AHS Class of 1962 graduate David Macaray is a playwright and author who recently published a new novel about his time spent as a Peace Corps volunteer in India in 1967-68
Titled “How to Win Friends and Avoid Sacred Cows: Adventures in India: Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims When the Peace Corps was New,” the memoir describes his youthful time in India with disarming honesty. [Read more…]
Anaheim High’s Sheila Taylor Lowe (’67) will be one of three award-winning writers featured at the Sunday, March 19, Anaheim Public Library Foundation Mystery Authors Luncheon and Silent Auction.
The Whodunnit?-themed event will be held at the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort. A silent auction begins at 11 a.m., followed by the lunch and author program at 12:30. Tickets are $60 per person or $550 per table of 10. Reservations, due March 10, may be made by contacting ginnygardner340@gmail.com.
Like her fictional character Claudia Rose in her award-winning forensic handwriting mysteries series, Sheila Lowe is a real-life forensic handwriting expert, as well as the author of the acclaimed The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Handwriting Analysis, Handwriting of the Famous & Infamous, and Handwriting Analyzer software.
Her six-book mystery series are inspired by actual cases she’s become involved in as a handwriting expert. The series titles include: Poison Pen, Written in Blood, Dead Write, Last Writes, Inkslingers Ball, and Outside the Lines.
She’s also published What She Saw, is a standalone novel of psychological suspense that follows a young woman through the terrifying labyrinth of amnesia.
Lowe holds a Master of Science in psychology and lectures around the country and in Canada and the UK. Her analyses of celebrity handwritings are seen throughout the media. In addition, she is president of the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes education in the area of handwriting. To learn more about her work, visit:
www.claudiaroseseries.com
www.sheilalowe.com
www.superceu.com
Lawrence “Larry” Macaray (’38) – artist, teacher, art collector and author – has contributed several pieces of art from his vast collection of work he amassed as proprietor of Anaheim’s first art gallery and as a world traveler.
Larry represented Californian, as well as national and international artists. An arts professor at El Camino College, his career also included serving as the Torrance Press-Herald Arts and Travel Editor. His award-winning art has been displayed at galleries and museums in California and throughout the nation.
The professionally framed pieces available for auction (shown below) include limited edition wood block prints by Yosida Hiroshi, regarded as one of the greatest artists of the shin-hanga style. Two of his pieces are available: “Tsurugaoka Hachima Shrine” and “Hirosaki Castle” from the “Scenes of Sacred Places and Historic Landmarks” series.
Another highly collectible piece is a Salvidor Dali plate signed etching of Cervantes valued at $500.
All three pieces are avaiable for bid (starting at $100) by contacting anaheimalumni@yahoo.com.
Anaheim High’s Class of 1960 graduate Stanley Vosburg is an artist with a unique and warmhearted approach to aviation art.
His limited edition print series, “Home Front Aviation,” embodies a nostalgic look at America’s love affair with military aviation during the 1940s.
Stan’s realistic narrative style and impeccable historical fidelity, make his period paintings a window into one of aviation’s most exciting eras.
A native Californian, Stan spent much of his youth in Southern California which, in the mid-1950s, was a national focal point of aviation with numerous aircraft manufacturers and military airfields.
A stress engineer in the aerospace defense industry for 30 years, Stan originally turned to painting as a means to relieve stress and serve as a diversion. Stan’s early successes convinced him to take his painting more seriously.
After discovering the American Society of Aviation Artists, Stan merged his love of aviation with his desire to paint. Encouraged by other aviation artists, he has started to develop his own approach to aviation art, one that combines history, aviation and the human interface that makes aviation so important to all of us. With images quite different from the main stream aviation art, Stan has found a unique niche that satisfies both artist and collector.
Stan began producing and marketing limited edition prints of his works in 1995. One of these works, “Impressing the Night Shift,” was recreated in “living art” during the Laguna Beach Pageant of the Masters’ 1999 millennium season. In 2008, Stan’s latest painting, “Lightning Lady,” won the ASAA award for Women’s Contribution to Aviation and third place in Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine’s annual art contest.
Stan has donated two of his framed prints to the AHSAA to auction as the 2017 Golf Classic, Dinner & Auction. Thank you, Stan, for your support of “Old AU.”
See more of his work at www.stanvosburg.com.
 Hanchett (Sadler), Kathleen Ann – July 3, 1959 – May 27, 2006 Kathleen Ann (Sadler) Hanchett of Vida, Oregon, died May 27 of cancer at age 46. She was born July 3, 1959, in North Hampton, Mass., to Ernest and Maureen Downey Sadler. She married Jim Pittaway in 1979 in Anaheim, Calif., and they later divorced. She married George Hanchett on Dec. 21, 1989, in Culver. She was a homemaker.
