Jeri Molnar (Jeri Churchill)

Rosemead High School

Class of 1965

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First Name	Jeri
Last Name	Molnar
Maiden Name	Churchill
Graduation Year	Class of 1965
Gender	Female
Current Location	Australia
Hometown	Temple City
Relationship Status	Married
About Me	Jeri Churchill (Molnar) Class of 1965 Colleges and Grad schools La Trobe University; Pasadena City College; ; Contra Costa College; Cuesta College; Swinburne University Degree(s) BA; Elementary Teaching Qualifications; Certif IV in Assessment & Training; Liberal Arts-one year; Cert IV in Professional Writing & Editing-in progress; Certificate III in Customer Service Occupation Elementary Teacher (retired) Married Children 2 girls Grand children 2 girls Activities I participated in INCLUDED: School Newspaper, football games, attending after game dances and the many theme dances through the years, Year 12 all night graduation party at the bowling alley. ACTIVITIES AFTER SCHOOL INCLUDED: Church youth choir, church youth group, church youth camps; conferences; going to the drive-in; babysitting; bowling; swimming parties at my house; ; slumber parties; beach parties; decorating Rose Parade floats in the big tents off Lower Azusa Road where we saw John Wayne visiting the float he was to ride on - our diamond shaped float won Sweepstakes for Long Beach! Must have been John's inspiration. A LETTER TO MY FRIENDS, CLASSMATES AND TEACHERS! I am writing to say hello to my friends, classmates and teachers from my high school days at Rosemead High School - known as the Class of 1965! We shared the environment and overall experience of our high school years at Rosemead High between 1961 and 1965. While the narrative accounts below may not exactly be your memories, they might trigger other memories, especially of the people who once touched our lives. Please feel free to send comments to me as I would love to hear from you. My profile is being offered to you with hopes that you will find it interesting, and that it will spark some similar memories. It is hoped that this might help to bring you back in touch with your younger self. It is hoped that this profile, as your mind leaves it and your own memories take over, will help you to remember long forgotten friends and teachers, and inspire you to reconnect with them. Lastly, I hope you find new and valuable insights as you reflect on that which was. To these ends, I wish you an enjoyable and memory-jogging time as you go through this alumni site. . . . With fond memories of our shared, high school days . . .. Jeri Churchill Molnar RELEASING THOSE HIGH SCHOOL MEMORIES You can never predict what will unlock high school memories. Years after graduating and living afar, I would be watching a certain T.V. show and get all excited during certain scenes. I would jump up to the T.V. and point out to all present that this is exactly what the hallways, lockers and bleachers looked like in my high school days! "Exactly like this”, I would say. I would then sit and calm down, and be mentally transported back to different memories of my high school days, which left me with that nice feeling of being in touch with my younger self again. I had to laugh at myself, as years later, on a return visit to my high school, I saw a tall sign there on the school grounds facing the street, which read, “Rosemead High School – Home of the Wonder Years!” Little did I know that I had been watching my own high school in those scenes which stirred up my excitement. You wouldn’t think that images of halls, lockers and bleachers could act as triggers for one's high school memories, but my experience proves that memories of them can unlock many more. THE CUBAN CRISIS - BUT OUR ASSIGNMENT WAS DUE! WHAT TO DO? WHAT TO DO? Remember between October 14 and October 28, 1962 when adults were so scared they were building bomb shelters? There was good reason, as the Cuban Crisis was the closest the world had even come to nuclear war. The United States was armed and ready. This presented us, as students, with a real dilemma that the teachers probably weren't aware that we had. Would we do the assignment due on Monday or not? There were advantages and disadvantages to consider, and deep and meaningful questions to ask ourselves. I remember having a hard time deciding. If we worked on it over the weekend, and we died before Monday, we would have wasted our last few days in torture for nothing. It made some sense to let loose and have a party instead! However, If we decided to NOT do the assignment, and we lived, then we would be in big trouble, as I remember the assignment was really important. In hindsight, it would have been nice if the staff could have given us another week before it had to be handed in. I don't think they realized what pressure we were under! What did I do? I did the assignment, and thankfully, lived to tell about it. AN AUSTRALIAN'S RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE STORY: My same aged friend in Australia said, "We had a very different experience of the Cuban stand off. It must have been a scary time for a young teenager in America. Here in Australia, we just lived idyllically and jogged on ". I found her comments interesting. Her family was really into politics, and I imagine they had intense discussions about the crisis at the