Wheeling High School Class of 1968 News for 2004

This page last updated on: Sunday, December 24, 2023
number still on missing list is in brackets

12/18/2004

This is Al's brother Lee Erickson of the class of 70 updating his information. Al passed away of a heart attack on November 13th 2004 I'm sorry to report. He left a wife, 2 daugters and 4 grand children. Here's his death notice out of the Beloit daily news where he had moved to about a year ago.

Erickson
Allen "Al" G. Erickson, 54, of Beloit, formerly of Stoughton, Wis., died Saturday at Beloit Memorial Hospital. Memorial Services will be 2 p.m., Wednesday, in the Daley Murphy Wisch & Associates Funeral Home, 2355 Cranston Road, Beloit, Wis. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m., Tuesday, in the funeral home.

http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2004/11/15/obituaries/deth01.txt

Rest in Peace Al, we'll all miss you.

12/08/2004

John Smart has been found. John has been living in Denver, CO for several years. [198].

11/04/2004

Charlie Bowers Wooley sent in this picture of her grandson's first Halloween. "What a cutie!!! This is our grandson's 1st Halloween. He was just a little over seven months old when this was taken Halloween Day (born February 23, 2003) His name is Jefferson Payton...but we call him Jake. We are very proud grandparents (Grandpa & Grammy)....."

10/26/2004

Clifford Turuc has been located. Cliff lives in McHenry, IL. [200].

10/20/2004

Tom Thompson has been added to the Class of 1968 roster. Tom was listed with the Class of 1971. Tom dropped out and then finished up at WHS through night school, technically graduating in 1971. Tom is married to alumni Wendy Olsen '70 who is the younger sister of '68 alumni Jim Olsen. Tom and Wendy live in McHenry, IL.

10/15/2004

Website
Updates

There have been a lot of recent additions to the website. I want to thank all those alumni who allowed me to borrow their originals so I could share them with all of us. I have added several sections under each class.

One is for each years school calendar. Remember those great calendar girl pictures??? So far just the '66-'67 calendar is available

On Stage is for pictures and programs from stage performances, plays, musicals, orchesis, etc. If you're looking for a particular performance you'll may need to check all the years to find the right one.

Another is Commencement Memories which will include the Commencement Program for each year. So far I only have the programs for the class of '68 and '69.

Another section is the Senior Spokesman which will be copies of each classes senior edition of the spokesman. So far the Senior Spokesman for '69 and '70 are available.

The class of 1972's 20th reunion (1992) books is now available.

I've also added a section for the high school bands, but I don't have them linked from the main page yet. The direct link to these pictures is http://www.whs69.com/band/index.html.

If you have any materials, programs, newspaper articles, personal pictures you took, or any other memorabilia that you'd like to contribute and share with all the alumni please contact me. The more stuff that's offered here the better the memories. Thanks! Gary Hedberg '69

10/14/1004

A mystery student dilemma has been solved. One of the missing members of the class of '68 has been discovered. The database contained a Linda Becker who was on the missing list. It also contained Shannon Becker. It was brought to my attention by Joanne Bernart, that these are one and the same person ☺. [199].

Joanne Bernart Crabtree has been found! Jo and her husband JT live in Durham, NC. Here are pictures of Jo with her two daughters. (click on images for LARGER views) [200].

My husband and I have a small farm in NC and we raise Black Angus cattle. Our daughters are both married, Jennifer is a nurse anesthetist in Charlotte NC and Stephanie is a kindergarten teacher, living closer to us. Steph has 2 little boys, Michael age 6 and Austin age 14 mos. I have to say being a grandparent is great-lots better than being a parent. I work in administration in a community mental health center and am counting the years till I can get out! Below are some photos of my grandsons, my proudest accomplishment ( It's my accomplishment because if I hadn't produced their mother, they wouldn't be here. Makes sense to me.)

Jo with daughter Stephanie	Daughter Jennifer and Jo

Grandson Austin	Grandson Michael

10/10/2004

Bobbi Carlson Sprague is moving from Lake Havasu, AZ to Tucson. Her daughter's husband, 26, recently passed away from cancer, and Bobbi is going to help her daughter with her Bobbi's two grandchildren.

10/02/2004

Search
Note

I'm in the process of going through every name on the missing list from every class (1,349) and checking it against the 2001 WHS Alumni Directory, and then checking to see if the missing person may have had any siblings that went to WHS, or Hersey, or BGHS. I've decided to just make all the phone calls myself. Trying to coax others to do the calling is a lesson in personal head bashing :-) Unfortunately more and more of us are passing away and my opportunity to take advantage of sibling-alumni is going to become less and less useful the longer I wait to do this. So I'm just going to bite the bullet and do it myself. I'm already up to the "B"'s :-)

09/26/2004

Sandi Kiesling Balko, has moved from Island Lake, IL, to Round Lake, IL.

09/23/2004

And update from Sharon Koeppen Grandt:

Hi Everyone,
I'm sorry it's been so long since I have sent out a group email. Slowly but surely I am trying to get back to communicating with everyone and there couldn't be a more perfect occasion than this one. Kelly and Patrick are engaged and I know that Skip would want me to tell the world! The happy event happened this past Sunday and it was nice to see so many smiling faces at a party that Pat arranged as a surprise for Kel after he popped the question. The wedding date is set for Friday, July 1st of 2005 and I am sure it will be here before we know it. As most of you probably know, Patrick asked for Skip's blessing a few days before he died and he was so pleased and welcomed Patrick to our family.

