Highland High School Class of 1959 In Memory

This is the list we have of Class of '59 graduates that have passed away. You will find sketches of those that are highlighted below. If you can share information on those for whom we have none, please contact us by e-mailing the webmaster or mailing to Highland High School Alumni Committee, 71 Arroyo Venada Road, Placitas, NM, 87043.

Charlie was our class treasurer, you will recall. He won the National Merit Scholarship, married Martha Swindle from the class of '60, graduated from Northwestern's School of Medicine, became a doctor. The following is from the preface of the third edition of Charlie's textbook, Abernathy's Surgical Secrets which was dedicated to him.

Charlie Abernathy never had a neutral effect on anyone. Charlie's effervescent enthusiasm for education, medicine, books, students, innovation, cattle, DNA, old cars, skiing, critical care, and his patients will sustain happy and rewarding memories for all of us lucky enough to have known him....

After medical school at Northwestern and surgical training in Boston and Colorado, Charlie joined Ted Dickinson to practice surgery in Montrose, Colorado. Charlie was a superb surgeon, gifted internist, sensitive psychiatrist, compassionate Pediatrician, imaginative urologist/gynecologist, and practical family physician

Charlie's loyalty and love for the University of Colorado prompted him to run for university Regent. Predictably, Charlie was elected. Soon thereafter, we successfully recruited Charlie and Martha back to the Department of Surgery at Denver General and the University Hospitals. With Charlie around, we "red lined" excitement and the "fun-meter was always in the green zone." Charlie challenged everything and everyone

Charlie originated the question and answer format of this text, which later developed into a series, because he believed students needed to know the right questions as well as the answers. Characteristically, Charlie identified a way to make medical education stimulating, rewarding and fun.

In this third edition of Surgical Secrets, we hope to have captured some vintage Abernathy – his irreverence, challenge, humor, dignity, erudition, and "working model" doctor practicality

Charlie died on March 24, 1994 of a heart attack. Martha lives now in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

BALLENGER -- Nancy Jackson Ballenger. A woman who celebrated creativity and the joy of individual expression, Nancy Jackson Ballenger, age 64, passed away Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at her Santa Fe home. Nancy was born in Albuquerque on August 1, 1942 to Dr. Irby and Mary Lou Ballenger. A 1959 graduate of Highland High School, she was active in student government and was elected Homecoming Queen. After a year at Scripps College in Claremont, CA, Nancy returned home to attend UNM, where she was a Kappa Kappa Gamma, and was a member of Mortar Board. A talented painter, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 1963, then spent a year studying art in Paris. Throughout her life, she was an avid art collector. She married her high school sweetheart, attorney Bob McCorkle, in 1964, a union that lasted 16 years. Their three children brought Nancy great happiness throughout her life. She was a full-time volunteer through the 1970's. In the Albuquerque Junior League, she served on numerous committees, acted as the Community Vice President and served on the area council of the National Association. She helped raise funds for the UNM Art Museum and was an active leader at her children’s elementary school. In 1976, she was appointed to the NM Corrections Commission, as well as the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, where she worked tirelessly to make the system better and to improve educational opportunities for children. She was the special assistant to the Secretary of Corrections throughout the 1980’s. Always passionate about politics, she worked on several campaigns, most notably for her close friend, Lt. Gov. Mike Runnels. In the early '90s, she moved to San Francisco to work for Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates with her cousin, founder and CEO, Jess Jackson. On her return to NM, she was a lobbyist for the wine industry, as well as ranch and water rights issues. Nancy was a stunningly beautiful woman, both outside and in, who found vast delight in her innumerable friendships, her dogs, art gallery openings, political events, dining at her favorite restaurants, and finding ways to make life magical. She was a regular at the Thursday Literary Club and she enjoyed recent travels to Turkey, Russia, Lithuania, China, France and Spain. She loved adventures and she loved to laugh. Nancy is survived by her children, Meegan McCorkle Flewelling and husband Jeff, Galen McCorkle and Jackson McCorkle; grandchildren, Josh Strickland, Riley and Brendan Flewelling; and her sisters, Sally Wood and Ruth Duffy.

Known as Jimmy in school. Is believed to have died of rare blood disorder in the early 90’s in his mother’s home. He never married and lived most of his life in San Diego.

