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Page A—1 Shelton-Mason Journal - ThurSday, Sept. 10, 2020
By Theresa Mun'ay
theresa@masonoounty. Com
s the Class of 2021 begins the
Azchool year, it will be an inter-
sting year, because faculty and
students will be challenged with a new
system of mostly online education.
Teachers, students and parents will be
adjusting all because a pandemic in-
terrupted life as we know it.
2020 is a year no one saw com-
ing. Everything shut down from
retail, restaurants and fitness clubs,
to schools, day cares and churches —
even casinos and golf courses. As for
the schools, sports were canceled at a
time when many soon-to-be graduates
were eyeing'college scholarships. Aca—
demic competitions and events also
were canceled, and our graduates did
not get to have traditional graduation
ceremonies and after-parties. They
finished up school online.
Fifty years ago, life was differ-
ent. There were no computers or
cellphones, no email, no Wikipedia,
no online classes, and no YouTube,
Facebook or Twitter. Homes and busi-
nesses had telephones, but modular
telephone cords and jacks were just
being introduced in 1970. Telephone
booths were. common, and had phone-
books. Y0u could deposit your coins to
make a call. There were also call boxes
on freeways, in case‘you broke down.
The only catch was you had to walk
until you found one.
The Class of 1970 had to cancel its
50-year reunion this year. It has been
rescheduled for July 31 at the Little
Creek Casino. Invitations and reserva—
tions will be sent out in spring.
Class speakers that year were Jim
Connolly, Sue Morris, Jim Rotz and
Art Nicklaus. There were concerns
about government and world issues,
same as today, and many students
had hopes and dreams they were pur-
suing.
Their main focus on being kind to
each other sounds like the theme our
students today promote. They were
encouraging others to vote, and make
a difference. The legal voting age was
lowered .to 18 that year.
Some got married right out of high
school. Sandy Stratton worked at ,
Capital Restaurant (now Sisters) with
Scott Busack, and A&W (now Rive-
ra’s) was a hot spot where many teens
found work.
Many young men went to work at
Simpson and, in fact, OCCU used to
be Simpson Employees Federal Credit
Union you might remember that.
Others, like Randy Lewis, went into
finance. Randy studied at the Univer-
sity of Washington to work in financial
planning as an actuary. He has since
retired here a few years ago.
Teresa Nutt was featured in the
Shelton-Mason County Journal’s
“High School Spotlight” June 11, 1970.
She was a member of the drill team,
both junior and senior years, and pres-
ident of the drill team for one year.
She worked at A&W and was eager
to start a career as an airline steward-
ess. Vickie Pierce, featured theweek
before on June 4, loved drama and
was voted best supporting actress in
the statewide WATA Drama Festival,
and was planning to attend Cirque
Theater, a drama school that of-
fered a few weeks of classes in Port
Townsend.
Forest Festival was celebrating its
25th anniversary in 1970, and Teresa
Trimble was the queen that year as a
senior from Mary M. Knight. The prin~
cesses were Mary Tabor, Chris Sytsma
and Linda Kriebs, from Shelton, and
Crystal Lamb from North Mason. The
Paul Bunyan was represented by Har-
vey Farrimond. _
There is not enough room to men-
tion all of the names, achievements
and milestones of the graduating class
in one article but, as I looked at some ’
of the popular news, music and cost-of-
living information of their graduating
year, the minimum wage they made
was $1.45 per hour, as of February
that year. That is only $11.60 for an
eight-hour day, so it makes senSe that
gas was only 36 cents a gallon. The
majority of families, at that time, were
single income. $9,400.00 was the aver-
age annual income, and the average ’
cost of a new house was $23,450. The
average monthly rent was $140.
A postage stamp cost 6 cents and an
issue of Sports Illustrated was 15 .
cents. Four pounds of apples cost 59
cents. A back-to-college typewriter
was $28.88, and a 25-inch Cinema
Screen Color TV was $739.95. Mu-
sic in your car could be heard on an
eight-track stereo player for $38.99.
You bought eight-track tapes you
could pop in, of your favorite artists.
1970 was the year The Beatles broke
up, and the year Janis Joplin and Jimi
Hendrix died of drug overdoses.
The top four songs on the Bill-
board chart that year were .“Bridge .
Over Troubled Water” (Simon and
Garfunkel), “(They Long to Be) Close»
to You” (The Carpenters), “American
Woman” (The Guess Who), and “Rain-
drops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” (B.J. ‘
Thomas).
. The top four television shows were
“Marcus Welby, MD.” on ABC, “The
Flip Wilson Show” on NBC, “Here’s .
Lucy” on CBS and “Ironside” on NBC.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup was
an instant hit, becoming the No. 1
favorite candy, and it’s still a favorite
today.
Current world events placed 1970
in the middle of the Vietnam War.
President Richard Nixon ordered the
invasion of Cambodia that widened
the war in Vietnam, and the US. Sen-
ate repealed the Gulf of Tonkin resolu-
tion that had given Presidents Lyndon
Johnson and Nixon sweeping powers
in the Vietnam War.
The first Earth Day was celebrated
in 1970 and the Boeing 747 made its
first commercial passenger trip to
London that year.
In Mason County, 1970 was the
year Lake Cushman Golf Course an-
nounced its grand opening in the June
11 issue of the Shelton-Mason Cou'nty
Journal. Shelton Home Center, by
Taylor Towne, announced its grand
opening that year, as Well. .
Miller’s or J .C. Penney is where
people did most of their back-to-school
shopping, or the Sears or Montgomery
Ward catalogs. Prescriptions and drug
store items were purchased at Ever-
green Drug or the still-popular Neil’s
Pharmacy. Hamlin’s Hobby Shop was
a favorite for crafts, and Olsen Fur-'
niture was the place to buy furniture,
and provided little cedar boxes for
graduating classes. If you were look-
ing to buy a car, Mell Chevrolet would
have probably sold you a 1970 Chev-
rolet Blazer or Chevelle. The Dodge
Charger, the Ford Mustang Boss 2,
the Datsun 240Z and the Pontiac Fire-
bird Trans Am were also popular cars.
And, of course, LUmbermen’slwas the
place to go for your homebuilding/
home improvement needs.
The Class of 1970 should have a
fine time reminiscing, but they are
having a hard time finding some class
members. If you have any information
or are a class member yourself, you
can communicate with them at
facebook.com/HighC1imbers1970.