 1999 and has three children. He lists as his interests:
movies (sci-fi and other thrillers), camping, playing music, channel surfing, reading,
canoeing, fishing, gardening, hunting, snorkeling, and walking. His pets include cats, dog,
and fish. He writes that people would describe him as a happy-go-lucky kind of guy.
**Besser, Mark
P.O. Box 553, 1256 E. 420th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-326-9592
Mark married another classmate--Diane Davison, right after graduation and he started
working as a carpenter. In 1980 he started his own custom cabinet shop—Besser
Woodworks. In 1999, the Bessers developed a housing subdivision and started building
houses. They eventually built a new cabinet shop and turned the old one into an Antique
Mall—Karlin Lane Antiques, which they eventually sold. The Bessers also raise beef cattle,
and have successfully raised two beautiful daughters—Wendy (Rothdiener) and Heather.
Wendy has made Mark and Diane proud grandparents of Kaylie (Krueger) and Braden.
Mark and Diane are very involved in foreign mission trips as well as traveling for fun.
They have been officially retired 13 years now, and Mark has fun by going to car shows,
working on old cars, and, of course, being with his family. Anything he would redo? Mark
says no. That’s a life well-lived!
**Blankenship Short, Carolyn

2192 N. Market Ave.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-328-8047
After graduation, Carolyn went to business school in Springfield and then returned
to Bolivar to work for the 30th Judicial Circuit in the Juvenile Office. She worked there
for 20 years, and then went to work at Shell Title Company in Bolivar for about 5 years.
She then started working for her husband Gary (at home AND at work) at Ken’s Heating
and Cooling Inc., where she has worked as the Office Manager for the last
21 years. (Gary and Carolyn own the business, but they never changed the name.)
Carolyn is active in the First Christian Church as a Sunday School teacher for Junior High
students, and she was also on the board of the Polk County Social Ministries.
Carolyn has been married to Gary Short for more years than she can count, and they
are the parents of Ashley (Hensley), and Lindsay (Choate). Both of their daughters
graduated from college in the same month and same year! The girls have given Carolyn
grandbabies--Chance and Calvin from Ashley and Josie and Colton from Lindsay.
Husband Gary keeps busy with the business and he also enjoys cooking of all types.
Carolyn doesn’t mention retiring anytime soon, but she does say that in her free time
she enjoys sewing, quilting, and watching her grandkids play all their sports and school
activities. With four of them, those activities alone can keep one very busy!! (She also
stays busy working on reunion committees and figuring out t-shirt orders!! Ha!) She says
the greatest accomplishment in her life has been marrying a great man who takes great
care of her and is a great influence in her life! That is truly a beautiful tribute!
**Blue, Lance
13720 Earnshaw St.
Overland Park, KS 66221
Phone: 816-510-1430
Lance attended SMSU for three years and then got his Masters at the University of
Missouri—Kansas City. He was a Senior Vice-President of United Missouri Bank for a
while, and his latest banking career was at Mercantile Bank. He then retired, the first in our
class, we think, but went back to work part-time in commercial banking for a while at some
point after that, but says he is really retired now. He lived in Florida at some point, but is
back in Kansas now.
He has been married to Anne since 1989. They like to travel and play golf. Lance says
he has no large regrets in his life, so that takes care of the biggest mistake made in his life.
He adds, “We’ve been very blessed.” He also adds that he hopes we have a wonderful time
together at the reunion although they cannot make it here this time.
*Brown, Steve
5808 Bluebird Circle
Osage Beach, MO 65065
Phone: 573-348-4790
E-mail: [email protected] Web-site:
Steve attended SMSU for 1 ½ years, and then moved to Lake of the Ozarks where he
started working at Lodge of the Four Seasons in 1976 at the Convention Center as the
convention service supervisor. He worked there for over 13 years, and also worked at
TanTara for several years. He is now the owner of Page & Brown Convention Services, and
they set up public and trade expositions. He has been married to Paula for 39 years, who
was the assistant principal at Camdenton (not sure if that is still current information). His
children are Matthew, Derek, Jessica, and Zachary. Steve is also grandpa to Moxie, Gabriel,
Gracelyn, Luca, and Blakely.
Steve likes to be with his family as well as fish during his free time. His biggest mistake
in life was to start smoking. However, he quit that biggest mistake 15 years ago! Yeah,
Steve! His greatest accomplishment in life has been raising four successful children!
Burrows Fair Terhune, Mari Lynn October 24, 1956—February 21, 1997 40 yrs. old
Mari Lynn was born to Mary Lou (Graham) and Gary Wayne Burrows in
Farmington, Iowa. When Mari Lynn was in the 2nd grade, her family moved to Bolivar where
Gary worked for what was then Lakeland Telephone Company. In grade school Mari Lynn
and Patty (Stottlemyre) developed a friendship that lasted all of their lives. They did little
girl things together like playing Barbie dolls under the big oaks in Patty’s yard. Mari Lynn
once laughed so hard at Patty that she fell off her front porch. Patty had a little red ’66
Malibu and it died 42 times (she says) while she was attempting to leave Mari Lynn’s
driveway. At the time, it was hilarious—to teenagers anyway.
Mari Lynn and Patty often shopped together and once Patty’s feet were really hurting
after a long day at the mall, so they sat down on a bench and kicked off their shoes. As they
got up to leave, Mari Lynn put on Patty’s shoes and visa versa, and Mari Lynn quipped, “So
my feel will hurt for a while.” Patty says that sometimes it DID almost feel that they were
interchangeable.
Mari Lynn married Ronnie Fair from Pleasant Hope in July of 1974. They had one
daughter—Ashley Dawn, born July 9, 1980. Mari loved Ronnie with a big love, and he
loved her back, but heartbreaks happen, and after 18 years Mari and Ronnie parted. Mari had
previously worked for six years in the medical and dental field as a secretary and doctor’s
assistant before having Ashley, but she chose to be a stay-at-home mom when Ashley was
little. Later she re-entered school by attending OTC and graduated with a degree in surgical
technology in the spring of 1993. She made excellent grades and graduated with honors.
She then worked for Cox South for the next year and a half, until she remarried and moved to
Kansas in the summer of 1995. In February of 1997 she was killed in a car accident.
Because Ashley knew her mother’s wishes, seven lives were either saved or helped by Mari’s
organ donation. Her family and friends miss her greatly, especially Ashley who is now
married and the mother of Ashlynn Dale, born April of 2002. Ashlynn is named after Mari
Lynn, Ashley, Ashley’s dad, and Ashley’s husband’s dad. Patty says Ashley has her mom’s
smile and walk.
Mari Lynn’s parents followed her into heaven, and they are all buried in Greenwood
Cemetery, just steps from where Patty’s daddy lies at rest. Patty says, “I walk over to her
grave and read the stone, still somehow in disbelief all these years later. I think, ‘Mari, where
are you? Heaven is not supposed to gobble up our peers, but our parents—the older ones.’
Sometimes we don’t have a choice and our lives move on, but of course we still think of
her—especially on days like these—our reunions.”
Caringer, Steven Charles February 15, 1956 – January 4, 2020 64 years old
Steve had been a truck driver for Associated Grocers for over a quarter of a century
at his last update with us, and jokingly said his bosses’ names’ were Adolph Hitler and
Joseph Stalin and he was looking forward to retirement! Steve had a bout with thyroid
cancer several years ago and recovered from that, but struggled with COPD until it finally
caused his death on January 4, 2020. He and his wife Shirley lived in Buffalo on a 4-acre
mini-farm just off old Hwy 65 where they raised chickens, ducks, and dogs, and he happily
reported his brother Dennis lived just over the hill, as well as David Eversoll. David
always said he would like to retire and move to Arizona as soon as possible because that
would be his favorite place to be if he could choose anywhere to go. Maybe he is resting at
peace now.
Steve is survived by his mother Thelma, his two brothers Dennis and David, his sister
Dr. Susan Caringer Langston, his wife Shirley, and his sons Zackary and Shaun.
*Catt Carbone, Pam

819 W. Glenwood
Springfield, MO 65807
Phone: 417-886-2989
Two weeks after graduation, Pam moved to Springfield to pursue a career in
hairdressing. She roomed with Jill Hutcheson, Martha Dillon, and Patricia Miller for a few
unforgettable, single years. Starting in 1981 she owned and worked at her own hair salon
in Springfield—Ultimate Impresh’n on South Campbell, but retired about 8 years ago!
She said last reunion that when she retired she would spend lots of time with her nieces
and nephews! She has MANY of them, and that many MORE great nieces and nephews,
so they should keep her very busy in her retirement!
During her free time, Pam says she enjoys spending time with said great nieces and
nephews and family. She says they are still going to the lake. We wonder if all the great
nieces and nephews go too?!
Cheek Dueber, Barbara Ellen August 28, 1956-August 8, 2022 66 years old
Barbara was born in Humansville, the daughter of Bueford and Maxine Cheek. After
graduation, Barbara earned a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education degree and an
associate degree in Early Childhood. On November 27, 1987, in Las Vegas, she married
Stuart Rodney Dueber, and they had one child—Rochelle Day. Barbara taught at Hermitage
for six years, and then worked as a full-time mom and homemaker. Later they moved to
Tipton, where Barbara's husband was in advertising, but she ran the family business, which
was a Drive-In.
Life changed for Barbara when she retired. She became a grandma and played with her
grandson Bodhi, and when asked what she liked to do during her free time, she replied, “Not
sure how to answer, since all I have to do is free time!” She used to work so hard, especially
during the summer months, at the Drive-In! When asked what was her biggest mistake in
life? She replied, “Not finding a warmer place to live!” 😊 When asked what her greatest
accomplishment was in life, she replied, “Staying alive!”
Maybe we didn’t understand how seriously she took that answer, because Barbara passed
away at the age of 66 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Jefferson City on August 8, 2022. Her
obituary states that she enjoyed watching “The Young and the Restless” soap opera, movie
marathons with her husband, driving 2 mph under the speed limit, vacations to Puerto
Vallarta, eating candy, walking around Tipton, and being her daughter’s wedding date
/daughter and daughter’s friends’ sober chauffeur throughout the years. She also loved being
a wife and grandma, and she loved her granddogs Isla and Elle. We loved Barbara.
She is survived by her husband Rod, her daughter Rochelle and husband Jay Brechot of
Fort Worth, three brothers—Michael of Fairplay, Patrick of Shawnee Mission, and Dr. Steven
(Karen) of Kernmerer, WY), two sisters—Debbie Lacey (Gary) of St. Charles, and Cathie
Catt (Harold) of Lowry City, and her grandson Bodhi Brechot. Barbara was buried in St.
Andrew Catholic Cemetery in Tipton, but her smile and laughter will always live in our
hearts.
**Clark, Wayne
802 W. Summit St.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-326-3456
Wayne attended SBU for 2 years and then the University of Missouri—Columbia
after high school. He was then hired by Price Waterhouse CPA Firm in Kansas City and
worked at doing audits and taxes from 1978-1980. From 1980-1991 he was the Assistant
Vice-President, Vice-President, and then finally, President and CEO of Missouri Telephone
Company! In 1993, he started teaching Accounting at Southwest Baptist University,
also adding the Chair of the Accounting Department to his job description.
Wayne has been retired for 5 years now! He has been happily married to Lee Ann
since 1978, and they are blessed with children Lacy and Michael. Lacy is now Dr. Lacy
Clark Ellman and lives in Seattle, and Michael is also Dr. Michael Clark and lives in
Waco. Wayne and Lee Ann have grandchildren Jamie (3 ½) and Margot (2 mo)!
Wayne enjoy playing golf in his free time and high on his bucket list is seeing his kids
and grandkids more because they live too far away from him!
Cloyd, Mike February 9, 1956-November 27, 2015 59 years old

Mike attended Pittsburgh State University after graduation and played football for the
Gorillas there. He then worked for Tindle Mills in Springfield, and later was involved in
customer service at Tindlex, a division of Tindle Mills. He married Diane Davis from
Morrisville in 1979, and they had three children—Toni, Brandy, and Derek, and Shawn,
whom they lost as an infant. His hobbies were hunting, fishing, and sports, and then they all
rolled into one—enjoying his grandchildren. Well, actually, two--going to the Casinos
became included in there as well!
Mike became disabled due to MS, and that is why he couldn't come to reunions later in
his life, but he would always say to be sure and tell everyone hello and that he wished us all
the best. When asked if he could be anywhere doing anything, he would always say he
would be in California—of course, with his grandkids. He had quite a few of them--
Jonathan, Isaac, Alexis, Dalton, Makynze, Ethan, Evan, Elise, Conor, and Delaney, as of last
update.
Mike's best memory of BHS? FOOTBALL!! His e-mail included his football number-
-#71. Coach Potts said that in all of the years he had coached, Mike was the only All
American High School player that he had coached! Mike was also listed as an All American
Football player by "Who's Who" in High School Athletics! We were so proud of him!! The
only one . . .
The funniest thing Mike remembered about high school were his antics with Steve
Henderson, Marty Coleman, and Larry Drake. If he could go back to high school days, what
would he change? Mike once said, "Making every day count more since we do not know
what the future holds." Very profound, and one of the reasons we plan reunions. . .
When Mike passed away very suddenly two days after Thanksgiving 2015, the class
purchased an afghan with a huge eagle on it that had the scripture "They shall mount up on
wings as eagles; they shall run and not grow weary." Then we had embroidered on it, "In
Loving Memory #71--The Only 'All American' From BHS Belonged to Us! The BHS Class
of 1974." Coach Potts officiated at the service, and Steve H. and Marty spoke. Special
music at the funeral included "Over You" by Miranda Lambert and "If You Get There Before
I Do" by Collin Raye. Honorary Bearers were Jonathan Serls, Dalton McMahon, Evan
Cloyd, Isaac Mayfield, Ethan Cloyd, and Conor O'Brien (grandsons).
The obituary reads: "Michael (Mike) Wayne Cloyd, age 59, of Bolivar, passed away
quietly at CMH on Friday, November 27th with his family by his side after a brief illness
from complications of MS. He was a loving man who loved his family so much; it was
evident in the way all of his grandchildren were with him. When he learned all his
grandchildren were coming home for Thanksgiving, he was so excited he counted down the
days. They were the light of his life.
He had a passion for the outdoors which included hunting and fishing. He also loved
sports like football, baseball, basketball, etc. He like sitting down on Sundays to relax and
watch football with his oldest grandchild Jonathan. Before he got sick he made many trips to
California and the Kansas City area to watch his other grandchildren play sports: soccer,
baseball, football, etc.
He was preceded in death by an infant son Shawn Michael Cloyd, maternal
grandparents J.C. and Wanda Miller, and paternal grandparents Ed and Florence Cloyd.
Survivors include his wife of 36 years Diane Cloyd, his children Brandy O'Brien and her
husband Todd of Brighton, Michigan, and Derek Cloyd and his wife Carol from Bakersfield,
California, nine grandchildren, Jonathan, Isaac, Alexis, Dalton, Makynze, Ethan, Evan, Elise,
Conor, and one on the way, Delaney. . ."
Dan Hutcheson (Cooke) remarked at his death: "I remember #71. It's been 40 years, but
I remember. Our senior year he was 6' 2", 230 pound right tackle for the Bolivar Liberators...
a soft-spoken man among boys. Like Steve, Larry and the rest of the offensive line, he
engaged in battle every play to either clear a path for Scott and the other backs or keep
blitzing linebackers out of my face. It was hard work. It was dirty and sometimes bloody
work. But he loved it and he was very good at it.
I thought of Mike as my protector... as OUR protector. Here's one example. There was
an away game our senior year against Republic. Maybe it was Rogersville? I can't remember
the team, but I clearly recall what happened. It was mid-season and our COC title hopes were
still alive. Our offense had been effective so far, but in this game we were having trouble
moving the ball. They were running a 6-3 defense and their middle linebacker was giving us
fits. He was everywhere, making tackles and busting up our pass plays. He was a talented
player, no doubt... but he also had a mouth. He was chirping and taunting after every play. We
were a seasoned team and the taunts weren't a big deal. But some of his hits were late and he
would spear our runners when they were already down, leading with his helmet. That
WASN'T okay. For some reason the officials were ignoring it, even after we brought to their
attention.
After one particularly blatant spearing and still no call from the refs, we had to do
something. Our guys could get seriously hurt by these illegal hits. He was dangerous. In the
huddle I asked Mike which trap play had him blocking the middle linebacker in a 6-3
defense. "Trap 44," he said. I echoed the play to the rest of the huddle. Nothing else was said,
but we all knew that this wasn't going to turn out well for mister middle linebacker. Let's just
say that he had to be helped off the field and we didn't hear from him again the rest of the
game.
I haven't talked to Mike in almost 40 years, but when I hear about his family, about the
8 grandkids... I can clearly see him as a gentle and loving husband, father and grandfather. I
can also see him as a man who would do anything to make sure they felt safe and protected."
Well said, Dan.
**Colburn, Susan
3140A W. Morningside St.
Phone: 417-861-2259
Susan graduated from SMSU in 1978 and attended one year of grad school at the
University of Kansas. She then moved to Dallas where she worked at Capital Bank. But in
1983, Susan did what we all thought she should have done from the beginning and entered
the University of Missouri at Columbia School of Law. She graduated in 1986 and became
an attorney with Martin and Evans in Springfield, dealing with collections and bankruptcy
law. She then started working with the prosecutor’s office, and became an Assistant Attorney
General out of the Missouri Attorney General’s office in Springfield! She worked there until
she retired the last day of 2021. .
Susan says she has the World’s Worst Dog (capitalized because it’s official!). That dog’s
name is Josephine and her age is approximately 10. Susan’s interests? She says they are
geekish, as always. She likes to read and she owns too many books because she can't part
with even the ones she will probably never read again. She also like to walk Josephine.
High on her bucket list is to read all of her books before she kicks the bucket!
For the biggest mistake made in her life, she says, “It is too soon to tell. I keep making
them and won’t know which one was the worst until just before I kick the bucket.” Good
point! Greatest accomplishment? “Again, too soon to tell.” Does she sound like a lawyer, or
what? The perfect day for Susan? She says such a beautiful thing. A thing that an avid
reader would say: “You can’t plan or describe perfect days. Sometimes you just realize
you’ve had one. Most days are at least very good.” Susan says she doesn’t need a redo in
life. Nope, not with that attitude!
Coleman, Marty
1375 Lakewood Drive
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-777-1287
Marty went to Crouter College for 2 years after graduation. He married Mona in
1987, and became the Partner/Manager of the family business, C & C Farm and Home
Supply in Bolivar, where he says he is "employed for life." Marty is also the
Partner/Manager of Lebanon Farm and Home. The Colemans have four children and five
grandchildren (so far)—Jennie, mother of Trey and Preston, Brantley, father of Isaiah,
Haley, mother of Annabelle and Katherine, and Sydney, mother of no one, as of last update.
When asked about his interests last reunion, Marty said he USED to fish, play golf,
read, and hunt, and he thinks he would still like those things! But this time he says, “spend it
at the lake”. So evidently he has found some ways to enjoy more free time! Good for you,
Marty! In fact, he says the biggest mistake he has made in his life is not learning to enjoy
dancing! Wow! The greatest accomplishment he has made in his life is “acquiring
grandchildren”. He is doing a fine job in that department!
Last reunion, when asked what he would change if he could go back to high school
days, Marty wrote a very profound thought--"Looking back with 40 years of perspective,
high school was nearly perfect. What I thought were problems were merely opportunities."
Wow! I thought it was worth repeating!
*Cooper Williams, Kathy