Things are going ok but I still do best when I focus on just one day at a time. It's now been five months and sometimes I feel like I am moving forward but then I will have my days when the sadness escalates and the tears just have to flow. I have learned that tears can be very helpful and when they come I just accept them. I recently began attending a weekly support group at Willow Creek Church and, once again, God has introduced me to some incredible angels here on earth. The sharing that takes place in our small group is such a comfort and reassures me that I'm not alone in this awful experience of grief and loneliness. Believe it or not, of the 8 people in my small group of four men and four women, I am the second oldest! When you lose your partner at age 54 it's easy to think you are the only one who was cheated out of those golden years. I was shocked and surprised by the number of us who's life plans have been interrupted. Sharing our sadness, fears and memories is unbelievably helpful.

Work is a blessing for me as I continue to be surrounded by very wonderful people who never cease to amaze me with their support. Needless to say, I don't know where I would be without my family and friends and want all of you to know that I think of you often.

God Bless!

Love,
Sharon

09/22/2004

Debby Johnson Davidson, has moved from Arvada, CO to Las Vegas, NV

09/17/2004

Congratulations to Lawrence Pan. Lawrence has been awarded the honor of being a Distinguished Alumni for 2004. To read more about this please go to the following link: http://www.whs69.com/hc/2004/whs_distinguished_alumni.html . This is also a little ironic since Lawrence is currently on the missing list for the class of '68 :-) Hopefully that issue will be rectified soon!

08/27/2004

William Cogdill and his wife Linda have moved to Huntley, IL, from Buffalo Grove, IL.

08/24/2004

Dan Wickland has been added to the Class of '68 roster. Dan sent this along today:

I originally was in the class of 68 starting in 64. I was short a credit at graduation and entered the Marine Corp in 68. When I was discharged I went back to Wheeling night school and got the credit I needed and graduated in 1971. I'd prefer to be listed in the class of 1968.

Dan recently moved from Kenosha, WI back to Arlington Heights, IL

07/21/2004

Deb Wheat McCormick, and her husband John, are moving from McHenry, IL to Grayslake, IL.

0709/2004

Marianne Ast Malek moved from Schaumburg, IL to Phoenix, AZ in 1994. Marianne is a nursing education specialist at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix. She lives in Phoenix with her two sons.

06/21/2004

Beverly J. Eaton, nee Sutton, of Johnsburg, beloved wife of Leonard M. Eaton; loving mother of Krista, Stephanie (fiance Chad Danielson) Ippolito and Scott; dear grandmother of Allishia and Isabella Ippolito; fond sister of Renee (Robert) Kleiber; sister-in-law of David (Claudia) Eaton and James (Linda) Eaton; dear daughter-in-law of Jeanne (late Earlen) Eaton and daughter of the late James and Yvette Sutton. Memorial visitation Tuesday 5:30 p.m. until the service at 8 p.m. at Colonial Funeral Home, 591 Ridgeview Dr., McHenry. Interment private. Memorials to American Cancer Society or Seasons Hospice, 1600 W. Dempster, Park Ridge, IL 60068, 815-385-0063.
Published in the Chicago Tribune on 6/21/2004.

I feel like the harbinger of only bad news. I'm very saddened to have to report that the wife of Lenny Eaton, Beverly Sutton Eaton '69 has passed away. Bev was the wife of 34 years to Lenny Eaton '68

Bev, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this last February. Visitation will be at the Colonial Funeral Home in McHenry, IL tomorrow, Tuesday June 22 from 5:30pm until 8:00pm, with a memorial starting immediately thereafter.

Colonial Funeral Home
591 Ridgeview Dr
Mchenry, IL 60050-7025
815-385-0063

Rest in Peace Bev. We will all miss you terribly!

05/29/2004

Marlene Williams has moved from Texas to Republic, MO.

05/07/2004

Harvey Stein has been located. Harvey lives in Joplin, MO. [202].

04/06/2004

Frank Bohac

Frank John Bohac formerly of Rolling Meadows Visitation for Mr. Frank John Bohac, 82, will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, at the Patterson Funeral Home, Braidwood, Ill. An aloha ceremony in Hawaii celebrated his love of family, friends and life. He died Thursday, March 25, 2004, at Kona Community Hospital, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Frank was a former Arlington High School coach, teacher, administrator and director of student affairs from 1956 to 1965. He then transferred to Wheeling High School, where he served as an administrator until his retirement in 1979. He and his wife lived in Rolling Meadows from 1956 to 1997. Frank played two sets of tennis on the morning he died. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Shirley Mae Bohac; his children, Bob, Nancy, Tom, Frank, Don, Sue and David, all graduates of District 214 high schools; 22 grandchildren; and by six great-grandchildren. Memorials may be made in Frank's honor to the Nursing Scholarship Fund of Kona Hospital Auxiliary, or to the Gift of Hope Organ Tissue Donor Network, c/o Shirley Bohac, 78-6800 Alii Drive, Unit 7-101, Kailus-Kona, HI 96740. Friends may visit www.dailyherald.com/obits to express condolences and sign the guest book. For funeral information, (815) 458-2336. Published in the Chicago Suburban Daily Herald on 4/6/2004.

03/17/2004

Jimmy Olsen has moved from Sylmar, CA to Harbor City, CA

01/21/2004

Dan Carter decided to come in out of the cold and turn him self in for the reward of being off the missing list. Dan lives in Elgin, IL. [203].

01/01/2004

Happy New Year! Currently there are still [204] Class of 1968 Alumni missing.