table. I was almost embarrassed to tell her of my concern being so. . .personal, that is, assignment oriented. Her response was focused on the fact that we teenagers had to live during such an ordeal, rather than critically noticing I wasn't politically oriented in my thoughts, and placing no mention of the fact that I didn't express concern or worry for the well being of our families or our nation. Those days were really profound, and we, the Class of 1965, went through them together! They make up part of our collected, shared experiences. They were really. . the days of our lives! TYPING CLASS: It was most embarrassing to have the teacher walk by, look at you performing, and you get your finger stuck between some keys! Remember typing to the tapping beat of the recording? ENGLISH WRITING ASSIGNMENT - AUTOBIOGRAPHY I remember in English Grade 9, that we were to write our autobiography. The moans were very noticeable from almost everyone, except me. I was so happy because I loved to write. Some suggested chapters were: Houses, Best Friends, Parents, Pets etc. There were a lot more, plus we could make them up ourselves. We were not allowed to name it, "All About Me". This advice, or demand, was given to us too late for me to comply. I think that is what everyone thought to name it. Anyone remember it? Anyone still have it and are now glad they did it? ADVANCED DANCE My best task was creating, choreographing and presenting a group dance in Advanced Dance in Year 12. I made up all the movements for all six people in it. I based it on an original story I had written earlier, and had recorded applicable bits of music to go with different parts of the dance story. It was about white clouds turning into one dark cloud, it becoming a terrible storm, then releasing it's built-up energies by raining in the end. The cloud scenario alluded to people but my memory doesn’t extend enough right now to give you that background. My group did a fantastic job, and were also fun to work with. It was a very creative assignment, challenging and satisfying. I learned a lot doing it I thank the teacher for her inspirations. I have used many creative ideas gained from her that year in my future work. JACQUE COUSTEAU My best famous person memory was when Jacque Cousteau spoke to us at assembly in the gym. He taught us to sing the round: "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other is gold." He also said to keep an ongoing list of things we wanted to do in our lifetimes, then cross them off as we did them. He showed us exciting slides of his work. The experience with him was inspirational, and whenever it comes to mind, I feel inspired once again! FRENCH SURPRISE A good surprise from a teacher was when I received a post card in summer, in French, from France, from my French teacher. French was the only class I had to take twice. The first year I focused too much on my social life. The second year, being very embarrassed by my having to do it again, I buckled down and paid attention. Parlez- vous Francais? Comment allez- vous? Je vais bien merci, et vous? I can now read French well out loud, but do not necessarily know what I am reading. I can sing the French national anthem in French, though. I can also answer some t.v. quiz questions. Our teacher was nice and really cared about us. I thought the postcard from France was going beyond her requirements for us. She didn’t have to do it, but she did. She was also very excited about France, which made it nice to be in French class with her. I am glad to have been exposed to the French and their language, to the point that I've considered taking it up again. Interest in the language has never left me since those times. POPULAR FADS I wore my hair in the Bubble. We would buy lengths of different colored, thin ribbons. We made bows out of them. One ribbon went on a small bobby pin. Then, a bow the same color as my dress, was put in my hair above the bangs in the middle, before the hair was puffed out in the Bubble. There was a distinct hair style for the surfers. I can't describe it fully, but I remember the bangs were left to grow long and they laid over one side of the face. The real surfers usually had sun -bleached blond hair. Many students wore the surfer hair style who weren't surfers, either because they wanted people to think they were - it was cool in some circles - or they just simply liked the style. One of my school pictures shows that I had this style for a while, and I've never been on a surfboard. Also in vogue was "ratting" the hair - back combing it. This created a big poof of hair on our heads. The "rats" where the knots created by backcombing it. This we did on purpose! We would then smooth the outer layers of hair around the big rats, so the whole outside looked smooth. How happily we ratted our hair, knowing what the final result would be when it came time to comb the knots all out! Next day or so, we would do it all again. We wore tennis shoes to match whatever dress we were wearing. We also wore little bells in our shoelaces. Girls were very busy knitting in those days. Girls knitted square tops to wear over blouses. The tops were often two color stripes. Another fad was for a girl to knit, for a boy she liked, a mirror warmer for his car mirror, using angora wool. According to the girls, this was an important