Sad News: 'Coach' Newhouse Has Died

From The Post-Journal in Jamestown:

LITTLE VALLEY - Thorton A. "Pete" Newhouse, 89, of Court Street, passed away Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010, at Absolut of Salamanca.

Of course many of us will always think of him as "Coach" and remember his many years teaching at LVCS and then in Randolph.

There are calling hours Wednesday (Dec. 22) at the Mentley Funeral Home on Rock City St. The funeral is planned for Thursday, at 11 a.m., in the Little Valley Memorial Church. The obituary adds that "memorials may be made to the Little Valley United Methodist Church or the charity of the donors' choice."

2010 Dinner: Pickles, Ketchup And 'Enough Is Enough'

Please accept my apologies for not getting this post on to the blog sooner.

Rest assured, though, that the Alumni Dinner once again was a success.

This year's featured speaker, Dr. Jim Reynolds ('70), took us on something of a tour of the ages. The ages, that is, that we all hope to reach. From teens to the very elderly years. Sex, he suggested, is something of a common theme. So, too, is discovery. And by our '90s, Jim said, we realize that some things we thought were oh so important in earlier years aren't as special as we thought. We learn that "enough" may be just that -- enough.

Dr. Jim also suggested that Mr. Memmott was quite the authority figure. So true!

Brother Jim Memmott spoke on behalf of the class of '60. As he reports this weekend in his Rochester Democrat & Chronicle column, there was a bit of a dust-up at the class reunion when talk turned to politics (but no punches, or ketchup bottles, were thrown). At the dinner, Jim looked back at the wonders of pickle parties in fifth grade and surprise appearances in the boy's locker room. He writes:

"Could it have been," I asked, by way of example, "that every day in fifth grade, Mrs. C. (I'm not using last names here) had one of us bring a jar of pickles?

"And could it have been that she would take a prong and put one pickle on a paper towel on each of our desks? Could have been that we would watch the juice bleed out onto the towel, a spreading green stain?"

"Could it have been," I asked, "that, as we were sitting in the boys locker room, perhaps unclothed, Mrs. M. came into the room on her way to the coach's office, yelling out, 'Close your eyes, boys, I'm coming through'?"

As I remember it, we closed our eyes; we ate the pickles; we obeyed.

(The D&C will soon put that link behind its subsriber-only "firewall." If by the time you see this post you can't get to it, shoot me an e-mail ( memmottmark@yahoo.com ). I can forward the whole piece to you.)

I hope all those who were able to attend enjoyed the dinner. Let's do it again next year.

2010 Dinner Invitations Are Out

Down here in Virginia, the 2010 Alumni Dinner invitation just arrived in the mail. So I suspect many of you just got yours as well.

In case you haven't, here's the key information.

Date: June 26.
Place: The Corporate Building at the Cattaraugus County Fairgrounds.
Time: Social hour starts at 5 p.m. ET; dinner starts at 6 p.m. ET.

Theme: The Academy Awards.
Guest speaker: Dr. James Reynolds, Class of 1970.

Caterer: The Old Library restaurant, from Olean.
Dinner options:
-- Broiled ham steak (topped with mustard sauce; served with wild rice and buttered carrots). $18 per person.
-- Chicken parmesan (served with penne pasta and spaghetti sauce). $18 per person.
-- Two mesquite-grilled vegetable kabobs (they come with plum sauce, wild rice and a potato-crusted veggie cake). $18 per person.

Everyone, according to the letter, also gets a "decadent dessert."

Members of the Class of 1960, by the way, get to eat free (as the 50-year folks always do). So brother Jim Memmott should be able to afford to pay for a beer or two this year.

Dues: They've gone up a bit, to $5 from $3 last year. (Editorial comment: How many other exclusive clubs can you belong to for just $5 a year?)

Deadline: The Alumni officers would really like to receive your reservations by June 18. That's not an absolute-must, but would be much appreciated.

Mailing address:

-- Little Valley Alumni Association
-- P.O. Box 162
-- Little Valley, N.Y. 14755-0162

As always, if you wish you can also send along contributions to either the:

-- Little Valley Central School Alumni Association's General Fund

or the

-- Memmott-Langhans Scholarship

Hope to see many of you there.

