Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2000 3:43 PM Subject: [Encina Update] Encina Update (news/clothing/homecoming/float/rally/rsvps/preparty/siblings/searh/classes/deaths/gurunet/whats new) ENCINA ALUMNI, I originally sent this update out Friday, but to the encinareunion mailing list rather than the encinaupdate mailing list. Note that the alumni clothing deadline is now only three days away. Sorry for the short notice. Harlan Lau 73 ----- Original Message ----- ENCINA ALUMNI, This week's update is sponsored by Nancy Patton 73. In honor of the Olympics, the number of RSVPs by class year are: Gold: class of 73 with 32 rsvps Silver: class of 86 with 22 rsvps Bronze: class of 85 with 19 rsvps (+4!) Fourth: class of 74 with 17 rsvps Fifth: class of 70 with 16 rsvps class of 78 with 16 rsvps class of 75 with 16 rsvps Sixth: class of 81 with 12 rsvps Seventh: class of 91 with 11 rspvs (+4!) The class of 85 shot into third place this week with 4 more rsvps, displacing the class of 74. The class of 91 also moved up into seventh place. If you plan to attend the homecoming party, please RSVP so we can get a better idea of how many people to expect. It appears that a lot of alumni plan to attend but have not RSVPed. This is making it difficult for the reunion committee to make plans. You can rsvp directly to me by replying to this message. Thanks! The homecoming party will cost around $1000 for insurance, custodians and security. Any contributions towards the costs would be much appreciated. Many thanks to those of you who have contributed towards the homecoming party expenses! If you plan to contribute, please do so sooner rather than later, as the amount we collect will affect our plans... ENCINA NEWS Steve Palmer 74 wrote: "Don't know if you've seen the good news for Encina on the API (academic) score from the state standardized tests. Encina came up significantly from 434 last year to 509 this year, a gain of 75 points. This places them well above their improvement target of 18 and is one of the largest point and percentage gains in the state. They earned "award" money for making this improvement. Great news for staff and students!! Also Encina football (varsity) is winning! They have 3 wins, no losses and one tie. The tie was with last year's Section Champions!!! They have a tough opponent for Homecoming in San Juan High, but are really pumped up and spirit is high." Even more reason for the alumni to attend the homecoming game and root for Encina! Let's make sure Encina has home field advantage and cheer the team against San Juan. Go Apaches... I mean Bulldogs! ALUMNI CLOTHING *** NOTE DEADLINE *** Back by popular demand, Lorna Cline Gragg 72/73 has reopened the Encina alumni clothing store until next Wednesday, October 11: www.encinahighschool.com/homecoming/clothing_form.htm For examples of what the clothing looks like in action, check out the pictures from last year's homecoming party: www.encinahighschool.com/homecoming/homecoming99/pregame.htm to see folks wearing alumni sweatshirts and polo shirts. The alumni clothing form has been revised as Lorna has switched to a local supplier to avoid shipping from Los Angeles. I would like to thank David Knepprath 74, who supplied all the alumni clothing last year at very reasonable prices. The selection consists of T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts and nylon jackets in Encina colors. All have gold writing and an Apache on cardinal background. The clothing form has a picture of the design. Any profits will go to support the Encina homecoming party. The absolute drop dead deadline is: 5pm, Wednesday, October 11 This is only FIVE days from now so don't procastinate! No late orders will be accepted. Lorna will place the order at this time and the alumni clothing will be available for pickup at the homecoming party. We will not be accepting any mail orders as this was just too much trouble last year. If you are not coming, you'll need to make arrangements for a classmate to pick up and deliver your order to you. Lorna has a few extra items in inventory from last year's party which she will be selling at the homecoming party. NOTE: If you ordered clothes SINCE the last homecoming party for Homecoming 2000, you will need to resubmit your order since the prices and selection and supplier have changed. We cannot honor any orders made since last year's party. HOWEVER, if you ordered clothes for