Jim died August 10th, 1999 in South Dakota while attending the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally with his wife Emily. He was hit by an out of control ice truck while stopped at an intersection in the town of Deadwood. Jim was one of the owners of the Quality car dealerships in Albuquerque where he was known as an astute businessman but even more for his fairness and integrity. He enjoyed skiing and golfing as well as everything to do with Harley-Davidsons.

Antoinette (Toni) Dobell Niggel, of Albuquerque, passed away October 15, 2009 surrounded by her family. She was preceded in death by her eldest son Keith Brian Niggel and is survived by her husband Keith of 47 years; One son, Fr.Clement Niggel; and one daughter, Kerri and her husband, Joel Fiala; and her three grandchildren Desmond, Kasey, and Drake. She was also survived by her brother Steve Dobell and his wife Joanne; and sisters, Rosemary and husband Tom Martin, and Betty Heise as well as her brothers and sisters on the Reynolds side of her family and many nieces and nephews. Interment was on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 in Los Ojos, New Mexico

Tex Elton Haase, 61, veteran U.S. Marine, and a resident of Tucumcari passed away November 9, 2002. He is survived by his wife, Maria I.V. Haase and five children and their families. Tex was a nationally known artist of carved wooden caricatures and western art, a member of the Caricature Carvers of America, the Tucumcari Woodcarvers Club and judged many national and local woodcarving shows. He was a retired schoolteacher. He taught math, physics, science and art. Tex also coached wrestling, football,science club and academic decathlon. He was chairman of the Board for Tucumcari Schools Federal Credit Union, member of the National Education Association-Tucumcari Education Association. He was inducted into the New Mexico National Education Association Teacher Hall of Fame, 2001. He was also a former Scout Master for the Boy Scouts of America and a member of the BPOE Elks Lodge #1172.

Tom Henry died April 9, 2004. He loved sports. He was on the golf team at Highland as a sophomore and followed golf all of his life. He loved all sports but particularly loved horse racing about which he had encyclopedic knowledge. He and his brother, John, operated the Union Baking Company in Albuquerque for many years. He had one son, Stewart, by his first wife, Tilly. His second wife Treva survives him.

Donald Ned Hicks, 68, passed away April 12, 2010, at Crosbyton, Texas. He was born May 02, 1941, in Afton, Texas, to Joe and Maydell Hicks. Ned was saved as a youth of nine. He pastored his first church at the age of twelve in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He loved the Lord, and loved preaching straight from the bible. After a successful world-wide Ministry, he retired to Spur, Texas, his home area. He was the founder of Community Bible Chapel, and the pastor for 18 years.

The Life Of Ned Hicks
By Brannun Armstrong
(Dr. Hicks’ 12 year old great-nephew)

He was a preacher I once knew
He only had one leg so he only had to wear one shoe
He inspired everyone that he knew
He was a pretty cool dude
He was a follower of the Lord
When it came to serving God, he was never bored
He was always driving his old Ford Lincoln
You could never find him drinkin’
He loved talking about his favorite football team
He lived life as if it was a dream
He was a Blue Jay flying in the summer breeze
He loved life, making it happy and feeling free
I sure don’t know when,
But I do know I will see him again

Katherine Howard Clifton was painter, ceramicist, horsewoman, gardener, fashion model, featured movie extra, belle-lettrist, traveler, gracious hostess, gourmet cook, and emerging mah jongg master. She was a deeply loving wife and sidekick to her husband Marty, a perfect and loyal friend, and a compassionate caregiver and animal lover. Katherine read widely and well, and kept alive that youthful capacity, so often lost in middle age, of enquiry into the deeper nature of experience.

Born in Louisiana, she belonged to a matrilineage of Avery Island gentry. Avery Island is where they make Tabasco sauce, and Avery women certainly had bite.

Katherine’s mother, Frances, arrived in New Mexico sometime in the twenties in a Buick touring car driven by her own rather ferocious mother, who had left behind the family wealth and status.

