Robert Fluor, from Anaheim Union High School Class of 1939, transformed his family’s small engineering shop in Anaheim into Fluor Corporation, an international construction and energy conglomerate. He joined Fluor in 1946 after returning from WWII. He served as a U.S. Air Force Pilot and earned a Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal. He served as president, then chairman and CEO of Fluor from 1962 through 1984 and was known as a civics and arts philanthropist.
Joseph Clayes III
August 24, 2026 by
Joseph Clayes
Joseph Clayes III, from Anaheim Union High School Class of 1950, was a bright mathematics major at Anaheim High and served as co-editor of the school newspaper and treasurer of Lambda Sigma, a science club.
The grandson of Principal Joseph Clayes, the longest serving Anaheim High Principal, Joseph enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and upon discharge, enrolled in the first class of Orange County State College, which evolved into California State University of Fullerton. He was the school’s third Student Body President.
Clayes became a successful financial and real estate investor and an avocado rancher. A patron of the arts and a philanthropist, his trust helped fund the construction of the CSUF Performing Arts Center and supported many charities throughout the years.
Richard “Dick” Baney – Class of 1965
August 24, 2026 by
Dick Baney, an all-star athlete from a young age, became a professional right-handed pitcher after being spotted by a pro scout when he was playing baseball at Anaheim High.
Baney possessed an incredibly powerful arm from a young age. His local youth league ultimately forced him out because his high-velocity “hard pitch” was deemed too dominant for the other children to handle.
A high school phenom, he led Anaheim Baseball to back-to-back Sunset League Championships and CIF-SS AAA Division Quarterfinals. He was named as the All-Sunset League/All-Orange County/All-CIF-SS AAA Division pitcher.
The first person of Mexican descent signed out of Orange County, the Boston Red Sox
took Baney with the ninth pick in the secondary phase of the 1966 MLB draft. It was a big moment for an Anaheim High kid. After Boston drafted him, Baney joined the Red Sox organization and started working his way up the minor leagues.
His time with Boston didn’t last long. The Seattle Pilots grabbed him with the 33rd pick in the 1968 expansion draft, pulling him away from the Red Sox. Seattle’s pick changed everything for Baney. That move set him up for his MLB debut on July 11, 1969, at just 22 years old.
Baney pitched in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1974, playing for the Cincinnati Reds during his last two seasons.
Upon retiring from baseball, he became a general contractor, real estate investor and property manager, as well as an advocate for retired baseball players to receive better pensions. His activism helped hundreds of former players finally get financial benefits they’d been denied for years.
Dick has returned to Anaheim High many times to encourage young ball players and often attends games to watch the Anaheim High team perform.
For his outstanding support of his alma mater and for his many accomplishments in his life, it is my honor to induct my friend, Dick Baney, into the Anaheim High School Hall of Fame.
Charles Pearson – Class of 1917
August 24, 2026 by
Charles Pearson, a Class of 1917 graduate, served as class president while at Anaheim High and was a scholar and athlete. A graduate of Occidental College, he built his business, Anaheim Truck and Transfer Company, into the county’s largest trucking company at the time.
He became a prominent figure in Anaheim’s political and civic life and served on the Anaheim City Council for 25 years and was the mayor of Anaheim from 1940 to 1959. He started his public service as one of the members of the first Planning Commission in the 1920s.
As mayor, he oversaw significant developments in the city’s infrastructure, public services, and community programs. His leadership was marked by a focus on growth, public safety, and community engagement, making him a respected figure in the city’s history, and he is remembered for his role in helping bringing Disneyland to Anaheim. He was also active in the development of the Metropolitan Water District.
Known as Charlie or “Mr. Anaheim” for his years of service to Anaheim and as a citizen who embraced his city. Anaheim’s City Park was renamed Pearson Park to honor him.
He married Sarah Fay in 1934. Sarah’s family came to Anaheim in 1892, and her grandfather, W.J. Fay, was president of the Anaheim Union Water Company. Sarah graduated from USC with a D.D.S. degree and practiced orthodontia, managed the 40-acre Fay Ranch, and was active in many community organizations. Their son, Charles James “Jim” Pearson is from Class of 1954 and is living in Northern California.
Class of ’24 Colonist Connection to Famous Rose Parade
January 1, 2026 by
Thanks to the donation a scrapbook by a relative of Class of 1924 graduate Abigail Francis “Frankie” Reed, the AHS Alumni Association has learned about an important Colonist connection to the famous California Rose Parade.
Back in the late 1880s, Frankie’s mother, Grace (Monroe) Reed, who grew up in Pasadena, started the New Year’s tradition of a carriage parade and picnic on New Year’s Day with her friends and family.
This group became the Valley Hunt Club and the parade became the famous Rose Parade. Grace made sure her family followed the tradition and Frankie became a eager participant of the parade throughout her life.
Here is Frankie’s biography as provided by her granddaughter, Melody Lavrakas, daughter of “Frankie’s daughter, Dorothy Suzanne Ballantyne.
Abigail Francis Reed – Class of 1924
Abigail Francis Reed attended Anaheim Union High School between 1920 and 1924. She was never called Abigail and went by her middle name of Francis. By age 1 year, family members shortened it to Frankie.