accessory for a boy to have! It might also have been to stake claim publicly. One song out at the time was Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport! Little did I know then that I would be raising children with that accent! ENGLISH EXTRA CREDIT Do you remember that we could get extra credit in English if we turned in extra writing without being required to? This fact resided in the far reaches of my mind, and was remembered at the most unlikely of times. Once, I was being "grounded" for having done something wrong at home. You remember that being grounded meant your leash was pulled in. You couldn't go out! You had to stay home for the stated period of time. It was tantamount to social suicide! I was extremely upset and angry, as I was being grounded for Friday night, exactly the time a very important social event was to occur. I couldn't express my anger to my mother or she would have doubled my grounding time. I also wanted to live. Wishing to express myself to my mother, within safe boundaries, and simultaneously let off some steam, I turned to my portable typewriter and feverishly began typing an essay! The audience I was writing to was, of course, my mother, but I couldn't make it so direct. I decided to address all parents in general as the audience. In this essay I was arguing against the unfairness of parents who keep their child at home during important social events. This essay included lots of terrible consequences they would be bringing upon this waif whom they normally loved. I burned off my heated energies typing this out. (I could touch type fast then, so was able to write this essay by typing off the top of my head). I carefully choose my words so that I wouldn't make my mother more mad at me. She would have wondered what I was doing in my bedroom, typing so. How I could go from an unpleasant moment in the living room, to my room, then to be typing up a storm - instead of maybe. . sleeping. . or crying. It would have seemed odd to hear energetic typing in the air. After I finished, I satisfyingly handed the essay to her. She read it and luckily found it amusing. She got my point, that I was unhappy, but being the survivalist, I had chosen my words well! I cannot remember the ultimate outcome of this scenario, but I probably got to go to my event. I would have remembered if I hadn't. What I can remember is that after some editing, I turned this essay, that I titled "Unfair Warfare", in to my English teacher, and got myself some extra credit! WALKING THE HALLS - THE BIG, DAILY SOCIAL EVENT Lots of socializing happened when walking the halls and seeing friends along the way. The halls were a big social time- before school, during class changes, lunchtime and the breaks. Meeting up with friends as we walked along, catching up with everyone, and finding out what happened since we saw them last. Largely, we were interested in boys, and the walking around was an important part of that socializing. We would walk around with our friends before school, buy snacks at the cafeteria, and hang around the Band Room. We tried to make it look like it was coincidental, but it was really strategic. My friend liked a boy who was in there practicing! I am glad that I didn’t go to an all girls school. Having boys around make the high school experience much more interesting. We were lucky to go to a large high school as we were able to make many contacts and friends. Small high schools offer less opportunities in the way of social contacts. We tend to take that for granted. ASSIGNMENT PROCRASTINATION I often waited too long to start assignments. It was frustrating going into the library close to the assignment due date, and wishing I had more time to “enjoy” what I had to read. I realized I had disadvantaged myself by having to quickly read the books, when I now found it actually interesting and wanted to read it and benefit from it. I began keeping a record of books I wanted to read more slowly at another time of my life. I remember Oscar Wilde’s book, The Picture of Dorian Gray, being one of them. There are so many profound thoughts in that book, that one needs time to slowly digest them. It is still a task ahead of me. The book is better than the movie. The Biography of Benjamin Franklin was another. I was inspired by his self discipline in how he would give himself writing tasks and do them over and over, in order to improve his writing skills. He would read a paragraph, turn the book over, and then rewrite it from memory, over and over again. He would also do other, self-determined tasks until he reached his goals. I have since read one of those books in my adulthood - The Biography of Benjamin Franklin, as I promised myself I would do when in my high school days. GOOD READING MEMORIES: What books do you remember reading? We got exposed to lots of different writers, book genres, and ideas. I liked Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Essays, and I recall his essay about Gift Giving. He said something to the tune of, What sense does it make to give a man a gift of a deck of cards or something useless, when he is in need of shoes? Something like that. It was better, of course, but you get the idea. The reasoning used inspired me to want to read more of him. I've never forgotten his point. I haven't solved the problem, but I remember the