LAST year's homecoming party and have not received mail delivery, please let me and Lorna know. I've heard from a few folks who did not receive their orders last year including: Rick Lewis, Scott Plotkin, Gretel MacLeod and Pepai Falck. These orders slipped through the cracks and Lorna is in the process of taking care of them. This is one reason we are not accepting mail orders this year... If you have questions about the alumni clothing, contact Lorna at lgragg@CIWMB.ca.gov or 916-255-2886. This is a tremendous amount of work so please be nice to Lorna, who is doing this voluntarily. HOMECOMING PARTY *** NEW *** If you are coming to the pregame party, please write me at harlan@rambus.com and tell me how many people you are bringing. I'd like to get an headcount. If you are going to just the game or postgame you don't need to write. Steve Palmer 74 met with teacher Becky Hurley (replaced Stafford Boyd as student government advisor) and Coach Russ Hibbard on Wednesday. Steve wrote: "Students at the homecoming game will be offering to record our memories with a polaroid for a $2 donation. This is a great way to take home a picture of reunited friends and help the student body at the same time. They are also considering having a barbecue to provide food for our party (as a fund raiser). Becky and other Encina staff and students will try to make this decision ASAP (hopefully this week). If they proceed with this fund rasier, I hope that we can all support their efforts. The junior class indicated that they would like a few 70's students for their float. They are specifically making space on the float for us and want 70's alum to dress up in 70's clothing. Volunteers?? They also indicated that other classes may ask for the same alum support on their floats." Hats: Coach Hibbard will have extra "Encina alumni" hats available at the game for purchase by those who did not order in advance. Insurance: The district requires $1M in general liability insurance in order to use school facilities. We are obtaining insurance for the homecoming party from Chris Moser Taylor 78's agent Pamela Alberts at Statewide Insurance Services. Pamela is a good friend of Chris and is forgoing her normal broker fee of $150 and charging us only $375. We hope to have the required insurance certificate and endorsement for the district in a few days. Many thanks to Chris for tracking down insurance for us! Chris is also in charge of decorations for the homecoming party! Thanks also to Wayne Johnson 78, who tried to cover the homecoming party under his personal policy. We ran into some snags but if we had had more time, this method might have worked out and cost us less money. Thanks Wayne! Date: Friday, October 20, 2000 Event: Pregame party Time: 5pm to 730pm Place: El Camino HS cafeteria Event: Homecoming game/parade Time: 730pm to 930pm Place: El Camino HS stadium WARNING: Principal Myrtle Berry wrote: "Just wanted to clarify in-outs at football games. You indicated that alumni's could go back and forth. We have a no-return policy (of course unless you are willing to pay again). Once you are in, you are in until the end of the game." Event: Postgame party Time: 930pm to midnight Place: El Camino HS cafeteria WARNING: No ALCOHOL or SMOKING is permitted on campus! I think the the El Camino cafeteria will be a very good location for the homecoming party as you can easily walk back and forth between the homecoming party and the homecoming game in the stadium. In addition, the cafeteria can accomodate up to 700 people (standing) so we should have plenty of room for alumni, staff and their families. Parade: During halftime of the varsity game, we will have four alumni cars in the homecoming parade plus an alumni float. The teachers and staff have been invited to ride in the alumni cars in the parade. Yearbooks: Bring your yearbooks along to look at and laugh about with your old classmates. Nametags: There will be STAFF, COMMITTEE, ALUMNI, GUEST and PHOTO badges for those who RSVP. If you have a question, ask someone on the reunion committee with a COMMITTEE nametag. Photos: We have several official photographers. If you want your picture taken (individual or group), ask someone with a PHOTO nametag. This is a good way to ensure your presence is recorded for posterity and appears on the website. Classes: We will have class year posters in 5 year increments (1961-65 ... 