Remembering the good ol’ days

Angelique Flores

Some of these folks met nearly 75 years ago in their kindergarten

classrooms at the school that is now Dwyer Middle School. Some met later

at Huntington Beach High School. Now, they’re practically family.

About a dozen members of Huntington Beach High’s class of 1939 meet on

the second Thursday of the month at Sunny’s Restaurant in Huntington

Beach.

“We appreciate that we’re still living,� said Oscar Taylor, 79.

They talk about the good ol’ days -- who they’ve run into and just

catch up with each other.

“We’ve known each other all our lives,� said Billie Kennedy, 78.

The Huntington Beach woman met Taylor, a Newport Beach resident, and

Virginia Newland, who lives in Huntington Beach, at Dwyer Middle School.

Back then, it was known as Huntington Beach Elementary School.

Andrea Kerlin of Westminster met Tina McCracken of Midway City in the

first grade at Ocean View Elementary School. And they all still tease

each other as they probably did in kindergarten.

“I like to yell at him, but he can only hear half of what I say now,�

Kennedy said.

Though his hearing may be going, Taylor’s enthusiasm for life

certainly hasn’t. He still flirts with the ladies and still tells his

jokes and stories.

“But you can only believe half of what Oscar tells you,� Kennedy

warns.

“Not even that much,� quipped classmate Robert Swigart, 80.

But all the teasing is in fun.

“I’ve known them so long, I feel like we can talk about almost

anything with each other,� said Andrea Kerlin, 79, of Westminster.

And that includes the classmates’ spouses, who also attend the

breakfasts. Swigart’s wife, Geraldine, and McCracken’s husband, Joe, have

since been informally adopted by the classmates.

The group started the monthly breakfasts in 1982, when Kennedy

returned to Surf City after living all over the country with her husband,

who was in the military.

“I came back, and I wanted to get in touch with people,� Kennedy said.

“I wanted to know who was left around here.�

Shortly after, she organized the first breakfast. It soon became a

monthly gathering through a cooperative effort from several classmates

and their spouses.

“You try to catch up and ask what the other person has been doing and

talk about the old times,� Kennedy said.

And they really love remembering those old times.

“Oscar always danced with all the girls at the dances,� Kennedy

recalled. “He was an excellent dancer.�

And he was also a mischief-maker, she added. The others agreed.

“I had more demerits that anyone in the school. It’s the only record I

ever set that I could brag about,� Taylor said with pride.

Harold Shaw’s favorite memories are of the Saturday night dances.

“A lot of people met at the dances,� Swigart said, who met his wife at

one in Belmont Shore. The Los Alamitos couple have been married for 58

years.

After those dances in Huntington Beach, they would go to Eader’s

Bakery on Main Street, where the owner would give them doughnuts, said

Shaw, 81.

“It was a great time to live in Huntington Beach,� Kennedy added.

She remembers the big plunge and the home economic department with a

housekeeping cottage at the school. Kerlin remembers wearing the

sailor-style middies uniform. The two remember when Kerlin’s brother used

to go with Kennedy’s sister.

“It was a time of the Depression and war, but it was better,� Kennedy

said.

Swigart played football, and Shaw sang in the school quartet. Taylor

was the only honorary male member of both the Girls Athletic Assn. and

Girls’ League. Everyone went to the football games together and to the

beach for bonfires.

“We had a lot of fun together, whether you were from the rich or the

poor side of town,� Taylor said.

Some weeks, the breakfasts can draw as many as 20 people, but the

average is usually about 12. The friends also have a Christmas luncheon,

as well as a picnic every September at Heritage Park in Fountain Valley.

“Considering our ages, we have a pretty good turnout,� Kennedy said.

She has friends her age who tell her how they wish they had a group

like hers.

“They think it’s wonderful, and we do too,� Kennedy said.