9551 E. FR 104
Strafford, MO 65757
Phone:
E-mail:
Kathy graduated from Draughn’s College in 1975 and then worked for American
Title Insurance in Springfield. She married Dennis in 1976 and they raised three children—
Curtis, Phillip, and Jonathon. Kathy stayed at home while raising the boys and was very
active in all the sports and school activities involved with raising three boys. She was a
claim representative for American National, and the last we heard, she was an underwriter
and worked the entire state of Arizona. We don’t know if she has retired yet or not. Kathy’s
boys have given them granddaughter Alison, grandson Killian, and probably more since we
have not heard from her in a while.
The Williams lost their home in the January 2008 tornado, but they built again. Kathy
says her best memory of school was GRADUATION (can you tell she emphasized that?).
**Davison Besser, Diane

P.O. Box 553, 1256 E. 420th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-327-2381
Diane married Mark soon after graduation and kept very busy with their cabinet
shop—Besser Woodworks, and Karlin Lane Antiques until they sold the Antique shop and
retired from the cabinet work, so now their work status is retired since 2010. They also
had rental property and built houses to sell at one time. The editor of this Reunion Book
bought one of their houses and can vouch for the quality of their work!!
They love going on foreign mission trips, but they also love to travel for pleasure.
Of course, their girls and grandchildren keep Diane busy and happy too! Wendy
(Rothdiener) is the mother of Kaylie (Krueger) and Braden, and their other daughter is
named Heather. Diane doesn’t own an antique store anymore, but she still loves to shop
antique malls in her free time, and her second love is to be at the beach, well, besides
being with her family! She, like Mark, would not do a redo on anything in her life.
Dickensheet Blackwell, Sally Sept. 4, 1956-Jan. 9, 2015 58 years old

After graduating from SMSU with a Business Data Processing degree in 1978, Sally
went to work for Missouri Pacific Railroad in St. Louis. She moved back to Bolivar in 1979
and worked for City Utilities in Springfield. On May 23, 1981, Sally married Gary
Blackwell (her college sweetheart) at Bolivar Methodist Church, and they moved to Tulsa.
She then became a programmer/analyst for Centrilift-Hughes in Claremore, OK. Later she
was a claims programmer for American National Property and Casualty Insurance in
Springfield. All of these jobs involved being a programmer/analyst on the main frame
computer before the PC era came along. Sally once said her best memory of high school
was remembering seeing the smiles of her friends and hearing their laughter. Sally became
disabled as a result of neurofibromotosis, a severe medical condition which left her totally
deaf for the last several years of her life and also confined her to a wheelchair. When asked if
she could be anywhere and do anything, she answered that she would like to be able to
HEAR again—especially laughter and music, AND she would want to be able to walk and
run. She missed those things a lot, but she said she was not sad, she was happy because she
had a wonderful husband and a good life. She said it was just different from what she had
planned. She said that she had to adjust and relearn stuff, but she also said that she had
learned to take it a day at a time, because life was too short to do otherwise!
Sally lost her fight with that crippling disease in 2015. Her parents were Maurice and
Ruth (Holmes) Dickensheet, and her siblings were Barbi Dickensheet and Betty Dickensheet
(and Dan) of Springfield, Milton Dickensheet (and Debbie) of Bolivar, and Lisa Roberts (and
Leonard), of Pittsburg, MO, and she had been married to Gary for over 33 years. She was a
member of Mt. Pisgah United Methodist Church, Springfield, MO. Sally was laid to rest in
Eastlawn Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri. Now she can hear everything! And we are
happy for that, at least! But we will miss "Sweet Sally's" always smiling face. . .
**Dillon Wells, Martha

1450 Bubbling Brook Ct.
Fort Collins, CO 80521
Phone: 970-217-0403
Martha graduated from SMSU in 1978, but also had a lot of fun traveling to Europe and
around the US during those years. She also earned her private pilot’s license and spent a
summer in Alaska. In 1979 she moved to Colorado and married Chappy Wells, and they built
their own passive solar home, and spent their free time skiing. Martha and Chappy have
been married for 48 years now, and she has lived in Colorado for 50 years. Martha worked as
a Banking Services Counselor for Western Federal Savings until their children started
arriving. Caitlyn is the baby, then Ryan, and then Tyler.. Chappy was a land developer and
builder and Martha used to help him with his business, but she states that they are both
retired now and enjoy traveling and RVing! She homeschooled each child until they finished
the fourth grade. The family loved going backpacking in the mountains and mountain
climbing, and they love the mountains so much that they even have a mountain cabin! In
fact, that is their latest adventure--building another cabin in Pinedale, Wyoming, where one
of their sons and his family live.
Martha worked for quite a while emptying the nest and all that entailed, and worked for
the Poudre School District during that time. She enjoys her family, which now includes 10
grandchildren and two more on the way! That’s why she can’t come to the 50 th reunion,
because they are on the way to Wyoming to help bring a grandbaby into the world during our
reunion time!! She says she is sorry to miss the reunion but will look forward to updates!
During her free time, Martha loves being out in nature hiking, kayaking, biking, and
skiing in the winter. She says that some of the grandkids are old enough to do some of those
activities with them now, so that makes those activities extra special! She adds that they are
also involved with their church teaching and she cooks at their church camp a week each
summer.
She gave one of the best answers for the biggest mistake made in life—letting life crowd
out the things you feel are the most important. Isn’t that so very profound? Her greatest
accomplishment in life has been raising a family. Raising a family is so different than just
giving birth to children, and it is a true accomplishment!
**Dorman Workman, Kathe

5163 W. Virginia Ave
Phone: 417-894-6751
Kathe was a travel agent and traveled all over the place in her early post-graduation
days—Mexico, Hawaii, and the Bahamas to name a few. She then managed International
Tours of Kansas City, and achieved her Certified Travel Counselor status—the highest
designation a travel agent can receive. But after 9/11 and the introduction of internet airline
bookings, she went into the business of selling real estate for Remax in Oak Grove (25 miles
east of KC). She then returned to the travel agent business for a while, and then worked for
Xceligent, and did research for Commercial Real Estate. But now she does the best work of
all; she is retired!!!
Her children are Kristal and Shawn. 13 years ago she married her best friend—
Richard. She likes to tell everyone that the first time Richard came to her house he brought
the minister with him. The truth is she was searching for a church home and had filled out a
visitor’s card at his church. The next night two church members came to her door—Richard
and the assistant pastor. Kathe and Richard were “buds” for seven years and then decided
there was more to their relationship than friendship. Richard gave her four stepchildren—
Kevin, Rod, Dustin, and Melanie, and they also have Dakota who is a grandchild they have
adopted. All of the children combined have brought along MANY grandchildren—Tyler,
Kyra, Austin, Ryan, Jaret, Emily, Allison, Kaitlynn, Nathan, Kail, Zadie, Dylan, and Silas!
That’s 7 kids and 13 grandkids, at last count! Then there are some great grand kids too, but
she didn’t have room on the form to write those down. 😊
During Kathe’s free time, she likes to sew, watch Chiefs Football, and watch movies.
High on her bucket list is getting her last child through high school!! The perfect day for
Kathe would be spent with all of the grandkids and great grands!!
Drake, Larry Nov. 6, 1955-Dec. 11, 2014 (59 years old)

Larry was a farmer, through and through. He began his farming career helping his
parents with Drake Dairy. He then raised beef cattle and was raising corn and soy beans on
his huge farm (600 acres or more) at the time of his very sudden death due to lung cancer.
He had three children—Trent, Sheila (Griffin) of Lafayette, CO, and Jennifer (Coffer) of
Springfield, and they have given him two grandchildren--Makenna (11) and Beckham (8)
Coffer. Past accomplishments were being elected to the Bolivar school board and serving
from 1984-1990, being a Polk County Farm Bureau member for 38 years, serving as a board
member and a member of the Bolivar Kiwanis Club, receiving the American Farmer Degree
from the National FFA in 1977, and receiving a state award for Missouri Farm Family that
was presented by the governor at the Missouri State Fair. He also served on various
committees in Bolivar, fixed multitudes of machines without pay, and took on projects that
others could not or would not do--such as building the bridge at Playter Park. He spent his
spare time hunting and fishing, and planning class reunions. Larry did have plans for
retirement, and that was to be “when I go broke farming.”
Larry's best memories of high school were lunch, the senior trip, and the football locker
room. Larry planned and attended our 40th Reunion and was enjoyed by all that attended,
and then became sick at Thanksgiving and died before Christmas. His death brought us all
together as a class again, and more than 30 of us attended the visitation and funeral of #50.
The Rev. J.C. Harp officiated, and Steve Henderson, Marty Coleman, and Bob Carr spoke.
Pallbearers were Steve Henderson, Marty Coleman, Jerry Sukovaty, Randy
Ankrom, Harold Slemp, and Bob Carr. Honorary pallbearers were Wendell Fisher, Mike
Cloyd, Martin Porter, Wayne Wilson, and Jerry Garretson. Larry was laid to rest in
Greenwood Cemetery. Contributions were made to the Polk County Farm Bureau FFA Jacket
Fund providing FFA jackets for FFA members who need assistance. As Steve said at the
funeral, "Bolivar will be a lesser place because of him not being here."
Edmondson, Mark
7406 Noland Rd.
Shawnee, KS 66216
Phone: 913-980-4905
Website:
Mark went to college after graduation (at SBU and William Jewell), graduated, got
married to Cathy (in 1985), had Valerie (married to Todd), Stephanie (whom they call
Stevie and is married to Preston), and Maggie. Mark and Cathy have always lived in
Kansas City.
Mark worked for Enterprise Leasing Company for 25 years, and then started a company
with some other individuals called Bridge Financial, LLC. He was then a real estate
investor under the company title of Peak Asset Management. Mark is still working and is
the owner of his own real estate company—KC Metro Homes in Lenexa, Kansas. As to
retirement, he says, “At this pace, and with this economy, I’ll be working 10 years after I’m
dead!” But Mark still says that raising three girls is the greatest job in the world! If he
could change where he was and what he was doing, he wouldn’t. He’d be right where he is,
because he’s pretty happy!
He’s had the good fortune to travel most all of the US and Europe. In addition to that,
he also loves collecting cars and playing golf. But Mark says that Bolivar was a great place
to grow up. “You don’t know how much you appreciate it, until you move away. . . When
we go visit, my kids say, ‘It’s like going back to the old days.’”
Mark had a bout with colon cancer in 1991, but seems to be doing well, and we are
SOOO glad! Mark says that he has great stories and memories—like the ongoing reactions
by his God-given 3 teenage daughters about what life would be like without the internet,
microwave, remote control, cell phones, cable TV, DVDs, e-mail, texting, Facebook, instant
pictures, and i-pods! But he loves to tell them what life WAS like knowing just about
everybody in town, with 39-cent gas, cruising, Encyclopedia Britannica, pizza “handmade”
by Mom, and actually riding your bike across town! Ah, yes, the good old days!
We are proud of Mark being inducted into the BHS Alumni Hall of Fame in 2012—a
well-deserved honor!!!
*Ethridge, Bill
1005 E. 415th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-326-2887*
E-mail:
Billy was self-employed in Kansas for a couple of years after graduation, and then
worked for the city of Bolivar for many years as a Treatment Plant Operator, but he is retired
now. He has been married to Pauline since 1976, and they have three children— Heather,
Amanda, and Beth. From FaceBook, it appears that Beth has given Bill 2 grandsons and a
granddaughter and that the other children have added 7 more! (Don’t tell anyone that the
Reunion Book editor is a FaceBook stalker!)
**Eversoll, David
2405 Hwy EE
Halfway, MO 65663
Phone: 417-328-8174
David married Debbie in August of 1973 and promptly joined the Army in
November. He ended up graduating from high school from St. Mary’s in Colorado Springs,
and he was in the top 15 of his class of 15!!! David was in the army for 9 years, serving in
Germany and France where he was an elite paratrooper in the 75 th Ranger Battalion and the
7th French Commando Battalion. He loved Germany and jumping out of planes, and wishes
that he could go back and do that some more! (Crazy boy!) He then came back home to run
a big dairy farm with his father-in-law at Halfway. This progressed to owning and operating
a 100-cow Grade A dairy and showing registered Holstein cows at state and national shows.
His family, with daughters Stephanie and Michelle, once won the Missouri Farm Family
award presented by the Governor! David’s grandchildren are Zach and Seth from Michelle,
and Bailey and Wyatt from Stephanie.
David just retired from Hiland Dairy and is fully enjoying retirement! That includes still
going on family vacations (if he can get them all headed in the right direction at the right
time). Camping and traveling are what he likes to do for fun, and high on his bucket list is to
see Yellowstone. Besides that, he likes corvettes and grandkids, not necessarily in that order.
The perfect day for him is fishing, but his greatest accomplishments are his wife and family,
and there is really nothing that he says he would like to redo in life. That is satisfaction!
David and Debbie have been married for 51 years!
*Fanning Manes, Vickie

Bolivar, MO 65613?
Phone: 417-777-0732 or 417-326-5321?
Vickie is the wife of Sid (since 1973), mother of Shawna (Bevans) and Staci
(Barnhouse). She is also the proud grandma of the children of Shawna—Devin,
Daelyn, and Darian Kottwitz, plus a new granddaughter that is almost 5! She is a
bookkeeper by occupation, and worked at Sears for eight years, and then became a stay-at-
home mom for awhile before returning to work at the Polk County Assessor’s Office in
Bolivar. She now is a homemaker again, keeping busy keeping up with the grandkids and
family, but she does try to find time to read for enjoyment. If she could be anywhere, she
would be living in the mountains in Colorado, but for right now, watching her grandkids
grow keeps Vickie pretty entertained.
Vickie's best memory of high school is hanging out with her friends and just having fun
being a teenager. Yes, those were great days!!! But she says if could go back to high school
days, the thing she would change would be that she would probably settle down a little more
and take her classes a little more seriously.
**Fightmaster Combs, Felicia

2108 County Rd. 5800
Willow Springs, MO 65793
E-mail: combsfelicia7@gmail,com
Phone: 417-469-1048 or text 417-252-7627
Felicia earned a BS Ed at SMSU and then moved to California, working several jobs
there, including substitute teaching and data entry operator for a computer manufacturing
plant. After marrying in 1980, she moved back to Bolivar and worked in a factory while
setting up a jewelry/art shop in her home. Eventually she taught high school art at BHS from
1985-1989. She then started grooming dogs and wanted to start a writing career. She
especially enjoyed dog-showing and training English Springer Spaniels, and also painting
and entering art contests with acrylic and oil paints, as well as photography.
We lost track of Felicia for quite some time, but found her again just in time for our
40th reunion!! She is happily re-married to Jeff Combs now, and has two stepsons--Aaron
and Matthew. Aaron has given Felicia and Jeff a grandson Dalton, and twins Braden and
Braylea, and Matthew has given them a granddaughter Riley and step daughters Macy,
Emma and Alaina.
Felicia taught 16+ years in the Mountain View Birch Tree School District--in two
different school buildings and she really enjoyed teaching, but she decided to take the option
of 80 and out and retire in 2018. She is also a breast cancer survivor since 2013.
Her interests now are reading, playing games, gardening, playing with grandkids, going
places, and, when she can, riding horses. The biggest mistakes made in her life? Well, that
would be marrying her 1st husband and not going in to veterinary medicine. The greatest
accomplishment made in her life would be her teaching career. On her bucket list is to see the
East Coast, get another horse, and see some national parks. A perfect day for Felicia would be
to sleep until she wakes up without an alarm, spend time with her hubby, read, visit her
parents-in-law, and play cards with them. In fact, that’s why she can’t come to the reunion
because she stays very busy taking care of her parents-in-law. They are lucky to have such a
great daughter-in-law!
**Fish, David
P.O. Box 253
1209 E. Austin
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-326-6340
David started his electronic business in 1976, and married Margaret (an SWBC student
from Chicago) in 1979, so they have been married 44 years now! This merging brought
about three children—Angie, David Jr., and Mark AND four grandchildren—Nicole Beth
and Alex--children of David Jr., and Daniel and Hanna--children of Angie. He also has great
granddaughters from Nicole too that are one and two! Other landmarks of David’s life
include: 1982—bought his first Ford mustang (which he still trades in for a new one every
few years), also invested in communication broadcast towers all over SW Missouri that are
leased out to paging, mobile phone, FM broadcast, and emergency services, and 1994—
invested in professional cameras and studio lighting after attending professional photography
classes to update his BHS yearbook photography skills. His career of photography has taken
him all over the USA photographing upscale weddings, model images for agencies, actors
and musicians, magazines and publications. In 2000, David was even commissioned to do
some images for the Miss USA pageant! In 1999 he started to be a webmaster for his
photography web pages, and started doing designs for photographers all over the US and also
for the regional professional photographers of the Ozarks. In 2002, David got into
professional digital photography and retired the old film cameras. He is still working and
self-employed, as always, at his electronics shop.
His interests include doing a lot of traveling to see the USA in his spare time, especially
riding Amtrak to new areas he has never been, and he enjoys hobbies like experimenting
with electronics and photography. A great memory he has was when the Beverly Hillbillies
began filming episodes of their popular television show and he was very lucky to be an extra
in the show!!! If he could have a redo, he would change nothing, and he feels his greatest
accomplishment made in his life is his family. That’s the perfect day for David—family get
togethers.
**Flint Curtis, Charlotte

7504 NE 113th St.
Kansas City, MO 64157
Phone: 816-536-7935
After graduation, Charlotte graduated from Burge school of Nursing in 1977. She
then worked at Cox Medical Center in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit from 1977 to
1982. She moved on to teaching nursing at Burge School of Nursing from 1982-1983, and
then gave it all up to get married to Bruce in 1983, move to Indiana, and travel the world.
(Bruce was a travel agent.) She got tired of traveling the world—especially with Bruce—
and got divorced in 1992. Charlotte then moved back to God’s Country (Missouri) and
began working at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City. She finished graduate school
with a Masters in Nursing in 1998. Charlotte says she then decided to give marriage one
more shot, and married Mark Curtis on the beach at sunset in Maui in May of 1998, thus
becoming the step-mother of two young children--Emily (Akers) and Tyler (in the US
Navy with Special Warfare). She now has added four grandchildren to her family: Finn
and Freya Curtis, and Lincoln and Daphne Akers. Charlotte and Mark have been married
26 years now, and she retired from University Health-Truman Medical Center in Kansas
City as a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner in March of 2022 after working there for 30
years! Wow!
Charlotte says she became a statistic in 2012 when she was diagnosed with breast
cancer. Thankfully, she is doing well and expecting to live a long and happy life! It even
made her a better nurse practitioner too, and changed the way she examines her patients!
Charlotte still loves to travel and high on her bucket list is to spend a summer in
Scotland, (a whole summer, mind you!), travel to Antarctica, and the Galapagos Islands!
That girl has a big bucket!! In fact, the perfect day for her would be to pack a carry-on,
head to the airport, and jet off on a spur-of-the moment vacation!
Her favorite things to do for fun are travel (yes), quilt, and do needlework. Want a
redo in anything, Charlotte? She says, ‘Definitely no redos—once was enough! No
regrets in life—despite some rather idiotic decisions!” She says she will miss seeing
everyone at the 50th reunion, but she has a prior commitment for the weekend. She says
she hope to be at our next one. (The editor says what about that spur-of-the-moment
vacation you were talking about????)
Forrest, Alvin November 2, 1955--October 11, 2011 55 years old