1995-2000) around the perimeter of the cafeteria. There will be space to print your name and class year on the poster so folks can see who is at the party. This also provides a unofficial record of attendance of sorts. Food: Bring your own food (like a picnic or tailgate), along with a sixpack of NONALCOHOLIC drinks and bag of chips to share. Or wait and buy food at the snack bar at the game. Drinks/Snacks: We will have ice chests, ice, snack bowls along with a few drinks and snacks to get started, but not enough for everyone. Please bring a sixpack of drinks and a bag of chips or the like to share. Remember, this is a free event and the only supplies we have are those DONATED by the folks on the reunion committee. Tables: We will have tables set up in about 1/3 of the cafeteria for those who bring food to eat before the game. The rest of the space will be open to encourage mixing/visiting. For those who don't want to bring food, I encourage you to maximize visiting time by buying something at the snackbar at the game for dinner. Family: Spouses and significant others are welcome. Those of you who are taking your family to the homecoming game are welcome to bring your children to the pregame party but we are not planning any entertainment for children and you should bring something to entertain them. This is first and foremost an alumni event and I neither encourage or discourage children. I felt holding the pregame party at the Candlestick last year discouraged those with children so El Camino is sort of a neutral location. Clothing: Encina clothing is encouraged. Wear your old letter jackets, sweaters, PE shirts or gym shorts (Lucia Churches 73 did this last year). If you can fit into your cheerleader or songleader or mascot costumes even better! Amy Francis 88 wore her songleader costume last year at the game. Security: We will have off duty sheriffs patrolling the event and locking up. No alcohol please. We need to be on our best behaviour if we are to use school facilities for future homecoming parties. HOMECOMING FLOAT Thanks to Lisa Lowe Rodland 79, we have a flatbed trailer for the alumni float! Myrtle Berry wrote that our alumni float counts against our five cars, since we'll have a car pulling the float. Greg Grant 75 has volunteered to tow the alumni float with his jeep in the homecoming parade. As I said in my earlier message, Paul Stewart 76 and his cohorts need volunteers to participate in and provide costumes for the float. This is a great opportunity for those of you with lots of school spirit bursting to get out to show your stuff. Contact Paul Stewart at pstewart@internow.com if you have costumes or would like to participate in the float in the homecoming parade. Principal Myrtle Berry wrote that the theme of the student floats is "Thru the Ages" and the classes will be as follows: 9th - 60's 10th- 80's 11th- 70's 12th- Renassiance So our 70s theme alumni float will fit right in! Myrtle also wrote: "If anyone has garb/music from any of the above areas, student government would appreciate borrowing it." HOMECOMING RALLY *** NEW *** Steve Palmer 74 informs me that the alumni will have their own section of the stands between the juniors and the seniors (who have smaller classes than freshman and sophomores). Encina will need 3 or so alumni for judging the classes. Let me know if you would like to be a judge so I can see whether we have too many or not enough... Come on alumni, now that we have our own section of the stands, we need to fill them up or we'll look wimpy. We need some loud alumni to hold up our end of the cheers! Do we have any ex-cheerleaders or songleaders who would like to lead the alumni cheers? This is a chance to relive your past... Steve and I were thinking about having lunch at Applebee's near Encina after the rally. This is the Applebee's which has the Encina memorabilia on display. Let me know if you want to join us so we can make a reservation. I had a voicemail from Jenace Lane (sp?) from Encina, asking that attendees dress in the costume from their era. Whoa, how old do these kids think we are anyway? Maybe the folks who are going to dress up for the alumni float can attend the rally? Anyway, just thought I would pass this request on to you folks. Dig out your bellbottoms, polyester shirts, nehru jackets and the like... Date: Friday, October 20, 2000 Time: 1100 to 1130am Place: Encina HS gym Here are the RSVPs for the homecoming rally: Kathy Cooper Luken 66 