John Horvath:
CLASS OF 1965
Washington High SchoolClass of 1965
East chicago, IN
Purdue University - EngineeringClass of 1976
West lafayette, IN
John's Story
"50th Class Reunion Announcement"
The 50th Reunion for the Washington High School Class of 1965 will be on September 19th at Teibel's restaurant in Schererville (corner of Highway 30 and Indianapolis Blvd.) Any Washington High graduates, especially those from 1964 and 1966 are very welcome. If anyone knows how to contact any of the 1965 graduates, please let one of us know. For more information they can call me, Ken Darrow, at 219-322-6042 or Yvonne Peterson Sanders at 219-218-3737. ECW Class of '65, PO Box 65, East Chicago, IN, 46312.
Growing up in "Da Harbor" I lived on Pulaski Street until I was two, and grew up on Columbus Drive between Grand Boulevard and Fir Street, across from the Timkovich Brothers Shell. Later Chic Furto moved his barber shop from Main Street to a spot next to the gas station. Then McDonalds took over the whole block. As a young boy I remember looking out our front bay window watching hundreds of WHS students walk to and from school each day. I remember sitting in my little inflatable wading pool in the back yard during late summer afternoons listening to the WHS band practicing in the August heat before football season. I can still feel that visceral drum cadence; BOOM! Bada-Bada-BOOM! Bada-Bada-BOOM! Bada-Bada-Boom-Pa-Boom-Pa-BOOM! . . .
I live in California now, but over the years I've returned often to Indiana recruiting at Purdue and IU, or doing eldercare for my dad and my uncle, Frank Dupay. Visits to "Da Harbor" are always emotional for me. Assumption Slovak Church, where my family attended, closed its doors shortly after my dad's funeral. All of the schools that I attended (Washington Kindergarten, Assumption Grade School, and WHS) are gone, but my memories of these places remain frozen in time.
I remember the prairies where my pal Steve "Tubby" Dorcik and I would get into mischief after school. There was a WPA sidewalk in the prairies that started at Elm Street and had a sandy gap where Deodar Street would be if it went that far. The old sidewalk never became part of the Prairie Park subdivision. The prairie had Hobo Village, the Prairie Farms, seasonal lakes, and that long gravel road along the General American fence that led to the illegal dumps that were sources of endless adventure. Those prairies were a remnant of the original wetlands formed by the retreating glaciers that formed the Great Lakes and left ancient beaches now called Ridge Road and Route 30.
I remember riding my bike out to Gary Airport....Expand for more
There was an army tank on display in front of the terminal. But unlike the cannons at Washington Park or Pulaski Street, this tank was NOT welded up! We would climb into the tank, close the hatches, rotate the turret with one hand crank, and raise or lower the gun barrel with another. How many kids had a chance to do THAT?
I remember fishing trips to Buffington Pier with Tubby. We would buy bait at 5 a.m. from some guy with minnow tanks in his basement (who was that?). We would bike over to Guthrie Street, carry our bikes across a dozen Pensy RR tracks, sneak through a hole in an industrial fence, and bike through the center of the Universal Portland Atlas cement plant! Nobody stopped us! Everyone knew we were just going fishing. There was an iron bar fence blocking the entrance to Buffington Pier but two of the bars were cut. The hole was large enough for a person but not for a bike. The iron fence had wings that extended out over the water, so if you wanted to take your bike onto the pier you had to climb out over the water while holding your bike under your arm! I remember a blockof concrete in the water off BAB with a piece of railroad track sticking out of it.
It's strange what memories stay with us. And no, my bike was NOT named Rosebud!
After graduating from WHS I attended Purdue Calumet and then the West Lafayette Campus. I worked for Pullman Standard railroad car manufacturing during my undergraduate years to pay for college. I moved to the San Francisco Bay area of California in 1976 after I received a PhD in Engineering. I worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore CA, and retired after 31 years. At LLNL I worked on fascinating projects including laser and magnetic fusion energy research, the Star Wars x-ray laser, and oversight of nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly in Amarillo, TX. I worked for thirteen years on the National Ignition Facility, the world's largest laser. I worked both in France and in the US with French colleagues who are building a similar laser near Bordeaux. I'm married with no children. My wife and I moved to our beach house on Monterey Bay near Santa Cruz when we retired. I wish I had studied French at WHS. I spent eight years learning French for my work. I enjoy astrophotography, and I style bonsai (miniature trees). I also collect tools on tie clips. I also love to play Poker. My next trip back to "Da Harbor" will probably include playing a circuit event at one of the "Riverboats".
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Photos
