Classmates
Winston Churchill High School
Eugene Oregon
Class of 1967
Reunion August 9, 2025
Greeting and Best Wishes.
Our reunion this year will be held at the home of Gary and Gayle Thorsby.
Gary and Gayle have invited us to their house in the northwest Eugene area.
We will have a Potluck meal, so please bring enough of your delicious favorite picnic treats to share with eight persons.
Ice will be provided to chill beverages. BYOB! Fun and games until time to go.
When: Saturday August 9th, 2025
Where: Thorsby’s home at 3790 Honolulu Ave. Eugene, OR 97404
Phone: if lost 541-953-9248
Time: 2:00pm to 5:00pm or later
Please RSVP on ‘Contact Us’ tab above
Wendy Knoeppel (Henke)
Then
Now
| Marital status: | Married |
|---|---|
| Occupation: | retired |
| Comment: Gosh--to wrap up 50 years of ones life, in a few sentences, is daunting!!! Wonderful to read everyones' bios---very impressive. Our High School teachers should be very proud of all their efforts. And speaking of efforts...many thanks to Roger and reunion crew for their diligence and persisitence in putting this reunion and all its parts, together. Now---2nd marriage in 1976 to David and still going strong...he brought along a daughter that has lived in Ireland for many years. By default, I ended up a Registered Nurse---best choice of many options I contemplated!! Loved it and retired age 64. Spent most of the years in Emergency or Surgery or a surgical environment. As a working young adult I started in the Psych Dept at Sacred Heart and within a few months got started as the only RN on the night shift in Emergency. Talk about growing up warp speed both professionally and personally. After David came along we spent a year in Las Vegas (UNLV), back to Eugene...then Indianapolis for 3 years of school...a year in the Bay area, California, then to Everett, WA for 13 years . Tried my hand in professional acting/modeling along the way which was fun but not financially supportive long term! The past 20 years we have lived on 37 acres of old family property just off the Toutle RIver, downstream from Mt St Helens. I am not into travel---just love our wooded enviornment, garden, canning, closness of family, friends, small community (2500 people!!) and our wonderful little church family. Later life has called me to be caregiver for domestic animals in need of a home, care and love. We currently have 1 horse (again), 6 dogs and 3 cats---and thanks to my husband for his tolerance of it all!! Life has not been without its trials but all is good we have been blessed indeed---Praise be to God!!! See everyone soon. | |
Monique Lloyd (Prevost)
Then
Now
| Marital status: | Married |
|---|---|
| Children: | 4 |
| Occupation: | Academic Librarian |
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Comment:
After earning my degree from the UofO, I married, moved out to the country, and had four sons. Along with the boys, we raised milk goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, and geese and put in a quarter acre garden. I wrote a monthly column for a small, local newspaper and all of that kept me busy for the next 25 years. When my youngest son left for university, my husband turned to me and asked "So, what are you going to do for the next 30 years?" My answer was to get a master's degree in library science and archival studies. I worked in special collections at the Oregon State Library and, then tired of the freeway commute, took a position at the Oregon State University Valley Library in archives. I continue to work there part-time at the reference desk. My "now" photo was taken a few weeks ago by library staff for their webpage. My husband and I have five grandchildren, ages 4 years to 6 months. I like knitting, hand-quilting, raising old-fashioned flowers, and I love the little, wild birds. I also enjoy reading, visiting my sons and their families, playing with my grandchildren, and hiking, and walking on the beach with my husband. I have nine hens who lay eggs for me and, when no one's listening, I sometimes sing to them. |
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Jerry MadJerryamadsen@gmail.comsen (Madsen)
Then
Now
| Marital status: | Married |
|---|---|
| Children: | 1 |
| Occupation: | Madsen Well drilling |
|
Comment:
Did my trip to Vietnam. Came home went to LCC ,Forest. went to work in the woods became a Faller 24 years, back to shcool started my own buissnes drilling well fixing pumps still doing a little work been married 44 years to Sarah , she has a good wife we had our up and downs, she has a good retirement glad she shearing. Had 2 son Derek and Nathan , Nathan got lost in 1989, 9 years old we found his remains 9 months later, Derek work with me a couple years " Dad didn't pay enough" he a linmen. life been alright I plan on attend the reuion we do a pig roast every year at our house we talked of doing the picnic here |
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Jerry A Madsen
Then
Now
Diane McDonald (Lemery)
Then
Now
| Marital status: | Committed Relationship |
|---|---|
| Children: | 4 |
| Occupation: | Retired |
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Comment:
I remember when my Mom told me she was going to her 50th High School Reunion. I thought she was so "0ld". Ha ha! Luckily I still feel like a kid! I can't wait to see you all! |
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Rod Moorehead
Then
Now
| Marital status: | Married |
|---|---|
| Children: | 1 |
| Occupation: | Retired |
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Comment:
Hi everyone, can't believe its been 50 years! After graduation I attended LCC for a couple years. I had the good fortune of a very high draft lottery number so avoided the Vietnam experience. Thank you to all my classmates who served and sacrificed over there. Best thing to come out of my time at LCC was meeting my future wife, Carol. It took a few years but we married in 1976 and are still enjoying each other very much. We settled here in Sisters for the hiking and outdoor activities and have stayed for 41 years. Carol and I have one son, Dane who is an Afghanistan vet in the Oregon National Guard. He is now finishing up his degree at Western Oregon University. I worked many jobs over the years but ended up doing custom cabinet work for the last 20 before retiring. Retirement is wonderful and I don't see how I ever had time to hold down a job! We stay active with hiking and bicycling and Carol gets me out traveling the world every so often. I'll sign off with one of my favorite quotes: "I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different"- Kurt