James Barbeau 70 Randy Owens 71 Gail Haynes Veri 73 Harlan Lau 73 (Applebee's) Rett Smart 73 Mike Berry 74 Sande Byerley Jaeke 74 Julie Eissinger Meador 74 Terri Jurich Howard 74 Steve Palmer 74 (Applebee's) Scott Palmer 75 Susanne Pierson Currie 75 Marla Byerley 76 Karen Dellinger Nissen 76 Laura Vasquez Lavallee 77 John McManus 81 Jolanne Tierney 81 Janna Snedden Curtis 83 Jinne Horger Webb 90 Angela Kern Mueller 90 Last year the alumni were invited to attend the homecoming rally Friday morning before the game. I attended the rally with Steve Palmer 74, Kathleen Ketcherside 73, John Nunez 74 and Delfino Baeuerlen 96. You can see the pictures here: http://www.encinahighschool.com/homecoming/homecoming99/rally.htm of the school, the rally, the classes, students working on floats, the art gallery and even the senior lawn. We were invited to judge the rally and decide the winning class by Stafford Boyd 88, an Encina teacher, alumni and the activities directory last year. If you are able to attend the rally, I think it would be a great opportunity for alumni visit the campus. The gym was modernized last year and looked great! The students were loud and spirited and the gym was rocking. In the future I hope we are able to hold the homecoming party at Encina. But for now, this is an outstanding opportunity for alumni to visit the campus and see for themselves what Encina and it's students are like today. Please let me know if you plan to attend the homecoming rally. If you attend you need to check in at the front office and I need to provide Encina with the names of the alumni who will be attending the rally. HOMECOMING RSVPS We sent out paper invitations in the mail this week to the 100+ Encina alumni and staff for whom we having mailing addresses. Many d We have about 338 RSVPs from Encina alumni and staff, not counting guests or family! Note that all current Encina teachers and staff are invited to the homecoming party! Unfortunately, we can not accomodate current students due to our agreement with the administrators. The rsvps are distributed as follows: staff: 36 1961: 7 1962: 4 1963: 1 1964: 4 1965: 9 1966: 1 1967: 4 1968: 5 1969: 3 1970: 16 (fifth) 1971: 9 1972: 9 1973: 32 (first) 1974: 17 (fourth) 1975: 16 (fifth) 1976: 9 1977: 9 1978: 16 (fifth) 1979: 7 1980: 9 1981: 12 (sixth) 1982: 5 1983: 7 1984: 3 1985: 19 (third, +4) 1986: 22 (second) 1987: 3 1988: 6 1989: 5 1990: 9 1991: 11 (seventh, +4) 1992: 5 1993: 5 1994: 3 1995: - 1996: - 1997: - 1998: - 1999: - 2000: - ---------- Total:338 New alumni RSVPs: Sheran Weatherford Yeager 62 Barbara Craig McKee 65 Judy Wicks Cadet 69 Randy Palmer 71 Stan Sedilko 72 Mike Fahn 73 Lisa Churches Wicks 75 George Newhouse 83 Ann Duane DeRose 85 Tina Kelly 85 Tiffany Thompson 85 Kim Walker Fulton 85 Tami Hodges 86 Bryan Ballance 87 Warren Rankin 88 Bill Yeager 90 Mark Ballance 91 Scott Bennett 91 Candie Graham Haffner 91 Jeff Lillman 91 Stephen Hodges 93 Chris Ballance 94 Staff RSVPs: Jim Aubert Eleanor Brown Jack Bassett Shirley Bordisso Jack Carey Eric Dahlin Don Day Jack Dutton John Eaton Evelyn Fedler Don Golden Laverne Gonzales Kathy Howser Lou Huber (Anchorage,AK) Bob Kirrene Christine Kojima John Knurr (Delavan,WI) Bill Lee Rees Lee Vince Marelich Karen McClelland Lee Susan McGuire Joe Patitucci Ginny Privateer Corsi (Boulder,CO) Marilyn Carlson Spartz Terry Reed Ivory Rubin John Sander Orlin Schuler James W Smith (Walnut Creek,CA) JoAnne Smith Larry Stallings Bob Trathen Tom Wilde Judy Wilson Elise Wolz Stephanie Woo Please RSVP if you think you will be attending the homecoming alumni party this fall: http://www.encinahighschool.com/homecoming/homecoming_form.htm I'll keep the RSVP list on the Homecoming 2000 page up to date so you can check and see who's going: http://www.encinahighschool.com/homecoming/homecoming2000.htm HOMECOMING PREPARTY And just to make sure we have enough parties, Rett Smart 73 invites everyone to a class of 73 preparty. For those of you who don't remember, Rett organized the original homecoming alumni party back in 98. Rett wrote: "The Class of '73 is having a pre party Friday, October 20th from 4pm to 6pm at the Candlerock Lounge next to country club lanes! Anyone from the classes of 70,71,72,and 73 are strongly encouraged to attend. (smaller venue with drinks and food before facing the masses at El Camino). Please, no name tags or food.....we will survive on what we find at the Rock. Call me if