VOLUME TWENTY-FIVE, NUMBER ONE SPRING 2013

High School: It’s Not the Movies Each year, the Beacon Light staff, in coordination with the Alumni Association Board of Trustees, sponsors an es-say contest that is open to all graduating seniors. The students are asked to write an essay reflecting upon their time at IHS. As always, the essays we received were su-perb. This year’s winner is Haley Timm. In addition to having her essay in the Beacon Light, she will also receive a $100 scholarship.

You always think that high school is going to be like the movies. People assume that it’s all cliques and bul-lies that have nothing better to do than to ruin your life with their witty banter and flawless hair. I know I was certainly expecting a movie when I first walked in to Ish-peming High School four years ago. Not the kind of mov-ie where I am the struggling protagonist who overcomes opposition and wins the grudging respect of the bullies (possibly, but not necessarily though interpretive dance). I was expecting the first fifteen minutes of Lean on Me before Morgan Freeman and his baseball bat of education moseyed on in. To put it simply, I was expecting noth-ing less than rampant chaos with a pinch of something sinister and a smattering of mayhem. Why? Because I am a horribly melodramatic person. I also have an older sibling who thought it would be downright hilarious to terrify me to my very soul before I even stepped through the front doors. So you can imagine that great anticlimax that waited me as I made my maiden voyage in to the big bad world of secondary education. Truth be told, the vast and many scenarios my brain had conjured up made re-ality seem almost bizarre in its normality. Despite everything I have ever predicted, I can actu-ally look back at what I’m sure is quite an illustrious high school career with a certain amount of happy, border-line fondness. All the people I have met, all the experiences I had. The many weird events I have been a witness to,

people wearing bed sheets, senior pranks, and the day of a thousand fire bells are a few such things. Noth-ing was as strange, however, as realizing that I genuinely enjoyed learning, actually acquiring useful information I could use later in life. Somewhere along the way, I just started to like going to my classes, especially science, al-though this is most likely due to the sheer amount of fire involved. (Don’t look so concerned – it was perfectly safe). English, German, History – it didn’t matter. They were all awesome. Am I saying they were easy? OF COURSE NOT! Math problems still reduce me to cold sweats and incoherent mantras of “What?!” I am just saying that by some voodoo magic, school became less of a tedious vacuum of my time and more of something that I was interested in doing. Was it all flashy rainbows and Rock n’ Roll? If only. I only survived the ACT without complete mental break-age through copious Pop-Tarts. There were a lot of times when I just wanted to lay my head on my desk and sleep for eight or nine weeks because I thought watching an en-tire season of Doctor Who in one night would be worth it (which it totally was). Other times I would get distracted in math for two minutes and tune back in only to realize I had not the faintest idea what was going on. The thing is though, that the bad experiences were just as impor-tant as the good ones when it came to high school. High school is pretty much a way to prepare kids for life as an adult and having some horrible days are good practice. No, high school is not like the movies. And even though that means I will never get the opportunity to spontane-ously burst into a rousing, perfectly choreographed dance number, I still think that’s okay. I am happy with the time I have spent at Ishpeming High School all the same and really don’t think I would like to have gone anywhere else (except maybe Hogwarts). Anyway, all that dancing must get exhausting.

Congratulations Ishpeming High School!U.S. News and World Report recently published their annual best schools rankings. Ishpeming High School

ranked 2nd in the Upper Peninsula and 49th in the state. Well done students and staff!

Once again, the annual Night of Music concert did not disappoint. The fourth annual fundraising concert was held on Saturday, March 23, at the W.C. Peterson Auditorium. There was a wide variety of music - everything from the Hematites in Harmony chorus to Wayne Oien’s drum performance. The Wednesday Night Music Club gave a tre-mendous performance, as did the harmonizing of Strictly Gospel. A new addition to the line-up, Jack Pine, featured more Ishpeming High School graduates. As is tradition, the Bluenotes Drum Line closed the show with resounding applause. Thank you for your continued support - we raised over $2000 for the operation of the Alumni Association! We will see you 2014!

Tricia Seelen ‘96

Night of Music Success

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The Ishpeming High School was richer because Vin-cent “Pancho” Villa was our dedicated teacher. Mr. Vil-la taught Industrial Arts a total of 38 years, 31 of those years being at IHS before retiring in 1986. Mr. Villa was born on December 29th, 1922, and grad-uated from the Gwinn High School, Class of 1940. After graduation he moved to Negaunee and made it his home. He did leave Negaunee during WWII to serve with the Army 5th Air Corp in the South Pacific The-ater of Operations. When he re-turned from serving his country he enrolled at Northern Michigan University and in 1947 earned his Bachelor Degree of Science in Industrial Arts Education. He went on to earn a Masters Degree from the University of Michigan 1953. Mr. Villa had a love for music and in his younger years played with the Negaunee City Band. His favorite television show was the “Lawrence Welk Show” and he loved listening to the tune “Johnson Rag.” Pancho also loved watching the Ishpeming Blue

