In Memoriam

Last Updated: August 2010





While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die ~ Leonardo Da Vinci

 

29 Souls We Miss

Bob (Robert) Adams
Richard A. Bailey
Bill Ryan Baker, Jr.
Shera Sue Davis
Edmund Eickenroht
Mike Fisher
Nancy Frese
Sherri Gerth Huckleberry
Mark Hamilton
Debbie Harding
Diane Hillman
Kathy Keating
Pat Landrum
Linda McDougall
Mac McSwain
Carolyn Good Mueller
David Overstreet
David Richardson
Valerie Riley Fisher
Bill Rives
Garry Samuels

Joe Sielski

Susie Stanberry

Blake Steinberg

Elizabeth Stubbs
Tommy Sykes
Robert Turnbull

Quinn Williams

Clyde Witkowski

 




Robert Turnbull passed away on Friday March 1, 2002. Please mail or email Ilse Garrett with your memories and/or photos of Robert. Ilse has created and is maintaining a loving memorial book of our deceased schoolmates. She has mailed a sympathy card to the family on behalf of the Class of 1971. Obiturary from SA Express News: Robert T. Turnbull, Sr., age 48, died Friday, March 1, 2002. He was born July 25, 1953 in San Antonio and was a lifetime resident of San Antonio and a graduate of the University of Texas. He was preceded in death by his brother, Charles Graham Turnbull II. He is survived by his sons, Robert Thomson Turnbull, Jr., Charles Graham Turnbull; brother, Peter Masterson Turnbull; niece, Mills Turnbull.


Thanks for sharing. It is sad to think we are at the age where (learning of the passing of our classmates) will soon become more prevalent. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. I always remembered Robert as having the most starched button down shirts and the highest shine on his tasseled loafers. It is the little things , I guess. ~ George Wyatt

Quinn and Kip 1991 20 Year Reunion

Your lost friends are not dead, but gone before, advanced a stage or two upon that road which you must travel in the steps they trod ~ Aristophanes