Alvin Ray Forrest was born in Springfield to Willard and Goldie (Hicks) Forrest. He
was employed as a feed truck driver for Farmers Market and a tree trimmer with Shade Tree
Service in Fenton, Missouri, for 21 years.
Alvin married Barbara Dryer at Dunnegan Park on June 24, 1977, and had two
children—Travis, born in 1981, and Samantha (Sammy Jo), born in 1984. He loved his
family, and especially spending time with his grandchildren. He also loved hunting and
fishing.
Alvin was preceded in death by his parents, but is survived by his wife Barbara, his son
Travis and fiance' Mallory of Humansville, his daughter Sammy Jo of Bolivar, and his three
grandchildren--Jay, Gavin, and Meredith. Funeral services were Sunday, October 16, at 2:00
p.m. at Pitts Chapel in Bolivar with Rev. Ernie Presley officiating, and the burial was in
Barren Creek Cemetery, Fair Play, MO.
Alvin told us before our 35th reunion that his best memory of high school was the
friends he had there, and that if he could be anywhere doing anything, he would be retired
somewhere on a beach—any beach would work! Who knew that within two years of saying
that, he would be retired from earth? We hope that he is enjoying his "retirement," but he
will be missed here on earth. At his death, representatives from our class gave his wife a
beautiful tapestry with "Class of 1974" embroidered on one corner, and she was very
grateful.
**Fulbright, Gary
1449 E. 380th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-326-9630
Gary married Jolene Appleby, and Sarah (Stevens) and Mariah (Samek) are their two
beautiful daughters. Their lost their son Justin after a long battle with cancer. Gary
graduated from SBU in 1978 with a Bachelors in Accounting. He worked at Fox & Co. CPA
Firm in Springfield for two years, and then worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone
Company in Springfield and St. Louis for two more years. The Fulbrights then returned to
Bolivar in 1982 for Gary to work at Citizens’ Memorial Hospital and Jolene to teach at
Bolivar Primary School. They currently live about six miles north of Bolivar.
Gary was the Chief Financial Officer of CMH and then took over as head of CMH when
Dr. Donald Babb retired until Gary retired not too long ago. He actually still does work one
day per week. Gary and Jolene have been blessed with grandchildren Lillian and Fisher, and
Mariah and Eli (Samek) gave them twin boys Anderson and Brooks!!! Gary can’t think of
anywhere else he would rather live than good old Bolivar, but he would like to visit other
places.
When Gary has free time, he likes spending time with family, watching the St. Louis
Cardinals and the K.C. Chiefs, playing golf, fishing, and camping. When asked what was the
biggest mistake he has made in his life, his answer was, “I’m not sure. You may need to ask
Jolene!” What a great answer! His greatest accomplishment in life? Gary is so humble. It
had nothing to do with his career. It was getting saved at age 10. Better answer!
*Fuller, Dusty
973 S. 188th Rd.
Halfway, MO 65663
Phone: 417-445-3816?
E-mail:
No new news on Dusty, but he used to be an over-the-road truck driver. We do know he
is single and lives near Halfway.
Gallivan, Sid—March 13, 1956 – February 12, 2002 (45 years old)
Sid was born in Denver, Colorado, and grew up in Bolivar. After graduation, Sid
attended Southwest Baptist College and Evangel College. He moved to St. Louis in 1997 and
worked at several occupations. He also played the organ for his church. He died following a
short stay in the hospital. Survivors include his parents, Jerry and Neta Gallivan of Bolivar,
his brother and sister-in-law Scott and Kathy Gallivan, five nieces and nephews, and several
aunts, uncles, and cousins. Services were held at Christy Memorial United Methodist Church
in St. Louis, and he was laid to rest at Greenwood Cemetery in Bolivar. Memorial
contributions were made to the building fund of the Bolivar United Methodist Church.
**Gillham Medina, Debbie

P.O. Box 30212
Kansas City, MO 64112
Phone: 816-804-1851
Debbie entered the army after graduation and her travels introduced her to
Agustin (Gus) Medina. That marriage produced three wonderful sons--Anthony, Nick,
and Alex. Debbie is a divorced widow now, and she says she has no grandchildren yet.
She was a stay-at-home mom for 7 years when the boys were young between two long
tenures with major corporations (Panhandle Easter Pipe Line Company—9 years, and
Farmland—8 years). She then worked as the Office Manager for a diversified energy
company, Inergy, L.P., which was located on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City,
and she worked part time at the law-firm of Stinson Morrison Hecker. In November of
2013 she started a new job with a new company. Life hasn't been easy--putting three
boys through high school and college (possibly the hardest job in the world), but her
great loves of ballroom dancing and writing have given her joy.
Debbie is a published author (although she won't brag on herself--we had to look
these up on her blog!) In April of 2011 she published her first book--Reflections, a
celebration of people who have crossed her path. She then wrote Helen’s Heritage in
2016, and this one was about her mother's life. Her third one, written in 2019, was
Someday I Will Write, with a subheading that reads “An Uncommon Journey to Finding
Time to Tell Your Story, Finish Your Book, and Fulfill Your Dream.” Debbie’s fourth
book is being written now, and some of you are in it!!! She also has a blog that you
would enjoy reading at www.debrairene.com , and she stays busy contributing to various
magazines too.
Debbie says she is working . . . still, and when asked what she likes to do during her
free time, she answers, “What free time? Maybe travel when I make time.” But when
asked what she does for fun, she has the neatest answer: “Spending time with family and
capturing the moments, whatever they might be.” (That sounds like a writer, doesn’t it?!)
High on her bucket list is finishing her 4th book and changing her everyday focus. (That
might be a good goal for a lot of us!) She feels her biggest mistake made in life was not
attending West Point, and her greatest accomplishment made in her life is not for her to
say. (Cool point!) The perfect day for Debbie would be to drink coffee in her Pj’s all
morning with no schedule—just to piddle all day!
Does she want a redo for anything in life? She answers, “Of course!” Anything else
she wants everybody to know? Debbie writes, “It is well with my soul. That’s all that
matters.” Best answer of all!
Glor, Marsha Ann—December 3, 1954 – February 8, 2001 (46 years old) Marsha
was born in Kansas City and attended schools there before her family moved to Bolivar.
She was a member of Bolivar First Baptist Church for 29 years, and for the past several
years of her life, she took care of her parents, Elvin George and Mary Glor of Bolivar.
She had also worked in nursing homes and in private homes caring for the elderly, and
had done in-home child care as well. She enjoyed writing to and meeting pen pals all
over the world, and also reading. She died at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield in
February of 2001, and services were held at Montgomery-Viets Funeral Chapel in
Buffalo with the Rev. Ray Leininger officiating. Marsha was buried at Hopewell
Cemetery at Tunas.
Grady, Randy
We have never found Randy, although we have tried every which a-way!! The last we
knew he was living in Branson. Randy went to school with us in our younger grades, moved
away, and then came back our senior year. (Do you know how many Randy Gradys there are
when you try to search for him???)
**Gutierrez Dodrill, Stephanie

Iglesia 112, 5a
08860 Castelldefels
(Barcelona) Spain
Phone: 011-34-382-3582 Cell: +34 652 898 786
website: www.yfci.org/donate for giving; put Dodrill under donation preference
www.juventudparacristo.net (Youth for Christ/Spain)--who they are & what they do; it is
in Spanish, but it has lots of pictures!
After BHS, Stephanie attended Cottey College in Nevada, MO, for one year and
then transferred to Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. She met her husband Mark Dodrill
there in a Spanish class, and they were married November 26, 1977, at First Baptist
Church here in Bolivar. She graduated from Wheaton with a major in Literature in 1978,
worked at a newspaper as a journalist, and then went on to Fuller Theological Seminary in
Pasadena, California, from 1979 to 1982 where she graduated with a Masters of Divinity
degree. She and Mark went to the mission field with Youth for Christ in October of 1982
and are still working full time there full time.
They adopted Crystina when she was a newborn, and then added Alex from Bogota,
Colombia, South America, to their family when he was 20 months old. AND THEN
Jennifer surprised everyone by coming to them biologically! All three children have the
same middle name—Gutierrez. Crystina has blessed them with Elisa Jennifer in 2009
and Riley M. Dodrill, in 2016, and Alex married Mireia Carmona in 2016 and gave them
Liel Stephen Dodrill Carmona in 2020. Jennifer married Isaac Stough and gave them
another grandson in 2022—Marc Loyal Stough Dodrill.
The Dodrills’ work in Spain consists of preaching, teaching, training youth leaders,
publishing materials, running camps and retreats, organizing concerts (AND writing
newsletters trying to raise funds from people like you and me!). What does she do during her
free time? Stephanie says she likes to travel anywhere she can. On her bucket list is to travel
to Australia and to Singapore. A perfect day for her now would be to be with a close friend
in a nice hotel on the beach just to walk, talk, and pray together—and to eat out, of course!
A redo in her life would be not to have given up her junior year abroad in Valencia
Spain in 1976-77 to come back home from her Wheaton College in England summer
because she missed Mark so much. She says she could have learned Spanish much better,
plus she couldn’t get back into Wheaton so she was away from him anyway and he had
wanted to come visit her in Spain for that Christmas.
Stephanie is so excited that she gets to come to our 50 th reunion! She has only
missed the 5th and the 45th!! What she wants everyone to know is this: “I love Jesus and He
has been so good to me all my life! Even through all the trials and difficulties, blood, sweat
and tears I can now see how He used every good and bad thing to teach me more about His
love and to build my character. I love what I do as a missionary here in Spain with all ages
and I would not trade it for anything. God called us here and He has sustained and blessed
us beyond our wildest dreams! And I’m proud to be part of the class of ’74! After all,
WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE! Love to you all!”
*Hamlet, Mike
537 Sturgis Lane
Reeds Spring, MO 65737
Phone: 417-272-0778?
E-mail: ------
After graduation, Mike went to Graft Vo-Tech and then worked for C & I Transfers
which contracted from Burlington Northern. Mike is married to Patti, and they have two
daughters and at least one granddaughter. He seems to be a man of few words—still! We
heard several years ago that he is retired and living the good life! We hope that is still true!
*Hampton, Johnny
1310 E. 405th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-326-7884
Johnny began working for Bolivar Insulation Company during his freshman year at
BHS, and eventually became the manager. He eventually became the owner of Bolivar Sheet
Metal here in Bolivar until he sold that business and ran it for quite a while before he sold
that business. He has been the husband of Anita since 1975 and they have a son and
daughter—Shane and Christy (Sheppeck). They also have five grandkids—Hannah, Chase,
Allee, Grace, and Emma. Johnny loved to travel and play ball, and now he also loves being
involved with his kids and all those grandkids! In fact, for a while the Hamptons also stayed
very busy helping Christy with her beautiful store “Beyond Blossoms” in Bolivar before it
sold. If Johnny could be anywhere doing anything, he would be doing just that--spending
time with his wife, children, and grandchildren. His best memory of high school is . . .
graduation!!
**Henderson, Steve
1535 E. 430th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-399-1956
Steve attended SMSU for four years and upon graduation immediately went to work for
Transamerica Commercial Finance in Springfield, where he remained for 16 years. He met
Lori Lurvey in 1990, and they were married and produced three wonderful daughters—
Baylee, Lindsay, and Shelby. In 1994 he left Transamerica and became a general contractor
in Springfield where he built 60 houses in 7 years. (WOW!) In 1997, Steve and Lori moved
back to Bolivar because their children were nearing school age. He got very tired very
quickly of driving back and forth to Springfield every day, and when the opportunity to get
back in the lending business in Bolivar was presented, he went to work for Commerce Bank.
He was the Commercial Lending Officer there for many years, and then became the Vice
President at Oakstar Bank in Bolivar before he retired on New Year’s Day 2022. Only Baylee
has gifted Steve and Lori with a grandchild so far—Luke, who is 2.
Steve served on the Bolivar School Board for MANY years. During his free time, he
likes to hunt, fish, garden, and attend Chiefs’ games. In fact, last reunion he said his biggest
mistake in life was “not buying 5 season tickets from the Kansas City Chiefs 30 years ago
instead of 4. (Who would have known that we would have three children and that they
would fight over who gets to go?)” The perfect day for Steve would be spending it all with
his family. High on his bucket list? Well, he says he doesn’t really have a bucket list because
he is content with the things he has done. But he adds maybe something else will catch his
interest. His best answer is for what he would redo in his life—“I would have built my house
on more level ground!’” So funny, and so many of us can relate!
Steve says the friends he made and things he experienced in high school have become
more and more important to him through the years. He wants everyone to know that hardly a
day goes by that he doesn't see, speak to, or think about one of his classmates, and his overall
high school experience is an important part of his life and the lives of his family. He truly
hopes that as we get on in years that we will remember and appreciate all of our fellow
classmates and how positively they have influenced our lives since high school. He adds,
"I'm proud of where we came from and proud of what we have become. It's hard to imagine
how different each of our lives might have been had we not been forced together by fate and
law over 45 years ago, but I'm sure we would all be lesser persons today if we hadn't had
each other. Thanks to all of you for letting me be a part of this amazing group of people."
He adds this year, “I fondly remember my high school years and have a high regard and
respect for all of my classmates.” If you have lost TWO of your best buddies, as Steve has,
reunions and life take on a whole new meaning.
*Hickman, Debbie
23 W. Hurt St.
Liberty, MO 64068
Phone: 816-721-3801
We finally tracked down Debbie after 30 years of her being lost, through Mark
Edmondson’s sister who went to the same church Debbie did, and we were blessed to enjoy
Debbie at the 35th Reunion! Now we have lost her again. She was still enjoying the single
life in Liberty, where she had worked at RC Printing since 1977 the last update we had. She
did run the press and do the computer graphics, but we don’t know if she has retired yet or
not. Before joining the printing business, she worked at TG & Y for awhile, and also at a
floral nursery. She loves spending time with her family, especially her two nieces and two
nephews, and a couple of reunions ago she said she had started to play golf again and also to
play the guitar again (which she used to play in high school). She has also been very active
in softball and other sports throughout the years. No new updates this time—again. ☹
**Hite Walker, Myrna

1355 S. Mission Ave.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-599-9958
Myrna graduated from Southwest Baptist University in 1978 with a BS in education,
and after teaching 2nd, 4th, and 5th grade at Pleasant Hope for 9 years and getting her Masters
in Education in 1981, she decided college teaching was the place for her. So she started
teaching full-time at SMSU in 1986—study skill classes to undergrads and education classes.
She also taught some grad classes at SBU in Bolivar. She ended up coauthoring a study skills
college textbook called Thrills, Spills, and Study Skills, and learned you can't get rich being
an author. She was even the Advisor for the SMSU men’s basketball team for two horrible
years, and then ended up supervising close to 500 student teachers in surrounding schools for
Missouri State University for 21 years before she retired in 2017, with 39 total years in
teaching.
Myrna spent her single years traveling (cruising to the Caribbean, visiting Hawaii,
Mexico, and Europe twice), and finally married at the ripe old age of 35. The Walkers also
owned a storage business and ran a cattle operation. The marriage to Greg brought Chelsea
Raine (then 13 months) as an added bonus, and Myrna says her greatest accomplishments
were adding Autumn Joy and Dustin Scott to their lives when she was 37 and 40. Her
greatest sadness has been in losing Chelsea in January of 2008 due to an accidental drug
overdose. She has no grandkids yet, but several substitute grandchildren that fill her life with
much joy and yet she can go home to much peace as well.
Myrna stays busy in her church, having taught an adult Sunday School class for 26
years and being in the music ministry there. She still loves to travel and now that she is
retired, and unfortunately single again after 25 years of marriage, will go anywhere anytime
and with almost anyone (not really). Her main traveling buddies are Terri Kellner Haines
and Janeth Reichert, and they have had great adventures in Iceland, the Rhine, Alaska, the
Azores, the East Coast, seeing the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, and Niagara.
They also still get together at least once a week for dinner and a movie, sometimes two!
Myrna has traveled with her kids to Austria, Greece, and Switzerland, and has also gone to
the Holy Land. This year she will have just returned from Ireland right before our reunion
and will be going to Switzerland right after the reunion. What she does for fun, her perfect
day, and her bucket list all involve traveling.
Myrna says she is supremely happy in life, and feels like this is perhaps the best season
of life she has ever experienced. Except for the total knee replacement she had in January,
which was perhaps the worst physical thing she has ever experienced, she is happy, fairly
healthy, and getting less wise by the minute.
If she could have a redo, it would be college so she could get more involved. That’s why
she tries to jump into things with both feet now. She feels blessed and is very thankful to
God for her life.
*Hockaday, Jo-Nyla
2624 Ridge Brook Trail
Duluth, GA 30096
Phone: 770-356-2354
Jo-Nyla started working directly out of high school and attended college. She worked
as the Master Data Associate in the Global Nonwovens Dept. for the Kimberly-Clark
Corporation out of Roswell, Georgia, but now she works part-time at Gwinnett Coalition for
Health and Human Services answering calls for those facing homelessness, domestic
violence, facing eviction, etc.
Jo-Nyla is still active in her local church—and still teaches the 5-11 year old kids.
She also loves singing on the Praise and Worship Team, and teaches her Sunday School kids.
She says that those kids are like her own children (but she does own 3 fur-kids—2 dogs and 1
cat).
During her free time, she enjoys watching lifetime movies, playing computer games,
and playing with her animals. The biggest mistake made in her life, she feels, was that she
got married to the wrong man—not the one God would have chosen for her. She really has
no desire to meet and marry again. She is content with her singleness and will only get
married again if it is in God’s will and plan for her life. She says she has plenty to keep her
busy so loneliness isn’t an issue as she enjoys her life serving in her local church.
As far as her greatest accomplishments in life, Jo-Nyla has two: she survived the
deepest, darkest part of depression through the help of her church. Secondly, twelve years
ago she weighed almost 300 pounds, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol,
osteoporosis, high blood pressure, and practically had one foot in the grave and one foot
out. Her doctor told her that if she didn’t make a change soon, in 6 months or less she
would end up dead. So for the next 12 years she struggled but finally she worked with her
doctor and has lost has lost over 150 pounds, and gone from wears size 26-28 to size 16-18
clothing! She says it has been a battle, but she has survived with the Lord Jesus and the
leading of the Holy Spirit to beat the “battle of the bulge”! She feels so much better and
enjoys life serving Jesus in her local church.
However, when I contacted Jo Nyla, she said she would not be able to attend this
reunion because she had a stroke in August of this year and is still recovering. But she
said, “God bless the Class of 1974.” We say, “God bless Jo Nyla and give her good
health!”
**Hofstetter Norgren, Jerolyn

