Memory Lane is an ongoing conversation between our classmates..

Don't be bashful!  Just click the "Post Message" button at the top/bottom of the this page and share your thoughts or respond to someone else's post.

TIP - As you view the posted messages you can change the order they are displayed to "View newest at the top" or "View newest at the bottom". You choose.

Enjoy. It's going to be a fun trip down Memory Lane.

Sharon Scott (Bublitz)

Well, this is the story I would like to tell.  When I was a new freshman, I used to walk home through Garfield Park down Pleasant Run Parkway.  Each afternoon the school bus would go that route as well.  You all know how 14 year-old boys are sometimes brainless.  Well, this group of fourteen year-old boys thought it would be funny to flip me off each afternoon.  It was not funny to me as you can well imagine.  Well, since 14 year-old girls also are sometimes brainless, I flipped them off one afternoon as well.  They got such a kick out of that and continued each afternoon until I had finally had it, and then I picked up a rock and I chucked that thing so far, I hit the bus.

The next day, in home room, Larry Seabolt turned around and told me that they got in trouble because the window was broken.  My mouth fell and I just visualized getting kicked out of school, going to jail, all of it.  I asked him if they told the bus driver and he said no.  Talk about "Oh, What a Relief it Was".  and it wasn't Alka Seltzer.  But, the boys never flipped me off again.  And Larry Seabolt whever you are, "thank you so much for not snitching".  However, it was your fault in the first place.

William Byrd

Checking out the old neighborhood.

Google offers a feature which I find to be amazing.

1) Browse to https://www.google.com/
2) Enter the street address and city and state (example: 1317 Prospect, Indianapolis, IN).
3) Push the enter button..
4) Then at the top left click the "Street View" (You may have to click "Maps").
5) And then you get an interactive photo of that address.
6) What's really cool is you can click and drag the photo to see/move up and down the street.
7) If you have a mouse with a wheel on it you can also scroll forward and backward in the scene.

So sitting at home in my recliner I can check out my old school or neighborhood. Unbelievable!

Is this an amazing time to be alive or what?

Christine Payne (Lichtenberg)

William Byrd

50th Reunion Comments - Gone but not forgotten

To free things up on our Memory Lane page the comments we shared back in  May and June of 2014 (Just before and after our 50th class reunion) have been collected into one PDF file. So if you would like to check those comments out just click the link below.

You may enjoy the lengthy discussions we had about "Pork Tenderlions", area restaurants and more.  Click here to relive those 50th Reunion discussions.

William Byrd

Speaking of memories.

I came across this photo of the original Fountain Square building. Like many of you I had a lot of good times in that area.

Stuff like going to the movies for 35 cents and wishing I had a girl friend I could put my arm around.

Of course buying candy at the Murphy's candy counter. Maybe the best in the city.

In the 1950s and 60s it seemed like Fountain Square had just about anything you could want: shoe stores,  Drug stores, Ace Leather, Pedigos Jewelry stores, Murphy's, and more. I had a little passbook (with not much in it) from the Merchant's Bank branch. 

This photo is before our time but it reminds me of the ushers and that fancy lounge the theatre had upstairs by the restrooms..

Below is a 1950s view looking northwest from Prospect Street along the Virginia Avenue commercial corridor. Taken from the vantage point of the fountain that gives the neighborhood its name. Businesses lining the street include Schiff’s Shoes, Merchants National Bank, G. C. Murphy Co. Five and Dime, Gus Kasper Furniture and Appliances, Wade’s Drug Store, and Ace Leather.

This one I don't remember. Woolworths?

That can't be right! I put this current real estate listing at 1015 Orange street  in the "You gotta be kidding!" category, One web page put the Median listing price in Fountain Square today at $415,000!!!

Fountain Square gave me lots of memories. How about you?

Thomas Mason

Those are great memories, Bill.  Thank you!

Tom Mason

William Byrd

Manual’s teachers, they changed my life.

I give “thanks” for those teachers. You know, the ones who somehow found a way to help me believe in me! Sure, they taught class content, but they gave me so much more. September of ’60 I walked into Manual high school as a scrawny, small, insecure, zit riddled kid. Four years later I left as a taller (not much), more confident, maturing young man who was ready to turn to the first pages of adulthood.

As I watch my grandchildren now I see glimpses of myself back then. And I marvel at those teachers I had. They changed my life.