Notes and could always be found front and center at their many performances. He loved his Big Band Music and dancing with his favorite gal and wife of 64 years, Kath-leen “Skippy” (Koskey) Villa. His camp on Mitchell Lake was a special hideout for him and the family where they enjoyed fishing, hunting and playing cards. Mr. Villa prided himself on hard work. He was often described as being a perfectionist, articulate and knowl-edgeable. He was also called by many a mentor and friend. Sue (Perry) Heilala, Class of ‘78 said, “He was a special teacher and treasured character at IHS. I had a lot of admiration and respect for him. He greeted you with a smile and joking ways, but no student misunder-stood his friendliness: he was a professional and every-one respected him.” Mr. Villa passed away on December 4th, 2012. For those of us who were fortunate to have Pancho as a teach-er or friend, fond memories will be kept in our hearts. The dedication and devotion he gave to all students at Ishpeming High School will be well remembered along with a joke, a smile and a lot of respect.

Sue Heilala ‘78 & Danny Garceau ‘76

A Tribute to Vincent “Pancho” Villa

No Money Needed It was the summer of 1941. I was seven years old and living the good life – too small for chores, too young to be heartbroken by girls, too sheltered to be worried about the im-pending war and too dumb to grieve. Things were indeed good. Mom was a good cook. Dad came home every weekend to take me fishing. School was still new enough to be inter-esting and I had some (interesting) friends, including Jerry, who was two years older but the same size I was. He lived just down the street and it was neat having an “older guy” as a friend. Comic books and comic book he-roes gave us most of our inspirations back then. As a seven-year-old, I be-lieved I could do anything, including being able to fly. I could be riding in the back seat of my parent’s car, riding down the road, squint my eyes and actually make the car fly over the telephone wires. It was the oddest sensation, being able to fly up and down over those wires. It also quite probably accounts for my life-long af-fliction – motion sickness! Oh well, we flyers have to make some sacri-fices. Flying, as I knew it, probably would not have been possible, or even thought of, without comic books. I

loved them! I could hardly wait for the new issues to come out. It put a constant drain on my meager allow-ance, but it was well worth it! It should come as no great surprise then, that when Jerry (who was two years older, remember?) came to my house and said “I can get comic books with-out any money,” that I got really excited. Could this be true? Is he just kidding me? It would be risking too much not to find out if it was true, so I said, “Oh yeah, how?” Jerry answered, “I’m going down to Linna’s Drug Store right now to get a couple. Wanna come?” Did I ever! Linna’s was only a block from our house, so I knew I could get away with going without checking into headquarters. When we got into the store, the tall, glassed candy counter was off to the right by the cash register. Such an array of penny treasures! It was probably my second most favorite spot in the whole world. But, we were headed for my “mo-stest” favorite place. Dead ahead,

against the back wall, were the COM-IC BOOK RACKS! They were higher than my head and full of the most colorful books and book covers imag-inable. It was almost like a religious experience – just standing there in their presence. The store was full

of other stuff, but I didn’t know what it was. A drug store meant comic books to my seven-year-old brain. And comic books cost $.05 a piece and I didn’t have any money. I knew Jerry didn’t have any money ei-ther because I made him show me his

empty pockets before we got to the store. I knew him and his tricks. Jerry swaggered up to the comic book rack (because he was two years older – seven-year-old kids can’t swagger yet). He made quite a pro-duction of looking over the books with me, looking over his shoulder. I didn’t think you could look unless you had a nickel in your pocket. Jer-ry finally selected two dandies that I know I’d never read unless he invited me over to his house – or I inherited a fortune.

Continued on page 5

Class Get-Togethers and ReunionsPlease contact the Alumni Association Office if your class has a gathering that is not listed.

Class Date Location Time Contact & Other Information1940 Second Thursday of each month Country Grill 9:00 a.m.