Vonnegut |
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Graham Parker
Then
Now
| Marital status: | Married |
|---|---|
| Children: | 3 |
| Occupation: | Retired Emeritus Senior Research Engineer |
| Comment: My wife of 46 years (Priscilla) and I are both retired, she after teaching 23 years in Richland, WA and I after 44 years at the DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (now an Emeritus Staff). We have 3 children, one of whom died in 1984 at age 3 of lukemia, and two daughters who are married. We have 3 grandchildren living in Camas, WA and thus seen them regularly. We are both active in our church and community. I have kept in touch with a few CHS alumni, and recently visited CHS to talk to the STEM classes about careers in engineering and science. My how the school and area has changed! Really looking foward to the weekend. | |
Tom Perry
Then
Now
| Marital status: | Married |
|---|---|
| Children: | 2 |
| Occupation: | Retired |
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Comment:
After Churchill, my family wanted me to teach English like my deceased father, even though my interests were more with quantitative rather than qualitative reasoning. So, to please my family and because I had toxic experiences with math and science teachers at Churchill, I majored in English at the U of O. The professors from whom I learned the most were the creative writing instructors, because words matter, each one must be carefully chosen. The lessons of structure, organization, clarity and economy from Strunk and White have stuck with me all of these years. I just wasn’t ready to join the career rat race straight out of college, but began taking business classes at night because they interested me, I didn’t want to teach English, and did not want to work the graveyard shift at Weyerhauser. The best class was business law, which taught me to think and argue in terms of issues and concepts. After a year or so I landed a job on a survey crew where I used math extensively but also wrote—or re-wrote—the surveyor’s letters for him, so others could actually understand them. After a year of that, I was hired as a junior accountant with a large state agency. I stayed with accounting for about 20 years, became a CPA and managed a large accounting staff. Bored stiff with the repetition of accounting, I joined the labor relations staff as a numbers cruncher and novice negotiator. Apart from crunching the numbers, I met with unions and management to settle disputes, wrote detailed analyses of contract language, gave sworn testimony in contested hearings, wrote the closing legal briefs. The ability to analyze, think and communicate in terms of issues in the pressure-cooker of negotiations propelled me to the front ranks of negotiators. In labor relations, choosing word carefully mattered a lot! For the last 25 years of my career, I became a senior negotiator and then was appointed head of Labor Relations for the State. In that role I directed labor negotiations for 25,000 employees, frequently working around the clock to settle contracts with assertive and politically connected unions. Despite the workload and the unpredictable politics, one of the things I insisted the negotiators do was write professionally. For me, that meant their writings were to be done with Structure, Organization, Clarity and Economy. Thank you, Messrs. Strunk and White, apparently nothing I learned in creative writing was wasted! Of course, accountants have an eye for figures and know how to multiply! I got married, divorced and then married again, to a great gal from eastern Montana. We have two fabulous grown daughters and two small grandchildren. Both daughters have two degrees each; one is a high school English teacher and the younger one just finished her second degree and is sending out resumes, trolling for a job. She has a novel in the works, and is burning up her computer writing it. Every two years we used to travel almost to North Dakota to visit Sherry’s mom, 5 brothers and numerous cousins until Sherry’s mom died in 1999. We still have Williams family reunions, but here in Oregon, not eastern Montana. The most recent one was this summer at Eagle Crest. I retired a couple years ago and occasionally help my daughter the English teacher evaluate student writings. I also publish articles from time to time; at present I am working on a mid-length mental health piece. And, I help baby sit my grandchildren at least once a week. Life is good! It was great to catch up with everyone at the reunion. Hope to see everyone again in five or 10 years. |
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Bob Peterson
Then
Now
| Marital status: | Married |
|---|---|
| Children: | 3 |
| Occupation: | Self employed |
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Comment:
A quick run down of the past 50 years by the numbers: One wife (Bonnie) for more than 40 years, three adult sons (Eric; Grant; Alex) and two grandchildren (Adie and Alder). One BS in business administratino from the UO. Ten employers (including the US Army), 15 different residences (while single and married) and five patents issued in my name (none of which have made me rich or famous) and more than 50 car titles in and out of my hands. Six small businesses founded, four sold, one of the two remaining lined up for transition to ownership by our sons, last one is a good reason to have a hot rod in the garage. My wife and I have visited all 50 states and more than 20 countries on 5 continents. SUMMARY: It’s all way beyond anything I could have ever envisioned when we walked out the gym doors with wet ink on our diplomas almost 50 years ago. If you're ever in the Beaverton area let me know - I'm always good for a free lunch. Hope you decide to join the group in August. Bob |
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Barb Pitchford
Then
Now
| Children: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Occupation: | Educator |
| Comment: Still riding...in the mountains of Colorado. | |