you have questions @ (916) 362-5592 Rett Smart '73" SIBLINGS Diana Gouge' 70 wrote: Diana Gouge' 70 Lon Gouge' 72? Randy Gouge' 73? Kay Harden 70 wrote: Linda Harden 68 Kay Harden 70 Joan Harden 72 Jill Harden 74 Edward Harden 77 Kimberly Russell 74 wrote: Valerie Russell 73 Kimberly Russell 74 Joyce Green Evans 70's had two daughters who attended Encina: Katrina Evans Gatdula 87 (did not graduate) Dixie Mitchell 88 Alice Braio 62 is sister of Encina teacher/coach Andy Braio Kathleen Lutz 64 wrote: Christine Lutz 63 Kathleen Lutz 64 ALUMNI SEARCH Warren (Tom) Rogers 62 Julie Crebbin 86 Craig Johnson 86 Kristen Keil 86 Sean Colli 86 CLASSES 1970 REUNION Date: Saturday, October 21, 2000 Where: Doubletree Hotel Hi, Harlan. I thought I would send you a status on the 1970 30-year class reunion and ask you to forward it to all of the people you have e-mail addresses for in our class. So far attendance is not great. From seeing some of the e-mails going back and forth, the committee thinks there might be some confusion among classmates as to what the alumni party is versus the reunion. We need to let them know that the alumni party is on homecoming game night and is an alumni party for anyone who attended Encina regardless of what class they were in. The 30-year reunion is Saturday, October 21 and is for the class of 1970. The Committee picked this date to make it more convenient for people who wanted to attend both and were coming from out of town. It sounds like the alumni party will be a lot of fun and I look forward to going to it. But we need to let the 1970 alumni know that they will only see a small group of their 1970 classmates at the alumni party. To see more of their classmates and to be able to spend some time with them, they need to attend the 30 year reunion. A second mailing will be going out this next week to all of those we have addresses for. Reservations need to be received by October 5. Ways they can register are: 1) Mail their check to me with their reservation form at 8601 Diamond Crest Court, Elk Grove, CA 95624. 2) Call John Hagus at Southside Rentals, phone 916-423-2020 and charge it to a major credit card. 3) Fax their reservation, with their credit card number, to John at 916-689-1058. As I said earlier, attendance now is somewhat low and we need help beefing it up. If someone wants me to e-mail the flyer to them, I'm willing to do that. They can e-mail me at egishome@aol.com with their request or call me at 916-685-0329. The Committee thanks you for all your help, Harlan! Pam Thomas 1980 REUNION One week to go until the 20 year reunion! 20 year reunion Date: Saturday, October 14, 2000 Time: 6:00-10:00 pm Place: Del Paso Country Club Address: Marconi Ave Attire: semi-formal Cost: $65.00 Family picnic Date: Sunday, October 15, 2000 Time: 1130 till ? Place: Beals Point at Folsom Lake Food will be provided RSVP: encina1980@egroups.com 1981 Reunion committee meeting is next week! Melissa Tovar writes that the next reunion committee meeting will be Tuesday, October 10 at Sue Cantwell's house at 7pm. Event: 20 year reunion Date: August 11, 2001 Place: Arden Hills Country Club 1990 REUNION Date: Saturday, October 21, 2000 Place: Delta King on the Sacramento River in Old Sacramento Denyce Bellinger wrote that classmates should plan to attend the Homecoming 2000 party on Friday, October 20th and the 10 year reunion on Saturday, October 21st. DEATHS KIM THORSTAD 89 Janice Barnes 89 wrote: I wanted to pass along to you that Kim Thorstad, who would have graduated with my class 89 had it not been for a terrible accident that left her disabled, passed away September 22. I was given this information by Vanessa Richey 89. I know there were several of my classmates that were friends with Kim. I am sorry but I don't have anymore details. Here's Kimberly's bio courtesy of Kathie Kloss Marynik 67. Sacramento Bee, 9-26-00 Kimberly Ann Thorstad On September 22, 2000. Born July 16, 1971 in Sacramento. Survived by her parents Vicki and Darryl Thorstad. A brother David Thorstad, sister in laws Betsy and Vickie Thorstad, grandparents Ralph Thorstad and Lorna and Bud DesVoignes, and numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins. Kimberly was a beautiful young lady whose life was challenged with adversity. When all odds were against her, due to unfortunate tragedies which resulted in severe health problems, Kim bravely faced each day with a tenacious, positive, cheerful