Just a few of those teachers that I remember by name are Mr. Wayne Dunbar (91, Now living in Winona Mn.), Mr. John Ciochina (95, Now living in east Indy), Mr. Parke (deceased 1979), M/Sgt Nunnery (1968), Mr. Gallamore (2006).

So now some sixty years out, I celebrate them as I send a much belated “thank you” across the decades.

After Manual life came at me, just like each of you, and I managed its bumps and bruises fairly well. In big part because those teachers showed up when the bell rang and taught me so much.

I wonder, what teacher(s) is on your list and why?

Jerry Dunn (Dunn)

Bill, first off, excellent writing. I enjoyed reading it. And it did indeed triggered a lot of memories about Fountain Square. Did you ever do duckpin bowling?
Your comments about the character and quality of many of the teachers that were around back in our day, got me thinking. I too, entered the hallowed halls as an insecure, scrawny kid. And I left with a better self image, a bit more able to be assertive, and able to play the tuba.

The teacher that had a strong impact on me, was Mr. Blough. I was sitting in chemistry class, and very quietly. Mr. Blough came into the room, came over and asked me if I knew that it was the last day for application to ROINES. I responded that, no I didn't. And he said, well it is, and I think you should put in an application. And I became one. A lesson in self-confidence was learned.

 I've been pretty much a loner all my life and the picture in our yearbook of the ROINES club is an example of me being a loner. 11 dark suits and one herringbone tweed suit. Enough said. 

William Byrd

Thanks Jerry.

I didn't know much about ROINES, but it must have been fun to be involved as they celebrated 50 years. I missed out on a lot of extracurricular stuff because I spent most of my after-school time working at Crescent Pharmacy at Laurel and Prospect just a half block from our home. That was a totally different experience! One night we were held up. They shot the pharmacist as I reached for the sky. But that's a story for another day.

I have been Duck Pin bowling a few times. Once with a team from work. The other times we rented some alleys for our family just after Christmas. It's a lot of fun and, as you may know, it is very difficult to score well. That levels it out for everyone so you can just have fun from six to seventy.

Stay safe and well.

Hope to see you in July.

Bill Byrd

Victor Jacobs

I should have mentioned Mr. Blough I didn't get to know him very well until my Senior year! After my run in with "Tommy T" (English teacher).he had monthly discussions with me and included Mr. Hawkins in some of them. Then during my Freshman year at Indiana State he came to Terre Haute and took me to dinner to discuss why I was getting A's in English and other Manual Grads at ISU were not! I told him I thought the English program at Manual was excellent and demanding except for one teacher(guess who). I thought he went above and beyond
as many of EMTHS teachers!

Steven Davis

Good Golly, Bill.  Thank you for your post.  Your insightful recollections have stirred up many fond memories and so much gratitude for my experiences of the teaching faculty at EMTHS overall.  Mr Dunbar, certainly.  At the end of second semester my senior year, just before our graduation, I went in to see him about my grade in Physics (I’d had him for Chemistry also.)  He’d given me an “A” when I knew that was a mistake.  In that class I was a straight C student!

He asked to see my report card. Then looked into his graph-lined grade book.  Closing it, he said “I see you got all A’s in your other classes?”  “Uh huh” I said stupidly.  Well, he told me, it wasn’t going to be him to ruin such a good report card and told me as far as he was concerned, I’d gotten an A and he was keeping it that way.  OMG!  And.. . .that was the only semester at EMTHS I got straight A’s.  I later got to meet him at Winona State where he was teaching. A whole other story.

Another EMTHS grade card memory.  My first semester of freshman year I had John Krueger for World History 101.  Back then I found history a total yawn subject and class and he didn’t make it any better.  His pedagogy was about as dry as old toast.  He gave me a C- in his class.
When I went in to see him about it (I thought I’d done better than that!) he showed me my grades for tests and papers.  Sure enough. Well deserved.  

He surprised me by thanking me for coming in and then asked a few questions about myself including what I wanted to be when I grew up.  “A history teacher,” I lied, “until I took your class.”  What an a*!#@hole I was!

Fast forward: from that inauspicious interaction we ended up good friends over the years.  My bio-father having bailed on us when I was two, John Krueger became something of a father figure to me.  And . . . wife Marilyn Krueger became a kind of godmother to me when I had growing questions about girls, dating, etc., things I couldn’t talk to my Mom about.  I even detoured on a few dates and actually brought a few dates over to their home!  

Some other Manual grads and I worked on John Krueger’s summer paint crew.  He invited me along when he led a summer work camp from his EUB church to Montana’s Blackfoot Reservation.  It was my first travel to the West and proved transformational as first,Colorado, and now Arizona are where I’ve called home for years.