One of my favorite stories about Quinn Williams involved himself, Graham Hall, Bubba Groos and Johnny Clark. The five of us grew up in the same neighborhood and spent a considerable amount of our free time catching lizards, rodents, snakes and other various creatures during the summer months. Once we entered high school and became mobile, we continued these activities, but our range was expanded to include Stinky Falls in New Braunfels. We often financed our trips (gas for the car and food) by selling snakes by the pound to the newly opened Snake Farm on I-35 outside New Braunfels. One day while we were at the Snake Farm selling our most recent cache of snakes, we noticed that the owners had acquired a rather large reticulated python (over 10 feet long and a foot or more wide). Quinn had his face up to the screen hissing at the python and scratching his fingers on the screen when the snake fully opened its mouth, hissed loudly and quickly struck the screen at the exact spot where Quinn had pressed his face. Quinn howled and immediately passed out falling to the ground. He was out like a light! I can still see the fear in his face before he passed out when that huge snake's mouth tried to take his head off. For years after that, we would laugh about the occasion and Quinn would only mutter, "You don't know how much that scared me." Quinn and I remained close friends until the day of his death and like most close friends I have many fond memories of our adventures together. Quinn loved life and told me shortly before his death that he did not regret anything that he had ever done except that he wished he hadn't been caught in some youthful indiscretions. While I miss my old friend, I take solace in the fact that I know he lived every single day of his life to the fullest. ~ Rusty Brusenhan August 1, 2001
After graduation from high school, Quinn attended Boston University and the University of Texas at Austin. He received a bachelor's degree in Business with an emphasis in Finance from the University of Texas. After college, Quinn continued his education by becoming a real estate broker, a real estate appraiser and gemologist. At the time of his untimely death (just after his 41st birthday) Quinn was residing in Palm Springs, California where he was one of the top real estate appraisers in the State of California.
Quinn and I were each other's first boyfriend and girlfriend in high school. I was thrilled when he asked me to Cotillion our freshman year. Of course, it was a "mommy date". (Actually, Mr. Williams drove us.) Then, when he could drive, we often doubled with Rusty (Brusenhan), Johnny (Clark), Bubba (Groos), or Graham (Hall), " The Terrell Hills Bad Boys." Quinn liked to jump off the roof of our house into our pool, when my parents weren't there, of course. He was always the jokester, the trickster, with a great laugh. Because Quinn lived on the edge of his emotions, he scared easily. Once we were watching "Future Shock" in the dark by ourselves at my sister's house. My Brother-in-law put his face in the window with a flashlight under his chin, making monster noises. Quinn came unglued. He started yelling, and ran for the door, after knocking over a lamp, and tripping on the rug. Ya gotta love him. Quinn had a big heart too, and thinking of him will always bring a smile to my face. ~ Robin Early, August 2001
Bill Rives and I were not "best friends" but good friends anyway. Sometimes we would go 10 years or more without contact. We were roommates during the summer of 77. At that time I was the restaurant manager at the Magic Time Machine in Austin. Bill worked for me, bussing tables and dressed as "Dr. Livingston." He was a very special, very kind and well-mannered friend and I will dearly miss him. We were just becoming reacquainted. ~ Jimmy O'Brien September 2001
What can I say about Debbie Harding. I knew her, then we didn't see each other for a while, then we met back up and then she was gone. She loved animals, and she loved children even though she didn't have any. She was sweet. ~ Penny Thomas October 2001
Sweet Childhood Memories of Bob Adams ~ What I do remember about Bob was that he was a blond hair, freckle face boy, very bright and had a nice smile. We would spend our summers swimming in Betsy Collin's back yard pool and play Marco Polo. When I was twelve he and Betsy threw me a surprise birthday party, I remember lots of laughing and some spastic dancing. ~ Maryann Latunas
Bill Rives - The Inner Circle has been broken. When our hearts were young he was a big part of my life. He loved his friends and he loved to listen to music, real loud. I know we would drive his mother crazy because we would sit in the living room and play records all the time and some of songs he’d play over and over because he would like a certain part of the song. If we weren’t there it was always with Bubba, Brad, Tony or Johnny somewhere having laughs and good times. Bill called me about a year and a half ago to console me on the passing of my mother. We rehashed old times and I promised to track him down for the 30 year reunion as he wanted to attend. I am sad that our paths won’t cross again for God had bigger plans for you. I’ll just have to take you in my heart because that’s where you’ll always be ~ Joann Hunt Doyal
Linda McDougall and I lived across the street from each other since we were too young to cross the street…we would sit on the curb and shout at each other for hours. Linda always liked to dress up in a cowboy hat. She had the neatest playhouse and I had the swing set…so we spent a lot of time together. In 3rd grad thru to 5th, when we all had moved (close together but not across the street), she and I decided one summer to open a café. Our menu consisted of grilled cheese, watered down Kool-Aid, pickles and Chips Ahoy. Our only customers were our younger sisters and they would not even pay. ~ Lynn Erben, September 7, 2001
I played basketball with "Mac" throughout High School. I also seemed to end up in a lot of classes with Mac: Latin with Mrs. Urich, German with several teachers. We had both thought we'd be attending Vanderbilt together. We lost contact after we both went off to school. He was a stand up, easy to get to know guy. It is certainly a loss that he has passed on. ~ Chris Creamer, June 2001
When I think of Bill Rives, a smile comes across my face. He was one of those rare individuals who, without even speaking, could make you laugh. My earliest memories of him were in junior high, hanging out at Cary Tucker's with Bobby Schenken. In high school, we would party with Tony Berkowitz, Bubba Mason, Johnny Clark, and Brad Miller. We loved going to concerts or just relaxing among friends at someone's home. Joann H. Doyal is not the only person who was looking forward to seeing Bill after all of these years. When reunion time comes around, certain people who have left fond memories in your heart, re-surface in your mind and you hope that maybe you'll get to see them again. Bill Rives was that kind of person. I would bet that most of his former girlfriends will always carry a place for him in their hearts. That's where he'll be for me during our 30th reunion. We miss you, Bill ~ Libby Castleberry Brocard
I remember Quinn Williams, and I smile when I think of him. He was always in a great mood and had something clever and funny to say. He was happy and had a quick wit. I think that making people smile and laugh is a fabulous trait. ~ Peggy Becker Payne, August 5, 2001
Only the good die young, the words in a song that never had much impact for me until the body of our friend and classmate Nancy Frese was found alongside a rural road. Her murder remains unsolved in my mind. The notorious Henry Lee Lucas is said to have admitted his guilt but I can only wonder.... She was trusting of those she knew but was too street savvy to have been approachable by one of his kind. She would not have gotten into a situation such as he described. It's nearing 25 years ago but we remember her and miss her. She was such a very gentle person, a quiet soul, a steadfast friend, accepting us without question or judgment. I couldn't come to terms with the awfulness of it. What she endured was horrible enough, but also what her family suffered for those two months and then for years afterwards, haunting them until their deaths...and also for all of us, for the loss of our carefree youth. The real world had landed in our lap, we knew now firsthand that bad things do happen to good people.... until I realized that there must be a purpose for her untimely passing, and that it may not be up to us, here on earth, to know the reason.... just to know that... only the good die young... ~ Pat Thompson Hrdlicka
A note on Edmund Eickenroht (class valedictorian):
My earliest memory of Edmund was in first grade at Cambridge (1959-1960). We were not in the same class, but I remember seeing his mother standing in the hallway every day a few minutes before school was over. She came to his classroom because Edmund wore leg braces (as I recall, he had some form of bone disease). We did not know each other very well until 6th grade (Mrs. Myers' class) where Edmund always seemed to get an A+ on assignments and tests (that was a fairly "smart" class - I remember taking on other classes in arithmetic "races" and I don't think we ever lost). We remained friends through high school and had some contact through the college years, but we had basically lost contact when I received a phone call from Larry Williams in Sept, 1980. He told me Edmund had been killed (hit by a vehicle while crossing a street, if my memory is accurate). My parents sent me his obituary from the North San Antonio Times which listed some of his academic achievements including being a "graduating senior" from medical school. I filed it away, but retrieved it recently now over 20 years since his untimely passing. And I'm left with the same questions today that I had in 1980:
What could he have accomplished?
What could he have contributed? ~ Andrew Wetz 7/2001