1908 SW 11th St.
Blue Springs, MO 64015
Phone: 816-507-7856
Jerolyn married Ed in 1976, attended SMSU, and became a Medical Technologist.
Jerolyn worked at Cerner Corporation for several years as a product specialist, but got to
retire in November of 2021. She worked for years in hospitals and reference labs, and the
company she worked for last developed and supported medical institution software. She has
taken dance lessons and electric organ lessons because she likes all types of music (except
some country), and she likes to plant herbs and perennials in the spring and grow tomatoes.
The Norgrens moved to Blue Springs years ago, and their son graduated from UMKC with a
degree in elementary education.
Jerolyn has a son, Pete, who is married to Stephanie, and has given Jerolyn wonderful
grandchildren--Theo, Lena, Gemma, and then there are the cutest twin girls in the world, Ivy
and Fern!! Unfortunately, Jerolyn is a widow now, but her grandkids keep her busy. In the
past, Jerolyn taught Sr. High Sunday School, sang in a gospel choir in her church, and if there
was any time left over, she read a lot—especially science fiction, fantasy, or action/adventure
novels. She also loved dancing, good food, good wine, good company, and antique shops.
Now she adds that she loves to listen to music, and play cards. High on Jerolyn’s bucket list
is to go to Hawaii, and a perfect day for her would be to walk in flower gardens!
She agrees with some of her classmates that have said no real mistakes have been made,
just experiences to learn by. Her greatest accomplishment made in her life is being a kind,
decent person. We would agree that that describes Jerolyn!
*Hoover Dickerson, Debbie

1871 E. 360th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-599-1176
Debbie graduated from Southwest Baptist University in May of 1976 and started
teaching immediately. She received her Masters from Drury in 1991. She is married to
Russell Dickerson, and they live on a farm at Polk. They raise registered Angus cattle, mixed
stock cattle, and donkeys. They also raised Dustin and Ryan! Debbie has taught Family and
Consumer Science at Bolivar Middle School, but she may be retired now, and she farms with
Russ. The Dickersons enjoy spending time working on their farm and with their livestock,
and spending time with their family and friends, not the least of whom are their grandsons—
Anthony and Devin!
Debbie’s best memory of BHS is lunch and study hall with her friends. ☺ She would
like to retire someday and just farm with Russ and their boys. (That still sounds like work to
us!) If she could go anywhere and do anything, she would build a new home on her farm up
by the lake, retire, enjoy her family, and help with the family farms. We think Debbie
LOVES living and working on a farm! No new updates from Debbie.
**Hopkins, Les
861 E. 477th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-327-5106
Les has worked in Springfield as a delivery truck driver at Loren Cook Company for at
least 38 years, but he finally retired in 2019. He says his first marriage lasted 13 years, and
then he married Donna in 1991. Donna gave him three step-children—Randy, Jason, and
Craig Moody. He also has two grandchildren—Haydn and Julian. Les and Donna are proud
to own a farm within a mile of where he grew up, and Les still loves farming. That, in fact, is
what he likes to do during his free time—farm and raise cattle! What a great life—to love
your work so much that it is what you want to do in your free time! The perfect day for Les?
Riding around on his UTV with his dog and checking cows! He says the biggest mistake
made in his life was . . . lots of them! A redo he would like in life is that he would choose a
different job. (The editor wants to ask him what he would choose. He worked so faithfully at
the job he did have!) His greatest accomplishment made so far is living to be 68! Ha!
**Hudson, Rev. Dennis

5905 Circle Drive North
North Richland Hills, TX 76180
Phone: 817-727-6410
Dennis moved to Texas where he went to seminary, and received a Masters of
Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1987. He married
Diana in 1986, so they have been married 37 years now! In 1987 he became the pastor of
Providence Baptist Church in New Bloomfield, MO, and that church was 161 years old!
Dennis and Diana have two daughters— Heather (Pelton), and Hawke (Patterson). No
grandchildren as of yet. He then became the pastor of Saginaw Park Baptist Church in Texas
for quite awhile, but retired in April of 2023.
But Dennis is not your stereotypical pastor! Do you know what he likes to do during his
free time? Travel on his motorcycle! Who would have thunk it??? His greatest achievement
that he is proud of is that as the Director of Northeast Ministries he started and supervised
twenty-one different ministries for the Baptist denomination. Wow! The biggest regret that
he has in life is one that many ministers seem to have, as well as many fathers in general—he
feels he did not invest enough time in his daughters.
Since he is now retired, he wants to continue to ride his motorcycle and travel, and high
on his bucket list is to visit all of the lower 48 states on said motorcycle!!! The perfect day
for Dennis would be riding through Yellowstone National Park with his family (probably not
on motorcycles!). If he could have a redo in life, it would be in his education. He would
have gone on to get his Doctorate.
Huffman, N.C.
2149 E. Sunshine 310C
Phone: 417-887-4904
N.C. (Noel Crawford) was a special guest with us for our 40th Reunion. He was our
classmate in 1st and 2nd grade before his family moved away. He heard about the reunion
through the newspaper, and wanted to catch up with old friends, and we were delighted that
he came then and has stayed in touch! N.C. graduated with a BA in Education from Drury in
1978, began his teaching career at Nixa in the fall of 1978, and was fortunate to spend 32
years there--his entire teaching career. He retired from full-time teaching in 2010 and has
lived in Springfield since 1982. Since then he has been a substitute teacher for Nixa and subs
when it fits in with his schedule.
N.C. says he enjoys retirement but is spending a lot of time now helping his parents still
try to live independently at the home he grew up in. His passion is sports--mainly the big
three of baseball, basketball, and football at mostly the collegiate and professional levels. He
also loves old movies, the Beatles, Elvis, popular music, palm trees, blue oceans, and
summer weather—particular in Hawaii and San Diego!! During his free-time he loves to
visit with family and friends, travel, go to music concerts, collect sports collectibles, and
follow St. Louis Cardinals baseball.
N.C. says the biggest mistake made in his life was not finishing up his Masters degree.
But he says his greatest accomplishments made in his life have been his rewarding career in
teaching, helping his parents as they have gotten older, and being of service to people.
*Hughes Mincks, Jennifer

342 Osceola
Fordland, MO 65652
Phone: 417-298-7656
Jennifer trained in nursing after graduation, and graduated from Warrensburg VoTech in
1975 as an LPN. She then worked for a doctor in Buffalo from 1975-1978, and in 1979
moved to Colorado Springs to work at Pan Rose Hospital. After marrying, she moved to
Minneapolis in 1980, and in 1982, Lucia was born. Three years later, Monique was born,
and then came Virginia. Her daughters have added other amazing little family members—
Hannah Grace, Malina, Arianna, and Chance. There may be other grandchildren now as well
that we are not aware of.
Eventually Jennifer moved back to Bolivar where she was a nurse at CMH in the out-
patient department. During that period of her life, she loved two-stepping or dancing of any
kind, plus woodworking and crafts. In the past several years, Jennifer has married Greg and
relocated to Fordland, where she continues to nurse. In fact, she has no plans for retirement,
because she says she will probably have to work until she is 75! But if she could be
anywhere, she would still be at home. Her best memory of high school is graduation, and as
far as if there is anything else she wants her classmates to know, she says, ‘Not that I can tell
you.” Hmmmmm . . . ☺
Jennifer would like to come to our reunions, but unfortunately for about 22 years now she
has been almost deaf. It is very difficult to hear or read lips in big crowds and aids of any
kind don’t really help on the phone either. This makes us very sad because we would love to
see Jennifer’s beautiful smile! We will be thinking of her and others of our class that cannot
be there, either because of distance or because of health reasons.
*Hutcheson (Cooke), Dan

98-1951C Kaahumanu St.
Aiea, Hawaii 96701
Phone: 808-551-2196
E-mail: [email protected] Website: https://www.wardvillage.com
Dan attended SMSU for one year after graduation, and worked as a disc jockey for
KWTO in Springfield for a short time, and then went on to attend the University of Hawaii
and the University of California at San Diego. For the majority of 34 years, he lived and
worked in Honolulu. There was a three year stretch split between jobs in Philadelphia and
San Diego, but Hawaii was his real home. He paid the bills by working in the broadcasting
industry, about half the time in radio, and the remainder in television news. He was even
rated the #1 disc jockey in Honolulu, and was a favorite MC for all sorts of proms and beauty
pageants. His radio name was Captain Cook there, but he became Dan Cook at WWSH—a
radio station in Philadelphia. On the side, he hosted sports entertainment programs on ESPN,
USA Network, Outdoor Life, and the Health Network. He spent one year as CEO of a
startup cell phone news service in partnership with Dow Jones & Company, and then he
returned to morning radio in order to afford more time with his family—Rob and Nikki. His
title was “Morning Radio Personality”, and his work name was Dan Cooke.
Dan moved to the Beach Cities area of Los Angeles in June of 2007 for the position of
Director of Sales and Marketing at Terranea Resort Real Estate. Prior to that he was with
Centex Destination Properties in Hawaii as Sales Manager for Do Olina Resort Real Estate.
He changed his name legally to Cooke when he became involved in real estate because the
law requires you use your legal name, and no one knew him as “Hutcheson” in Hawaii. He
still is involved in Luxury High-Rise Real Estate, and is now living back in Hawaii. He was
the Morning TV Weather Anchorman for quite a few years before retiring from that. He
married Kehau in 2014, who, interestingly enough, happened to be born the day Dan moved
to Hawaii in 1976! Kehau also blessed him with son Bodhi, and who will probably always
earn Dan with the Class of ’74 title of “Youngest Child”. Those who are friends with Dan on
FaceBook know that Bodhi is the light of Dan’s life!!
After stepping down as the weather anchorman, Dan now works with The Howard
Hughes Corporation as a real estate sales executive at Ward Village in Honolulu selling
homes that it costs too much for most of us to even look at. (See his website.)
Dan’s biggest mistake in life? He says there are so many things that he could have done
better or differently. (That would be true for most of us, right?) His greatest accomplish-
ments in life are his three wonderful children, he says, and he adds that he feels blessed.
He cannot attend our 50th due to having already made two trips to the mainland this
year due to the illness and death of his beloved sister Debra Jo, and we will miss his smiling
face!
*Hutcheson Carter, Jill

2732 E. Seminole
Phone: 417-839-0349
Jill graduated from Drury with a BS degree, and then returned to earn her Masters
degree. She taught 3rd grade in Springfield at McGregor, and married Tom in 1987. The
Carters have been married for 37 years now. They have a son named Cole that is married,
but we don’t know the status of grandchildren. Jill has retired from the teaching profession
after teaching for 27 years, but we really don’t believe she was ever a teacher, because she
writes so very little information on her form, and most of the teachers we know are
talkers!!!
She says she loves to travel in her free time, and she also loves yoga, reading, and
spending time with family and friends. Hey, we are friends, Jill!! Come spend time with us
at this reunion!! 😊 But she can’t this reunion because they will be on a family trip that
they have had planned for quite a while. She says for us to enjoy the reunion!
*Jackson, Cindy
1526 S. Madison Ave, Apt 2
Tulsa, OK 74120
Phone: 918-845-3325
Contact Person: Shannon White [email protected] 918-798-1339
After graduation, Cindy worked for Springfield Better Homes as a secretary for several
years, but then moved to Oklahoma and worked at Roberts Auto Center as the accountant for
a while. But last we heard, she was a full-time stay-at-home grandma! Her two girls are
Shannon and Courtney, daughters of another classmate, Carl Koon. Her grandchildren are
Noah from mom Courtney, and Macy from mom Shannon.
What does she like to do in her free time? You won’t believe it!! Spend time with her
grand-babies! Oh, and walk. Good grief, this grandma must love those kids!!! Her answer
to what was the biggest mistake made in her life? “None made yet.” Now THAT is the
Cindy we remember! Ha! Greatest accomplishment made in your life? Take a guess! “My
girls and grandchildren.” We knew it!
Cindy can’t come to our 50th Reunion because it is her mom’s 90th birthday weekend and
she will be celebrating that momentous occasion with her.
*Jacobs, John
5270 Westwood Drive
St. Charles, MO 63304
Phone:
E-mail:
John spent four years in the Navy, and then became an Admissions Rep for a business
college. He then went into coffee sales, working for Jackson Brothers Coffee distributing
vending machines for large companies. Somewhere along the way he married Patty, and had
Autumn and Johnny. After a while, he became a sales manager at Harter Meat Company in
St. Charles. John is single again, and we have tried to track him down, but to no avail.
**Jarman Lloyd, Ruth

859 S. Luster
Phone: 417-860-4678
Ruth and Don Lloyd have been married since May 25, 1974, and as she puts it, "for
forever plus 6 months". They lived in Bolivar for a very short time and then moved to
Springfield where they raised their two sons. Their sons are Michael (with wife Sara) and
Justin (with wife Noelle). Somehow these honery boys produced perfect grandchildren
which are named Gracyn (from Justin), and Elica and Standon from Mike.
Ruth finally retired January 1st, 2021, but before that she worked in the Children's
Division of Social Services in Ozark. Previous to that, she worked for 19 years with
Springfield Lincoln Mercury Sales. Ruth's interests are her children and Don Lloyd. What
she likes to do for fun is spend time with her children, but she says, “Donnie is fun too!” She
loves working in her church with the babies and has also volunteered at Mercy Hospital as a
baby rocker in the NICU unit. (We bet she was great at that!) You know what she likes to do
during her free time? She says, “be with my man!” This time she adds that the perfect day
for her would be “to lay on the beach with my honey. . .” She says her greatest
accomplishments in life are her children and her sweet husband. Do we see a theme going
on here? But, as usual, Ruth is so funny! When asked what is high on her bucket list, she
says, “My bucket is too full now!” The only thing she would like a redo on in life is that she
would have liked to go to nursing school.
The funniest thing she remembers about high school is David Eversoll and John Jacobs
jumping out of the window in Mrs. Higg's class. She says she never dreamed that they might
have broken their legs! But every day after Mrs. Higgs took roll, they scooted on their way.
Yes, those boys always were fast learners!
If Ruth could go back to high school days, she says she would take the scholarship Mrs.
Hebbert offered her and go to college. She also feels her greatest mistake in life was not
going to work for the Federal Prison when she had the chance. (Really, Ruth? Nursing
school, maybe, but the Federal Prison system couldn’t have handled you!) She wants
everybody to know that God has richly blessed her and she really wouldn’t change anything.
Her memories of BHS are all wonderful. She says we had a good bunch of kids to call
friends. Yes, we certainly did! She also says to take one day at a time, because we are not
promised tomorrow.
**Jones, Kenny
3518 S. 162nd Rd.
Polk, MO 65727
Phone: 417-253-4441
Kenny married Dawn in 1981, and their family has expanded a lot! Here’s how it goes:
Daughter Kristi is married to John Hand and they have three wonderful kids—Alissa, Ethan,
and Cora. Son Michael has married Amanda and they have given grandchild Evan and
another unnamed child. (The child has a name, but we don’t know it, you understand.)
Youngest daughter Katie is married to Spencer Garretson and will be giving Kenny and
Dawn another grandchild this October. So that makes a total of six going on seven
grandchildren—so far!
Kenny is a farmer (of cows and hogs) and has worked at Bolivar Insulation for 41
years installing windows, but says he is semi-retired now. That probably means he is retired
from Bolivar Insulation, but not from the farm. . Kenny’s smile is still as big as ever!
Farmers never retire (we’ve heard), but during his free time the Jones do like to travel when
they can and go on brewery tours. The Jones went to Ireland in 2020 and again this year, it
appears from their Facebook posts!
Kenny says he doesn’t need a redo in life, and the perfect day for him is riding around the
farm with his dog. That sounds very nice, Kenny, and what a true farmer would post!
*Jump Madden, Marilyn

13122 W. 131st St.
Overland Park, KS 66213
Phone: 913-269-6602
Marilyn married and moved to Jefferson City after graduation. She lived there for
five years, and during that time her two boys were born—Jeremy and Cory. She remarried in
1981 and moved to Baton Rouge, LA, and then to Georgetown, Texas. Marilyn worked in
banking during this time. Lauren Madden-Dwight was born when they were in Elkhorn,
Nebraska, and Marilyn was working as a Loan Operations Supervisor for Western Security
Bank in Omaha. She has always been very active with sports—softball and sand volleyball
being two of her favorites. She settled in Overland Park about 16 years ago, where she did
work for the Bank of Blue Valley as the Vice President. Marilyn is single and as of the last
update was still working, but was hoping to retire by this reunion.
If she could be anywhere, at this time in her life, she is torn—she wants to be in
Overland Park to be around her children and grandchildren, but she also wants to be in
Bolivar to be with the rest of her family. To add to the side of Overland Park, she now also
has three grandchildren, Adreann, Mara, and John David.
During her free time, Marilyn likes to spend time with her family and do home and yard
projects. When asked what the biggest mistake is that she has made in her life, she answers,
“I wish I knew!” Evidently it wasn’t very big! Her greatest accomplishment in her life? She
is confident it is yet to come! Maybe during her retirement!
The good news is Marilyn (at least for us Bolivarites) is Marilyn in the process of
moving back to Bolivar to take care of her mom so she can stay in her own home longer. Her
mom will be 92 next month and has completely lost her hearting recently. The bad news is
that Marilyn won’t be coming to the reunion! She says to tell everyone hi and that she knows
we will have a wonderful time. She hopes to see us all at a later date.
**Keith, Lloyd
4217 S. 140th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-298-4014
Lloyd and Margie have celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary now AND they have
seven children-- Faithia and her husband Glen are teachers at Warrensburg and have 2 kids--
Addison and Landon, Hollie is a stay-at-home mom while her husband Adrain is a coach at
the University of Illinois. They have Avonmore, Roguen, Sabyn, Isleigh, and Ander. Steven,
better known as Tater, and his wife Tawny live in Oklahoma and Tater works in the oil fields
as a truck driver while Tawny works at the electric coop. Then there is son Derick, Thomas,
Josh, and Ryan, who evidently are still footloose and free! And somewhere in the mix, there
is another grandchild to make a total of eight!
Keith is retired now, but worked in the family upholstery business—LGK and Son
Upholstery for forever. Lloyd and Margie also own Margie Pearl’s House of Antiques in
Bolivar. But between the kids AND the grandkids, Lloyd says they stay busy, but IF they are
able to find any free time, they love to travel.
The biggest mistake Lloyd says he has made in his life was not having grandkids first—
before kids! But he does say his greatest accomplishments are his wife and kids, so those kids
can’t be too bad!
**Kellner Haines, Terri

