Phil Williams:  

Life Having recently entered my 7th decade of life on this earth (Jan 07) and enjoying it more than ever, I am interested to know who else is out there from my high school cohort "made it" and what you're up to. First and foremost, congratulations! And for those who've passed, may they rest in peace. I left Santa Clara in 1965 to spend some time in the Marines and then to complete my university studies in coastal and marine ecology. I never returned to the Valley to settle down though I do get back to the Bay Area several times per year, either for work or to take care of my mother and to manage her estate, which includes my childhood home in Santa Clara. Mom lives in an assisted care facility in Sunnyvale and we are all that remains of the Santa Clara "Williams"(!). My father passed in 1989 and my older brother, Bert (SCHS '61) died a bit early, but peacefully in May 2006. Since High School, I've lived in Monterey, San Diego, and from 1980, Washington, D.C. We live near the U.S. Capitol in a tall row house on a quiet street one block from a large park renowned for dog walking. "We" currently consists of me, my wife, Helene, and our two dogs, Mindy and Buddy. My son Thomas married in May and moved to San Diego to continue his graduate studies in History, and where his wife, Danielle, in doing a medical residency in pediatrics with the U.S. Navy. Thomas is 27 and a graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans. He is currently lead guitarist with a local San Diego rock and roll cover band made of guys who are on average 15 years older than him!...it's not too ambitious a group (playing for drinks and food) and lacking some of the rigor he demands of his music, but it's a start. He is also a certified personal fitness trainer who has kicked my butt many times! Our younger son Matt, is a junior at Johnson State College, near Burlington in the "Northeast Kingdom" of Vermont... and which I affectionately refer to as Snowboard University. Matt is 21 with a passion for politics, the great outdoors, including snowboarding and rugby. I met Helene in DC the summer of 1970 after I left the Corps and was getting ready to hitchhike across the country and re-try my hand at higher education. She was from France and visiting the country on vacation and we traveled together and one thing led to another and in a couple of years we married. Kids came much later (1981) as we both pursued education in San Diego. She graduated in Philosophy and worked on women's rights issues locally while I finished my master's degree in Coastal Ecology. After that, we fled the southern California beach culture (vowing never to return!) and migrated to DC and the Mid-Atlantic; between her native France and my beloved San Francisco Bay Area. Now with Thomas and Dani in San Diego, we have come full circle and have re-visited our old haunts on the borderland. We grew roots in DC and love this attractive little city full of inflated egos as well as good, regular, hard working folks. Helene works on orphaned children's survival challenges from HIV-AIDS in Africa, and I work on endangered marine species for the Feds at NOAA. I've had several positions in marine conservation from setting up marine sanctuaries and estuarine reserves in California and elsewhere, to protecting marine turtles and whales from poaching or drowning in commerical fishing gear and ship collisions...I've made all of my jobs challenging and rewarding, with still more to come! As I aged and gravity began to take its toll, I resolved to take better care of my health and a few years ago I began cycling and weight training. I bike to work most days to my office just outside DC for a 25-30 mile circuit, depending on my route. I've become hooked on cycling and now own several bikes and ride pretty much year round. I completed a cross country fundraising ride the summer of 2007, which was a life changing experience for me. So roll on all of you and take care! School I've got to admit that my high school years were pretty dazed and confused. I was not the sharpest tool on the bench and it took me 5 years to graduate..though I think I was just happy to stay in the cocoon and not have to face the real world. It was mainly about a lack of maturity and focus...but then, that's pretty common with adolescents...just a bit more so with me and so I bloomed a bit late. My memories of Santa Clara High run on in a string of events...My first was about watching a world series game in the auditorium...a big black and white box with a little screen sitting on the stage and us sitting rows back...Don Larsen pitching against the Dodgers(?). Even then I hated the Yankees. It WAS exciting. Memories were mostly about Friday nights; football games (I was actually on a team one year and remember getting creamed one night in a goal line stand at Fremont HS); basketball games in the "cozy" gym - not exactly Hoosiers, but it was unique; driving my white 56 ford pick-up around town; from "sipping" some beers in the hills above Saratoga to zipping into the "new" golden arches on El Camino; cruising first street, enjoying swimming at the school pool... (But one unforgetable moment...I was walking to PE at the pool near Townsend Field the day JFK was killed). Academics... what? I took a typing class with a woman who was the best typist anyone could ask for...but teaching probably gave her more respect in life... and I learned a skill!... Academic progress in more rigorous subjects seemed to elude me though I was placed in what was called the college prep classes (till my 5th year(!)); 2 years in Chem.. flunked em both... Spanish with a little lady who would turn on this fake smile and I learned zero, English with Frank Gates, who I appreciated, though I didn't perform. At least he had a sense of humor and I did like writing. Math was a disaster... set theory in Geom...Expand for more