1941 Second Tuesday of each month Varies 12:30 p.m. Betty Bannon (906) 486-6283

1943 70th - Thursday, June 27, 2013 TBD TBD Nellie Maddock (906) 486-9502

1947 First Friday of each month Country Grill 9:30 a.m. Barbara (Husby) Nuorala (906) 486-9283

1948 Last Tuesday of each month Country Grill 9:00 a.m.

1949 Second Wednesday of each month

Country Grill 9:00 a.m. Jean (Stone) Johns (906) 485-4322

1950 First Thursday of each month Country Grill 8:30 a.m. Jan (Lofaro) Boase (906) 486-6966

1952 Third Monday of each month Jasper Ridge Noon Barbara (Graham) Johnson (906) 226-0898

1953 Second Thursday of each month Varies Noon Barbara (Medlyn) Gauthier (906) 486-6281

1953 Friday, July 5, 2013 Country Grill 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Harriet Dougherty (906) 486-8712

1954 Fourth Thursday of each month Jasper Ridge 11:30 a.m. Al Chapman (906) 486-9241

1954 Tuesday, July 2, 2013 Al Quaal 5:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Joan (Tasson) Goodney (906) 485-1009

1955 First Thursday of each month Jasper Ridge Noon John Ruusi (906) 339-2315

1956 Third Monday of each month Jasper Ridge Noon Pat (Wirtanen) Garrett (906) 486-8380

1956 Wednesday, July 3, 2013 Jasper Ridge Noon Christine (Grandlund) Doney (906) 486-4892

1957 Second Wednesday of each month

Jasper Ridge 11:30 a.m. Clara (Valente) Kutchie (906) 486-8246 - Spouses are welcome.

1958 Third Thursday of each month Jasper Ridge 5:30 p.m. Lynn Ketchem (906) 486-6107

1959 Third Wednesday of each month Jasper Ridge 1:00 p.m. Sheila (Anderson) Thornton (906) 485-4470

1960 Third Thursday of each month Jasper Ridge 11:30 a.m. Connie (Sarvello) Pepin (906) 486-9479

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Class Date Location Time Contact & Other Information1961 First Wednesday of each

monthJasper Ridge Noon Rita (Lafreniere) Palomaki

(906) 486-4569

1962 Last Friday of each month

Country Grill 9:30 a.m. Sandra (Greenwood) Smetana (906) 475-4482

1963 50th - Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Elks 6:00 p.m. Betty Bosio (906) 486-4143

1964 Fourth Wednesday of each month

Jasper Ridge 11:30 a.m.

Marie (Suardini) Violetta (906) 475-4482

1968 45th - Saturday, July 6, 2013

Country Grill 6:00 p.m. Mary Jo (Nault) Mikkola (906) 475-7362 or mjmikks1@gmail.com

1973 40th - Friday, July 5, 2013

Elks 7:00 p.m. Teri (Thompson) Arseneau (906) 485-1146 or tarsenault@chartermi.net

1978 35th - Friday, July 5, 2013

Venice 6:00 p.m. Sue (Perry) Heilala (906) 485-5979 or sheilala@foxmotors.com

2003 10th - Saturday, July 6, 2013

Jasper Ridge 2:00 p.m. Amanda (Junak) Forslund

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Your Assistance is Needed!Without your continued financial support, the future publication of this newsletter is in jeopardy. If you are interested in making a donation towards the next publication, or if you would like to sponsor the next issue,

please contact the Alumni Association office.

Eugene Dellangelo was a 1949 graduate of Ishpeming High School. He played football and basketball during his high school years, where he made it to the state quarter-finals in basketball in 1949. He also earned the honor of competing on the All-Star football team. Later in life, Eugene enjoyed watching his oldest son win the state cham-pionship in football in 1975 and his youngest son win the state champi-onship in basketball in 1995 - both for the Ishpeming Hematites! He was always very proud of all his children and grandchildren, and he was also proud of being a Hematite. You could always find him on the sidelines at football games on Friday nights down at the Ishpeming playgrounds or up on the top bench of the Ishpeming gym watching basketball. He lived in Ishpeming his entire life, except for the first few years of his married life when he taught shop and coached basketball, football, and baseball in Mesick, Michigan. He then brought his family back to Ishpem-ing, where he was an elementary teacher in Michigamme, then Republic-Michigamme for 30 years. He was an avid hunter, fisherman, and gar-dener. He enjoyed spending time at his camp, with his family, with his numerous friends, and with all his coffee buddies. Eugene is remembered fondly with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. The 34th annual Ishpeming High School Alumni Softball Tourna-ment will be held in his honor this year.

Remembering Eugene

2013 Scholarship WinnersCongratulations to the winners of

this year’s three Alumni Association Scholarships:

Alyssa GrayTaylor CrowleyJennifer Uuro

SPRING 2013 - BEACON LIGHT - 5

I wanted to take this opportunity to update everyone on the Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library’s Building Ac-cesiblity and Renovation Campaign. We celebrated the completion of Phase I last October with the installation of two handicap accessible ramps. Since then the staff and volunteer fundraisers, like Ray Leverton (‘47), have been hard at work to secure funding for Phase II of the project.

I am happy to say we have reached our goal and we are now able to move forward with the next phase this summer! Phase II will bring much needed renovations to the lower floor of our library. These will include improvements to the Children’s Room, the first part of the archival room (temperature controls will be in installed in Phase IV) and a new programming room. Starting this fall you can expect to see an increase in children’s programs, new classes and events, and even the debut of new displays featuring the works of local authors. This is an exciting time here at the Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library. We would like to invite all IHS alumni who will be in town during the Fourth of July celebrations to come and visit the library to see the improvements.

