Wednesday, July 16, 2008

LHS Alumni Update – 7-16-08

Haven’t heard much from LHS alumni. I know summers keep you busy. Reunions, family outings, vacations, etc. keep us busy but need your feedback to get new information on the website.

Are any of the LHS classes having reunions any time this year. I know we had a highly successful All School Reunion earlier this year but I think there will be some other reunions going on. Let me know.

Just Received: From Rebecca Latimer – 1970’s Girls Brunch, 8-9-08 in Lyons. Contact Revecca at 620-257-7978 or Sharry Smith Butcher at 620-825-4323. See attachment.

If any of you have pictures of your high school days please send them in.

Juanita Danewitz sent me the pictures of the All School Reunion and I forwarded them on. Juanita, can you send me the names to the pics, Thanks. If others have pictures please send them in.

Thank you to the couple of people who sent in subscriptions to the website. Check and make sure your name is listed on the website. If you haven’t sent in a subscription please do so. I don’t want to make the website so you have to have a password to get in but it is not fair for the few alumni that have subscribed to pay for all that haven’t. It is disappointing as the webmaster keeps doing work and not getting paid for all the work he has done. He would do a lot more if we could get some subscriptions in. Thank you.

I know it has been just because you are so busy so please get your subscriptions in and go to the attic and pull out your old high school photos. Also, talk to alumni about contacting me so they can get on my update list.

Let me know what you are doing this summer. I know Mary Kay and Ralph Voss are still in Lyons and I was hoping to get down to see them, but it is not going to happen. Michelle and I are getting ready to go to Estes Park, CO next week. When we get back I have a high school basketball clinic down in Kansas and then Michelle and I are going to St. Louis for the YTB Travel National Convention. They are expecting 30,000 people and some fantastic new things are going to be happening with YTB. Attached are a list of people who have bought their own websites just like mine. You will recognize most of them. We may be in southern CA in Sept., and Sanibel Island in FL during Thanksgiving. We almost bought tickets to Italy but found out Italia Airlines may be going out of business so didn’t want o get stuck with tickets. They had a ticket to Rome for $900 and the second ticket for a $1. This day and age that may be something to really check into when you see a really good deal. We will be kicking ourselves if they survive without govt. help , which in the European Union the airlines are not supposed to be subsidized by the govt.

Mark Mangino the KU football coach just signed a contract for 1.8 million dollars. Not bad for a guy that once worked in the toll booth at a turnpike.

The Good Old Days :
Lions Lingo by Carol Ann Irwin: Year 1959.
Ila Bennett, LHS Junior told about her recent trip to New York City.

Phyllis Swenson left early this afternoon for Manhattan where she will attend an informal fraternity party tonight as a guest of Jim Butts. She will stay overnight with Glenda Reed who is a Junior at K-State and will return tomorrow.

I got an e-mail from Bonnie Evans class of 1961 also wrote for the Lyons Lingo. She said she would see if she could find some of those Lions Lingo reports. I hope she does because Bonnie would have been great at this. We had some really smart kids in my class. What happened to me?

This was I the Spotlight, Sept. 26th 1952.:
Proof that the world is in the machine age can be seen in the LHS parking lot. About a dozen and a half new or used cars were purchased since the end of the last school year. Bob Burge, 52 Plymouth; Larry Wilbur, 35 Plymouth; Jack Byrd, 50 Studebacker; Paul Shepard, 40 Ford; Lary Gray, 37 Chevrolet; Phil Wright, 39 Ford; Glenn Colberg, 37 Studebaker; Howard Jefferies, 40 Plymouth; Paul Jones, 30 & 40 Chevrolets; Max Crowl, 42 Chevrolet; Dean Mandrell, 39 Chevrolet; David Eves, 37 Chrysler; Joneta Edwards, 50 Chevrolet; Leonard Sullivan, 47 Willys Station Wagon; Dale McNally, 39 Chrysler; Earl Sallee, 34 Chevrolet; Eugene Lucas, 37 Ford; Charles Sanders, 39 DeSoto; Jesse Cook, 38 Oldsmobile; Bill Monroe, 39 Plymouth and Tom Battershell, 36 Plymouth.

Out of The Lyons News:
Adam Drew Wilson graduate of LHS in 2001 and a 2006 graduate of Kansas State got engaged to Elizabeth Miller of Salina. She also graduated from K-State. Wedding is planned at the Country Club United Methodist Church in KC, MO. Sorry I don’t know the date but it was a couple of years ago.

Krista Koch a 1996 graduate of LHS she graduated from Colby Comm. College and Johnson County Comm. College Graduated. She is a licensed esthetician and employed at Associated Plastic Surgeons in Leawood, KS. The groom is a 1999 graduate of Kansas University. The wedding was planned for May 3, 2008.

Again, please send in your subscription or if you want to donate you can go on the website and use PayPal or credit card or send your check to the Lyons State Bank, Lyons, KS 67554 and make check payable to the Alumni Club.

