Monday Memories: My High School Years, 1958-1961

I attended San Diego High School (“The Old Gray Castle”), at 12th Avenue and Russ Blvd. near downtown San Diego on the south edge of Balboa Park, from September 1958 to June 1961. I achieved a 3.68 GPA with no extra credit for Honors classes, ranking 32nd in my class of about 550. I made up for my lack of height and weight (I was 5 feet tall and 100 pounds at age 15, and got up to 5 feet 7 inches tall and about 125 pounds at age 18) and lack of social activities by working hard at my studies.

I loved my classes - even gym. I excelled in math-oriented courses, from trigonometry to geometry to calculus. I took three years of Latin. Every year there was a different science class - from biology to chemistry to physics. English literature and writing, history, and social studies courses rounded out the curriculum over the three years. I learned a lot!! And gym every semester - my favorites were handball, tennis and baseball but not the contact sports (basketball, football, soccer) because of my lack of height and weight.

I rode the #2 bus from our home on 30th Street south to Beech, west to 28th, south to B, west to 25th, south to Broadway and then west to 12th Avenue. I always had a large three-ring binder and usually four books to tote to and from school.

My favorite teacher was Mrs. Johnsie Posey who was the Honors math teacher for my three years. What a great foundation for engineering work, although I never found a use for imaginary numbers! My second favorite teacher was my chemistry teacher, J.O. Peterson, who pretty much gave us free reign to try things in chemistry class laboratory - and have the class spent time trying to blow things up. I recall having to write an English paper on abortion. I know only a few words in Latin 63 years later.

The only social activity I enjoyed was attending the football games at Balboa Stadium - the San Diego High Cavemen had excellent football teams in those years. I was a member of several clubs each year but was not an officer in any of them. Looking at my 1961 yearbook, I see all of the events that I missed in my misspent youth.

Here is my yearbook entry in 1961:

True confessions - I could never do the Hully Gully. The rest is true.

I had friends/acquaintances in my classes, including several from elementary school and junior high school. I don’t recall ever having someone from my classes to my house, or going to their home. Our class President was Steve Johnson and I had several classes each year with him.

There was only one guy I hung out with after school. Paul was small like I was, so we paired up in gym and were the handball champions (because we were closer to the ground - we loved to hit low and on an angle). He had a jalopy and we rode all over San Diego north of Market Street and east of Pacific Highway with the radio blasting tuned to Radio KDEO. During the summer, we stole into the University Club downtown and played handball on their inside courts for members. He graduated the year before I did.

And then were the cheerleaders, the theater girls, the beautiful young ladies in class whom I never had the smarts or the guts to talk too. I wasn’t part of the “soshes” from Mission Hills and could only worship from afar. To be honest, I had very few social graces and was completely tongue-tied and shy in those years. The counselors tried to set me up with a really smart girl three inches taller than me for Senior Prom, but I declined. I hope Linda never knew about that (not “my” Linda)!

(Randy Seaver in 1961 in San Diego in the patio next to the trash can)

Yes, I survived, and the experience set me up for engineering classes at San Diego State and a 40 year career in aircraft engineering analysis and testing! Then I found a wonderful woman to be my wife nine years later.

I should look for my report cards. I think my father saved them! After all, I come from a gifted packrat family.

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