Bakersfield High School
Class of 1956
 

Welcome to Bakersfield of the 1950s

1956 Oracle
Bakersfield, California is known for agriculture, oil and country & western music, but it's best asset is the friendly people. The Bakersfield High School class of 1956 is fondly remembered as a great example of warm, friendly people. This web site presents some nostalgic pictures of the class of '56, Emerson Junior High School, Hawthorne School, Franklin School, Greenfield Union School, McKinley School, Roosevelt School, Wayside School, William Penn School and Bakersfield.

Bakersfield weatherBakersfield Weather!--Forecast Bakersfield AQIBakersfield Current Air Quality

Latest Stuff

We are the 1%ers!!!!

1% of those born between 1930 and 1946 (worldwide) are still alive.
If you were born in this time span, you are one of the rare surviving one percenters of this special group.
Their ages range is between 77 and 93 years old, a 16-year age span.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE 1% ERS:

You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.
You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900's.
You are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.
You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into tin cans.
You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the "milk box" on the porch.
Discipline was enforced by parents and teachers. And it meant something.
You are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, you "imagined" what you heard on the radio.
With no TV, you spent your childhood "playing outside".
There was no Little League.
There was no city playground for kids.
The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like.
We got black-and-white TV in the late 40s that had 3 stations and no remote.
Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party lines), and hung on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).
Computers were called calculators; they were hand-cranked.
Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon.
'INTERNET' and 'GOOGLE' were words that did not exist.
Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was honest and broadcast on your radio in the evening (your dad would give you the comic pages when he read the news).
New highways would bring jobs and mobility. Most highways were 2 lanes (no interstates).
You went downtown to shop. You walked to school.
The radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands.
Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their families.
You weren't neglected, but you weren't today's all-consuming family focus.
They were glad you played by yourselves.
They were busy discovering the postwar world.
You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed yourselves.
You felt secure in your future, although the depression and poverty were deeply remembered.
Polio was still a crippler. Everyone knew someone who had it.
You came of age in the '50s and '60s with drive-in movies, something called McDonalds burgers and fast cars.
You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our homeland.
World War 2 was over, and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life.
Only your generation can remember a time after WW2 when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.
You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better.
More than 99% of you are retired now, and you should feel privileged to have "lived in the best of times!"
If you have already reached the age of 77 years old, you have outlived 99% of all the other people in the world who were born in this special 16-year time span. You are a 1%ER

Blue Line

View What Has Happened In Your Lifetime!

Just click image and enter your date of birth. Dates

Blue Line

Visit Bakersfield!

After 65 years many of the Class of 1956 no longer reside in Bakersfield.

Current Online Guides are now available to view and/or download:
THINGS TO DO, EAT & DRINK, WHERE TO STAY, EVENTS, COLORING BOOK AND MORE!

Guide Brochure

Blue Line

Comment?

Class of 1956 News!

News

Micki Baker Burcher selected for the Bakersfield High School Hall of Fame


The Bakersfield High School Hall of Fame was created to honor those past Drillers who gained honors through sports as well as impact on BHS through community, coaching/advising. athletics and/or fine arts.

Blue Line

Isaac McClanahan and his wife, Ruth (nee Miller), are sharing information sbout Ruth's nephew, Rashun Shehee. He is the Head Coach of Bakersfield High School varsity football and girls basketball coach. He is really doing a great job. He is carrying on the traditions for our school. The girls have won a number of Valley championshuips. Isaac and Ruth are so proud of him.

Micki Baker Burcher contributed the following addendum: Driller Coach--Freshman-Sophmore Coach of Sandabs at BHS, Julian Cantu, is married to my granddaughter Haley. This means the current football coaches are RELATED to Class of 56 members.

Blue Line

We graduated from Bakersfield High School
more than 65 Years ago!

September 18, 2021, 85 classmates met at Luigi's in Bakersfield to celebrate together 65 years after graduating from Bakersfield High School.

