Sandy Lydon:
CLASS OF 1957
Hollister High SchoolClass of 1957
Hollister, CA
Elk Grove High SchoolClass of 1968
Elk grove, CA
University of CaliforniaClass of 1961
Davis, CA
Sacred Heart Parish SchoolClass of 1953
Hollister, CA
Beresford Elementary SchoolClass of 1951
San mateo, CA
Sandy's Story
Born, San Mateo, CA.
Went to Beresford Elementary - could walk/ride my bike from home - we lived on Ventura up the hill. Loved to play handball. Through the Sixth grade at Beresford, and would have gone to Borel, but family moved to Hollister in 1951.
I attended Sacred Heart School for 7th and 8th grade. Sisters Benita Frances for 7th and Sister Mary Ellen for 8th grade. Tough broads, those, but they gave good education. Spent a lot of time kneeling in the hall on detention.
Hollister High from 1953 to graduation in 1957. We had a kick-ass baseball team - went 23 and 1 our senior year. Tony Aquirre, left-handed fireballer, led the way. Our only loss was to Morgan Hill, who coach Matson scheduled for 4 games...bound to lose one...I think I got the pitching loss of that game.
I still have the baseball scorebooks from that season as my Mom was the scorekeeper.
Went to UC Davis (Go Aggies!) beginning September 1957. Started as a physics major, but was wooed away from science and math by some excellent history and English professors.
Played and lettered in baseball a couple of years, lived three years in Beckett Hall and then my senior year was Resident Assistant in a new co-ed dorm, Titus Hall. Can still remember vividly the mad scramble at 2:30 AM to get the girls back to their dorms....
Graduated UCD June 1961 (History) and went straight into full-time high school teaching. Taught at Elk Grove High School (and coached baseball) from Sept 1961 to June 1968. I was 21 years old when I started teaching full time high school. Had to wear a tie to keep the custodians from throwing me off campus.
Colleague Arnie Zimbelman taught me everything he could about teaching and coaching.
November 22, 1963 - my birthday present was JFK's assassination. Remember word coming over the PA in the old high school building -- I was teaching an advanced English class. We were stunned. Many girls started to cry. Seems like yesterday. I didn't have a TV set, so I watched it all unfold on the TV at the Elk Grove Tavern out by Highway 99. Spent that birthday sitting at the bar, wondering what it was all about. Hard to believe that's almost 50 years ago.
Married Diane Vest in 1964, and we spent 1965-66 in Honolulu where I attended the East-West...Expand for more
Center studying Japanese and Asian History. Son Chris was born in Hawaii, and our second child, daughter, Sasha, was born in Aptos. Divorced in 1977.
Joined the faculty at Cabrillo College, Aptos in September 1968 and have taught there ever since. Taught Asian, Asian-American history, eventually moving to include local and regional. Retired from full-time teaching in 2000, but continue to teach short-courses. 50 years teaching. Still don't know for sure what I'm doing. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't seem to....
Took two years leave and was the founding weather anchor on KCBA Channel 35 - did full-time TV news until I realized that it was too much work and went back to the Cabrillo classroom.
The gorgeous woman in the profile photograph is my wife, Annie. We've been married for 45 years. She's a Sacramento girl, maiden name Vieille, Encina High School. She's a dental hygienist, graduate of Cabrillo's Dental Hygiene program.
We live in Aptos, California along with our mostly-Catahoula hounds.
We lead tours all over the world, beginning with one to China in 1976. Most recently took a group to Mongolia 2007, Ireland and the Isle of Man (2010), and we took a group to China - including Tibet - in late 2011. Headed out for Scotland and the Isle of Man in September 2012.
All the details with current stuff, e-mail connection, etc. are on my website which is just my name followed by dot and "come" missing a letter.
Go Balers! Go Aggies! Go Thundering Herd!
Sandy
Update posted March 20, 2022
This is the 60th anniversary of the beginning of my teaching career, back in Elk Grove in 1961-1962. My most recent class was through Cabrillo College Extension in August 2019, and then COVID-19 interrupted everything and I've not taught a class since. But, I ain't done yet, and hope to be teaching again in fall of 2022.
I hear often from former fellow students at Hollister High and UC Davis, and then former students from Elk Grove High or Cabrillo College. Holler if you have the impulse to do so> I'll try and respond.
And thanks for reaching this far, and don't be shy about sharing memories - pleasant or not.
Sandy
PS: I was inducted into the Hollister Haybaler Hall of Fame in 2019 an honor that makes me very proud.
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