4317 Penny Court
Ozark, MO 65721
Phone: 417-844-0821
After graduation, Terri went straight to SBU (SWBC back then), starting that summer!
She graduated in December, 1976, and got married the next day to Joe Haines, who was an
oil driller in Kansas. They moved to Kansas and lived there for three years, then moved to
Stockton and lived there for 17 more years. After being married for 20 years, Terri divorced,
but the marriage produced Katie Jo (Rantz-soon-to-be-Chalifoux) who travels around with
her significant other Joe Chalifoux living in an RV seeing the US and working at RV camps,
Jami Beth Schulte who lives in Ozark and teaches in Springfield, and Jody Ryan. Terri also
has 3 grandchildren—Xavier Alden Rantz, Stella Ryan Schulte, and Scout James Schulte.
Terri taught British Literature and drama in Greenfield for one year, but had to quit
due to Jody’s illness. When he began kindergarten, she started teaching Remedial Reading
K-6 in Humansville. Later she got her degree in Special Education and also finished her
Master’s degree. She taught in Stockton and in Reeds Spring, and also wrote a book while
doing her Master’s thesis. She sold the book to a publisher in California when she realized
that writing is too much work for too little pay, and bought a couch with the money. After
selling her house in Stockton, she moved to Springfield where she lived while she taught
special education at Central High School until she retired in 2016. She loves to travel—to
Washington, D.C., Boston, New Orleans, Iceland, the Azores, and even Egypt and Greece!
Her interests? She loves being with her grandchildren, reading, traveling, and being
with family and friends. In fact, she goes weekly to the movies with Janeth and Myrna, and
flea marketing at the most elite places. Yardwork is moving down on her list at a rapid pace.
Terri remembers the day that she met Myrna and Charlotte in 1st grade. She pulled
Myrna's finger back as an ice-breaker, but it must've hurt. And Charlotte! Terri says she had
never seen a kid who had such deep dimples! She was fascinated by her. Then 8th grade
brought Janeth. She met her first in Catechism at church and was so happy that she could
join Susan and Buddy and her in their little circle. She had no idea that she would be the one
person in this world whom she didn't deserve as a friend (her words, not ours). She says that
Janeth is the one person who has never let her down and has never talked badly about another
person, rarely curses, and is a rock for her. Terri continues, "I also didn't know that Myrna
prayed to God to send a buffer so that we could stay friends and Janeth still to this day keeps
us in our separate corners until the bell rings to come out fighting."
Susan introduced Terri to science fiction in the fifth grade and Twila came into the
circle of friends in high school. There were a lot of peripheral people in her life whom she
still calls "friend" and means it down to her toes. She says, "I have come to know that in
these years they saved me. Every one--Julie, Amy, Stephanie, and all the others helped to
make me a better person. Mention a name, and I can give an example! I could have gone the
other way. I wanted to be more. I wanted to become productive and to be someone who
would do something great. ALL of my classmates in some way made me who I am today.
I'm a great mom, grandmother, teacher, friend, neighbor. And yet I'm so much more because
of you. . ."
Her children and grandchildren are her greatest accomplishments in life. She cannot
believe how smart, funny and amazing they all are in their own ways! (She will be glad to
tell you about them if you have some time.) She says, “It seems that I can say that I’ve
changed the world because they are in it.”
High on Terri’s bucket list is to travel as long as she can and see how her grandchildren
grow up. The perfect day for her would be another day in Egypt with her daughters, Myrna,
Janeth and her sister-in-law Ruth Kellner. Would she want to redo anything in life? She says,
“No, I’d just make the same mistakes.” Probably true for most of us.
*Knickel Peak, Janice

241 E. Route W. #11
Walnut Grove, MO 65770
Phone: 417-995-2027
Janice went to Baptist Bible College for 1 ½ years after graduation, but her dad got sick
and she was needed at home, so she quit. After her dad passed away, Janice and her mom
moved to Springfield. There she worked at the Sommers-White Vision Clinic until she and
Larry married in 1979. She was able to be a stay-at-home mom with her children after they
were born. Joshua is married to Misty, and Melissa may still be single. The Peaks lived in
Springfield for 5 ½ years, then moved to Rogersville and lived there for 7 years. In 1992
they moved to a small farm between Walnut Grove and Dadeville, where they currently live.
Larry owns Peaks' Feed and Farm in Dadeville.
Throughout the years they have been foster parents to several foster children, plus
Larry’s niece and nephew lived with them, and Janice has done childcare as an occupation.
So, the Lord has allowed them to be used in the lives of children—especially in the lives of
their grandchildren—McKenna, Carson, and two or 3 more that we don't know the names of
as of this update. They’ve also been active in their church and their children’s schools.
Janice owns her own business now--"Aunt Nellie's Homespun Heartworks" located on
Main Street in Dadeville. It is open on Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
so drop on by and see her!
**Koon, Carl
403 S. Main
Nixa, MO 65714
Phone: 417-699-5059
Carl was Production Manager for Universal Flowers in Springfield for quite a while
and then managed Snow Bluff which was located between Bolivar and Springfield. He now
has been working for 30 years at Nixa Pricecutter Grocery in the meat department, but says
“not for much longer.” He (along with Cindy Jackson) is the parent of Shannon Koon White
and Courtney Koon Cheatwood. Courtney made Carl grandpa by birthing Noah, and now
has added Dean and Benny, and then Shannon added Macy James, which Carl is very happy
about!
Carl, during his free time, likes to spend time with his family—his 5 sisters, grandkids,
great-grandkids, so many cousins, nieces, nephews, greats-. He says that a family party is
colorful chaos with littles everywhere! He loves spending time at the Lake House at Table
Rock Lake! High on his bucket list is another trip to Colorado. The perfect day for Carl ii s
day at the Lake House and all the surroundings!
When asked if he would like a redo on anything in life, his answer is great: “I’d do it all
over again. Everything.” He puts a “?” after the question about what his greatest mistake is
in life, but he has no doubts about what his greatest accomplishment is in his life—his two
beautiful daughters and his grandkids!
*Krtek Campbell, Iola

423 E. Division
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-327-3096
No e-mail, but does FaceBook
Iola is married to James Campbell and they have been married for 46 years. They are
the proud parents of Jason and Vanessa. Iola has worked and raised a family here in Bolivar
for most of the past 50 years. She worked at Bolivar Nursing Home for several years, and
then she was on the production line at Teters Floral Products for the last 20+ years until it
closed down, where she worked hard at making memorial flowers. Iola's children have
blessed her with two granddaughters; Jason has given her Sydney and Cooper, and Vanessa
has given her Emma!
*Lee, Roger
130 W. South St.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-399-3939
Roger has worked in construction for the last 35+ years, but he has finally retired! He
traveled a four-state area to do commercial flooring all of those years that he worked. His
wife Vicki is a Family Services case worker for the state, and we are not sure if she has
retired yet or not. They have been married 43 years and have two boys—Justin and Jared.
Both boys appear to be unattached and have not given Roger and Vicki any grandchildren to
spoil yet.
Roger says that he loves to cruise during his free time! The biggest mistakes made in
his life were not mistakes—only learning moments. Such a smart philosophy to pass on to
young people! His greatest accomplishments were his 48-year marriage (yes!) and his two
sons! This is by far the most common answer, although the 48-year marriage is NOT a
common answer! Congratulations, Roger and Vicki!!
**Lenz, Mike
4218 S. 103rd Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-770-2793
Mike married Cherolyn at age 21, and they started their family, which eventually
consisted of Michelle, Caleb, Levi, and Jonathan. Through the years, they have added
grandchildren—Michael, Daniel, Loralie, Matthew, Roman, Krystiana, James, Mackenzie,
Elle, Grace, and Camden! Wow! What a bunch! Mike began working for Southwest
Electric Cooperative at age 25, and just retired in 2020.
He and his family have been very active at First Baptist Church for many years, and
they also enjoy the outdoors and farming, family, Bible study, hunting, and piddling with
guns. His plans for retirement at last update were to have some time to sit and relax on his
back deck that overlooks their property. But now for fun he likes to sit in his recliner and
watch Looney Tunes with his grandkids. Being a grandpa changes your plans!
His best memory of high school is when Carl Robertson blew up his car motor on the
school parking lot. Carl then said, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. He sure as
___ took my Buick away.” Mike really has no bucket list. He is just going to take each day
as it comes. His perfect day would be “rain, rain, and more rain so the hay will grow!” Mike
leaves his classmates with these two bits of wisdom—1) We’re getting old and 2) God is
good.
*Lewis, Faye
509 E. Montclair Apt. 2-D
Phone: 417-425-3671
Faye worked for Cox Health in Ozark for Dr. Hallie for several years, but the last we
knew she worked in commercial insurance as a biller out of Ozarks Community Hospital
(formerly Doctor’s Hospital of Springfield). Her children are both married: Stephanie
(Mayes) and Michael Greenlee. Her kids have given her amazing grandchildren:
Haley, Katelyn, and Ashlie Mayes, and then Maddie and Mylie Greenlee. So, Faye keeps
very busy as a grandma too! As far as retirement goes, when last we heard from Faye, she
said it was too soon to tell. But she is content with her life, so if she could choose anything
to be doing differently now, she wouldn’t. Did you know that Faye’s first name is NOT
Faye? Ask her what it is! It is amazing the things you find out when you edit this book!
*Lewis, James
420 N. Meadow Lane
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-326-5321
James has two children—Lisa Koch and Jamie Simmons. His awesome grandchildren
from Lisa are Zackery and Mikaila, and Jamie’s children are daughter Hanna, daughter Graie,
son Noah, daughter Ellie, and son Samuel. James was a supervisor at Tracker Marine before
it shut down, and he is retired now. Before Tracker, he worked for Hammons Products
Company in Stockton and was also in the Air Force Reserves, which allowed him to travel—
including to Germany.
James has been married to Chris (Ethridge) for 47 years now! If he could be anywhere
and do anything, all he knows is that he would be happy, because he says he is happy
wherever he is! We say that is a wonderful attitude!! In his free time, he enjoys reading
classic books, building model kits with Hannah and Noah, watching movies, and playing old
war games!
When asked about what the biggest mistake made in his life was, he answers that he
feels he retired from the Air Force too soon. But when asked what he feels was his greatest
accomplishment is, he replies, “This would have to be my family.” Yep, great answer!
*Liston, Steve
15 Rains Way
Houston, TX 77007
Phone: 713-882-8547
Steve, our former class president, is a man of few words. His autobiography formerly
stated: “College, graduate school, moved to Texas in 1979 and still here.” BUT things have
changed. Steve has married and moved to California and is now back in Texas. His
occupation was listed as Petrochemical Export and his work status is now listed as “working
hard!” He earned a degree at SMSU, spent one year in school in Arizona where he earned his
Masters at the American Graduate School of International Management in Phoenix, moved to
Kansas City, and then moved to Houston. He was employed with Sol-Tex Polymer
Corporation in international marketing, and eventually formed his own company that sells
polymers (plastics) to foreign countries. The company is called Montachem, and the website
is www.montachem.com. Montachem also has offices in New Orleans, Tampa, and possibly
Miami, according to a reliable source.
Steve married Mary Catherine about 14 years ago. The funniest thing he remembers
about high school is graduating with the first "colored" class from BHS! Steve says his
interests are enjoying the great outdoors, and when asked about what he likes to do during his
free time, his answer is: keep moving. The good news is that he doesn’t think he has made
his biggest mistake yet in life (or is that the bad news), and as far as his greatest
accomplishment made in his life? Well, that was that he survived BHS!
**Little, Dr. Bliss

5662 W. Orchid Lane
Chandler, AZ 85226
Phone: 480-598-9664
Bliss received her Bachelor of Music degree from SBU, her Masters of Music from
the University of Kansas, and her Ph D from the University of Maryland. She married
Benjamin Broome in 1979, and they have been married 45 years now! They lived and
worked in Athens, Greece in 1980-81 (how exciting is that!!) and they then moved to the
Washington, D.C. area and stayed there until 1999. While there she was the Managing
Director for the Fairfax Choral Society, and taught music history, theory, and world music
courses at George Mason University and the University of Maryland. She received a
Fulbright Dissertation Fellowship to do research in Athens, Greece, so they headed back
there from 1993-94, and then lived in Cyprus from 1994-95. Bliss and Ben moved back to
the States (Phoenix) in 1999, and she currently is a faculty member in the School of Music
at Arizona State University teaching music history and world music courses in the
classroom and online. Bliss stays busy teaching, writing articles, and presenting papers at
conferences about modern Greek music, but she does plan to retire soon. In fact, in news
hot off the press, she took the plunge and backed off to teaching only online classes this
year.
During her free time, Bliss loves travelling, hiking, exercising, reading, listening to
music (of course), watching movies, and cooking. If she ever does retire, she would like to
continue doing what she enjoys. She says she really doesn’t have a biggest mistake in her
life; she has few regrets thus far. So. no real need for a redo. But as for the greatest
accomplishment—well, she says she will have to think about that . . .
High on Bliss’ bucket list is to travel to a few new places, return to some favorite spots,
and visit old friends. The perfect day for her would be walking in a beautiful location, which
would either be the seaside or mountains, eating well, spending time with family and
friends, reading, then watching the sunset. Ah! Perfection! Since Bliss and Ben visited their
families in May and will be traveling home again in December, they can’t make another trip
back for the reunion, but Bliss sends her best wishes to everyone for a memorable time!
**Matchell, Steve
1803 Villa View Drive
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
Phone: 479-957-2882
Steve graduated from John Brown University in 1978 with a secondary education
degree in Biology, and taught and coached for 40 years! WOW! He first taught junior high
science at Siloam Springs and was the assistant basketball coach at the high school before
becoming the high school biology and chemistry teacher, He retired in 2019. Steve is married
and has a son Brian and a daughter Corrie. The kids have given him three grandchildren:
Jakin, Anna, and Mikaiah.
Steve’s interests last update were woodworking and hunting, but this time he left out
hunting and added reading. He says that he has made too many mistakes to count much less
to pick the biggest one. But his greatest accomplishment made in his life were those 40 years
of teaching and coaching in public schools! High on his bucket list is to read more books!
Steve’s perfect day? Reading and woodworking!
**McBride Fleeman, JoNeita

4425 Airport Drive
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-327-3431
JoNeita married Kenny in 1975 and so they have been happily married for 48 years!
and have two children—Kendra Shenelle Mauck who gave them two grandchildren—
Nathaniel Ray (Nate) and Skyelynn Faith and their son Kody Joe (with wife Jennifer) who
has given them Kenley Jo and Kooper James. JoNeita worked as a bookkeeper for
Mattingly’s Department Store in Bolivar for seven years and then worked at Jim’s Auto Parts
and sold Home Interiors for three years. She became a teller at Commerce Bank while
Kenny drove 18-wheelers commercially (four of them!!). The Fleemans even raised emus
for a while! JoNeita then worked at Bank of Bolivar as the Personal Banking Rep for many
years. When asked about retirement, Jo says, “What retirement?! I spend all of my paycheck
on my children and grandchildren!” If she could be anywhere, though, she would be closer
to her children and grandchildren so they could do more things together. Kendra and her
family live in Nebraska, and Kody and Jennifer live in Columbia, MO. The perfect day for
JoNeita is to be with family.
During JoNeita’s free time she likes to spend time with her family, especially cooking
for family and friends (and she is a great cook!), and she just loves to stay home. She also
loves to spend time with the love of her life, Kenny! She feels the biggest mistake she has
made in her life was not going on to further her education. But having two children that have
turned out “pretty darn good” is her greatest accomplishment in life. She says, “God has
blessed me with a wonderful family, a husband that loves me unconditionally, and children
and grandchildren that love and serve the Lord. What more could I ask for?”
*McGinnis, Charles
1030 E. 444th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-399-3473
Charles got married in 1979 to Debbi Roberts, and they started having kids and didn’t
stop until they had Isaac, Daberath, Whitney, and Denver. They farm on 300 acres raising
beef cattle. Debbi was the Polk County Collector for many years. The McGinnises continue
to be very active in Bolivar Young Farmers and even more active being with the grandkids—
Paislee, Korbin, Kanaan, Gemma. His plans for retirement include watching TV because if
he could be anywhere doing anything, he would still be here doing what he is doing. He says
he is retired, but it still consists of farming, which to us is not retired!!
During Charles’ free time he likes to go to McDonalds to talk with guys. That is a
beautiful picture of small town life, isn’t it? There were question marks after biggest mistake
and biggest accomplishment, so either those haven’t happened yet or can’t be recalled!
**McMillin Bowers, Cheryl

489 N. Barker
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-327-9263
Cheryl attended Burge School of Nursing after graduation, and worked at Cox Medical
Center for three years. She then moved to Denver where she worked for twelve years AND
where she met Tony, a Denver policeman, whom she married, and they have been married for
36 years now. They moved to Bolivar in 1992 and she started working at CMH as a
registered nurse. She has been retired since December of 2022. But Cheryl was very good at
her job, for those of us that have witnessed her skills!
Cheryl and Tony have a son named Chad. Cheryl is active in civic organizations and is
an avid American Cancer Society volunteer, since she has been a cancer survivor for 33
years. We are grateful for that!
Cheryl likes to garden, cycle, quilt, cook, play games, scuba dive (what??). In fact high
on her bucket list is to scuba dive in the South Pacific. The perfect day for Cheryl is a hike, a
bike ride, and then to kayak into the sunset. She says, “I treasure every day of my life and
the friends and family I hold dear. I enjoy class reunions not for the recollection of years past
but for the sharing of current happenings and getting to know people for who and what they
are now. It is not about the past for me, but the present and future." Isn’t that awesome?!
And, yes! That is why we have these things!
She says she can’t tell us the biggest mistake made in her life :-O, but listen to this! Her
greatest accomplishment made in her life was choosing to go to BHS for her senior year!
She says her family moved here before her junior year and she commuted to Greenfield.
After 1 year of that, she decided to go to Bolivar, much to her parents’ disappointment. But it
prepared her for her trip away from home to go to college and then to move to Colorado 3
years after college graduation. She was more confident in her ability to reach out to new
people and experiences and enjoy things that she might not otherwise have done. That in
turn led to meeting Tony, and for the last 36 years they have been working and playing
together and “it has been a wonderful ride!”
Anything Cheryl would like a redo on in life? Yes. Not having cancer.
Meador, Jeff December 1, 1956—May 25, 2016 59 years old

Jeff worked on a farm his whole life, and owned and operated a farm of beef cattle and
fescue seed crop. He loved the farm with his heart and soul, and also did some dirt bike
racing, but said that he enjoyed watching his son race even more! He was blessed to have the
opportunity to share his farming knowledge and wisdom with his son, Vince, for 5 years
before he passed away. He also had a lifelong passion for riding dirt bikes, floating the most
scenic and remote rivers the Ozarks has to offer, and of course, Jeff loved living on the edge.
He very much knew the meaning of man’s best friend. There wasn’t ever a time that you
wouldn’t see a dog in the back of his truck or on his 4-wheeler. He had the joy of having the
greatest companions a man could ask for—his beloved border collies Suzy, Bronco, and
Sally.
Jeff had an unfaltering love for his children—son Vince Isaac Meador (30) with
spouse Harley, daughters Meleah (37) with spouse Justin, and Molly (35) with spouse Alex
Carr, He expressed his love by raising his children in a Missionary Baptist Church. He knew
that God’s love was eternal, and his was not. God gloriously saved his soul one night in a
meeting at Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church in February of 1988.
Jeff is also survived by his girlfriend Lee Wainerwright; mother of his children Sheila
Meador, and two sweet loving granddaughters—Payton Grace Nutter and Coraline Rae
Black. Casket Bearers at his funeral were Eugene Sullivan, Tom Barham, Rex Jump,
Randall Wrinkle, Bobby Choate, Robert Burks, Wendell Welch, and Honorary Bearers were
John Hensley, Robbie Coleman, and Stacey Hall. Special Music was “I Need No Mansion
Here Below”, “I Want to Stroll Over Heaven With You”, and “Waiting at the Gate.” Jeff is
buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Bolivar. (taken from his obituary)
**Miller Johnson, Patricia