Katherine’s Highland High School class of 1959 included friends she would know for a lifetime, among them an ambitious young man named Marty Clifton. In 1964, with a fresh bachelor’s degree in English from the University of New Mexico, Katherine-to the dismay of Frances-embarked on a classic Sixties road trip: She and a group of friends piled into a Volkswagen van and headed for New York. Katherine intended only a short visit to see the World’s Fair and absorb the art and energy of the city. She stayed for three years and painted her first painting there with a brushes and paints given to her by a friend.

In yet another rite of the Sixties, Katherine migrated west to the San Francisco Bay area in 1967. She moved onto a houseboat in the waterborne alt-bohemian community of Sausalito, and supported herself by cracking crabs. During most of Katherine’s fifteen year residence in San Francisco, she devoted herself to pottery and developed an ever-more complex and sophisticated technique.

With her newfound interest in ceramics, Katherine came home to New Mexico and set up a studio and kiln. She purchased a small adobe house and plot of land near Rancho de Olguin, a remote village on the banks of the meandering Rio Vallecitos in northern New Mexico.

“For three wonderful years,” Katherine told the Signpost in an earlier feature story, “I lived independently as a full-time potter. It was a truly fulfilling time for me, living alone in a mountain situation, meeting the challenges of daily life, getting the wood chopped and in place, taking care of the pumps, irrigating my small field.”

“When reality required it,” Katherine later recalled, “I returned to civilization to earn a more reliable income and, by the by, fell in love with one handsome cowboy. Marty admits that he had some serious wooing to do to win Katherine over. After all, she had lived her life up to then independently and successfully. She had forged survival skills based on domestic frugality. And she had been thoroughly content as a single woman.

Katherine and Marty were married on Halloween 1987 and five years later they moved into their home in Placitas. Within a couple of years, they were off on one of their greatest adventures: Marty had joined an international consortium that was developing clean natural gas supplies for Turkey. In 1996, Katherine and Marty moved to a villa on the shores of the Bosporus in Istanbul.

Katherine’s letters home abounded with vivid tales: cruising the Ionian Sea, outrunning bee swarms in Cappadoccia, and exploring an island castle built by the Knights of St. John, the swimming beaches disappearing into azure waters.

The Cliftons return to Placitas in January 2000 did not end their travels as they vacationed in France, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. There were also frequent trips, often with horses, into the inspiring landscapes of the West.

At home in Placitas, Katherine rediscovered her love of painting, using the same brushes she had been given three decades earlier in New York. Horses and ranch life became her favorite subjects, the images reflecting experiences that were her greatest joy. There was also joy to be found in the rhythms of life in Placitas. The community was made up of professionals, artists, and retirees, and Katherine delighted in the originality, varied interests, and outright eccentricity of her neighbors. On a whim, Katherine worked as an extra in 2005 on the films Into the West and Wildfire, in which she was cast-much to her amusement-as a proper society matron. And there was mah jongg, the ancient Chinese game of tiles that claimed her and a growing number of friends. It was a rich, fulfilling, and very happy life.

Early in November, 2005, Katherine suffered breathlessness and a loss of energy while working with the horses. The diagnosis was a leaky heart valve that required repair. Though serious, the procedure is a regular feature of modern cardiac treatment. The surgery took place. Katherine never regained consciousness. “She walks in beauty” is the remembrance of her friends, the phrase belonging to a Navajo prayer of celebration of the earth, of living things, of life. The lyric also beckons to Katherine from Lord Byron’s loveliest poem:

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellow’d to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent

The smiles that win, the tints that glow

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent.

Katherine was devoted to the work of the South Texas Children’s Home where unadopted children are provided with nurturing environment and educational support through college. Donations may be sent to: South Texas Children’s Home, P. O. Box 1210, Beeville, TX 78104-1218.

by Barb Belknap, with thanks to Mary Clifton, Richard Cravens, and Joanie O’Donnell