With two more phases left, we are still a long way from our end goal. We appreciate the support of the citizens of Ishpeming, as well as the alumni here and throughout the country. Additional information and updates on all of our activities can be found at our website: http://www.uproc.lib.mi.us/ish.

John McNaughton, Library Director

Phase II Begins at the Carnegie Library

Remember Readers...We need your help to ensure we have correct addresses on file. Please let us know of any address changes in

your class. We appreciate your help in keeping our records up-to-date!

IHS Alumni Association Donation/Change of Address Form

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________ Name (please include maiden name if applicable) Class of

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Street City State Zip Code

Alumni Association donations are tax deductible. The suggested annual donation for operating expenses is $25. Please make contributions payable to the I.H.S. Alumni Association. Thank you!

Mail To: Ishpeming High School Alumni Assocation, 319 East Division Street, Ishpeming, MI 49849

He turned and swaggered back to the candy and cash register coun-ter where Mr. Linna started writing. Aha! The moment of truth! Jerry looked up at Mr. Linna and said, “Charge it!” Mr. Linna said, “You betcha, son. Will there be anything else?” And Jerry replied, “Nope.” Well, now. Hallelujah, eureka, and wah were all going through my mind at the same time! It worked! No money needed! What wonderful words indeed! “Charge it!” Back to the higher-than-my-head racks I went and quickly picked out two different comics. Even in my ex-cited state, I knew I could now trade

with Jerry and get to read four dif-ferent books instead of just two. I hustled back to the counter where Mr. Linna was waiting and I think I almost swaggered, I felt that good. I looked confidently up at the druggist and spoke the magic words, “charge it!” Mr. Linna asked me, “who to?” Oh, no. Now, what does this turn of events mean? Wise old Mr. Linna knew what was going on and very patiently ex-plained, “When you say charge it, it means that someone is going to come in and pay for it - like your dad.” Dad! Come in and pay for my com-ic books?! Well, even at the tender

age of seven, I somehow knew what kind of mistake that would be. I desperately wanted to be nine some day and be as smart as Jer-ry and I instinctively knew that if I charged to my “Old Man,” I probably wouldn’t see eight, much less nine years of age. I slunk out of Linna’s Drug Store sadder but much wiser than when I went in a few minutes before and to this day when the clerk asks me, “Will that be cash or charge?,” I break out in a cold sweat. Thanks for the lesson, Jerry.

Terry Thompson, ‘52

No Money Needed (Continued from page 2)

6 - BEACON LIGHT - SPRING 2013

4th of July Schedule of Events“Honoring and Welcoming Home our Vietnam and Korean War Veterans”

Monday, July 1, 2013• 34th Annual Alumni Softball Tournment in honor of Eugene Dellangelo begins.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013• 9:00 a.m. - Noon - Alumni Association Open House at the high school (old gym) (Passes to Cliffs Shaft Mining Museum available - good all week)• 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. - Festival of Treasures, Downtown Ishpeming• 7:30 p.m. - Blue Notes Concert at Old Ish Park

Thursday, July 4, 2013• 8:00 a.m. - 24th annual Firecracker 5K Run & 1 Mile Walk at Al Quaal• 9:30 a.m. - Flag Raising Ceremony & 21-Gun Salute at the Post Office• 10:00 a.m. - Daryl Champion Kids Parade: Line up at the Mather Inn• 10:30 a.m. - Parade downtown Ishpeming• Noon - Community picnic begins at Al Quaal (Bingo from 12:00 - 5:00 p.m.)• 2:00 - 9:00 p.m. - Live Music (2:00-6:00: Slamtones, 6:00-9:00: Black Pearl)• 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. - Party in the Park (Kids Games & Bounce Houses), Al Quaal• Dusk (~10:30 p.m.) - Fireworks at Al Quaal

Friday, July 5, 2013• 10:00 a.m. - Golf Outing at Wawonowin Country Club

BEACON LIGHT STAFFAnthony Bertucci ‘01

Jan (Junak) Bertucci ‘76Sue (Polkki) Danielson ‘71

Danny Garceau ‘76Al Goodney ‘54

Sue (Perry) Heilala ‘78Robyn (Champion) Lucas ‘71Tricia (Jackson) Seelen ‘96

Terry Thompson ‘52

Contact Your Alumni Association(906) 485-1381 ~ alumni@ishpemingschools.com ~ Facebook: Ishpeming High School Alumni Association

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Ishpeming High School Alumni Association319 East Division StreetIshpeming, MI 49849