390 Portsmouth Court
Burlington, NC 27215
Phone: 336-324-1146
Patricia graduated from SBU with a Business Education degree, and taught eighth
grade history in Bolivar for a short time. She lived in Springfield for a while, working at the
Holiday Inn as Catering/Sales Manager, and as Administrative Sales Assistant at Universal
Flowers, a major importer and manufacturer of artificial silk flowers. Patricia then moved to
Birmingham, Alabama, where she worked as a district sales manager for Micro Magic
Systems. Somewhere along the line she met and married Richard, and they were blessed
with Benjamin Miller and Callie Ann. Both kids attended Appalachian State University in
Boone, North Carolina, and then they started falling IN LOVE (as the kids say it). Ben
married Morgan in December of 2022 and is the Service Center manager with Old Dominion
Freight Lines in Norcross, Georgia. Tricia says Callie is engaged to Aidan and hopefully
they will set a wedding date soon for next year!
Last reunion Tricia wrote that her work status was retired, but she seemed to spend all
her free time in the hospital becoming reconstructed in her hips and knees. Now that she is
the bionic woman, she wants to spend her free time traveling. She really likes being at a
beach sitting under an umbrella reading a book—any book! For fun she likes to read,
travel, and “irritate my darling husband Ricard.” As far as would Tricia like a redo on
anything in life, she says, “Oh, please no! Looking forward to tomorrow!” The perfect way
for her would be enjoying a travel adventure with her family.
She really wants someone to find out at this reunion who put the frog in Paula Rice’s
purse in Mrs. Neuhart’s biology class that made Paula scream and Mrs. Neuhart laugh—
really laugh—out loud. Paula doesn’t remember it, so someone else needs to ‘fess up! Tricia
says her biggest mistake in life doesn’t exist. Each mistake has made her grow as a person!
And her greatest accomplishment in life? Well, there are two. She says, “My two precious
children!”
Moore (Lague? Mason?), Pearline

No real information on Pearline at all—ever! However, through our investigation, we
think she was married to Ray Lague and lived in Peculiar, Missouri at one time, and then in
Springfield. She may have also been married to someone with a last name of Mason.
**Neely Jackson, Amy

934 Cambridge Dr.
Duncanville, TX 75137
Phone: 972-709-0815?
Amy graduated from Baylor University in 1977 with a BS in Education/Theatre. She
taught high school theatre at Duncanville High for 10 years and married in 1983. She
received her Masters degree in Theatre Arts at Baylor in 1984, and in 1988 she founded the
Duncanville Community Theatre (www.dctheatre.org) where she was responsible for 10
shows a year and is Executive Director! Amy says it is her full-time volunteer job!
In 1990, Amy changed jobs to work for A V Pro, Inc., a theatrical systems integrator
company that sells and installs sound, video, theatrical lighting and stage rigging systems and
equipment primarily in theaters, auditoriums and churches, AND in 1997, she married
again—her boss, Tom Fowlston, the owner of A V Pro (www.avpro-inc.com), and yes, she
says they do have different last names! She says that for the past 15 years she has been
mostly working at their company where she serves as Vice President & Sales Manager, but
working at the theatre keeps her doubly busy. She has no plans for retirement, but one day
we hope when she does retire she will make it to our reunion!!!!! She enjoys spending time
on the beach in Mexico, but she says she’d probably get tired of it if she actually lived there
and had to earn a living.
Amy has a stepdaughter and stepson from her first marriage that she considers her own
kids and she is “Grami” to their combined seven children. She also used to have 4 fur
babies—two that lived at home—Madeline and Delilah, and two that live at the office—
Phoebe and Cleo, but that may not be a current update, because they were old at the last
update.
For fun days, Amy likes to read, especially on the beach in Mexico, hang out with
friends, hike in Colorado, and drive her convertible faster than she says she probably should!
She says she doesn’t require a redo on anything in her life. We can see Amy now, driving in
her convertible!!!
*Neill, Blane
4568 S. 100th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-326-6376
E-mail: none
After good ole’ BHS, Blane spent a lot of time traveling and had several different jobs
locally, like being a salesman for Bolivar Insulation and a truck driver for Moorman Feed.
But for a long time now he has been in farming and raising cattle. He married Terry in
1983, and they have a son, Jacob. He says, “Pretty boring history, huh?” But he used to be a
wild builder and racer of dune buggies!
During his free time he likes to engage in target shooting with pistols and rifles! That
sounds like the wilder Blane! He says the biggest mistake he has made in his life was his
first marriage, BUT the greatest accomplishment made in his life has been marrying Terry
and having their son Jacob! Great accomplishments! Congrats on your 40-year marriage!
**Neuhart Neely, Melody

959 Kennebec Rd.
Hampden, Maine 04444
Phone: 734-972-5170
After high school, Melody spent 14 years working in Retail Management in California,
Kansas, and Colorado. In 1988, she moved to Michigan and married Bob Neely, a 1972
BHS graduate and brother of Amy!! For awhile she worked at a boutique in Ann Arbor
selling women’s clothing, and even designed and knitted sweaters for her own sweater
company. In 1990 she had the opportunity to resume her college education and received her
undergraduate degree in biology in 1994. Graduate school followed at the University of
Michigan and she received her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology in July of 1998. This
was followed by two years in St. Louis doing post-doctoral research at Washington
University. Then she served as an Associate Professor of Immunology and Microbiology at
Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, where she had a research
lab and taught graduate and medical students. Melody even had the great honor of being
selected to belong to the BHS Alumni Hall of Fame in 2003! She currently is still teaching
and is Professor AND Chair of the Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences at the
University of Maine. She ha a research lab where her students study infectious disease, and
she also teaches genetics. Instead of gearing down to retire, Melody has stepped up her pace
to become Chair of her Department! She thought she would be retired by this reunion, but
no!
Melody and Bob’s only children have fur—5 dogs. She says that during her free time
she loves to spend time walking with those furry critters and being outside in nature—
walking in the woods, kayaking canoeing, hiking, etc. She also loves to do inside things, like
working with fiber arts—spinning, weaving tapestries, knitting=making things!!
Melody has the best answer for the biggest mistake and greatest accomplishment in her
life. She says they both can be answered by the same answer—“My life has been great and I
have no complaints!” She would like a redo on a lot of things, but not really anything major.
Melody says the perfect day for her is not going anywhere and not having any plans—just
being able to hang out. We are really upset at her for not making this reunion because she
promised she would be at the 40th, but she says that the last class she teaches goes until 4:30
on Fridays, so there is no way to get to Bolivar even by Saturday. She says high on her
bucket list is to retire, but we are not sure we believe her! Ha! She has just one more thing to
say, really to ask,”How did we get here so fast? So sorry to miss the reunion. Since it is
during the semester this year instead of the summer as in the past, I can’t get away. Too
much going on during the semester. Hope you all have a great time. Com to see me in
Maine!!”
**Newborn-Cox, Marie
5754 S. Eldon Dr.
Battlefield, MO 65619
Phone: 417-860-1539
Marie kept very busy for 20 years after graduation raising her son Jeremy Stephen
while also attending SMSU to receive her bachelors degree in Management. Her goal was to
graduate before Jeremy, and she made it by 6 months! She worked for 15 years at Dairy
Farmers of America as an Accounting Manager before leaving there and going to work at
ManorCare where she was the Admissions Director. Then she worked as the Assistant
Director of Administration for the State of Missouri out of the Springfield Regional Office.
After that she became self-employed at McBookkeeping Solutions, but now she says she is
“mostly retired.”
She is the proud grandmother of Abigail and Malachi. She is very involved in her
church, but during her free time, she loves to travel, crochet, and one of her major interests is
missions work. She is so excited that she gets to do the thing that is high on her bucket list in
February, and that is travel to Israel!!
The biggest mistake made in her life would have to be changed to the biggest mistakes
because she says there are too many to name just one, so yes, there would be some redos she
would do. (She’s not the only one with that feeling!) Her greatest accomplishment is life
also needs an “s” because they are: keeping and raising her son who lights up her life with all
he has become (he is a minister). Marie’s favorite day is spending time with family or
friends.
**Newcomb, Dr. Richard

1308 Pearl
Carrollton, MO 64633
Phone: 660-542-2228
Richard married Kathryn (Lacy) in 1986 and has been practicing optometry in
Carrollton since 1987. He graduated from SBU in 1977 with a BS in biology, taught high
school in Lakeland from 1978 to 1981, and then entered UMSL School of Optometry in
1981, graduating with his doctorate in 1985. The Newcombs have a daughter April and
Richard is also a proud grandpa of Jerin and Taylor AND the great-grandpa of Brooklyn,
London, and Salem!
Richard served on the Carrollton school board for over 12 years, and also served as
president for at least 6 years. The Newcombs are also members of the Carrollton Christian
Church, where Kathryn is the pianist. He has no plans for retirement yet, and Richard even
says that if he could be anywhere and do anything, he would stay where he is because he is
quite content with where he is and what he is doing. WE say that is a great place to be! One
of Richard's interests is working with stained glass. He must stay very busy because he didn't
fill out much on his form!! He did thank the reunion committee for our time and effort on
the reunions, and we are grateful!
Owens Downs, Diana

No information on Diana at any time.
*Padgett Desroches, Julie

4737 Old Linwood Rd
Linwood, NC 27299
Phone: 336-414-3078
E-mail:
Julie graduated from SBU in 1977 with degrees in Speech and English. She traveled
with a Christian performing arts group for nine months before returning to complete a
teaching degree. She taught high school for 2 years in Granby, MO, and then attended Ozark
Bible Institute for two more years and taught drama and tutored at Ozark Christian Schools.
Julie married Richard in 1985, and they lived in Arizona for 2 years before moving to North
Carolina. Julie currently keeps very busy being a homemaker, “watching the antics of the
children,” -- six kids—Benjamin who works for Norfork Southern Railroad, Lydia, Miriam
working for the Upward Bound program in Albuquerque, NM, and Philip who was
diagnosed with schizophrenia in September of 2013. Then there is Martha and finally the
"baby" Ruth. Julie homeschooled all of her children! What a huge and rewarding job!
As far as Julie, she says she is not doing too badly for a fat old woman! (She certainly
is doing great to keep up with all of her sweet children!) Julie’s family is Anglican
(conservative Episcopalians, she says), and her husband Richard works second shift at
Northstate Aviation in Winston-Salem, NC, which leaves him free for church work as the
priest-in-charge of Christ the King Anglican Church in Linwood, NC.
When asked what she would like to do when she retires, she first answers, “What’s
that?” and then finally, “Take a nap.” Does she participate in acting, like she used to in high
school? She says, no, that she has plenty of drama to watch at home! Julie’s best memory of
high school is band, speech contest, and Terri cracking up at something funny Myrna did or
said. When asked if there is anything else she wants her classmates to know, she replies,
“There’s nothing else they’d want to know!” Julie says to say hello and may God Bless all
the Class of '74--that we all are in her thoughts and prayers!! She also wants to thank us for
the hard work we've done over the years to set up the class reunions and keep us connected to
each other. It IS great to hear updates about each of us, and it is so great to hear that Julie
still has her sense of humor intact!
Potts Gifford, Debbie (December 30-1955--December 23, 2017—61 years old)

Debbie married John Gifford in 1972, and then earned her GED. She and John were
married for 45 years and their marriage produced three daughters--Jennifer, Kristy, and
Kimberly, 10 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren. Her husband owns Bolivar
Plumbing, and they also owned Johnson’s Coin-O-Matic. Debbie also had a tax service and
worked at CMH in Medical Records at night, but was very sick with lupus, diabetes, and
cancer for two years before she died. The following is part of her obituary:
Debra Lynn Gifford, age 61, passed away on December 23, 2017 at Citizens Memorial
Health Care Facility surrounded by her family. Debbie is survived by her husband John
Gifford and their 3 daughters Jennifer and Rick Earl, Kristy and Harry Beck, Kimberly and
Al Cornell; her grandchildren, Jacob Earl, Todd and Jessie Earl, Alyssa Beck, Trey Jenkins,
Nathan Beck, Kody Jenkins, Lane Beck, Gavin Cornell and Madison Cornell; her
greatgrandchildren, Hayden Earl, Xavier Earl, Grayson Rash, Owen Earl and Hadley Earl; her
sisters Kathy and John Murdock and Ann Gifford; her brothers, Tim and Alice Gifford, Gene
Potts and Bobby Bolen; as well as nieces, nephews, cousins and many friends. . .
Debbie was born on December 30, 1955. She was saved when she was 12 years old and
was a member at Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church. She was married to John on
November 10, 1972. Debbie was a loving and caring wife, mother and grandmother. All of her
grandkids affectionately called her Gran and she loved nothing more than to see them smile as
well as attending all of their school and sports activities. She loved spending time with her
family and friends, doing crafts and going out to dinner. Debbie had many special friends and
was always surrounded by the ones she loved.
Visitation was from 1-2 pm on Saturday, December 30, 2017 at the Butler Funeral
Home, Bolivar with Funeral Services immediately following at 2 pm. Brother Doyle
Mayfield and Pastor Ted Bachman officiated, and special music was by Roxy and Kevin
Hudson and Jim Walker singing “I Want to Know More” as well as a recorded song by
Kerian Kane entitled “I Can’t Wait.”
We are so glad that Debbie decided to show up to our 35 th class reunion! All who knew
her remember her as being somewhat shy but always kind and sweet. She was one of the
best of us.
*Reichert, Janeth
4748 E. Farm Rd. 186
Rogersville, MO 65742
Phone: 417-631-2603
Janeth graduated from Southwest Missouri State University in 1979 with a Medical
Technologist degree. She was promptly employed by St. John’s Hospital as a Med Tech in
the Chemistry Lab, testing for drugs, doing lipid profiles, and at least 200 other different
blood tests. Janeth kept very busy for years playing softball and volleyball, and traveling
(Europe, Virgin Islands cruise, Canada, Hawaii, and especially any place with mountains for
hiking and snow skiing). She also bought and remodeled a 100-year-old country store in
Mentor (south of Springfield) into an awesome 1900 square foot New York-style loft in 1988,
which she has decorated with antiques and every living thing imaginable (plant-life, that is).
The old store was previously a meeting place for the Odd Fellows (similar to the KKK)! She
even built a beautiful greenhouse on to her house, and has a wonderful herb garden! Both
her home and her gardens are really showplaces, as evidenced by her home being on the
Opera Home Tour shortly after she moved in, and her garden being on the Master Garden
Tour several years ago. It was also one of the featured gardens at the Master Gardener
Conference on the 2013 Garden Tour! Her greatest joy is in working in her garden and
landscaping, and she retired in 2019 so that she can play in the dirt all she wants!
She says she is very content in her single life, but she has been dating Terri Kellner’s
nephew, John, for the past several years. Janeth gets together weekly with Terri and Myrna to
see a movie, and yearly with Charlotte and Twila, if possible. If she could be anywhere in the
world, it would be somewhere playing (what we normal folks call “working”) in a garden,
but she does love traveling, and takes the opportunity to do that whenever she can--usually
with Terri and Myrna!! This year it is to Ireland, a long-awaited trip! But trips have included
an Alaskan cruise, the Azores, Iceland, Niagara, an East Coast bus trip, and hopefully, many
more to come!
**Rice Davis, Paula

3391 S. Farm Rd. 135 Apt. B
Phone: 417-298-5759
Paula married Emery Davis in 1981, and in 1986 they were blessed with their son
Joseph. Paula graduated from UMSL with elementary education and middle school
certification in 1990, and began her teaching career in Hermitage, Missouri. In 1996, she
received her Master’s degree from SBU and in 1997 she began teaching at Bolivar Middle
School, where she retired from teaching 8th grade social studies in 2013. Before she retired,
Paula earned national teaching certification in the area of early adolescent social studies in
2001, worked as a facilitator to help other teachers attempting to earn their national
certification, and also co-taught a capstone class at Drury.
Since she has retired, she has spent some time substituting in the Bolivar School
District, because she didn't realize how much she would miss teaching. Her son Joe got
married in 2014, so at age 57, Paula finally had a daughter--Brandy--to spend time with!
Sadly, Paula lost Emery in 2017, and just recently she has moved to Springfield. She
keeps busy playing golf, bowling, and enjoying PlayStation games. She also loves to sew
and crochet for Newborns in Need. Paula also volunteers at an assisted living home and is
active in her church.
About what the biggest mistake made in life was, she says, “I have made big mistakes in
my life and am thankful that the Good Lord has been there to help me through these.”
Paula’s greatest accomplishment in life is serving the Lord. She says she loves the Lord
and prays that the Spirit leads her to do the will of God and to help others every day of her
life. That is a great prayer!
*Robertson, Carl
We have very little information on Carl. He has done a lot of different jobs, including
construction, farm, factory, and cooking at the Gold Rush Restaurant (remember that place?).
Carl has two children—Carl Jason and Amanda. The last we heard anything about him, he
was living in Albuquerque, NM, and was disabled.
Roedder, Rocci (Stephen)—October 30, 1956 – April 16, 2003 (46 years old)
Rocci was born in Anchorage, Alaska to Raymond William and Virginia Roselle
(Campbell) Roedder. After graduation, he attended South Seattle Community College and
earned an associates’ degree in civil engineering. He married Julie Anne Twigg on October,
28, 1978, in Tacoma, Washington. Rocci served in the Air Force from 1976 to 1980, and was
then employed by the Navy doing classified work in the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program
at Bremerton, Washington, where he assisted in the overhaul of nuclear-powered submarines
and ships. Rocci then went on to work as a laboratory technician at Puget Sound Navel
shipyard for many years. He died at his home on April 16, 2003, and his survivors include
his wife, his parents of Bolivar, a brother Ricci of Bolivar, a niece Maralyn and a nephew
Timothy, both of Bolivar. Memorial services were held for him May 3, 2003, at Kitsap Lake
Baptist Church in Bremerton, Washington.
*Ross Gunnels, Brenda

Lives in Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-298-1589
*Scurlock Hunt, Theresa

Rt. 81 Box 507
Flemington, MO 65650
Phone:
Theresa and husband Greg were married in March of 1975 (will be 50 years in March!)
and lived in Springfield until November of that year when they moved to their cattle farm 22
miles north of Bolivar on Highway 83. They built their new home in 1979 where they still
live and where they raised their three sons—Justin (married to Amanda), Jeremy (married to
Tiffany), and Joshua (married to Sarah). Along with farming, they also owned and operated
their own gas company and convenience store in Wheatland—Hunt’s Pit Stop and Hunt Oil
Company, until selling in 1989. Theresa then began working for the City of Bolivar in the
Police Department as a dispatcher for 1 ½ years until moving into the position of
Administrative Assistant. She was the City Clerk of Hermitage at the last update.
Theresa’s three boys and wives have given the Hunts Taylor Rene, Reagan Noelle,
Kaden Reed, Jenna Paige, Eli William, Brilee Faith, Mason Blaine, and
Delaney Marie, Addisyn Grace, and maybe more in the past 9 years! Family is Theresa’s
most valuable possession. She says her life since graduation has been pretty normal, but
extremely blessed. If she could be doing anything, she would be at her home, in her pool,
with all her children and grandchildren, but she also loves to travel and eat out with friends.
Her interests are yard work, birding, fishing, cooking, and most of all . . . family time with
her grandkids!
The funniest thing she remembers about high school is falling UP the stairs with a
broken arm and Jerolyn Hofstetter falling off the bus on the first day of Jr. High. (She says,
"Sorry, Jerolyn.") There seemed to be a lot of falling in Theresa's memories! If she could go
back to high school days, she says she wouldn’t change much of anything. She might do
more social activity. The thing she wants everyone to know is that life is precious and all too
short. She gives the advise to "Love with all your heart and be thankful for lasting
relationships and friends!"
*Sells, Judge Scott