Later, after graduating Divinity School, it was him I asked to be Liturgist in my Service of Ordination.  

Goodness, Bill, so much more . . . and . . .so many others who, as you said so well, “helped me believe in me . . .and gave me so much more”.

We’re blessed.

Steve Davis

Edna Waynick (Montcastle)

Bill, one memory I have that sticks out in my mind is my chemistry class with Mr. Walters. Chemistry was a class I had to take in order to get my college prep diploma. I had no time to take it until I was a senior. Carol Schilling and I were the only seniors in the class and we sat in the front row. Mr Walters (Bucky) told the class on the first day that if any one of us was late we had to sing. So Carol and I decided we would be late one day and sing for him.  When that day arrived we sang "We love you Bucky", a version of a song from the musical Bye Bye Birdie. Mr. Walters laughed until he cried and said he would never forget us.  

That same class also was my first and only accident I ever had at Manual.  We were all doing lab and firing up our bunson burners. I lit mine, but failed to see the flame that was almost clear. I bent over the burner to check it out and singed all my eyebrows off. It was a "hot day in the lab"!

William Byrd

Great story Edna!

For a while you may have been asking, "Who is this guy named Bill Byrd? I don't remember him from Manual at all."

There are a couple good reasons for that. First, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I worked as a drugstore jockey many evenings and weekends during my EMTHS days and as a result I missed a lot of after school activities. Secondly, I sometimes just didn't last in a class.

The summer of '62 I was enrolled in drivers' education, briefly. Early in the summer session our class was convened in the school library, and everyone was getting rowdy. The teacher, as I recall, was one of the vice-principals. He stood up and began ranting a raving about our failure to buckle down. I'm sure he was not happy giving up his summer to teach a bunch of kids who, it seemed, couldn't care less.

While he was ranting a friend of mine, sitting right next to me, quietly cracked wise about something totally unrelated to what the VP was ripping us about. Hearing my friends comment cracked me up and I laughed out loud. Oops!

The VP thought I was laughing at him. He was probably thinking, "No little smart... is going to get away with laughing at me!" so he walked over and grabbed me by the shirt collar (remember when they could do that?) and a few minutes later I was hoofing it around Pleasant Run Parkway for 2+ miles to our home on Prospect street. Expelled, an outcast, I never did get to take that course and I missed making some new friends.

Fortunately, my father drove a Red Cab for 25 years. Pop filled in as my driving instructor and he insisted I know how to parallel park. I've passed that skill along to my grandkids as they begin learning to drive. I also suggest to each of them that they not laugh out of turn in driver-ed class unless they like walking home. 

Kenneth Wyatt

Bill Byrd, yes, I remember you well. And I appreciate yours and the other recent messages here. I do have a good many of my own memories, and the various messages here have stirred some of my own memories. One bears mentioning. A couple of times I have read references to an English teacher, Mr. Blough. Was it Richard Blough? He was one teacher who had a long-term impact on me. Back then, I wrote only on assignment for classes; that was pretty much the extent of it. Then came college, followed by service in the U.S. Army, and by the time I emerged from those formative experiences, I had somehow become a writer. Fifty years ago this fall I enrolled in the journalism grad program at Michigan State University and had my first articles and features published in our small-town daily newspaper, the Jackson (Michigan) Citizen Patriot. The following May I was asked by the city editor if I would be interested in a beginning reporter position. I was, and after covering a speech at Albion College was hired. That began my 33-year career in newspaper journalism, which actually continues to this day, since in retirement I continue writing for a small weekly paper. I also use my gift of writing in other ways for church, community groups, etc. Mr. Blough's gift to me was that of an encourager. He encouraged me before I was even inclined in the direction that eventually became my life's work. Teachers can make so much of a difference in life. And the difference he made in mine seemed small at the time, but in retrospect was powerful and enduring.

   Thanks to all of you who share here. I rarely add anything, but your memories are wonderful to read.

      - Ken Wyatt (nowadays known as the Swains Lake Scribe)

Thomas Mason

I got my first real kiss at the Fountain Square Movie Theatre.

Victor Jacobs

This was a great idea Bill. I wish we could have or would have told the teachers mentioned what we felt, to their faces!

Jerry Dunn (Dunn)

Vic - it would have been nice to have had the maturity and life experience to realize how important those life lessons were going to turn out to be.  The best we can do is play it forward with the young people, and old people currently in our lives.