I know a lot of you are traveling. Please compare the rates on my YTB website www.SmartWay2Travel.com to book your travel or go to the Lyons Alumni website and click on Lonnie Morris, Dan Thompson or Bob Moody’s website and book your travel with them. Our websites will be competitive with Expedia, Orbitz, Cheap Tickets, etc. for the same flight, same hotel room, same car rental, same vacation package, same cruise cabin and much more. Check the attachment to see people who have their own YTB websites and you will know most of them. There website is just like mine except for the name. The Kansas City Chiefs and many other professional sports teams are setting up websites with YTB.

If you’re going to travel you might as well travel with an LHS Alums. We will be competitive in price 95% of the time.

YTB is remarkable company and I’m putting my families future on the line with this company. That is how much I believe. YTB is a publicly traded 8 year old company. YTB moved from the 35th largest travel agency in the world in 2006 to 26th in 2007. I use this company to cut my travel cost and to have an unbelievable tax write off. We had a guy buy a website last year a few days before he left for New Zealand and Australia. He said it was the best thing he ever did. He said he had already booked his trip unfortunately but said he wrote $7,000 off his taxes and got upgrades through out the trip. I bought my website after a lot of checking into the company and the thing I liked the best is I’m going to use it and I liked that the owners of the company are incredible visionaries. They started this company two years before Barry Dillar spent 5.1 billion to buy Expedia.

Heard a great quote the other day and will phrase it as close as I can. The quote was by Helen Keller, “People with sight and no vision are the poorest individuals in the universe.” These owners have vision and they announced something last night I can’t mention yet at this time and they may not be able to make it happen but if they can it will be incredible.

I got certified to set up non-profits with an incredible fund-raiser thru travel. YTB has nearly 2400 non-profits set up at this time. If you know of someone wanting an incredible fundraiser contact me.

Again, I mention YTB because we don’t advertise. You see Expedia, etc on the TV all the time because they spend millions a year to advertise. We do it by telling you about it.

Michelle and I will soon be sending out a newsletter of our own a couple of times a month about travel. If you contact one of the alums who have a website they can put you into their Deals & Steals and the company will send you a weekly newsletter on the top five travel deals weekly coming up, or you can go to our websites and sign up yourself for the Deals & Steals.

Thank you for listening but I know so many of you travel a great deal, just want you to know what is available to you with Lyons Alumni.

Sax Drake
Class of 1961

Saturday, July 5, 2008

LHS Alumni Update: 06-29-08

Wow!!!! We survived the storm that hit Omaha a couple of days ago. 115 MPH winds and hail. We got nailed. Michelle was so happy it didn’t hit a week ago but so sad with all the time and effort she had put into the yard. We have a few more alumni in Omaha, not sure how they faired.

I’m going back thru some of the Lyons Daily when it was a daily. This one is Thurs. May 19th, 2005. Val & Sal named at LHS. Cody Wiens and Alex Reed. What an honor. Didn’t say where they were going to go to college.

In the good old days: 50 Years ago 1955
WINDING THE MAY POLE - A new feature of the annual last day of school parade in Lyons today was a May Pole winding by the 7th grade girls. The pole topped by balloons, was the center of attraction at the southwest corner of the square.
25 Years Ago 1980:
8 individual members of the track team qualified for 14 places at the state track meet. Lyons won the regional with 124 points to the second place Colby Eagles with 52 points Wow!!!! Firsts were Donnie McKinnis in the Javelin at 216-6, Mark Fisher pole vault 14-7; Mark Hundley high hurdles 15.3; & intermediate hurdles 39.3; 400 meter relay team (David & Mark Hundley, Andy Parish & Donnie Campbell) 44.2.
Seconds: M. Hundley 6-2; Kent Teeter 100 meters, 11.5; & 400 meter, 50.5, Parish intermediate hurdles40.4; Mike Rogers 2-mile, 9:55; & mile relay, (Campbell, D. Hundley, Parish & Teeter)3:27.5.
10 Years Ago 1995:
Two senior girls were named top scholars for the Class of 1995. Sara Moses, valedictorian and Sarah Williams, salutatorian.

There are a number of new alumni added to the LHS Updates this time. Many of them were at the All-School Reunion. If you are a new recipient or have been receiving the update please let other alumni know about the site so they can contact me and we can get them the updates.

Our webmaster is doing a fabulous job and we want ot keep him. If you haven’t subscribed for the year please do so. If you want to make an additional donation that would be appreciated. Subscription is $25 dollars for the year and that allows us to do the website and the LHS Updates. Information is on the website or send checks to the Lyons State Bank, Lyons, KS 67554 make checks payable to the Alumni Club.

If any of you have pictures of when you went to high school, cars. Hang-outs, friends, etc. please send them to us so we can get them on the website. There is a blog on the website and much, much more. Check it out!

Anyone booking travel online? If so contact me (Sax Drake) or Lonnie Morris, Dan Thompson or Bob Moody. Their travel websites are on the LHS Alumni website. Any of you want to travel for less and write it off your taxes contact the above alumni, they can fill you in on the details.

You will soon be getting information on LHS alumni trips to San Diego, May of 2009 and a Cruise to Alaska in late August 2009.

We have lost another alum. Larry Pickerell, class of 1958, I believe. We want to honor all those alumni no longer with us; they were all an important part of Lyons High School.

I’m going to attempt to attach a photo of my wedding. If you have anniversaries, weddings, etc. contact me.

Bob “Sax” Drake Class of 1961