JOHNSON -- DOUGLAS A brilliant educator, beloved husband and step-father, doting grandfather and treasured friend, Doug Johnson was a gift to his family and all who knew him. Doug made it to 70, defying the odds against his cancer and delighting those of us eager to spend every last day with him. A resident of Albuquerque for 60 years, Doug was a graduate of Highland High School and UNM. He was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, and responsible, no doubt, for keeping the chapter grade point average up. An outstanding student, he was awarded an academic scholarship to MIT in 1959, but preferred the warm climate and culture of NM, so returned to Albuquerque to finish his education. It was during his first year at UNM law school when he volunteered to tutor a group of newly pledged PIKE's, that Doug discovered his love of education, and this would become his life's work. Doug earned love and respect from students and colleagues as a teacher, area coordinator of special education, assistant director of special education and principal. He was one of the pioneering planners who integrated severely handicapped children from segregated facilities into the public school setting. He opened the first school within the UNM Children's' Psychiatric Hospital. Most recently, he worked with Cooperative Education Services evaluating students with disabilities for the Belen Consolidated School District. Doug considered himself privileged to work with colleagues whose dedication and commitment to the education of young people turned their work into a calling. Doug and Ruth were fortunate to be able to travel the world together, and while Italy was Doug's favorite country, Paris was his favorite city and where he and Ruth celebrated four of their 25 anniversaries. When faced with the many terrible, but lifesaving, procedures during the five years of his illness, he would close his eyes and return to the sunflower fields of southern France. His interests were many and varied. He held season tickets to Lobo Football and the Santa Fe Opera, was a classical pianist and never missed the Thirsty Ear country music festival where he and Ruth danced every dance. Doug will be greatly missed as he joins his only brother, Rick Johnson, who passed away last year. He is survived by his wife Ruth; step-sons, John and Demian Armstrong; daughter-in-law, Heather Armstrong; four grandchildren, Athena, Ethan, Dillon and Evan; step brother and sister-in-law, Doug and Judy Weidman; foster-son John Franks; sisters-in-law Debbie Johnson, Becky Moore and Sharon Hankla; and the many family and friends who shared his life. A memorial service will be held at the UNM Alumni Chapel on Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 9:30 a.m., where most Saturdays Doug and Ruth walked with their dog Jazz. Doug was grateful for many things in his life, but especially for the wonderful healthcare professionals at the UNM Cancer Center and UNM Hospital, most notably, surgeon, Dr. Glenroy Heywood who saved Doug's life by having the courage to perform a surgery that few surgeons would have attempted, and oncologist, Dr. Fa Chi Lee whose optimism matched Doug's and whose brilliant mind and commitment enabled Doug to live for years beyond initial predictions. Doug and Ruth considered each day a gift. In lieu of flowers, please send a check to UNM Cancer Center. Note Doug Johnson Memorial on the check and mail to: UNM Cancer Center, MSC07 4025, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001. Contributions will be used to support cancer research.
Published on: Fri October 14, 2011

Dr. Murray A. Katz June 15, 1941 - November 17, 2008 Among the last great joys of Murray's life was voting, and it was a special bonus for him that he lived to see Barack Obama as President-elect. Murray Katz brought an enlarged spirit of outsized talents and raucous humor to his professional and personal associations. He loved politics, medical research, mathematics, literature; in essence he was a true Renaissance Man. From a precocious age, he was master of international folk music; his literary interests ranged from Hemingway's bullfighting aesthetic to H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos; he wrote horror stories, poems, and screenplays; he was a scholar of classic, foreign, and schlock films; he was a fierce political junkie with polished authoritative debating skills; he was the ultimate multi-tasker-- working on his computer while hooked into Sunday morning TV news shows, engaging in several simultaneous conversations, and completing the daily newspaper crypto-quip, usually in a few seconds. In all of these activities and obsessions, he laughed away pain, disappointment, and ultimately searing illness with due homage to the immortal comics, including the Marx Brothers, Sid Caesar, Ernie Kovacs, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Monty Python, and George Carlin. Dr. Katz moved to Tucson in 1974, but part of his soul will always remain in New Mexico where he was born and raised in Albuquerque. Graduating from high school in 1959 as Valedictorian, he was a General Motors National Scholar and one of the first Jews accepted to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, at a time when there was a quota on such admissions; being from New Mexico was also considered unusual. The Five Year Medical Program at Hopkins allowed him to complete undergraduate and medical school, with Honors, in only seven years. After receiving his medical degree in 1967, he served a residency in internal medicine on the Osler Service of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and subspecialty training in nephrology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. From 1971-74 he was at Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, where he was Acting Chief of Nephrology. The remainder of his professional career was spent at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, where he was Professor of Medicine and Physiology; and the Southern Arizona V.A., where he was a staff nephrologist, Director of Research for seventeen years, and founding Director of the Benjamin Zweifach Microcirculation Laboratories. Belonging to over twenty professional groups, including National Kidney Foundation, American Society of Nephrology, American and International Societies of Nephrology, etc.; he was a highly sought-after lecturer on internal medicine and nephrology; and later in his career, a nationally recognized champion of universal health care and health care reform. One could always recognize Dr. Katz at national and international meetings by his natty western dress, boots, hats and bolas. He served as President of the Western Section, American Federation for Clinical Research, and held numerous other offices among the societies. In 1976, he authored "Calculus for the Life Sciences" which uniquely linked mathematics to biology as a new way of teaching calculus. For thirteen years, Dr. Katz fought the demons of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, attempted every treatment offered, and always came back to life and work. He watched the two last debates with a houseful of friends, and just a week before his last breath, he submitted a manuscript of poems and Lovecraftian tales, titled "The Suicidal Biochemist" that will be posthumously published soon. Murray Katz was married for nearly 45 years to his high school love, Sali Barnett, who survives him along with his mother, Frances of Albuquerque; his brother, Michael of Santa Fe; and his two sons, Mason in San Diego, and Aaron, a local architect. He also leaves behind countless students and Fellows he has mentored, nurses and colleagues who looked to him for guidance and comradery, two very bewildered cats, many hungry hummingbirds, and two wild turtles who couldn't care less.