Blue Line

Bilirubin: Jekyll and Hyde Pigment of Life
David Lightner has published a new book on Billirubin, Bilirubin: Jekyll and Hyde Pigment of Life Pursuit of Its Structure Through Two World Wars to the New Millenium--Series: Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products, Vol. 98. The book covers the totality of bilirubin (and heme, from which bilirubin is derived biogenetically), the structural relationship of bilirubin to its solution properties and metabolism, and to phototherapy for the jaundiced newborn - a common medical procedure used nowadays for lowering serum bilirubin, which is neurotoxic. A special interest book by a classmate in a growing group of authors. If this book attracts your fancy you may also be interested in his earlier works: 2D NMR-Based Organic Spectroscopy Problems by Michael Huggins, Jerome E. Gurst and David A. Lightner (Oct 22, 2010) and Organic Conformational Analysis and Stereochemistry from Circular Dichroism by David A. Lightner and Jerome E. Gurst (Feb 18, 2000)

Blue Line

Testing Ground Vol. 1 The Cave
Lou Grivetti (Emerson Junior High School 1951-1952) has published the first volume of a trilogy, The Testing Ground - The Cave. A science fiction novel that probes a fascinating and frightening possibility: Is this planet merely a "testing ground" on which life was created, allowed to evolve, and then targeted for annihilation after evil proliferates? This work documents human survival and struggle after terrorist launches a computer virus that causes destruction of American economic and electronic communication systems. The book is available in paperback and Kindle formats at Amazon. Additional ebook formats are available at Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble and Kobo Books.

space

Vietnam 1993, A New Beginning
Viet Nam 1993. A New Beginning: An American Professor's Journal of Discovery, Exploration, and Introspection. Lou visited Viet Nam between April 22 and May 12, 1993, to explore potential opportunities for research and scientific collaboration between Vietnamese scientists and colleagues at UC Davis. Readers are provided with insights and images of how the process of healing between our two countries had begun. Click on Viet Nam 1993 for a more complete description of the book, photos, itinerary, excerpts, etc. The book is available in paperback and Kindle formats. If you purchase the book, please write a review that can be posted on the Amazon site.

space

Song of Siwa
Lou's first book, Song of Siwa is also available. While working with Vanderbilt University he made two research-related visits to Siwa and Qara oases in remote Egypt. He was inspired by sagas, chanted by story-tellers that reached back to before the dawn of time, to write the Song of Siwa. The Song of Siwa is a fictional epic with elements based upon historical events.
space

Blue Line

Katey Sandy Art
Katey (Bosworth) Sandy, fine artist, is exhibiting some of her art on the Fine Art America web site. Her work includes diverse impressionistic interpretations. After retiring in 2007 from a career in art teaching she returned to painting. You can purchase her work online as prints, posters, greeting cards, etc.

space

Blue Line

Richard Turner
Dick Turner has a new web site, http://www.rturnerphotography.com, with a gallery of his great photographs. You can view his photos and purchase prints, greeting cards and his new book, "I Can't Always See My Path...But I Keep On Walking."
space

Blue Line

Senior Discounts
Since our class is of the age that can take advantage of senior discounts you may want to check out these sites:
List of Stores with Senior Discounts. Also included on this site are comments by others regarding discounts in specific areas.

List of Stores, Restaurants, Theaters, etc. with Senior Discounts.

While traveling I have found McDonalds a convenient pitstop location that is enhanced by their offering of "Senior Coffee". McDonalds does not advertise this discount. You just have to order a "Senior Coffee" and they give you a standard size coffee for $0.70 to $0.85.

Blue Line

More Senior Specials
Another way to celebrate your 75th birthday if you travel via air!

TSA no longer requires you to take off your shoes or jacket at airport security checks if you are 75 or older. You aren't a threat!

Blue Line

Sadly, some of our classmates have departed. The deceased list is kept as current as information is provided. Any information regarding the class of 1956 is always appreciated. Also check the missing list. If you know where any of these class of 1956 members are please let me know.

Blue Line

Comment?

Bakersfield High School

Bakersfield High School

1956 Oracle and BHS 56 Goodies

Now! Order high quality personalized, Bakersfield High School and 55th Reunion products, including shirts, mugs, bags, hats, and much more.

CafepressCafepress offers preprinted BHS 56 items including iPad and iPhone cases for purchase online with delivery directly to you home.

Merchandise

1956 Oracle The 1956 Oracle is the yearbook of the Bakersfield High School class of 1956. The 1956 Oracle has been reproduced on CD-ROM in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format with the individual pages available in jpeg (jpg) format in the images directory. You can have your own copy of this unique CD for the low price of $19.56!

Share BHS56 With a Friend

Note, your email address will NOT be saved or used for anything other than sending this note to your friend.