Another of my memorable teachers was my psychology teacher.....Mr. Roberts?  Not sure.  Anyway, that class way introduction to the subject I was hooked.  How the human mind/brain works continues to be a fasination to me.  My post grad field of study led me to a degree in psychotherapy.  The brain is where we live.  We create our own reality by the way we react to outside stimuli.  Our world, and the people in it can be viewed from whatever perspective we chosoe. 

We are what we think.  Our existence is how we choose to percieve it.

William Byrd

Man, I love basketball!

In a couple of weeks College Hoops kicks off. Will IU be improved? How good will Purdue be? You know how it goes in Indiana.

I often have to explain how I have a Purdue degree, but I root for Indiana!! (True)

Like many of you I get it naturally. During our Manual days we were surrounded by basketball greatness. Of course, Tom and Dick Van Arsdale got us going. And during our freshman year the great six foot eleven Walt Bellamy was a teaching assistant at EMTHS. I first ran into him (literally) running around the corner heading to the gym. The second smallest kid at Manual meeting the biggest man there! He scared we to death.

You may also recall our teacher and coach, Howard Dardeen. Unknown to me he too was a basketball legend from Terre Haute. I recently came across a great article about him still playing after age 70. I thought some of you might like to read it > Click here to read that one

At Manual I had the chance to play intramural basketball with some really good players. Among them Jack Palladay was a stud. My comments about him are here >> Jack's In Memory Page

Dave Marx was quietly one of the best athletes I knew at Manual. Later Dave's son played football at IU; his daughter played volleyball at Clemson and his granddaughter was on a National Championship Volleyball team. Strong genetics.

Just after high school I was stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. A kid there from the state of New York was bragging about his "back home" star status as a basketball player. Then Marx came to visit.

We set up a little two-on-two hoops with "fast Eddie" and his friend. Marx ate his lunch! Eddie asked, "Man you guys are tough. Where did you play?" Our response was honest. "We weren't good enough to play where we went to school."  True for me. But Marx could have played for Manual but he too worked in a drugstore during our high school years.

Loving hoops as I do, I was thrilled when our son, Billy, got to play varsity hoops for Cloverdale. And yes, on my birthday I do still take a ball and shoot for a few minutes always ending with a made three-pointer. It just takes me longer now.

I know many of you have great sports memories. I'd love to read about yours.

PS There WILL BE a red-white-blue basketball at our 60th reunion hotel. You see, Residence Inn has a hoop!!!

Robert Bauer (Bauer)

I was walking down the hallway and one of our Junior Cheerleaders came up to me and said the President had been killed.  Everyone I saw that day was very sad and it lasted for several weeks.

William Byrd

I never expected to meet a U.S. President or First Lady. As a grubby kid growing up on Prospect Street near Fountain Square that never crossed my mind. But today (November 28, 2023), as memorial services are being held for Rosalynn Carter, I'm reminded of our visit to Plains Georgia nearly ten years ago.

In May of 2014, my wife Vicki and I, along with our oldest granddaughter Taylor, made a trip to Plains Georgia to attend President Carter's Sunday school class. Not knowing that staying in the Plains Inn got you a front row seat in his Sunday school class we lucked into sitting just a few feet from our 39th President. Secret service alertly sat in the front, to the left and right, as Jimmy shared a bible lesson on Jonah and the huge fish. After worship President and Misses Carter posed for photos with those who attended. It was a long way from Fountain Square.

Vicki and I made Birdhouses for 14 years (Byrd IS my name! ). When we returned home from Plains we decided to make a Peanut shaped birdhouse for President Carter's 90th birthday. We sent it to the Carter Center in Atlanta, and they were able to get it to him for his birthday. He was kind enough to send a brief "thank you" note to us. That note is one of our most prized possessions.

Over the 60 years since our graduation, I suspect our classmates have met some amazing people. Perhaps you would share a few lines about those you've met. Just click "Post Message" to share your stories.
 

Jerry Dunn (Dunn)

The irony .....two, not one, but two EMTHS 1964 alumni have stood in the presence of a US President......Jimmy Carter .  My tale goes like this....In 1991, I did a solo run/cycle across the USA from The Golden Gate Bridge to steps of the Capitol Building in Washington DC.  My long dreamed about journey was in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity's 15th Anniversary, Nationwide building and fundraising campaign. I called my 104 day journey Shore to Shore in 104.