Manufacturer's rep, 58
Weldon B. Kite of Littleton, a manufacturer's representative, died May 31, 2000 at home. He was 58. Services were Monday at Epiphany Episcopal Church, Denver. There was cremation. He was born Dec. 8, 1941, in Clayton, N.M. He attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. On Dec. 27, 1963, he married Nina Bebber in Wheat Ridge. He is survived by his wife; four brothers, Ed, Rocky Ford, Jim, Houston, and John and Ray, both of Denver; and his mother, Sandy, also of Denver.

From the Denver Post - 12 June 2000

Dick was riding his motorcycle on North Hwy. 14 on a Sunday afternoon in late September, 1991, when he lost control and hit a guard rail near Madrid. Dick died in his 50th year. He came to Albuquerque with his parents in 1945 and attended public schools here, including Highland where he lettered in football and track. He served in the Marines' Third Force Reconnaissance Company in Vietnam for which he received numerous citations as a reconnaissance and intelligence officer during extensive combat duty including over 100 patrols. He returned to Albuquerque where he graduated from UNM Law School in 1970. He was active in the Republican Party and made an unsuccessful run for sheriff of Bernalillo County sheriff in 1974. For 20 years prior to his death he was a practicing lawyer and real estate broker and had become involved in building solar homes in his community in the Sandia Mountains.

Sydni died at home of breast cancer on the 30th of January 1998. She was married for 35 years to classmate Ed Lynch and together they raised two daughters. Syd went to SMU and UNM, earning a degree in Business Administration. She taught in the Los Angeles Public School District while Ed completed his graduate work and later taught business subjects in the California Community College system for 20 years. In 1984 she and Ed went to Anchorage, Alaska, where she became Director of Marketing at the telephone company there. In 1993 they came home to New Mexico and settled in Peralta, south of Albuquerque. She worked part time at the Norwest Bank in Belen. Sydni was always active in her church and her community and a good friend to many of us.

Tom died in an auto accident in 1980. Buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery at Paseo del Norte and Wyoming

Dale succumbed to a rare form of cancer on April 23, 2004. Dale married Diane Sturgeon in 1963. He served in the U.S. Army where he got his training as a medical laboratory technologist. In 1969 the couple moved to Kansas from Colorado Springs. Later they spent several years in Utah and Nevada, finally settling in Waldron, Arkansas. Dale was Director of Patient Services for 29 years at Waldron Hospital and Mercy Hospital of Scott County, member of Waldron United Methodist Church, a Mason, and past president of the Arkansas Chapter of I.S.C.L.T. Memorial service was held April 25, 2004 at Waldron United Methodist Church with burial at U.S. National Cemetery in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Dale and Diane had three daughters.