1261 Woodland Valley Ranch Drive
Woodland Park, CO 80863
Phone: 719-651-2801
After graduation, Scott graduated from SMSU in 1978 with a BA. He was then
employed at RDI in Springfield, and received his law degree in 1984 from Mississippi
College Law School. He moved to Colorado Springs the day after he graduated and started a
private practice where his primary emphasis was defending parents accused of child abuse.
His caseload was one of the busiest in the state—handling 65% of all of the county’s family
law cases (according to a newspaper article found on the web). Scott became the District
Court Magistrate for El Paso County in 1996 with a docket largely of family and juvenile
cases, and again he handled more than 50% of the county’s family law cases. In December
of 2006 he was appointed by the Governor to fill a retiring judge’s seat, and became the
District Court Judge in the 4th Judicial District for El Paso and Teller Counties in 2008.
According to the article, Scott’s judicial philosophy is, “I’m a public servant first and
foremost. I want to help parties settle disputes, do problem solving, and help people resolve
issues and try to rule as honorably as I can. . . . I don’t make the law, I apply it.” He
has also served in various leadership positions at his church, has been heavily involved in
coaching youth sports, and volunteers annually as a judge in high school mock trial
competitions (also from the web). Evidently Scott is not retiring any time soon!
Scott has been married to Nancy since 1983, and their children are Sam, Jake, and
Jenny. He has enjoyed the downhill and cross-country skiing, hiking, and playing tennis part
of Colorado, and at one time also enjoyed soccer. We are not sure if that is still the case or
not.
The funniest thing he remembers about high school is beating Buddy Stuber up in
"Bull in the Ring" each week at football practice. If he could go back to high school days
and change anything, he would change two things--his hair AND the white shoes he wore to
the Athletic Banquet!
Last reunion, Scott said it brought a smile to his face just seeing the names of his
classmates on the e-mail and it bringing back so many good memories. He added that he
appreciated the wonderful childhood, life and friends he had growing up in Bolivar. Scott
even said that being a Liberator was one of the best times of his life and he wouldn't trade the
experiences of high school football and the life-long bond that he and his teammates will
always share. He is planning on making it to the dinner for our 50th, and we are so hopeful he
does!!!
*Serls Good, Connie

3525 Jubilee Dr.
Pace, Fl 32571
Phone: 816-540-2086
Our 35th reunion was the first time we had seen Connie since our high school years!
It was great to re-establish contact! Connie has four children—Terry Essary, Penny Bunch,
Brandi Good (passed away just after turning 21), and Angie Fields. She says Brandi taught
her so much about living and life, and she still misses her like the loss was yesterday. Connie
has been single since 1999, and has four grandkids that keep her busy, and two are from
Japan--Tiffany and Emily Essary, and then Parker Lawson, and Alexandra Good. Connie
even has at least two great grandkids now—Alay Myers and Ethan Myers!
She worked as a Banker Clerk at Unity School of Christianity outside of Lee’s Summit
before she retired and moved to Florida and THE BEACH the summer of 2019 with her sister
Johnnie! Her interests are: sewing, gardening, and traveling. Her biggest regret is not
finishing school. BUT her best accomplishment happened in moving to Florida while she was
still healthy enough to do so! We hope she is having the time of her life! The bummer part
of it is that she can’t come to reunions as easily.
**Shaw, Mike
210 E. Olive
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 240-393-2025
Mike has spent much of the past 47 years working in construction—in Springfield,
Oklahoma, and Maryland where he was Project Manager for Fairfield Residential, but he
retired on December 31, 2021. He continues to love outdoor things like fishing, and also
working on cars, He has a wonderful son—Sagan. Mike is single, or according to the
marital status on his form for the 45th reunion—“nope.” 😊
Mike says that Sagan is the greatest accomplishment he has made in his life. He says he
doesn’t really have a bucket list, but the perfect day for him would be doing nothing and then
watching the Chiefs win the Super Bowl! As far as what he would like to redo in life, well,
“many things.” We are glad Mike is back in MO now so he can come to the reunion!!!
*Shepherd Allumbaugh, Barbara

2316 E. Fairchild St.
Park City, KS 67219 (good in 2015)
Phone:
We don't know a lot about Barbara except that she attended Medical Technology
School in Kansas City, and after she graduated from there she worked at a hospital in
Lockwood. She then married Mike and they moved to Kansas. They also had a daughter
named Kara Joy, but we know no other updates about Barbara.
**Smith, Trudy
1629 E. Lombard
Phone: 417-324-5790
For the past 30 years, work has consumed much of Trudy’s life. She was privileged
to work for a “Kids First” organization that changes the lives of thousands of children and
families each year. Her responsibilities grew to include fundraising statewide. In 1997 she
received the Outstanding Fundraising Executive award from the Association of Fundraising
Professionals, and in 2003 she received an award from the Springfield Business Journal as an
Influential Woman in Business!! She adds, “Who’d have thought I (would wind up being an
award-winner and a presenter) that day I jumped out of the swing during 4th grade recess and
left my dress in it??” Trudy became the Director of Development at Boys and Girls Town of
America, but in 2006 decided to pursue certification. Later in 2006, she achieved Certified
Fund Raising Executive and had an epiphany or mid-life crisis. She left her job at Boys &
Girls Town of Missouri after spending half her life there, and accepted a job at the University
of Missouri-Rolla (now called the Missouri University of Science & Technology) and began
a great adventure. She has met some of the most remarkable people of her life, and loved
every minute of it. In many ways, it is her dream job but there was extensive travel
associated with being a development officer for UMR, and even though she worked from
home, she spent at least two weeks every month traveling.
So, in January 2008 she became Vice-President of Resource Development at United Way
of the Ozarks, but now she reports she is working for Great Circle, an agency that provides a
unique spectrum of behavioral health services to children and families with specialized
programs and professionals for those in difficult circumstances. It still requires a lot of work
because when asked what she likes to do during her free time, she replies, “I don’t have any
free time. I’m still working.” Great Circle is now called KVC Missouri and she is now the
Senior Director of Advancement and she has worked there since 1981. She works with
individuals, companies, and foundations to secure financial support for services and
programs to help children and families who turn to them for mental health needs. So, to
explain further, Great Circle was formerly Boys & Girls Town of Missouri, which was
formerly Boys Town of Missouri, which was formerly Springfield Children’s Home! So that
is FIVE name/ownership changes during Trudy’s time at 1212 W. Lombard in Springfield!!!
Her roots are that Trudy grew up with her grandparents, but her grandfather died
shortly after we graduated. In 2002, Trudy moved to a little “hobby” farm just outside of
Willard. A year later, 15 acres had grown to 50. After her grandmother died in 2004, her
mom sold all the property in Bolivar, and bought a little 10-acre farm next to Trudy's farm, so
together they had a farm that was a little bigger and a lot more work than a hobby-farm!
Trudy loves riding horses and watching them grow. However, Trudy got thrown off twice in
one year and since then hasn’t been the horsewoman she used to be. She moved to town in
fact, BUT early next year she will be moving back to her beloved little farm house just
outside of Willard. She sold the farm in 2012, and her old horse vet bought it. Although she
left the farm, she missed it so much! She was reminiscing to friends about it recently, and
several asked, ‘Why can’t you just move back?” She says she thought, “Why CAN’T I move
back?” So, she called her old landlord and she IS moving back to the farmhouse with all the
perks of rural living without all the chores because he rented the house as well as her mom’s
house to Trudy.
Trudy is “not married” and has three stepchildren—Bobby, Christie, and Scotty
Pischer, and two grandchildren—Nolan and Stella Pischer, When she is not working, she
loves being with family and friends, horseback riding, bird watching, feeding and managing,
gardening, walking, meeting people, making friends, going to movies, and enjoying music.
Trudy says it would be easier to say what she doesn’t like: Brussel sprouts, English House
Sparrows, and European Starlings. 😊 Her biggest mistake made in life is not for public
display, she states. However, her greatest accomplishment in life is all the young people
whom she has mentored who went on to achieve bigger and better things! AND also there
was a $3 million gift to the Missouri University of Science and Technology that she helped
garner that she is extremely proud of!
The perfect day for Trudy would be . . . outside! Just outside! Anything she would
like a “redo” for in life? Here’s her answer, and it is so funny: “I don’t think I’d jump out of
that swing like I did in 4th grade. . . That playground at Leonard was hard on Trudy and David
Eversoll. He walked away with 2 broken arms after falling off of ”‘the big slide.” Trudy
walked away with . .. a little less. But she always had that beautiful smile on!
South, Ronna
No information about Ronna since graduation.
*Spurgeon Harris, Twila

3905 White Rose Lane
St. Charles, MO 63304
Phone: 314-607-6379
Twila attended SBU for two years, then interrupted her education to marry Derald in a
bicentennial wedding on July 4, 1976. They moved to Warrensburg where Derald went
through graduate school and then became a speech professor while Twila finished her degree
and graduated with a Bachelors in Child Development. The Harrises then moved back home
to Bolivar where Derald became Alumni Director at SBU and Twila was the Director of the
Child Study Center (preschool). She also received her elementary education degree from
SBU in 1982. Later they moved to Jackson, Tennessee, where Twila was the director of the
First Baptist Child Development Center and in charge of 30 teachers and 350 children! For
awhile she was on an advisory committee that designed “Babykins” diaper wipes and several
other baby products, and she gained experience for this by raising two daughters—Jennifer
Lynn (Dault) and Brittany Anne (Harris-Brown).
After living in Louisiana and Tennessee for 15 years, they moved home to Missouri
where Twila spent 9 years as a Daycare Director, 9 years teaching lst, 2 nd, and 4th grades, and
then became the Family and Consumer Science teacher at Pattonville High School until she
retired in 2019. This also consisted of her being Director of the Preschool at the high school,
and she used her 125 high school students in her classes to work with the preschool children
two days a week. Twila was even selected as High School Teacher of the Year at Pattonville
High School out of 153 teachers in 2009!!!
Twila and Derald have been married 47 years, and their children bring them much joy
and are starting to bring them grandchildren—finally! Jennifer (Harris Dault) is a minister
and married to Allyn, and they have given Twila and Derald grandchildren Simeon Elijah
and Madeleine Joy. Brittany Glaesman is a lawyer, married to Lucas, and gave Twila her first
new job—that of watching Jacob Bennet Glaesman. Soon TWIN BOYS followed Jacob, so
Twila’s hands have been very full: Andrew and William.
Her best memory of high school is spending lots of fun times with Myrna, Charlotte,
Janeth, and Terri just hanging out and laughing. She says they welcomed her into their group
the end of her 10th grade year when she had moved from Taiwan back to the states, and that
meant a lot to someone who (she says) was really like a foreign exchange student, having
lived in Taiwan since the age of 2 except for one year in the states.
Twila's interests during her free time are going out to lunch or dinner with friends,
spending time with family (including taking care of her 92 year old dad), doing fun
adventures and playing an active role with her grandchildren who all live in St. Louis, going
on trips with her husband, volunteering with work for Packs for Kids (helping pack food for
school kids that are without food), and being an active part of activities at church.
As far as her biggest mistake in life, Twila says that all mistakes have taught her great
life lessons which she’s been able to give a purpose to, and then go on to make life better for
herself and others. Therefore, she wouldn’t change any of the mistakes she’s made. (That is
an awesome philosophy!) The greatest accomplishment in her life, she says, is being a
follower of Christ, a mother and mother-in-law to 4 great kids, a grammy to 5 wonderful
grandkids, and working to teach children as a Day Care Director, Elementary Teacher, High
School Teacher, and Director of the High School Playschool all together for 37 years.
Congrats, Twila, on a well-earned retirement!
Twila would have been at the reunion but they put a bid on the perfect house, got it, and
have to move, all in a matter of a couple of months, and she and Derald are trying to do this
without losing their minds. So, everything is in a state of crisis as they close, continue to take
her dad to doc appointments, and look through everything to see what they need to “give up,
fix up, clean up, or box up!” Twila ends with, “What have we done?”
*Spurlock Stonebrook, LeAnn
5152 Hwy F
Brighton, MO 65617
Phone: 417-619-5376
Although LeAnn has stayed in this area since our days together, we had lost touch with
her until our 30th Reunion! Through the years, she earned her GED, married, and worked in
Springfield for Integrity Home Health Care for a while, and she was also a checker and
customer service agent at Price Cutter in Springfield. LeAnn has two children—a son Jacob
and a daughter Dalena. She was widowed in 2005.
LeAnn has no real plans for retirement, but would love to retire somewhere where she
could be in the country so she could stay outside a lot and work in a garden. During her free-
time she loves to spend time with her kids. She feels her biggest mistake made in life was
not getting more education. However, her greatest accomplishment was birthing her two
awesome children!!
**Squibb, Steven
1449 Florence Byram Rd.
Florence, MS 39073
Phone: 601-951-6246
Steven attended Drury and SMSU in the years after graduation, and eventually started a
retail hobby store named “The Hobby Dashery”. He then worked construction for a while,
and then became the General Manager for a shoe store. Steven says he retired for a while,
but now is working again. We hope he is happy in that decision!
He has been married to Kathryn for 29 years and has a step-daughter Lori who has
given Steven and Kathryn four grandchildren—Blake, Justine, Ryan, and Alyssa, and they in
turn have given Steven four great-grandchildren and “one more in progress.” Steve says he
got smart, skipped the kids, and went straight to grandkids!
His main interests during his free time are Blues and Cardinals games on TV, rifle
competitions, and reading history. Now that last interest would have thrilled Harry Hughes in
high school! Who knew Steven would grow up to love reading history!! Was it Harry that
inspired you, Steven? We rather doubt that. His current favorite thing is to relax by the pool,
and he says the perfect day for him would be to win the lottery! High on Steven’s bucket list
is to cruise through the Panama Canal.
What was the biggest mistake he has made in his life? He says there were no real
mistakes—well, that he will admit in public anyway! And his greatest accomplishment is that
he has never taken a nickel from the government! We wish more people could say that! Ha!
He says, “Getting old ain’t for the weak,” but he also adds,’’but we all know that!”
*Stafford Metzker, Pearl

347 W. Main St.
Sheridan, OR 97378
Phone: 503-437-8395
E-mail: none
Pearl had been lost for several years and we were delighted that we tracked her down
for our 35th Reunion, even though she was not able to attend. She has been in Oregon since
1976, and has been married to Randy for 35 years. Her children are Kathina Jolene (39) who
is the mother of 12-year-old Cole, John Lewarren (36), who gave Pearl another grandbaby 10
years ago, Matthew Ray (30), and Tiffani Anne (29) who has a child named Kobe (12).
Unfortunately, we didn't hear from Pearl again this time around, so we don't know any new
updates.
**Stewart Stephens, Susie

4366 S. 146th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 417-326-9136 (c)
In the past 49 years, Susie has raised two wonderful sons and gotten them both through
college, buried both of her parents, gone through a divorce after 22 years of marriage, and
remarried a Bolivar local. She says he is the man of her dreams, but we know him as Mark
Stephens. They married in December of 2001, and she says they are still happily married and
just retired at the end of August, 2023—much to the dismay of the Bolivar community (says
the editor)!
Her biological sons are Brandon and Brock Baker. Brandon has given her grandkids
Madeline (27) and Olen (11 mo.) Wells, and Brock has given her grandkids Cassidy
Boeckman (with great grandkids Braxton and Rhett), Beckham, and Braelyn. PLUS Mark
also has 5 kids and 11 grandkids, so their family cup overfloweth!! When Susie finds any
spare time, her interests are spending time with family (of course!), reading, and working on
her family tree! Well, that makes sense! She needs a cheat sheet to keep up with everyone!!!
The perfect day for Susie? Well, she is not quite sure yet since this retirement thing is so
new. But high on her bucket list is to go to New England in the fall. As far as a redo in life,
she wishes she had taken better care of her body. She is still fighting cancer valiantly and has
such a wonderful attitude. Our prayers are with Susie daily!
As far as the biggest mistake she has made in her life, she says she is not sure which
one was the biggest. Now that is a clever way of getting out of having to answer that! The
greatest accomplishment in her life is having her two sons. She also says she never thought
that two would multiply into twenty-six! And there could be more coming!
**Stottlemyre McCracken, Patty

4410 Hwy 123
Fair Play, MO 65649
Phone: 417-327-4545
Patty and Mike were married December of our senior year (1973), and have now been
married 50 years! During the first 10 years after graduation, they had their two children—
Michael Clay and Emerald Lynn. Fun fact: Patty and Mike’s birthdays are on the same day,
but they are one year apart!
They moved to California for a few years in the early 80s, but in 1989 Mike and Patty’s
dad bought a farm near Fair Play—where the McCracken’s later built their home and
currently live. Patty’s children are smart and responsible, and Patty says they would have
made their namesakes proud! Michael was named for his grandpa, and Emerald after Mari
Lynn, and Patty says, “Daddy went off to heaven in ’93 and Mari Lynn followed in ’97, and I
haven’t seen or heard from them since, except only in my dreams.” Patty even has some
grandkids now, like she always wanted—Johnathan, Colt, and Clay!
She has been retired for six years now, and she has battled some surgeries lately, but she
would love to go to some concerts. High on her bucket list is to go to Hawaii, but the perfect
day for her is playing with her grandchildren. Mike is semi-retired now, so Patty enjoys
watching a movie and talking to him. We don’t know if that means during the movie or if that
is two separate things! She travels when she gets a chance AND she is going to be a
volunteer for the Honor Flight soon and is very excited about that!.
As far as the biggest mistake she has made in life, well, she doesn’t know because she is
still making them! Her greatest accomplishment, well, same answer! It is probably not made
yet! Her greatest joy, though, is her family and the fun of raising them, and the relationships
with extended family. Patty is one of 32 first cousins!!!
She wants her classmates to just stay happy and remember us all. She says that many of
us have memories back to lst grade or kindergarten, and that many people live a lifetime and
never have friends for nearly 50 years!
*Strack, Jesse Chris

