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Today's Featured Biography
Jim Carnett
Hi Chris, et al:
Jim Carnett, here (I was the doofus guy with the black horned-rim glasses...who weighed about a hundred pounds my senior year, soaking wet!
I've been wearing contacts now for 30 years, and I haven't had the luxury of worrying about being skinny for quite some time!). Good to hear from all of you! Seems like I've lived my entire life in Costa Mesa. Our home in Mesa del Mar backs right up to Costa Mesa High's fence. In some respects, I feel like I've never left the campus. I have many fond memories of Mesa High. Being "seniors" for four years, 1958-62, was an extraordinary privilege! And our teachers were wonderful. It was "Leave it to Beaver" time!
Following graduation, I attended Orange Coast College for a year, then spent three years in the U.S. Army. After returning home, I earned A.A., B.A. and M.A. degrees from OCC, Cal State Fullerton and Pepperdine University. For the past 31 years I've been OCC's Director of Community Relations. It's been a wonderful career. I figure three to five more years until retirement. My younger brother, Bill, has already retired after spending 25 years with the Sheriff's Dept. in San Diego County.
My wife, Hedy, and I met on OCC's campus and we now have three grown daughters. Jennifer is a Costa Mesa High grad, while Jade and Melissa graduated from Estancia High. Two of our daughters are married, and we have two beautiful grandchildren (Ethan, 3, Emma, 1). We lost our 25-year old son in an accident nine years ago.
Hedy is a middle school teacher. She and I enjoy playing with the grandkids, attending football and basketball games, taking in a movie nearly every weekend, and traveling (we've been to Europe the past four summers, and we love driving up the coast...to a host of spots between
Santa Barbara and Vancouver). We stay very involved in our church
(Newport-Mesa Christian Center).
Though I still live in the neighborhood, I rarely run into former Mesa classmates. Actually, we probably wouldn't recognize each other, anyway, even if we happened to pass in the mall! I still have all my hair, but it's definitely sprinkled with lots of gray (well, basically, it's all gray)...and, as I mentioned earlier, I weigh a tad over 100 pounds now!
God bless one and all. I plan to make the reunion in October.
Jim
Great job, Bob Francque, on capturing the "Wonder Years" of Costa Mesa in your very thoughtful essay! You brought back a flood of warm memories (like the Boy's Club...and suicide cokes at Pink's Drugstore!) In my 31 years here at Orange Coast College, I've had occasion to run into
a number of Costa Mesa High teachers. Here's an update on a few who come to mind.
Bernie Luskin, who taught business law, came to OCC as a professor in 1963, and later became my boss. I was in his business law class my senior year at Mesa. He served as OCC's President from 1982-84. He was a great guy to work for, but he never let me forget the fact that I had barely made it through his class...by the skin of my teeth! Today he is CEO of his own
communications firm in Los Angeles.
Chuck Dawe, who taught English and speech, came to Coast from CMHS in the mid-1960s. I saw Chuck often over the years. He passed away (cancer) three years ago, or so. He always liked to talk about his days at Mesa.
I ran into Jules Gage (PE/basketball coach) about five years ago at an athletic banquet. He looked great. For a guy who almost died of a heart attack at 45, he was in fantastic shape as an 85-year-old! When he was 45, he looked 80. At 85, however, he looked about 55! His secret? When he stopped coaching basketball, the stress (and ulcers) faded away! At the time of the banquet he was working with the Marine Corps, teaching classes. He told me he still fondly recalls that first class at Mesa High.
Bob Wetzel (PE) came across the street in 1964 to Coast to teach PE and coach basketball and volleyball. Bob coached the Pirate basketballers almost to a state title in the late 1960s. The star of that team was John Vallely (my brother played with John at CDM), who later went on to win two national championships at UCLA, and played in the NBA. Bob retired in 1995. He returns to OCC's campus often to see old friends.
Nancy Rubinstein (business) came to OCC in 1965 and taught business full-time for 23 years. She still teaches on campus as an adjunct (part-time) professor. I see her quite frequently, and she looks fantastic. Seriously, she could pass for a '62 grad!
For years, I used to see Les Miller at all the OCC home football games, until his passing eight years ago or so. What a prince of a guy! He never forgot "his" first class at Mesa, and he remembered us all by name. He would relay to me the names of students he had run into in the recent past. When Mesa played for the CIF football title a few years ago at Trabuco
Hills High, Les was there as were a lot of us old Mustangs who'd suffered through losing football seasons in the early years. (Mesa, by the way, has become a bit of a football powerhouse in the past decade-and-a-half.) I'm sure none of us will forget Les!
I've seen Terry Patterson (Spanish) several times over the years. Terry is as gracious as ever, and looks fantastic. Her late husband taught for many years here at Coast.
I've seen Fred Carter (history) a number of times over the years. At least until a couple of years ago, he held an important administrative post with the Newport-Mesa District. He may be retired by now, however. Fred was a great guy!
Well, those are the faculty members that come to the top of my mind. I wonder whatever happened to Don Miller, Miss Hall/Gill (drama), Gary Rentzelman, Mr. Crowe and Nina Hardy (someone told me she passed away)?
It's been great reading all the Class of '62 postings (dare we call them Hitching Postings?). All the best, and see you in October!
Jim Carnett
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