Her sister Ruth Reed was the academic of the family and a member of the school’s award winning debate team. Francis found it hard to keep up with sister, as she was more of an athlete and adventurer. She took drama classes throughout high school. In her freshman year she acted in “The Thirteenth Chair” and in a vaudeville production in her senior year.
She was a member of the swim team her junior and senior years and competed in the 20- and 40-yard meets. She was a strong swimmer and loved the ocean and swimming in it.
She loved parties and attended all the dances and plays. Her scrapbook is filled with mementoes from all her school activities.
Frankie grew up “very much a tomboy,” according to a letter written to the AHS Alumni Association by her granddaughter, who related that Frankie’s mother wrote that she was “born in a hurry and has been rushing ahead ever since.”
A. Francis Reed was born January 1905 in Los Alamitos to John Oren Reed and Grace Monroe Reed. They met in Pasadena, where Grace lived and attended Throup Polytechnic Institute, later known as Cal Tech.
John worked for J. Ross Clark Sugar Co. in Los Alamitos as a sugar boiler. Their first child Ruth was born in 1902. A second child, Dorothy, was born in 1903, but only lived 12 days. Frankie was born in January 1905, and Marjory was born in August 1906. The family moved to Portland, Oregon in 1907 to be near his parents.
Working on his father’s apple orchard didn’t suit John, nor did the primitive living conditions. In 1908 they moved back to California and bought a 20-acre ranch in Anaheim on Lincoln Avenue. This is where Frankie grew up and attended local schools. Her only brother, Donald Monroe Reed, was born on the ranch in 1908.
The Reeds were a close-knit family and did everything together. On weekends, they traveled to Orange County Park (now Irvine Park) for picnics. Balboa Island and Laguna Beach were their favorite swim spots. Another family activity was attending band concerts in Long Beach.
On New Year’s they took their carriage to Pasadena to join friends and family for the annual carriage parade and picnic. Grace and friends started this tradition back in the late 1880s. This group became the Valley Hunt Club and the parade became the famous Rose Parade.
The family was prospering and the original ranch house on Lincoln was torn down and a new house with “nine large rooms and two bathrooms” was built in 1909. In 1913, they bought their first car, a Studebaker, and Grace was one of the few women who drove. Frankie learned to drive while she was still in school.
As a teenager, Frankie helped the Knott’s children sell jam from the family fruit stand. Frankie was a Jobs Daughter debutant at age 16.
When she graduated from Anaheim High, she was accepted at California Berkley, where her sister Ruth was attending. She attended for two years and then was asked to leave as her interest in learning was lacking. Her interest in boys was intact, and she met her husband, Thomas Scott Ballantyne from San Diego, while at Cal Berkley. Her father insisted that they wait until she was 21 to marry.
In 1926, John and Grace sold their ranch and built a large house at 2467 N. Riverside Drive in Anaheim. Frankie and Tom’s wedding was held in the backyard.
The young couple moved to El Cajon, where he managed various ranches and worked for the state as an agricultural inspector. They had three children: Thomas Reed, Robert Monroe, and Dorothy Suzanne. Tom died in September 1950. Frankie remarried to Walter A. Lucas in 1953 and moved to Winnemucca, Nevada. They returned to California and lived in Long Beach until divorcing in 1967.
Frankie lived in Long Beach for the rest of her life. She worked for AARP and P.O.E. as a secretary until she retired. Frankie passed away in 1971.
All her life, Frankie was adventurous and loved going places and doing things. After she left college, she toured the United States with her mother for four months. After her divorce, she traveled to Europe for four months. But she always came back home to California and the ocean she loved.
Let’s Celebrate Anaheim’s Oldest Colonist!
February 25, 2023 by
Thanks to a communication from her granddaughter, the AHS Alumni Association has discovered our oldest living Colonist, Thelma Charles from AUHS Class of 1938, who will celebrate her 103rd birthday on June 10, 2023.
Granddaughter Malinda reported: “I just spent a weekend in Reno with her and my mom. Nothing stops her. She does it all!”
While at Anaheim High, Thelma was in Glee Club and the Domecon Club, which trained members in scientific home management. Fellow classmate, Marion Knott, daughter of Knott’s Berry Farm’s Walter Knott, was vice president of the club.
Thelma’s best friend was Jeanette VanDelden McDonald from Class of 1936, who passed away at age 103 in 2022.
Gania Demaree Trotter – Feb. 17, 1927 – April 19, 2021
May 2, 2021 by
Anaheim High Class of 1944 alumna Gania Demaree Trotter died peacefully at home in the loving presence of her family members. Gania’s father, Dr. Paul H. Demaree, was principal of Anaheim Union High School from 1941 to 1954. In 2014, Gania established an endowed scholarship in her father’s name that has been awarded since to graduating Colonists.
Gania stayed close with her classmates, including her best friend, Kathryn (Gauer) Kopitzke. Friends going back to kindergarten at Horace Mann Elementary School, together they attended the YMCA’s Camp Oceola, worked as soda jerks at Jackson Drug Store and as waitresses at Knott’s Berry Farm.