 I had galloped across The Golden Gate Bridge on June 15 and it was now September 12th.  I had planned the journey so that I would be able to get back to Columbus Ohio for the Wrapup Celebration of Habitat for Humanity‘s 15th anniversary campaign.

My transcontinental trek had earned me the privilege of being in a group of about 30 people who were privileged to shake hands with the President of the United States, who at the time was Jimmy Carter. I was first in that line of 30 people. President Carter appeared from backstage, stepped up to me, looked mein the eye and said;  “Congratulations” 

We began to chat about running....his more than mine, and all of a sudden I got a tap on the shoulder and the person in charge of keeping the line moving said to me; “You are only supposed to have 30 seconds…. it’s been over a minute and a half, you’re gonna have to move on”.  I said; “Yes ma’am”.  Jimmy Carter and I smiled at each other.  I took my leave.*

*Note written above photo of me and Jimmy Carter

*In the video, go to 3 minute mark

loll

Kenneth Wyatt

Ken and GiGi Wyatt, Concord, Michigan. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from your long-ago fellow traveler at EMTHS. 

William Byrd

February 9th, 1964 -- It was Historic!!

"At 8 o’clock on February 9th 1964, America tuned in to CBS and The Ed Sullivan Show. But this night was different. 73 million people gathered in front their TV sets to see The Beatles’ first live performance on U.S. soil. The television rating was a record-setting 45.3, meaning that 45.3% of households with televisions were watching. That figure reflected a total of 23,240,000 American homes. The show garnered a 60 share, meaning 60% of the television’s turned on were tuned in to Ed Sullivan and The Beatles."

In mid-1964 for a time I dated a young Manual co-ed who loved the Beatles. As a result I think I've seen "It's A Hard Days Night" 28 times - Seriously!!

Check out a great "Artist Biography" on the Ed Sullivan website here... 

https://www.edsullivan.com/artists/the-beatles/

Larry Mills

I have been reading some of the comments on the 64 manual website and did enjoy many of the comments.

 

Yes I had several of the faculty listed as my favorites, maybe Don Hully high on the list.  He was involved with the science club and introduced me to caving.

He was highly acclaimed as an earth science teacher but I took mechanical drawing from him.  Maybe physics as well   

 

John Krueger was one of the finest men that I've known.  There were a few times that we would go fishing or some other outing that would make me feel good about just being with him.  He lived across the street from my aunt. 

 

Another good man was Victor McDowell from auto shop - I got to know him from being there with my buddy Larry Breimeir who with another guy that I cannot remember almost won the national Plymouth troubleshooting contest.  Although I did not take any auto shop and I would have loved to, Mac recommended me to Motsinger who had the auto machine shop at Troy and Shelby.   My first job out of high school.

 

Wayne Dunbar was the man who taught me to think - Chemistry - do you remember the boolop? 

 

Ben Parke had the ParkeMarke which was the straight edge that he chalked up and would catch your pantleg if he caught you sleeping in class.  Should not have had Algebra right after lunch. 

 

Richard Blough remembered me from somewhere though I never had him for a class.  When I was home on leave or some reason we had a pretty fair snow.  Why I decided to go back to Manual at that time I don't know but I had a 4 wheel drive Scout that got me through most anywhere I wanted to go, so Madison Avenue there we were.  He was one of the first people I saw when I went into the building and he said my name and told me that he needed me to fill in for a class since he did not have enough teachers that day.   

 

All good memories.

 

I did not work in a drug store but to make a few dollars a month (I think $15) I worked 2 periods after school in the science labs.  It was fun for me and I could hang out in the place that fitted me perfectly.  Technically I think that I worked for Wayne Kincaid and I missed him when he left to take a position at a new school.

 

I have not kept up at all with the old school chums which I suppose I could have made a better effort, 

 

My cousin David Mills had a tough time at the end of his life and has not been with us for several years.  He was into band and our paths hardly ever crossed. 

Well if you have made it here to the end, congratulations.

 

Hard to believe that 60 years have passed.  

William Byrd

(Posted for Gene Voelkel)

We were recently in Scottsdale visiting Steve and Jane Davis. We went to Dick Van Arsdale’s art gallery in downtown Scottsdale.  He has a lot of his original water color work on display in his shop. We said we were Manual High School grads and we had a good visit.  Tom later called me because we missed him at the store.

This work is called “Hoosiers.”

If you are in Scottsdale it is definitely worth a visit.  Call ahead to make sure he is going to be there.

Gene Voelkel

Gene -- Dick -- Steve