Cougar's Tales

March 1999 Electronic Issue One, Volume One            Editor Tom Rose, Class of '74 TRose01@telis.org

Post Office Box 881, Los Gatos, California 95031

Cougar's Tales Rises From The Ashes

Cougar's Tales, like Phoenix rising from the ashes, lives again. Out of print since Camden closed in 1980, our school newspaper is now back by popular demand, using the "electronic ink" of the Internet. Cougar's Tales will again be the voice of students and faculty of Camden High School -- a free press that invites all Camdenites to participate. Each issue will include a short summery of the previous month's Camden Open email list discussion. You'll also find special feature stories about life at Camden and in Cambrian Park, both then and now. Please help us to rekindle Cougar's Tales -- send your ideas and short stories to the editor.

Cougar To Guard Display Of Camden Memorabilia

Beginning March 13'th a life-sized stand-up of the Camden Cougar, vintage 1966, will oversee a new display of Camden High memorabilia at the Camden Activities Center. Michelle Wilson, class of '71, will be in charge of maintaining the display, which will be housed in two lockable glass cabinets Located near the gymnasium in the center's office. The Cougar (produced by John Wiley, class of '66, and Carmen Winters-Rous, class of '67) will draw attention to the various items of memorabilia Michelle hopes will be lent to the display. Banners, buttons, ribbons, Lettermen's sweaters, issues of Cougar's Tales or any other displayable items from Camden's history are sought. Remember, this is a loan, not a donation and you may retrieve your items at any time by contacting Michelle. The cases have a total of four shelves, each 34 inches long, one foot tall and deep, so a large number of items can be displayed. This will be a good opportunity to draw attention to the Camden web sites, news list and the upcoming reunion. If you have items you would like loan to the exhibit contact Michelle at MWilsonpr@aol.com, or show up at the displays debut at 10:00 the thirteenth of this month.

Mark Your Calendars For All Years Reunion

Camden's second annual all years reunion is set for Saturday July 31'st. The event will be held at the Camden athletic field and will include music. Last years event was great fun and brought Camden students and faculty from over two decades of Camden's history together. The spread of information on this event via the Internet will result in an even larger turn out this year, mark those calendars!

Last of the Seventies Celebrating Their Twentieth

The class of '79 is planning their twenty year reunion and need help, if you are from that class of know the whereabouts of others who are, please contact Kathy (Coleman) Scoles at kscoles@yahoo.com.

Camden To Have Own Web Domain

Soon you may be able to enter CamdenHigh on your browser and bring up a page listing Camden related web sites. John Wiley presented the idea of registering Camden as a domain to the Open list and was heartily supported. A fee of less than a hundred dollars would be required to lock in the name (CamdenHigh is just one possibility), a smaller annual fee would maintain it. There are a number of cities and schools across the nation who share the Camden name, so the sooner we do this the better. This will make it easy for people to find Camden on the web and will make it an easy address for you to recommend to Camdenites you run into. Donations towards this service are sought, contact the editor for more information.

Two Michael's Join The Open List

The latest brave entries onto the Camden Open list are Michael Cox, class of '72 and Michael Dresbach, class of '72. Mr. Cox went to West Valley College after leaving Camden, was in the Air Force for four years stationed in Spain (thanks were given to Camden's Spanish instructors by Mr.Cox) and he now works for construction giant Bechtel. Mr. Dresbach, who I remember as philosophical even as a student at Camden, was involved in the music scene in the Bay Area in the seventies and eighties, is working on his Masters Degree on Church history and is the Assistant Priest for Family Ministries at St. Phillips Episcopal Church off Alum Rock Avenue in San Jose. If any News list person would like to get in touch with these new members please contact the editor.

Winter, Music Memories Of Camden

Memories of pick-up trucks with beds full of snow and snowball throwing students at Camden came to mind when Ken Rush, class of '72, saw the winter snows on the mountain tops this season. Several Open list members remembered bands who had played at Camden and gone on to more illustrious venues. Syndicate of Sound, of course (hit "Little Girl" earned them an entry into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame under "one hit wonders"), Santana, The People (big hit "I Love You"), Fritz Rayben Memorial Band (later just Fritz), which included as band members Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham who were later to form Fleetwood Mac. Even local Beach Boys cover band Papa Do Run Run had successes, though on a humbler scale.

Wanted -- Camdenites

Carol (Simmons) Ayers is seeking email address' for fellow class of '73 members Debbie Bringuel, Sherie Odom, and Laurie Koeppen. Contact Carol at

JSimmons@pophost.micron.net. Michael Cox is looking for these fellow graduates from the year 1973; Jeff Cunningham, Linda Kemp, Mike Whitney, Joe Walters, Alan DeShields, Lynn Bonasera, Robbi Thornberg, Carolyn and

Cathy Sarsfield, Gilbert Chan, Wes Toland, Orval Osborne, Kathy Adams (Kathy/Cathy was a popular name at the time, I take it), and Krista Kmetz.

Also, Mr. Cox would like news list members Scott Brazelton and Roberta Michaels to contact him at MBCox@Bechtel.com.

Cougar's Tales On the WWW

That's it till next month. Coming soon, Cougar's Tales roars onto the World Wide Web. The Web version will enable us to have photographs, illustrations, text formatting, archives, and all the other things that make browsing for much fun. If you can help, or are willing to learn, please contact the editor.