issue. It also pointed my focus on the value of essays as a written literary form outside of our school assignments. I remember reading "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau. He lived away from society for two years (I believe), and made observations of nature and society from this standpoint. In this book was a chapter called "The Battle of the Ants. He described his observation of a fight between two ant groups, one group was black and the other was red. He used Civil War terminology and imagery. It is an incredible passage, exciting, and inspiring that someone could write like that. It held my attention. I read the Biography of Einstein. You won’t believe what I can remember. I remember that his wife had to set socks out for him. If he was left to his own devices he might wear socks of two of different colors, or one sock only, or forget them altogether. His mind just wasn’t on socks! I apologize to my English Teacher. I probably do remember more than that! JOURNALISM I remember practicing to summarize stories by writing short but clever headlines. I loved doing this. It was a good avenue for getting the creative juices running. I remember some of the other students involved - they were really fun. BEING DISTRACTED IN SCIENCE CLASS I wrote the below poem while in class in Grade 9 or 10. This is not an excellent poem, but it is one of my high school memories. I was "supposed" to be engaged with the teacher's topic at the time. Looking at the content of this poem, I probably wrote it around lunch time. THE STRANGE SOUND One day I was sitting in class, you might say, While everything was as quiet as could be. All of a sudden there was a strange noise, And everyone jumped, you see. I looked to the left, and I looked to the right, and all around the place. I asked my friend if she knew what it was, And boy, you should have seen her face! It lit up like a shining light, trying to find a plane in the blue. My face must have asked the question again For she said she would give me a clue. She said it wasn't a grizzly bear, Although it might sound like he. She said it wasn't an angry dog About to pounce on me. Then she began to tell me, As she lifted her brow, I should have already guessed it, My stomach had started to growl! I WAS THE "OBITUARY WRITER" FOR OUR HIGH SCHOOL NEWSPAPER: Please don't laugh. This shows the high honor bestowed upon me, to be given this role. It shows what respect for my skills existed that I was chosen for it. Not every writer would be chosen. Naturally, I didn't expect to have much work that year. Nor did those who chose me, I might add. Well, we were all wrong. It was 1963 and the year John F Kennedy was assassinated. Also, there were several Rosemead alumni who passed away. I may be wrong, but I think I wrote three or four obituaries that year for our paper. I gained far more experience fulfilling that role than I ever anticipated, or wanted. . JOHN F KENNEDY ASSASSINATION: Nov 22, 1963. I was in English. We heard the news over the loud speaker in the middle of the afternoon. The words were: "It is with a heavy heart that I . . .(give this message to you). Our President has been assassinated". Our teacher, at hearing the words gasped, lost strength in her knees, and dropped. She caught herself on the table in time before actually falling. The loud speaker then said some more things, then that our game was going to be cancelled. I remember being confused, thinking, what president? Our school president? Our football president?. The only time I had heard the word "assassinated" was in terms of Lincoln. Out in the hallways, and everywhere, there was now crying, actual tears, from both staff and students. This was the beginning of a long time where we heard nothing but news on the t.v. and radio. If you wanted to hear music you had to have a record player. Those were very sad times, and our hearts still go out for Mr. Kennedy and his family. ANNUAL VARIETY SHOW ITEM My friend and I wrote a play as a possible suggestion for an item in our school’s annual variety show. We wrote it during a sleepover and had a lot of fun. In the end, the others had a better plan in mind so it was never used. Memories of this play, however, and the fun we had writing it, have been lasting. It was a comedy play titled, “Search for the Fountain of Youth”. It was about ladies in a rest home who were considering entering an old age beauty contest. The contest had a bad rap, as publicly the ladies were saying that this contest was a silly idea for older ladies, and who would even think about entering such a thing. . . etc. Secretly, each lady was getting into a beauty kit planted in the rest home by the contest owners, in order to make themselves look better, and have a chance at winning. The bulk of the play’s content was how each lady would get to that beauty kit unseen, and what they were doing to themselves as suggested by the kit. There were humorous scenarios. One example showed a lady throwing salt over her shoulder saying, "Sprinkle, sprinkle, go away wrinkle!". In the end, the one old lady who did not use the beauty kit won the Old Age Beauty Contest. A speech occurred that supported the idea that it is better to be natural, to be yourself, and that it is what’s inside of one's character that is more important. The prize? A year’s supply