Joan Morgan graduated in the Class of 59. She attended UNM and received a degree in Nursing in 1964. She married G. Eric Bell in 1964. They had one child, Stacey. She divorced Eric in 1972 and remarried in 1974 to Dr. Grant Reed. They moved to Tucson in 1978 where Dr. Reed set up a practice. Joan worked along side her husband as a scrub nurse. Joan had her second child, named Shannon. They moved to Idaho Falls, Id in 1983 and set up practice. Joan was a great scrub nurse and while at BCMC in Alb she participated in ground breaking surgery such as the first Kidney transplant and the first open heart surgery. Joan's last few years were spent in tremendous pain due to a textbook rare tumour in her left lung. It was removed but the pain remained. She died in Dec of 1995. Joan was a beautiful person who had a rare capacity for caring. She was a generous, caring, loving person who is missed by all who knew and loved her. I remained friends with Joan after our divorce and miss her greatly. G. Eric Bell

I first met Sharon Dale when we were sophomores at HHS in 1957. We became friends and shared experiences varying from lengthy phone conversations (about boys), to matching babydoll pajamas at slumber parties, to double dates at movies, high school events and proms. She was an extraordinarily beautiful young girl with amazing eyes and long brown hair which was perpetually perfect. She would walk into a room and people would stop talking just to look at her.

She attended UNM, pledged a sorority, Pi Beta Phi, and met her fixture husband, John Mossman. After they were married they moved to New Orleans so that John could attend Tulane Medical School. There, Sharon received what she laughingly referred to as her PHT (put the hubby through) degree.

While a very young wife, Sharon was diagnosed with a potentially fatal liver disease. When I think of Sharon I think of strength, courage and a thankfulness for each day she was alive. Through extraordinary medical efforts and her own quiet sense of determination Sharon was able live a happy, fulfilling and productive life. Her one goal was to live long enough to see her two children, Robin and Scott, graduate from high school. She beat all the odds to also see graduations from college and the birth of one of her two granddaughters.

Sharon died on March 1, 1997 of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis and complications from breast cancer. Her life was celebrated by devoted friends and loving family at a memorial service on March 6th of that year.

Reinhardt was extremely intelligent. His interests were broad, his mind was quick and he read voraciously. He attended school for a year in Heidelberg, Germany and traveled throughout Europe and the Middle East. During the Viet Nam war he joined the Air National Guard and was stationed in Rantoul, Illinois and Dover, Delaware.

After his military service he and his wife Margaret moved to northern New Mexico where they raised their children. He became an accountant and practiced for over 30 years from an office in Los Alamos.

After his first wife Margaret’s death, Reinhardt married Dee Church who survives him.

Reinhardt left three wonderful children, Daven, Reinhardt III and Mikel

Kent died on March 9, 2000, in Tucson, Arizona. He had been married to Highland High graduate Peggy Donato for thirty-eight years. Kent had retired in 1996 to travel in their RV and golf with Peggy. Kent's dedication to child welfare through organized sports activities has been extensive and widely recognized.

My brother, Harold A. Smith, called "Nikki" and "Nick" went into the army shortly after graduation. After a tour of 3 years, he was discharged and went to Eastern NM Univ in Portales where he majored in Political Science. He became a stockbroker in Los Angeles, but didn't care for the life so relocated to the Northwest. He was killed in 1984 when the private plane he was piloting crashed in bad weather. If you have any questions or comments, you may correspond with me at this e-mail address.

A sailor, diver, surfer, skier, and world traveler, Terry Stafford spent the better part of his life in Mauii, Hawaii, where for 30 years he dove for black pearls, and owned two businesses: Kula Lime Company and Lahaina Graphics. Born in Chicago, he spent his childhood in Albuquerque, graduating from Highland High School there and gaining a degree in Business from University of New Mexico; later he lived in Aspen, CO. He was the father of Fara Lee Stafford by his first wife, Nina Cherry, and a son, Travis James Stafford, with his second wife Deborah Lucas. Terry died of a long illness on February 5, 2000 in his last home, Telluride CO, at the home of his sister Susan Stafford Kerr. Survivors are his son and daughter, both in Maui; his sister Susan and another sister Vicki Farthing of Broomfield, CO; his Brother James S. Stafford of Albuquerque, NM; and his mother, Diana Stafford of Telluride.