Remembrances to the American Cancer Society. |
Anaheim High Class of 1977 honored fallen classmates at its 40th reunion. The “In Memory” table is shown here, as well as individual photos of the 30 know deceased classmates.
To raise funds for its February prodution of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” Anaheim High Performing Arts Conservatory (APAC) invited the community to a Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration held Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016 on the AHS campus.
The school’s central courtyard was transformed into a “Book of Life Festival” featuring dancing, musical acts, art installations, decorated altars, traditional foods, face painting, theatrical performances, mariachi, ballet folklorico and more.
Participants also bid on the artwork of Peter Perez, a 1957 Anaheim High graduate who has created and curated Dia de los Muertos installations throughout California and around the globe.
Anaheim High’s award-winning Performing Arts Department trains its students in multi-disciplines, including dance, drama, music and technical theater in preparation for college, trade school and the workplace.
APAC will present Disney’s “Little Mermaid” at Cook Auditorium, Feb. 16, 17 and 18 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults; $10, age 10 and under. Here are more photos from the event:
“Embracing death gives more meaning to life. Embracing life gives more meaning to death.”
Peter Perez has taken on new lives and lifestyles throughout his existence. His first life was that of an immigrant’s son who used his artistic talents to buy a one-way ticket to New York after graduating from one of the country’s best art schools.
From fledgling artist growing up in an Anaheim barrio, to Madison Avenue superstar, Perez has now metamorphosed back to his cultural heritage to become a renown Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) creator and curator.
“The Day of the Dead celebration awakened deep personal roots that had been lost and forgotten,” said Perez. “Spanish, my first language, and a connection to my native culture, had been erased at an early age.”
Peter Perez ’57 was on campus for a recent celebration of the historic Anaheim vs. Downy CIF Championship game. He was on the LA Colliseum field as a yell leader.
Perez recently related his story to students at Anaheim High School, his alma mater. He told them about being renamed Peter from Pedro and being forbidden to speak Spanish. His story is especially relevant to Anaheim High’s performing arts students who see Perez, a Class of ’57 graduate, as someone from their own background who became a successful artist despite the odds.
“Be the best at what you do and success will come naturally,” he told the classroom of students who are staging a Nov. 5 Dia de los Muertos festival to raise funds for future productions.
Along with showing slides of his artwork (he is donating several pieces to the event’s silent auction), Perez shared the history of Dia del los Muertos and how he has used his art to make political statements, as well as a way to express loss in his own life.
The introduction of a City of Anaheim Day of the Dead celebration was, in fact, sparked by the death of his nephew, an Anaheim resident who died in a motorcycle accident in 2009. Initially not embraced by city officials, Perez persisted and, with the help of the Anaheim Heritage Council, Arts Council, Downtown Association and several volunteers, a new tradition was started that has evolved into celebrations being staged throughout Orange County.
For Perez, the opportunity to paint and explore the life of the dead has resulted in solo shows, group exhibits, and serving as a curator for fiestas, art and altar exhibitions for the largest Dia de los Muertos celebrations in the nation. He has also introduced the celebration to India and Australia. Most recent is his Dia de los Muertos installation at the Sonoma County Art Museum.
“The ancient cultures believed that you died three times, once when your body ceases to function, a second time when your spirit leaves your body, and the final most tragic death, when you’re forgotten,” said Perez. “Through my art and my involvement with Dia de los Muertos, my nephew and others I’ve embodied in ofrendas (altars) throughout the world will not be forgotten. Viva Los Muertos!”
What is Dia de los Muertos?
El Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) has been celebrated for nearly 3000 years in Mexico, Central and South America. This observance honors those who have passed before us and keeps their memories alive. It is celebrated Nov. 1st and 2nd, All Souls and All Saints Days. It has evolved into a cross-cultural event, with traditional roots, that invites all to participate. Altars (ofrendas) are created and decorated with photos, food, drink, marigolds and the favorite things of the person being honored. For a more complete history, click here.
Thank you to the 200-member contigency, including administrators, instructors, staff, students, parents and alumni, that marched in the 92nd Annual Halloween Parade to represent Anaheim High. Here are photos of the event:
Survivors include her husband; her mother, Sandy Sadler of Anaheim; two sons, Danny Pittaway of Santa Ana, Calif., and David Pittaway of San Clemente, Calif.; four daughters, Sarah Hanchett, Jennifer Hanchett, Christine Hanchett and Scout Hanchett, all of Vida; two sisters, Amy Cummings of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., and Faith Jensen of Las Vegas; and a brother, Sean Sadler of Anaheim.