attitude. Her strong faith in God, her love of life, her dignity and her courage during her brief life will sustain her family forever. Kim will be laid to rest alongside her older brother, Brian, who preceded her in death. Family and friends are welcome to attend a viewing on Tuesday, September 26, 2000, 4-8 PM and a funeral service on Wednesday, September 27, 2000 at 12:00 noon. Both at Sierra View Funeral Chapel, 6201 Fair Oaks Blvd., Carmichael. Interment will be at East Lawn Sierra Hills Memorial Park, 5757 Greenback Lane, Sacramento. DIANE DUNN DAVEIGA 64 Sacramento Bee, October 28, 1986 Diane Dunn DaVeiga A rosary for Sacramento native and lifelong resident Diane DaVeiga will be recited at 7:30 tonight in the Lombard & Co. Chapel, 2930 Auburn Blvd. A Mass of Christian Burial will be said at 10 a.m. Wednesday in St. Philomene's Church, Bell and El Camino avenues. She died Saturday from cancer at age 39. Mrs. DaVeiga worked the past 17 years as a special education teacher at the Hazel Strauch Elementary School in the North Sacramento School District. She was a charter of the Minter Teacher Program at the school district and a member of the California Teachers Assocation. The fourth-generation Californian graduated from the University of Hawaii and received a master's degree in special education from California State University, Sacramento. Mrs. DaVeiga is survived by her husband, Kenneth; daughter, Jennifer; parents, George and Shirley Dunn of Sacramento; sisters, Kathy Tydings of Maryland and Peggy Mason of Sacramento; and brothers, Steven Dunn of Colorado and Edward Dunn of Sacramento. Burial will be at the Calvary Cemetery. The family requests that any remembrances be made to Kaiser Hospice of Sacramento, 2025 Morse Ave., Sacramento, 95825. Question: Did any of Diane's siblings Kathy, Peggy, Steven or Edward attend Encina? BURNS McCALMAN Sacramento Bee, July 27, 1967 John Burns McCalman Memorial services for John B. McCalman, 36, a civics teacher at Encina High School, will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Fruitridge Christian Church. McCalman, of 8452 Bennington Way, died after he became ill at a community swimming pool Tuesday. An autopsy was performed, but tests to determine the cause of death have not been completed. A native of Chicago, McCalman came to Sacramento 20 years ago. He was a graduate of C.K. McClatchy High School, obtained his bachelor's degree at the University of California at Berkeley, and his master's degree at Sacramento State College. McCalman was president of the faculty association at Encina and chairman of the board at the Fruitridge Christian Church where he also served as superintendent of the Sunday school. Survivors include his widow, Carol; three children, Charron, Burns and Christine; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Don A. McCalman of Sacramento; a brother, Donald of Andrews Air Force Base, Washington, D.C.; and a sister, Mrs. J.T. Sidener Jr. of Berkeley. Friends may call at the New Mission Chapel of Andrews and Greilich Funeral Home until 7 p.m. Friday. WILLIAM SCOTT Sacramento Bee, August 21, 1979 William M. Scott Services for William M. Scott, 56, a teacher and coach at Encina High School, will be at 10 a.m. today in the Lombard and Co. Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Camellia Memorial Lawn. Mr. Scott, who had been with the San Juan Unified School District for 20 years, died Thursday after a three-week illness. The Yuba City native taught mathematics and industrial arts and was an assistant coach for the track, football, cross country, and diving teams. He attended Yuba College, Colorado A and M, and San Francisco State University. A Navy veteran of World War II, Mr. Scott leaves his wife, Johnye; daughter, Rory Bouvier of Nebraska, Roxy Gwinn of San Diego, Christine Harris of Pear Valley, and Johnette and Vickye Scott of Sacramento; sons, Duncan of Arizona, and Bob, Donald, and Bill Jr., all of Sacramento; brother, Perry of Arizona; and seven grandchildren. Question: I know son Bill Scott Jr 71 attended Encina. If you know which of Bill's other NINE children attended Encina, please write. BEN LEAFE Sacramento Union, January 18, 1983 Ben Leafe Ben Leafe, 53, a teacher in the San Juan School District, died Sunday (Jan. 16) in a local hospital. Memorial services will be held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Lind Brothers Mortuary, 4221 