I do know about Evelyn, as we have been best friends since our high school days, and had been in touch all the time until she died. I saw her about a month before she passed away. She died in Santa Monica CA on July 29, 2001 after a battle fighting Non-Hodgkins disease.

Michel C. Wood, age 62, a resident of Albuquerque died January 26, 2003. He is survived by his mother, Victoria Wood of Albuquerque, a son and grandson, both named Sam. Mike graduated from Highland High with us in ’59. He attended Compton Jr. College in Compton, CA.

Nancy passed away on the 18th of March 2004, after a 12 year battle with breast cancer. Her husband, Robert Runkle asks the class to raise a glass to her at the reunion dinner.

She had retired from the Social Security Administration in Dallas, where she had worked since graduation from college in Las Cruces, and was living at her family’s home in Albuquerque. It was an acute heart-related episode, I think.

Robert J. Darrow Jr. of Moriarty, passed away on January 5, 2005 after a long illness. He attended Highland High School and went to New Mexico Military Institute of Roswell. Bob then went to Los Angeles, CA where he attended the Los Angeles School of Art. Upon returning to Albuquerque, he went to TVI where he earned a contractor’s license and was contractor for several filling stations.

After moving to Moriarty, he had a successful restaurant business until ill health forced his retirement.

Bob is survived by his long time business partner and friend, William T. Stowe, father, Robert Darrow Sr., Brother, Will; sisters, Laura and Christine, and daughters, Lynn and Lisa. Donations may be made to the American Lung Association of New Mexico.

Margaret (Marnie) Spiegel Collister died Wednesday, April 15, 2009 after valiantly battling cancer for the last year. Marnie spent the last year enjoying life with her dear family and friends while fighting the cancer. She was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 9, 1941 and moved to Albuquerque with her father, Arthur H. Spiegel, mother Eleanor F. Spiegel and brothers in 1949. Marnie is survived by her husband of 45 years, Douglas H. Collister, her two children Eleanor (Ellie) Garcia of Albuquerque, Douglas A. Collister and his wife, Barbara Yamanaka, of Mill Valley, California; four grandchildren, Julian and Garrett Garcia, and Morgan and Dylan Collister, her brothers Art Spiegel, his wife Pollock Spiegel of Bedford, NY and Jeff Spiegel and his wife, Katie Gardner of Placitas, NM and her dear friend, Ruby Hooker. Marnie loved to travel with her family and traveled extensively around the world; over the years she also enjoyed tennis, running, scuba-diving and more recently was addicted to golf. She and her family were also avid skiers. Marnie loved to cook and entertain with her family and exceedingly large and loyal group of friends. For many years, the Collisters and their daughter's family traveled to California for holidays to be with her son Doug and his family. Her brother, Jeff and his wife, Katie recently moved back to New Mexico to be closer to his sister. Marnie, like her Father and Mother before her, was active in Albuquerque civic affairs. She was a member of the Junior League, active in the Manzano Day School Parents' Association and the Albuquerque Academy Parents' Association. In addition, she was a member of the board of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and the June Music Festival. Marnie also enjoyed her book club where she and friends read and discussed literature of interest to them. Marnie went to Highland High School, '59, Mills College, and UNM from which she graduated in 1963. Marnie was known to be fiercely loyal to her friends and family. Both friends and family who gathered at the hospital when they heard about Marnie's death were heard to ask the same question: "Who would boss them around now that Marnie was gone?"

Robert William Lepisto, 69, a resident of Albuquerque for 67 years, passed away Monday, July 19, 2010. He was a devoted family man, lover of life and all that it provides; seeker of truth and fair play, a risk taker. Robert's kindness and understanding of people and what we all share as friends and family; the unconditional love that transcends time. Robert made his living in the insurance industry. Robert is survived by his two sons: Troy and wife Kristin; Todd and wife Louisa; his two grandchildren: Nathaniel, and Quintin; his two brothers: Carl and Martin. Services were held Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Timothy's Lutheran Church, 211 Jefferson St. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87108. (Jefferson and Copper)