I wish I had a copy of our commencement address. I actually ripped it in half pulling it out from behind my gown on graduation night because I was so nervous! Some bittersweet memories really --- I know we thought we were so radical and controversial and that speech was a forum for those really important issues like hair length and dress codes! What a lawless bunch of rebels we were! I miss those days --- and I miss my friends --- my valedictorian was Edmund Eickenroht and my speech-writer and soul-mate was Mac McSwain --- They've been gone awhile now, but maybe they'll come join us, too (at the reunion) --- at least in spirit. ~ Roy Campbell
Mac was the model student-athlete, who had a wonderful sense of humor. He was an excellent student and one of the best basketball players to graduate from Alamo Heights. He played on the first Vanderbilt University basketball team to make the NCAA playoffs. The team won the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championship during that 73-74 season. Mac also liked to kid. One day in the locker room, I sort of jokingly said I wasn't going to be "pushed" around anymore, and I am going to send off for Joe Weider's body building course. After that, Mac and some other friends began calling me Joe. He is surely missed - a good man from a good family. ~ Jeff Miller 8/2001
David Overstreet, Our Creative Friend - I remember the day I received the North San Antonio Times telling me of the death of David Overstreet. I felt such a great loss. I couldn't believe he was gone. I told my husband, " He's too young to have died." - - David was my friend. Although I hadn't seen him for years, I still felt the closeness. I first met David in Junior High School. I can remember how talented he was. He played the character of Friedrich Von Trapp in Sound of Music at the San Antonio Little Theatre. I know he had other theatrical parts over the years, but this one sticks in my mind. - - I can't help thinking of David when I smell English Leather cologne, it was his favorite. - - I remember he drove a blue and white Chrysler that had push button gears rather than a gearshift on the column. David, Penny Telford, another person I don't remember, and I were to go to the prom. I think we should up so we could say we actually went, but we didn't stay long. We left and headed out towards New Braunfels. We were going looking for "Goatman". All I remember when we were sitting in the car waiting to see "Goatman" was this horrible sound outside the car and us being really frightened. I don't know what the sound actually was, but it sounded like a wounded animal. We were parked on a road somewhere in the country and I remember there were like walls of rock around us. Almost like we were in a canyon. I have no clue where it was, only that it was somewhere towards New Braunfels. David tried to start the car and it wouldn't start. I finally noticed that he did not have it in "park" completely. The button wasn't pushed all the way. I know we accused the guys of doing that purposely! Looking back, it really was funny!

After high school, David and I saw each other, although it wasn't often. But, we remained friends. He was warm and caring and very talented. I shall always remember David Overstreet. He is missed. ~ Ilse Garrett


My first recollection of Garry Samuels was in elementary school in the third or fourth grade. Our teacher appointed another boy and myself as captains to pick kickball teams. After selecting the teams, I knew we would kill them. However, I did not pick Garry. He kicked a homerun ever time, and they killed us. I think Garry would have been an excellent football player if he wanted to be. He was a good athlete and difficult to tackle with his powerful legs. His dad, who was also one of my favorite baseball coaches, played football for the University of Texas and at one time held the San Antonio record for the 100-yard dash. Garry was always friendly to me. The last time I saw Garry was about 36 hours before he passed away. We lived in the same dorm at Southwest Texas State University, and Garry was his usual friendly self, asking me how things were going. I miss Garry. He was a good guy from a good family. ~ Jeff Miller 8/2001
you would know the secret of death. but how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life? the owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light. if you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life. for life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. In the depths of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond; and like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring. trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour. is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king? yes is he not more mindful of his trembling? for what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? and what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered? only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. and when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. and when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance ~ Kahlil Gibran 1923