of Beauty Kits! OUR SCHOOL SONG In the heart of our fair valley stands our worthy school. Where maroon and gray mean honor school of golden rule. Raise you voices, wake the echos, Rosemead values tell, Hail, to thee, our Alma Mater School we love so well. SWITCH BOARD TRAINING IN THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION ROOM Memories here are vague. The total time in this training must have been short. I remember writing up this skill on resumes after I left school. Anyone else remember this? How old does this make you feel? MATHS ASSIGNMENT: PLAN A TRIP AND PLAN ALL THE EXPENSES THAT WOULD BE NEEDED I planned a trip that I had actually taken. This enabled me to have post cards and pictures to include, and memories to draw on. One must consider one's strategies when doing these assignments. I planned a trailer camping trip to Hearst Castle. My father said that we must always leave the audience laughing. In this case, the audience was the reader or teacher So at the end, the reader of the assignment was now taken to moments before leaving for the trip. Words and an appropriate mother figure picture were on the page which said to this effect, "Now I've got the trip planned. I've considered all my trip's plans and expenses, made reservations, made arrangements for the mail, and shut off the utilities. I have finished my packing, and the suitcases and family are all in the car. I am ready to go. The next page: I pasted a picture of a lady, who looked very worried, with her eyes opened wide and her hand over her mouth. I put the words, "Oh No!" Next page showed a huge pasted picture of a cute little, curly-haired dog with a bow in its hair The next page showed a happy mother with the words, There, NOW I’m ready! This may not sound very funny, but it is what I did, and why I did it. I got a good grade. This story might remind someone of a similar assignment they did. I hope so. MORE MEMORIES TO COME. POSSIBLY! THE ONE AND ONLY DAY I PLAYED HOOKIE ENGLISH ESSAY ASSIGNMENT ON THE ORIGINS OF SOMETHING WE FEAR GRADE 8 STORIES HEARD ABOUT ENTERING HIGH SCHOOL GYM AND THE SHOWERS GYM CLOTHES RIDING ON THE SCHOOL BUS WHAT I'VE DONE SINCE HIGH SCHOOL I worked, studied, married and raised a family, traveled and moved overseas following my husband's work. WORK ROLES INCLUDED Elementary School Teacher,(I was a grade teacher at times, and whole school Music and Drama Specialist at other times), Medical Receptionist, University Library Attendant, customer service and sales work in a telephone company call center, customer service with the Automobile Club of So Calif, typist for publications firm, and other office jobs. SHORT CLASSES of STUDY INCLUDE: Business, leadership, team work, communication, internet technology programs, cooperative learning, ACTIVITIES AS A VOLUNTEER INCLUDED: Crisis Telephone Counselor for Lifeline; Receptionist for the Red Cross; Tutoring Adults Literacy; Teaching adults to type; initiating and coordinating a committee of students after school hours Gr 7-12 to run an advertising campaign for submitting items to the School Yearbook K-12. ACTIVITIES INVOLVING THE PERFORMING ARTS INCLUDED: Participating in an International Puppet Festival. Initiating and running a series of six-week puppet workshops. They involved members molding, painting and decorating hard heads; sewing costumes; learning finger/wrist/full arm manipulation techniques to bring the puppet to life without the use of voice; voice and prop techniques; practice doing single puppet and partner puppet's improvisation and pantomime practice. Playing Nicky in "Sweet Charity" at a local theater. Coordinating fifteen, 20-minute puppet show performances in a three day slot (five different shows a day) by puppeteers in training; Featured fairy tales. Writing plays that were performed live and on radio. The Wish was set in early 1600s with natives and settlers developing positive relations after two children claimed ownership of a mutually-caught grasshopper; War of the Worlds II was based on the original but made local, and which interwove three original programs - the story of WWII, songs of the states, and five mini- radio programs. The latter two programs were part of the fictional "program" being aired inside the story of the alien attack.. Directing many dramatic and musical performances (muti-instrumental, singing, dancing) on stage, at schools and for community events. OTHER ACTIVITIES INCLUDED: Helping to start a play group; helping to start a neighborhood playground; initiating a library promotion group; initiating, writing and editing a monthly interest and bonding magazine for fellow staff; skinning snakes and skinning and stuffing a goanna (Australian lizard), and involvement with a local government pressure group whose aim was for the local region to rejoin the local library - we won! Hobbies & interests HOBBIES AND INTERESTS: Writing projects; Puppetry; Family; Genealogy; Adult and Child Literacy; Documentaries; family art room projects; friends; short courses; discussion groups; keeping up with teacher professional development; cable t.v. instrumental jam sessions; computers; initiating and producing a non-work related, mon...(read more)

Class of 1965 Alumni

→ Reunite with 63 class of 1965 alumni that have joined.

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