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There were always students in each class that remain in my memory (although I will be 79 in August-the memory is still good)--some I remember fondly and some not too fondly, but still they were MY students ! But LORDY,LORDY, LORDY,the class of 1987 is indescribable !!!!
I remember the campaign for officers, the election of two beautiful girls-a great treasurer and what I ,mistakenly, thought was a 125 pound , easy to work with president. Little did I know that he would galvanize the class into one that would go down into the history of SAHS ! If I live to be 100, there will never be a class to equal this one at any school anywhere.
That 125 pounder had more energy, ideas and methods for "fun"than anyone I have every known. Not only that, the entire class ( and classes that followed this one) picked up the vibrations and ran with the whole "ball of wax"!! Their theme was "Class of '87 Rules" and live, live, live.
Your president, and I love him dearly, caused me to spend more time in the main office than some of the people whose offices were there-and promising my first borne child just to keep him as president and in school.
Jan Ilko dragged his skinny butt to the office practically daily (seemed that way to me) demanding that he be expelled with me following after her and promising heaven and earth that he would be OK and that we, as a class, really needed him.
Your class was a leader in all the activities-pep rallies, homecoming, the Spring Fest activity, any athletic occasion (many great players in basket ball, tennis (especially Richard Godeke, LeRon Hall) and all the rest of the teams-Cross Country, Volleyball, wrestling, Far East Team, Soccer, the one and only Rugby match that I watched Mark Mazzarol play and decided that they were murdering each other, the R.O.T.C. with the beautiful blond commander, the great actors, whose performances took one's breath away-directed by Gayle De Witt, the outstanding chorus, the band and the award winning Honor Band, the cheerleaders, the great artists sponsored by Mike O'Brien-in other words-just too many occasions and activities to name in which this class was outstanding supporters of our great school.
I could go on forever about the three "angels" that had a picture taken with me, the staff of the Falcon Flyer Newspaper (sponsored by the one and only,Sandra Hope), The National Honor Society, the Presidential Classroom, the Student Government body, and the OUTSTANDING staff of the yearbook who worked late at night, on the weekends, holidays and especially the co-editors, Brian Woodring and Kurt Moulton who did their best to keep me in line and on track. The salesmen for the yearbook which made it all possible, but I never did discover where Phil Roh had that mile long scarf made that trailed about a block behind him!
The Christmas tree in the Senior hall with some of the decorations made by some of you and then------on a stormy, icy winter night there was such a banging on my apartment door and when I threw it open-there in all his glory, stood the 125 pound president in his jockey shorts, tennis and blue skin freezing to death to win a bet about who could run from the "street"to base and get there first-he won, naturally. But my reaction was " Oh, my God, how will I explain this to his parents, the M.P.'s and DoDDS if he dies like this!!" I wrapped him in blankets, hot liquid, etc, but this guy may have been small, but he was and is made of steel.
Of course, the one crazy stunt that the following classes did their damnest to emulate and out do was ---------
THE INFAMOUS TOILET PAPER RAID in the English wing of the building !! That one nearly gave some faculty members heart attacks-thought that terrorists had attacked us! Yea, right- terrorists dressed in underwear, combat boots and paper bags over their heads!!!!! Now this one nearly drove me to a nervous breakdown and to serious drink! Naturally, some of my co-workers blamed me for it and I had to work and promise all kind of things to get them out of this in order for them to graduate-secretly-I LOVED IT!!!! Now the senior trip that was not an official one, but the hotel never wanted any Americans there again. I just wish that I could have gone, but then I would have tried to take up for my "kids", we would have ended up on jail and thrown out of county. At least the pictures from that trip looked like fun, fun , fun !!!
The Senior prom was a great success and everyone had a wonderful time. The clothes were something like Oscar night-the girls beautiful and the young men handsome.
Then at the end of the year, I received a call in my classroom that "my president" was at the drive thru at Burger King demanding to be served-my reply, "So what-nothing wrong with that"-answer-"He is not in a car!" What a way to end a fantastic year that kept my heart working and blood really flowing.
As I write this, I am looking at the yearbook and could write something about each member of "the class of the century" and the impact you made on my life and that of SAHS-believe me, it was great and I will love and cherish each of you forever-you, as a group, made the year of 1987 fantastic and it became my version of the Olympics-unforgettable.
Love to each of you -my extended family-and a special gratitude to my friends Sean and Lori for keeping me updated on the best class that Seoul American High has ever produced-
love,
Bob Lowery