Saturday, August 2, 2008

Valle Verde 1973


Andrea Lee Carboni sends this photo from Valle Verde. Click for larger image. I'm guessing on some of the pix, so let me know in comments the ones I can't figure out:

She says:

"I count 13 of us from this class that went on to Northgate:

Andrea Lee (Row 1 #2)
Christen Knox
Gayle Stansfield
Tricia Fegan
Carolyn Kempker (Row 2 #1???)
Angie Lecas
Libby Walker
Mike Giomi
Kathy Neuman
Spencer Williams (Row 3 #5)
John Crites (Row 3 #7)
Joseph Tonda
Nerisa Taguba (Row 4 #7)

I bet there are another 12 or so from the other class.

For some reason Valle Verde kids seemed kind of the innocent compared to everyone else!"

20 comments:

Nutmeg said...

Hi Andrea! How is life in TX? My dad is scanning the 'other' class, so we should have preschool through 6th grade at least from my perspective.

Yes, Valle Verde kids were way more innocent than most. Something in the water at the Cabana Club I think.

Meg S. said...

Oh and they lined us up for pictures from shortest to tallest. Andrea and I were always #1 or #2 depending on what year it was, as we were the shortest in the class.

Dr. Jeff said...

I noticed that in one of the Castle Rock pictures. It doesn't matter for the layout as it is only faces, but the photographer didn't have to keep raising and lowering the tripod.

Note in the Castle Rock 1979 picture (6th grade!) I was #2, in between Andrea Braidman and Corinne Trovato... and Ricky Costello and Sue Lockyer are last/tallest. I eventually made it to 5'9"...

Elizabeth said...

I've gotta go look for my Walnut Acres pix ...

Stacey Morton said...

HI Andrea and Megan!!! I hope you both remember me....Stacey Bernstein....Andrea you used to live on the corner of Banyan Circle and I think Peachwillow? I used to live around Banyan over by the park. You had that special little fort in the back of your house!!!! Megan I remember you lived by Gayle and we attented many B-Day parties together!! I can't wait to see the "other" Kindergarten class. I had that awful Dorothy Hamill haircut back then!!! I love this site.....thanks agian Jeff!!

Anonymous said...

Hey Stacey and Megan! Megan I am sending you an e-mail directly to get caught up! Stacey, of course I remember you! I lived on Rock Oak and didn't have a fort though! I think one of my very first bowling experiences was at your birthday party. I get together with Tricia Fegan and Gayle Tornberg when I am back visiting home... and the last time I saw them in May we talked about how we would really like to know how our Valle Verde friends were doing. It's funny how I can remember so much from those days. When I describe my childhood to others - sometimes I say, we grew up in a Brady Bunch like environment. Riding bikes, swimming at the Cabana Club,etc.

Meg S. said...

I saw Carolyn Kempker last year. One of her sisters lives around the corner from the Cabana Club, near her mom. I also keep in touch with Gayle, her parents moved to Roseville so no more next door neighbor romps :(

We go to WC quite often to visit mom and dad. We ALWAYS go back for the big Woodlands garage sale and sometimes for the Fourth of July Parade (which is not near as cool as it used to be). Stacey and Andrea, we totally need to do a Valle Verde get together!

I have to smile every time I pass Trisha Fagan's old house, since it's on 'Nutmeg'.

Dr. Jeff said...

What is the Cabana Club???

And Meg, tell CK to write in!

Anonymous said...

Cabana Club was the Woodlands neighborhood swim club off Citrus. 4th of July in the Woodlands was always awesome (run in the AM, 4th of July parade, swimming and games at Cabana Club, then illegal fireworks in the neighborhood). When we moved from Marin to WC in 1978, the 4th of July in the Woodlands was mindblowing...and the Perada/Cassena stagecoach float was pretty cool as well :)

Anybody have Mr Wilson class picture scans from 5th or 6th grade?

Stacey Morton said...

Andrea Oh wow...how did I not know that the fort was yours....now it hit me who's it was!!!! We really do need to get together....I would love to see both Gayle's as well!!! I was in contact with Nerissa after her 2nd baby but then lost contact....now she has 4...I knew she would have at least 4!!! I loved the Cabana Club.....6am swimming lessons were extrememly cold though!! Is the Cabana Club still there? I saw that there was some new apartments built over in that area? Yes....it is amazing how we can remember so much about our childhood growing up in Walnut Creek. Everytime I pass by Valley Verde and that whole area I make my kids do a ....when I was young I used to ride my bike here and go here ect. I know they get tired of it.....but I love to drive by there!! My email is Mortonsfive at AOL. If anyone wants to get caught up any further!!! I would love to see everyone!!!