2075 E. 377th Rd.
Goodson, MO 65663
Phone: 816-560-2648
Chris now answers to his first name—Jesse. When asked why he changed his name, he
says that he didn’t . . . he was born with that name! He has been happily married to his wife
Donna for 29 years now, and also has a daughter Karissa and a step-son Shannon.
Jesse played in a band called Black Bag Job for 12 years, playing at clubs in the KC area.
His day job was being a superintendent at Kansas City Rubber and Belting, but he has joined
the ranks of the retired now. He loves heading back in the country fishing, riding his Harley,
and still loves playing his guitar, which is what he played in his band.
He leaves the line blank about his biggest mistake, but says his greatest accomplishment
in life has been marrying his wife Donna! That is a wonderful way to feel!
*Stuber, Buddy
803 Edmond Road N.E. P.O. Box 573
Piedmont, OK 73078
Phone: 405-818-0510
E-mail:
Buddy worked for the Corp of Engineers on Pomme De Terre Lake after graduation,
and then moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, to work in construction. He then moved to Oklahoma,
and married Tina in 1986. He worked as a carpenter and commercial drywall contractor for a
while, and is currently the City Water Works Manager in Piedmont. Buddy is the father of
Jesse Beth and Brock, and used to spend a lot of time doing outdoor activities like softball,
camping, skiing, and fishing. We don’t know if he is still that active or not since we have not
had any current updates. Buddy is currently single again, and still working in Piedmont, but
that is about all we know about our Buddy.
*Svoen, Normund
Solheimlia 2
6908 Floro, Norway
Phone: +47 95770807 (cell)
Normund returned to Norway after being our Foreign Exchange Student, and finished
high school there in 1976. After serving in the military until 1979, he enrolled in medical
school and graduated from that in 1985. An internship of 1 ½ years was followed by four
years in general practice and one year at a hospital, until he became a specialist in Family
Medicine in 1991. He married Karen Marie Elvik in 1981, who is an occupational therapist
and also teaches high school health classes, and eventually became the father to three
daughters—Mildrid, Ashild, and Signe. One of those beautiful daughters made Normund a
grandpa with the birth of Pal Theodor. Normund worked in northern Norway (his wife’s
home) until they moved back to his home area on the west coast of Norway. Since 2001 he
has worked in a fellowship/clinic with 10 doctors in general practice. They built and run the
offices together with some other health professionals (like a drug store, orthoptis (orthopedic
doctor?), eye doctor, “fysioterapist”, and others). His official work title is MDm—general
practitioner/specialty Family. If you want to see what Normund is up to in his practice, check
him out here: http://www.sms-senteret.no/legegruppa/
Norman still keeps in close contact with his host family, the Hendricksons. He stays
busy in his free time by any type of outdoor life— salmon fishing, hunting, skiing, mountain
hikes. He also loves singing in the church choir and other church activities.
When asked what was the biggest mistake that he has made in his life, he says that none
were very obvious. That’s good! Keep those mistakes small! His greatest accomplishments
were: his marriage, his family, his good health (we guess so, with all that skiing and
mountain hiking!!), his medical education, AND his 1973-74 AFS year at Bolivar!!!! Who
could ask for anything more!!!!
Normund had planned to come to our 50th Reunion, but he suffered a horrible injury to
his thigh and knee on May 18 during a mountain ski trip—a total rupture of his right
quadriceps tendon. This required acute surgery and it will take months to recover. We are so
very sorry—both for the injury and that we won’t get to see Normund for this reunion!
*Swihart, Scott
800 E. Oakwood Ave.
Altus, OK 73521
Phone: 580-482-2280*
E-mail: none*
Scott became a partner in his dad’s painting business after graduation, and then moved
to Springfield. He was self-employed as a painting contractor, but at his last update three
reunions ago he was the general manager for Badger Oil Company. Scott has three
children—Emily, Lindsay, and Tanner, and 6 grandchildren (the last we heard)—Morgan,
Maddison, Mekenna, Alexis, Hunter, and Abbie. He does have plans for retirement, but he
evidently is keeping those to himself!
Thompson, Beverly
We have never been able to find Beverly.
* Tosh, Billy
3604 Hwy D
Polk, MO 65727
Phone: 806-729-5449
E-mail: none
Bill married Linda Mincks in 1974 and they now have five children (2 of which are
sons named Lee and Billy and one is a daughter named Dallas) and 10 grandchildren (as of
the last update)! He studied at the Universal Technical Institute at some point, and has
worked for a utility company in Muleshoe, Texas, and according to Facebook, currently
works at the Texas Department of Transportation. Thank goodness for Facebook! Of course,
his status hadn’t been updated since 2016, so who knows how accurate this update is?
*Tummons, David R. (Russ or Rusty)

332 Saint George Ave.
St. Augustine, FL 32084
Phone: 318-228-4811
Russ has made many changes over the past 50 years—not the least being the name he
goes by! Russ now answers to David. Actually, the only reason he ever was called Russ was
that there were 6 or 7 Davids in first grade at Northward, so all but one of them went by their
middle name! So Rusty was “born” because of a crazy teacher, and life stayed that way until
the military forced “Last Name, First Name, and Middle Initial” to be the only right way.
When he joined the Coast Guard, David became an Electronics Technician. He has retired
from a career in the Coast Guard. He then was employed by the local university in
Natchitoches—Northwestern State University, and maintained “just about anything that
pertained to electronics on campus that was not a computer or under warranty." While there
he was in the Electronic Continuing Education Department and completed his Bachelors and
also worked on his Masters! After that he worked for Kansas City Southern Railroad in
Electronics Maintenance.
David is now single again after being married for more than 35 years, and not working
in quite such demanding roles, but taking it a little easier by working at Wal-Mart. He has a
son Robert and a daughter Stephanie. He developed a love for reading because of all the
down time in the Coast Guard, and that is one of the things he loves to do in his free time,
along with working out. His biggest regret in life is not finishing his masters, but his greatest
accomplishment is that he retired from the United States Coast Guard. Thank you for your
service, David!
**Vaughn, Shelly
4269 S. 140th Rd.
Bolivar, MO 65613
Phone: 704-960-3097
E-mail [email protected]
Shelly has four children—Lesli Dawn Turner,, twins Lori Jo Green and T.J. Rodger
Jarman, and Todd Robert Jarman. And thanks to those children, Shelly’s grandchildren are
the joy of her life! They are Kandice Marie Turner, Ryan Lee Turner, Zachary Caleb Green,
and Zane. Shelly is single and was the Assistant Manager at Wake County School System
until she retired in March of 2020, She lived in North Carolina for 27 years and loved it,
because the weather is usually pretty warm, but once in a while they get snow, and it is pretty
much gone the next day. But Shelly moved back to Missouri in March of 2020 after retiring
to take care of her mom until her passing in July of that same year.
During her free time, Shelly loves to work in her garden, go to the pool, and paint. She
loves her flowers! During the winter, she hibernates inside! She feels that the biggest
mistake she made in life was not going to college right after high school. However, her
greatest accomplishment was finishing college later in her life! Yeah, Shelly! The perfect
day for her is relaxing, and as for needing a redo, she says, not really! I think she did it! High
on her bucket list is to go to Hawaii.
*Viles, Donnie
4140 W. 172nd Rd.*
Brookline, MO 65619
Phone: 417-890-4080*
E-mail: none
Donnie married Joyce after graduation and they had Sara Ann. He was working on
road construction, the last we heard, but that has been a long time ago. No updates on
Donnie.
*Viles, Garrett
1656 Fig Branch Rd.
Lake Wylie, SC 29710*
Phone: 417-773-9336
Garrett graduated from SBU in 1978 with a BS in Business Administration. He then
worked as manager for several different sporting goods stores, and sold office products for D
& D Office Equipment. His title then was “Duplicative Sales Consultant.” He is the proud
father of Bryan, (who blessed him with awesome grandchildren Halle, Olivia, and Braylen
and Adam, (who gave him more wonderful grandchildren Braylon and Nolan). He
continued to sell office equipment for 27 years for various local companies, and was in the
Document Solutions Business for over 30 years. In January of 2000, he started VIP Office
Systems, of which he was the president, and then sold it to Lakeland Office Systems in 2009
and became a Solutions Consultant in 2014. His work status last update was “unretiring”.
We are not sure if that means more or less work!
Garrett is happily married to Robin, and in his free time (which we are not sure how
much of that he has), he likes to golf and play pickleball. Garrett and Robin live in South
Carolina, but they are moving back to Springfield soon! We are happy for them and us! The
biggest mistake he made in his life? He says there weren’t any—they were just learning
experiences! Great philosophy! As far as his greatest accomplishment in life, it was
marrying Robin! Best answer so far!!!!
Weins, Steve 1956- Passed Away April, 1979 23 years old

Our class vice-president attended Southwest Missouri State University for two years
after graduation, and then moved to California in the summer of 1976. He was a self-
employed building contractor there, and married in 1978. But within that first year of
marriage he was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was the first classmate for us to lose, so
we have missed him the longest. We still remember his smiling face, and miss him at these
special reunions.
**White, Brian
10600 N. Lavista?
Columbia, MO 65201
Phone: 573-474-3415
We have finally tracked down Brian after 45 years of him being lost to the universe. He
lived in Columbia and managed a movie theatre for Common Wealth for four years out of
high school. In 1987 he was the manager for what had become United Artists Theaters in
Columbia. He didn’t fill us in on what has been going on in his life since that time, but we do
know that Brian is now “semi-retired”. His children are Rachel and Derek, and he also has
two grandchildren from Derek -- Harper Jo and Mason.
Gina is the love of his life since 1997, and they love to travel. Brian says the biggest
mistake he has made in his life was not moving to Florida when he was young enough to do
crazy things like that! (Do you get the idea that he LOVES Florida!!) The greatest
accomplishment in his life? His kids! High on his bucket list is to play a round of golf
on a championship golf course, and the perfect day for Brian would be waking up on
the beach with nothing to do!
*Woods, Bryan
We don't know much about Bryan except that he attended SBU for two years out of
high school and then moved to Dallas where he worked in a wood-working shop. He was
married and had a daughter Miriam Judith. He eventually moved to Austin where he worked
as a cabinet maker. He now lives in Bloomington, Indiana, (according to Facebook) and is
married to Anne. He evidently did move to Israel for a while as rumored because he does
speak Hebrew. He has also had another daughter along life's way--Devorah Allen. We are
glad to know he is still alive and kicking, but he does not seem to respond to messages. :-(
*Zumwalt, Brad
4630 S. Jewell
Phone: 417-887-7314*
E-mail:
Brad worked in sales for many years out of high school. He was a sales representative
for Handi-Rack, Nature Maid Vitamins, and for Springfield Laundry, just to name a few. He
also attended Draughon’s Business College, and then was a project manager for chain stores,
like Wal-Mart. The last we knew, Brad was a sales rep for Windmill Health Products out of
New Jersey, and was on the road a lot covering his territory—which was basically the whole
Midwest! He mainly sold through wholesalers, and they marketed wonderful things
advertised on TV like the Ped-a-Paw, Smooth Away, Easy Comb, Strap Perfect, Mighty Putty,
etc. (Love those things!! Have most of them in our closets!) But only 8% of those items are
sold by TV, so Brad mainly sold to drugstores. He was basically on the road Monday
through Friday of the week, so he was very busy, but he still had lots of hobbies, with
hunting, fishing, and traveling being three of the most important. When asked about
retirement, he said he probably wouldn't be able to because he was "not a saver.” (Can
anyone else relate?) But actually, he said if he could be doing anything, he would still be
doing what he was doing at that time. Since we didn't hear from him AGAIN this year
(although we certainly tried!), we hope he feels the same way!
Brad has a daughter named Bethany, and is married to Sandy. He also has a
granddaughter named Madi. As a side note, not to embarrass him, Brad is one of those
people that ages gracefully and has improved through the years, while the rest of us MIGHT
not be able to say that!
CLASSMATES WE HAVE NO INFORMATION ON (If you know where they

are, please let us know.)
Diana Owens Downs Carl Robertson John Jacobs

Randy Grady Ronna South Beverly Thompson
Pearline Moore (Lague? Mason?) Bryan Woods
Please keep us current with your address and phone. E-mail Myrna Walker
([email protected]) with changes. Thanks!! (Really, does anyone do
this?? It would be soooo helpful!)
CLASSMATES WE HAVE LOST
Steve Weins Mari Lynn Burrows Fair Terhune

April, 1979 23 years old February 21, 1997 40 years old
Marsha Glor Sid Gallivan

February 8, 2001 46 years old February 12, 2002 45 years old
Rocci (Stephen) Roedder Alvin Forrest
April 16, 2003 46 years old October 11, 2011 55 years old
Larry Drake Sally Dickensheet Blackwell

December 11, 2014 59 years old January 9, 2015 58 years old
Mike Cloyd Jeff Meador
November 27, 2015 59 years old May 25, 2016 59 years old
Debbie Potts Gifford Steve Caringer

December 23, 2017 61 years old January 4, 2020 64 years old
Barbara Cheek Dueber
August 8, 2022 66 years old
AWARDS FROM PAST REUNIONS
10th 15th 20th 25th
Changed the Most Steve Brown Susan Colburn ----------- Normund Svoen
Changed the Least Barbara Cheek Kenny Jones ----------- Stephanie Dodrill
Married the Longest David Eversoll Debbie Dickerson Patty Mc. Debbie Dickerson
Married the Shortest Kenny Ashlock ------------------- Myrna Walker ------------------
(18 mo.) (3 yrs.)
Traveled Farthest Stephanie D. Cheryl McMillan Stephanie D. Normund Svoen
(Spain) (________) (Spain) (Norway)
Lost Most Weight Carolyn Short Susan Colburn ----------- -----------------
Lost Most Hair Gary Fulbright Doug Aug ----------- ----------------
Youngest Child Kathe Dorman ---------------- Mark Ed. Myrna Walker
(8 mo.) (5 mo.) (18 mo.)
Oldest Child Mark & Diane David Eversoll David E. David E.
(9 years) (_______)
Most Kids David Fish Larry Drake Mike Lenz Julie Padgett
Larry Drake Kathe Dorman Marty Coleman (6)
Theresa Hunt Lloyd Keith (4)
Kathe Dorman Marilyn Jump
(3) (3)
Most Grandkids ---------------- ---------------- David Eversoll Mike Cloyd
Kathe Dorman (3)
Most Grey Hair ---------------- --------------- ----------------- Larry Drake
30th Reunion Awards
Traveled Farthest—Stephanie Changed the Least—Kenny

Married Longest—Debbie D. (32 yrs.) Oldest Child—Shelly V. (30)
Married Shortest—Susie (1 ½ yrs.) Youngest Child—Steve H. (4)
Most Spouses—Garrett (3) Most Grandchildren—Susie, Diane, Debbie D. (2)
Most Grey Hair—David F. Most Children--Marty Changed the Most—Scott
Most Hair Loss—Doug
35th Reunion Awards

1st Classmate to Arrive--Debbie Gifford Makes Us Laugh the Most--Ruth
Happiest Classmate--JoNeita Youngest in Class--Mark B.
Oldest Classmate--Larry Traveled the Farthest--Tricia 800+ mi.
Works the Most Hours--Trudy Youngest Child--Steve H. (10) Married
the Least Years--Susie (3) Changed the Least--Twila
Most Kids & Grandkids Living at Home--Steve H. Lost Most Hair--Steve M.
First-Timers for 35th Reunion--Brad Zumwalt, Twila Spurgeon Harris, Connie Serls Good,
Debbie Potts Gifford, Steve Matchell, Rev. Dennis Hudson
40th Reunion Awards

Most Traffic Tickets--Patty McCracken Has the Most Chic Shoes--Connie Serls
Youngest Grandchild--JoNeita Fleeman (7 wk) Best Bald Head--Doug Aug
Youngest Marriage--Marie Newborn Cox (6 yrs) 1st Timer--Jesse Chris Strack
Most Devoted Reunion Worker--Myrna Walker Only Wears Panty Hose to a Funeral--
Patty McCracken Knows More than 2 living People that Were Tigers Before we Were
Liberators--Trudy Most Family Members that Graduated from BHS--Marty Coleman
Changed the Least--Kenny Jones, Mark Edmondson, Charlotte Flint, Susan Colburn,
Wayne Clark--but Coach Potts won the Award!
Exact Same Graduation Weight--Paula Rice, Steve Squibb, Connie Serls Good
VITAL STATISTICS FROM 15TH REUNION
States/Countries We Were From: Missouri (71), Kansas (4), Oklahoma (3),

Colorado (3), Texas (2), and 1 each in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut,
Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Oregon, Rhode
Island, Virginia, Washington, and Norway
Professions: Homemaker (10), Self-Employed (9), Teacher (7), Manager (6),
Student (4), Office worker (4), Accountant (4), Farmer (3), Lawyer (3),
Sales (3), Doctor (2), Nurse (2), Ministry (2), Banking (1), Construction
(1), Med Tech (1), Media (1), Miscellaneous (4)
Number of Children: 112
VITAL STATISTICS in 2004
States/Countries We Lived In: Missouri (64), Oklahoma (4), Texas (4), Kansas
(3), Colorado (2), North Carolina (2), Georgia (1), Hawaii (1),
Arizona (1), Arkansas (1), Maryland (1), Michigan (1), Alabama (1),
Oregon (1), Louisiana (1), Spain (1), Norway (1), Heaven (5)
Professions/Occupations We Represented: Miscellaneous (31), Self-
employed (15), Teacher (10), Farmer (5), Construction (4), Nurse (3),
Preacher/Missionary (3), Lawyer/Judge (3), Doctor (2), Med Tech (2),
Truck driver (2), Banking (2), Media (1), Accountant (1), Retired (1)
Number of Children: 206
Number of Grandchildren: 61
Number of Letters, E-mails, and Phone Calls Made to Gain Information
about Classmates for Reunion Booklet: 213
Number of Letters, E-mails, and Phone Calls Said Classmates Responded
to: 52

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BHS CLASS OF 1974

WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE? WE’RE

**Blankenship Short, Carolyn

*Catt Carbone, Pam

Cloyd, Mike February 9, 1956-November 27, 2015 59 years old

*Cooper Williams, Kathy

**Davison Besser, Diane

Dickensheet Blackwell, Sally Sept. 4, 1956-Jan. 9, 2015 58 years old

**Dillon Wells, Martha

**Dorman Workman, Kathe

Drake, Larry Nov. 6, 1955-Dec. 11, 2014 (59 years old)

*Fanning Manes, Vickie

**Fightmaster Combs, Felicia

**Flint Curtis, Charlotte

Forrest, Alvin November 2, 1955--October 11, 2011 55 years old

**Gillham Medina, Debbie

**Gutierrez Dodrill, Stephanie

**Hite Walker, Myrna

**Hofstetter Norgren, Jerolyn

*Hoover Dickerson, Debbie

**Hudson, Rev. Dennis

*Hughes Mincks, Jennifer

*Hutcheson (Cooke), Dan

*Hutcheson Carter, Jill

**Jarman Lloyd, Ruth

*Jump Madden, Marilyn

**Kellner Haines, Terri

*Knickel Peak, Janice

*Krtek Campbell, Iola

**Little, Dr. Bliss

**McBride Fleeman, JoNeita

**McMillin Bowers, Cheryl

Meador, Jeff December 1, 1956—May 25, 2016 59 years old

**Miller Johnson, Patricia

Moore (Lague? Mason?), Pearline

**Neely Jackson, Amy

**Neuhart Neely, Melody

**Newcomb, Dr. Richard

Owens Downs, Diana

*Padgett Desroches, Julie

Potts Gifford, Debbie (December 30-1955--December 23, 2017—61 years old)

**Rice Davis, Paula

*Ross Gunnels, Brenda

*Scurlock Hunt, Theresa

*Sells, Judge Scott

*Serls Good, Connie

*Shepherd Allumbaugh, Barbara

*Spurgeon Harris, Twila

*Stafford Metzker, Pearl

**Stewart Stephens, Susie

**Stottlemyre McCracken, Patty

*Strack, Jesse Chris

*Tummons, David R. (Russ or Rusty)

Weins, Steve 1956- Passed Away April, 1979 23 years old

CLASSMATES WE HAVE NO INFORMATION ON (If you know where they

Diana Owens Downs Carl Robertson John Jacobs

Steve Weins Mari Lynn Burrows Fair Terhune

Marsha Glor Sid Gallivan