Manzanita Avenue. Mr. Leafe, a member of the Sacramento State University Alumni Club, earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at Sacramento State. He was also a member of the Sierra Club and the San Juan Teachers Association. Mr. Leafe was the husband of Irene M. Leafe and the father of Gregory A. and Daniel E. Leafe. He was the brother of Belle Wishnewitz and Virginia, Harry and Nancy Leafe. He was a native of Canton, Ohio. Inurnment will be at Home of Peace Cemetery. Question: Was Ben's wife Irene Leafe also a teacher at Encina? GURUNET Here's a review of an ingenious program called GuruNet from the WSJ. October 5, 2000 No Need to Leave the Page As GuruNet Fetches Answers By WALTER S. MOSSBERG SUPPOSE YOU WERE reading an article on the Web, or an e-mail, or even a Word document from your office or school, and you came across this sentence: "The abstemious people from Woonsocket invested aggressively in companies like Tecumseh Products, hoping to become as rich as their idol, John Kluge." And suppose you have no idea what "abstemious" means, where Woonsocket is, what Tecumseh Products does, or who Mr. Kluge is. How can you find out quickly using the Internet? Well, you could go to a search engine, or a Web-based reference source, and look up each term individually. But that would require you to leave the document you were reading and laboriously type in each term for multiple searches, probably at multiple sites. Instead, you could use a very cool, but little-known, free program called GuruNet that fetches such answers from the Internet, almost instantly, without leaving the text you're reading. With GuruNet, you just click on the word you want defined or explained while holding down the ALT key on your keyboard. A definition or explanation pops up rapidly, assuming you're connected to the Internet. You not only don't have to leave the page you were reading, you don't even have to open your Web browser. GuruNet's software, for Windows only, is separate from your browser, and it works on words in any document on your screen, not just on Web pages. And GuruNet doesn't merely present you with Web links on the topic; it actually provides answers about people and places, companies and things. FOR INSTANCE, GURUNET will quickly define abstemious as "eating and drinking in moderation." It will also give you some synonyms and a translation of the word into foreign languages. GuruNet will tell you that Woonsocket is a city in northern Rhode Island, and will even supply a map and the current weather there. With an ALT-click on Tecumseh Products, you can learn it's a Michigan firm that makes pumps and the like and that its stock has been trading well below its highs. And, as for John Kluge, GuruNet will inform you he's a billionaire philanthropist who made his fortune in broadcasting. All of this information appears in a small window that pops up on top of the document or e-mail or Web page you're reading. The window also typically includes some related Web links, in case you'd like to probe further, and even a form that lets you rapidly search several online stores for books on the topic at hand. You can copy information from the window, or even e-mail a link to its contents to a friend, all with minimal effort. GuruNet isn't just handy; it's smart. It'll try and guess the entire phrase or context of a word you click on. If, for example, you click on either word in the phrase "Supreme Court," the program will pop up with an answer about the highest court in the U.S., not a definition of either word on its own. And it pays attention to capitalization. It knows that the word "polish" is something you do to furniture, but Polish is a language and culture. YOU CAN DOWNLOAD GuruNet free of charge at www.gurunet.com. The download is fairly small at about 900 kilobytes. It has been around for awhile, but now there are a couple of added features and the content is much richer. Also, there's a new, optional GuruNet "answer bar," that remains visible all the time, so you can manually type in terms that you want to define but that aren't on the screen. For those who don't want to download the software, or who don't use Windows, GuruNet can also now be used from the Web page. This approach doesn't allow you to click on words for answers, but if you type them in, you'll get results. The service is a work in progress, and it's far from perfect. While it draws on a host of