Class Of '75 Asks: Jeff Payne, Where Are You?

Spring's here, so classes are getting to the final stages of organizing their reunions.

I hear from a source that the Class of '75 has tracked down everybody except Jeff Payne -- who was with them all the way through junior year, before moving to Vermont.

Jeff: Everybody wants to hear from you (and of course would be thrilled if you came by on Alumni weekend -- the last weekend in June). You can e-mail me if you like ( memmottmark@yahoo.com ), and I'll get word to the right folks.

Any other classes need help? Shoot me a message and I'll see what I can do.

Alumni Passings

Some sad news to pass along.

-- Dorotha Young Dooley, class of 1929, passed away last month. As the obituary in the the Jamestown Post-Journal says, she was 98.

Many who were at last year's Alumni dinner will recall that Mrs. Dooley was the oldest LVCS graduate in attendance.

-- Leah Jeanne Parkhurst, class of 1936, died on March 1, the Post-Journal writes. If you didn't go to school with her, there's a pretty good chance you went with one of the Parkhust "kids." Mrs. Parkhurst ("Jeanne") was 91.

-- Robert "Bob" Bigelow, class of 1979, died just this past week. He was 49. According to the Post-Journal obituary, Bob's sister Deb (class of 1977) is living in Freeport, Pa.

The Date Is Set For This Year's Dinner

There's word from Alumni President Kevin Andrew that the date for this year's dinner is set -- June 26. As in recent years, it will again be at the Fair Grounds

Kevin says this year's theme is Academy Awards/Oscar Night. Will there be a red carpet?

Malynda Pavlock McQueen, class of '75, writes to share news of another "Little Valley."

"Mark: There is a Little Valley in Poulsbo, Wash., just 10 miles from me here in Bremerton. ... Also, the next road down from me there is a house whose number is 14755!! How's that?!"

A little Googling turns up this note at a Poulsbo Realtor's website:

Little Valley and Big Valley Roads are the beginning of a scenic backdoor route to the Hood Canal Floating Bridge, and along the route you will pass the Manor Farm Inn, Molly Ward Gardens and the Llama Rose Farm.

If only they had called it "Great Valley Road," then we'd really be looking at a parallel universe.

A Message Of Thanks From The President

Alumni President Kevin Andrew sends along this message:

"A great big thank you for all the donations to the general fund and to all those who have paid their dues. We will be in much better shape financially to begin next year."

Kevin also says there were 224 dinners served this year, 92 more than in 2008.

Another Good Year

A quick note to all to say that another Alumni Dinner has come and gone -- and once again a good time seems to have been had by all.

In case you couldn't be there, or just want to hear it again, you should be able to click on the link below and hear Dr. Charles (Charlie) Keenen's keynote address. Just click and a new box will open up and it should start automatically, although it may take 10 or 20 seconds to get going:

Download Charlie Keenen - Lvcs Alumni Dinner 2009

The Class of '59 indeed did shine. Attendance was up sharply from the year before. There were more than 200 reservations.

As has been the pattern in recent years, President Kevin Andrew and other members of the board agreed to stay on. We shouldn't count on them being able to do this forever, though. So if you're interested in getting involved, speak up.

Oh, and anyone reading this who wants to shoot me an e-mail with your own thoughts about the dinner or a picture or two, please do. I'll be glad to add them.

The photo above is courtesy of John Memmott, '68.

Ground broken on CLVCS addition

A little news from the Olean Times-Herald to bring you up to speed if you're coming to the alumni dinner from afar and want a social-hour conversation starter:

CATTARAUGUS -- More than 1,200 Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School District students, staff, administrators and community members attended groundbreaking ceremonies for Phase 2 of the $59 million addition and renovation project here Wednesday afternoon.

District Superintendent Jon Peterson welcomed students, teachers, staff, school board members and guests gathered behind the school, telling them they were sitting right about where the new 800-seat auditorium will soon be built.

In addition, new and renovated middle and high school classrooms, a new middle school gymnasium and library/media center, as well as expanded cafeterias should be ready when the 2011 school year starts, Mr. Peterson said.