Anonymous said...

Stacey - it dawned on me who you must have been confusing me with... I had to laugh... was it Lisa Yee, the only other Asian? :)

Cabana Club - I practically lived there during summers. Carolyn Kempker and I would go there all morning, go to her house across the street to watch General Hospital (Luke and Laura days) and have lunch, then return until late afternoon. It's still there! I took a tour of it a year ago. Though they did pave over the spot where I carved my initials :). But there are still names from NGHS alumni on the record books... some of those would be about 35 years old.

Sorry Jeff for heisting the blog for the elementary school stuff!

Anonymous said...

Recently who should show up in one of my dreams but Chris Bowhay. Which is odd because though I remember him as a fine fellow, he was a minor figure in my childhood and I haven't thought of him (consciously anyway) in years. (I have no memory of what happened in the dream, just the clear idea that Bowhay was in there.) So I Google Chris Bowhay and here I am. And even though I never made it to Northgate this site is strangely compelling, I find myself reading all the posts looking for familiar names, faces, etc. No doubt I would have moved on without commenting, until I noticed my picture in this post - I am in the above photo, though not on the list of those who made continued on to Northgate.

Who am I? Should we play a guessing game? Just before finishing 4th grade my family moved to Hawaii. I lived at 427 Dogwood Dr - right next to Valle Verde, on the field side. Swam for the Woodlands, spent long hours at the Cabana Club (and put streamers in my bike to join the 4th of July Parade). The person directly above me in the photo also did not go make it to Northgate, as he moved to Santa Clara when his father became a men's basketball coach there. Andrea Lee (Carboni) I remember you - at least I have vague memories of going to your house to play. And my sister still keeps in touch with Tricia Fegan.

Is that enough for someone to figure out who I am? I have no idea - of course it seems obvious from where I'm sitting – but then off the top of my head I could only name about 10 of the kids in the above photo...

Anyway sorry to intrude and thanks to dr jeff for the platform.

Matty said...

Dude, no one likes a guessing game,just tell us who you are. Sheesh.

Matty said...

"Anybody have Mr Wilson class picture scans from 5th or 6th grade?"

Now THAT would be awesome...anybody remember Ari Ekbatani the Iranian political refugee?

Matty said...

"was it Lisa Yee, the only other Asian? :)"

Hey! Don't forget Joanne Sigimura, couldn't. :)

Stacey said...

I remembered... finally ...that great friend of mine is Joyce Tan!! Anyone remember her..?? Oh and how I loved Joanne Sigimura.....she was so much fun!!

Anonymous said...

Mr Wilson! The two things that stand out from his class are:

1)No homework on Monday if the Raiders won.

2)Running laps around the 4 baseball backstops.

Good times...

Anonymous said...

DK - I know exactly who you are! (Yes, you came to my house and tossed gravel at me. Then I think I went to your house and you and your brothers tormented me with the pet snake... since I'm 40 years old and that was 35 years ago, I can now admit to you that you were my very first crush!) Tell me how life is: aleecarboni@yahoo.com. (I still see Trish the Fish when I'm back visiting Walnut Creek!)

Andrea
(Ah -sorry for my error guys on the other Asians... how could I forget my best friend in K - Joanne? And Joyce Tan, and Nerissa? Guess I wasn't so original after all. So correction: "The only other Chinese!" Heh!)

Anonymous said...

There we go, now we're talking - Andrea you have made my day (at least). I am not only identified, I am crushed. I don't recall having a (conscious) thing for you, but come on - gravel, snakes - could I have been any more obvious? What does a six year old boy have to do? Anyway I will e-mail you.

The only others I can name in this photo (not named above) are Clay Stallworth, Mike Davey, and Mike Chuberka (if I even have the names right). And the boy in brown, between Kempker and Lecas – I'm thinking his name might have been Russo, Scottie Russo - or I could be completely mixed up ... Anyone? (Or maybe all the names are on the photo itself? Guess I can check next time I'm in my parents' basement.)

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad I came back to read comments. I always wondered what happened to you Mr.King!

My dad said a lot of the old records are still holding up at the Cabana Club. Jeff Keyes is still up I hear.

There are a lot of NG'ers on Facebook, if you're members there you should let us know.

I think I saw Mike Giomi working at a sports shop in Sacramento years and years ago. I had just had my now 17 year old so it was a lifetime ago...

cheers!
meg