reference works and Web databases, it doesn't use premiere sources, such as the Encyclopedia Britannica and major newspapers. It tends to rely on almanacs, single-volume encyclopedias and little-known reference sites, though it does use major dictionaries. Instead of using Yahoo or Google as its search engine, it uses an obscure search site called Oingo. The information I saw, however, is pretty accurate, if not extensive. The service expects to add famous quotations and sports statistics this week. It's not that hard to stump GuruNet. For instance, if you click on "DVD," the acronym for the popular new video-disk format, it thinks you must mean Dover Downs Entertainment, a racetrack company in Delaware whose stock symbol is DVD. A click on the word "Cisco" yields information on Cisco, Ga., not the technology firm. In my tests, GuruNet didn't know Oprah, and its first choice for the name "Lieberman" was Nancy, the basketball player, rather than Joe, the senator and vice-presidential candidate. In most cases, however, you can find the correct reference by clicking on a feature called "Did you mean?" that offers a list of alternative topics in case GuruNet guessed wrong. If you have a question you want answered, or any other comment or suggestion about Walter S. Mossberg's column, please send e-mail to mossberg@wsj.com Finally, while GuruNet performs pretty quickly, even on a dial-up connection, it can be slow at times if the network is busy or congested. It doesn't work with text inside an image. And occasionally it can go haywire, guessing wildly wrong. But GuruNet is a very well done, very useful program -- one of the most ingenious ways to use the Internet I've ever seen. WHAT'S NEW I went through the new classmates.com listings for the 60s this week and found a lot of new alumni. 10/5/00: Brooke Bingham 80, Kevin Corbet 79 update, Evelyn Kossner 69, John Sullivan 65, Dave Helmich 63, Mark Kielty 68/bio, Bill Hollister 66, Ron Allen 63, Robert Duensing 63, Carolyn Hayman 63, Alex Katsilometes 63, Don Schlotz 63, Richard Stillwell 63, Anne Yallalee 63, Douglas Wall 63, Kathleen Lutz 64, Cliff Strother 64, Ted Burke 64, Allan Davis 64, Ann Jackman 64, Tom Norton 64, Daphne Robichaud 64, Steve Smith 64, Don Boddy 64, Judy Zierlein 64, Patricia Giordano 64, Bill Vlach 64, Clarke Blalock 65, Marilyn Harris 65, Lynne Harry 65, Judy Igo 65, Judith Kemp 65, Chuck Jones 65, Mary Perdue 65, Sharon Cribbs 66, Gary Hubbert 66, Timothy Zeka 67, Lynn Koehler 67, William Boswell 67, Nancy Graf 67, Dana Alexander 67, , Marcy Cook 67, Ann Schirle 68, Nancy Stubblefield 68, Alex Dean 68, Russel Prosser 69, Jeff Jackson 69, Deni Cooper 69, Teddi Funk 69, Gregory Steinbis 69, Brenda Batcha 69 10/4/00: Pam Brand 90 bio, Katrina Evans 87, Mark Lawrence 80 update, Shannon Radford 90, Janet McDonald 61, Matt Morsey 78, Anita Taylor 61, Rhett Thompson 95 update, Dave Ayres 62, Richard Johnson 61, Bill Wells 61, Laraine Nutt 61, Dave Shevelon 61, Jeff Walter 61, Alice Braio 62, Ruth Cook 62, Sue Corbett 62, Raymond Curry 62, Wynnell Elmer 62, Betty Emerson 62, Judy Lamonder 62, Sally Schlemmer 62, James Snook 62, Kathryn Gill 85, Adele Gray 97 10/3/00: Linda Harden 68, Joan Harden 72, Jill Harden 74, Edward Harden 77, Pamela Russell 65 update, Valerie Russell 73, Rodney O'Dell 80, Sean Eskilsen 86, Richard Vieille 66, Shawn Zausch 81, David Gobbi 78, Joyce Green 70, Lisa De Leon 90, Traci Shull 70, Brooke Bingham 80, Annette Watts 95 10/1/00: Teresa Buckalew 93 update, Kimberly Russell 74, Kathy Bordisso 80, Myron Burns 87, Diana Gouge' 70, Ann Frago 81 9/28/00: Emily Hamilton 86 update, Mary Jensen 86/bio, Patti Hanlon 86, Cathy Sanderson 86, Dawna Allen 86, Polly Pickens 82 update, Bill Newhall 65, Ed Warmoth 65, Kay Harden 70 9/27/00: Amy Schnieder 91 update, Kirk Smith 73 update, Chris Browning 73 update The class of 70, 80 and 90 reunions are coming up shortly. If you've been procastinating, make sure and RSVP! If you intend to order any alumni clothing, do so before you forget and miss the deadline: http://www.encinahighschool.com/homecoming/clothing_form.htm Don't forget to RSVP for the homecoming party: www.encinahighschool.com/homecoming/homecoming_form.htm and submit your contact information or bio: contact: www.encinahighschool.com/directory/submit_contact.htm bio: www.encinahighschool.com/submit_bio.htm Harlan Lau '73 Encina webmaster www.encinahighschool.com harlan@rambus.com