While a student at Anaheim High, Gania was president of Girls’ League and the Girls’ Reserve. She also was a member of the school choir and an honor student.
Gania returned to her alma mater for a short time in the 1950s to serve as choral director. She also served as a guest speaker in 2019 for “The Poston Experience – Paving the Way for the Next Generations.” Presented in Cook Auditorium, the event was a rare opportunity to witness the testimony of Anaheim’s Japanese families who were incarcerated in camps during WWII.
Dr. Demaree was principal at Anaheim High during WWII when 50 students of Japanese descent were forced to leave their homes and relocate to the camps. Poignant in that Demaree was born in Japan to missionary parents, he was especially vocal in speaking out against discrimination toward Japanese-Americans, a courageous position to take considering the war fervor at the time.
As a musician and choral director, an arts development administrator, a political activist, and a devoted friend, Gania’s energetic intellect and vibrant personality enriched the lives of every person and community she encountered.
Gania grew up in Southern CA and earned a degree in choral music from Occidental College (1949) and a MA in Education from Columbia Teachers College (1952). She married the Rev. Dr. F. Thomas Trotter in 1953 and helped him establish Montclair Methodist Church in 1956.
In their 66 years of marriage, they supported each other through a wide array of professional and personal adventures in the service of many communities and callings. They were a loving, supportive and inspiring presence to their children and many extended family members.
In her university days, Gania studied choral music with Howard Swan and sang with Robert Shaw. Later, she was director of Choral Music at John Muir College. In the 1960s and 70s, she directed other choral groups, including the adult and youth choirs at Claremont UMC.
After moving to Nashville, TN in 1973, Gania devoted much of her energy to volunteer work in education and social services. She was a principal architect of a group whose work established major reforms in Nashville’s public schools. She was an active member of West End UMC, singing in the chancel choir and serving on many committees that shaped the congregational life. Professionally, her work as Director of Development for Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music enabled Gania to merge her love for music, education and community outreach.
In 1988, Gania and Tom moved to Anchorage, where Tom was President of Alaska Pacific University, and Gania built up the school’s development program. During this time, Gania and Tom were also deeply engaged in the founding and development of Africa University, a Pan-African and United Methodist-related institution in Mutare, Zimbabwe.
After retiring in 1995, Gania returned to work as Director of Development for Claremont School of Theology (1999-2001). In her post-retirement years, Gania remained active in political, environmental and arts groups, and held leadership and service positions at Mount San Antonio Gardens.
In 2017, she published her memoirs: a book cherished by many family members and friends. Gania is survived by her children, Ruth Elizabeth Trotter (Brett Watterson), Tania Trotter Batson (Greg Batson) and Mary Kathleen Trotter (Robert Kaufman); grand-children Thomas, Daniel and Wesley Batson; step-grandchildren Travis Watterson (Meetra), Ryan Watterson, and Rachel Azevedo (Lucas); and numerous beloved sisters and brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews.
Gania was predeceased by her husband Tom, parents Paul Holland and Mary Sunnen Demaree, siblings Kay Bean, Ruth Preston and Daniel Demaree, and daughter Paula Anne.
Milestones made for Colonist football in historic season finale
April 23, 2021 by
The 102nd and most unusual season in Colonist football annals came to an end on Friday, April 16 at Glover Stadium. But even more important than Anaheim’s resounding 51-12 win over Santa Ana Valley in the Orange League finale for both teams, senior running back Adam Luna and head coach Lanny Booher both reached impressive marks that put them among the all-time greats in team history.
Luna ended his Anaheim football playing career with one of the greatest nights ever played. Demonstrating his trademark speed and elusiveness, the outgoing senior tailback carried the ball 18 times for a whopping 341 yards, the second-highest single-game total in team history (behind only Reuben Droughns’ 373 yards vs. Arroyo in the First Round of the 1993 CIF-Southern Section playoffs).
Additionally, Luna (who finished with 936 yards in just five games), scored a team-record seven rushing touchdowns on runs of 10, 14, 54, and 14 yards in the first quarter (also a new team mark), a 58-yarder in the second quarter, another 58-yard run in the third quarter, and then a final 9-yard scamper early in fourth quarter. This broke the team single-game mark of six set by Matt Contreras in a 2007 victory over Katella. The seven scores gave Luna 20 rushing touchdowns for the season, the first Colonist back to do so since George Perdickez in 2006. Luna averaged 18.9 yards per carry in the game, evoking memories of Mickey Flynn, while his running style recalled other historic Anaheim running backs like Joel Ramirez and Joaquin Garcia who did not let their lack of size get in the way of dominating the field of play. With a career total of 1,350 rushing yards and 26 total TDs, there is no doubt that Adam Luna’s name now goes along with the very best who have ever played for Anaheim High School.
Watching from the sidelines as he has done for so many years, head coach Lanny Booher guided his team through the chaos and hardships of this season, which was turned upside down by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Even when the prospects for having a season during the 2020-21 school year seemed grim, Booher kept his players focused and motivated. And when the danger abated and the season was allowed to commence, Anaheim was ready.
The Colonists’ rout of the Falcons gave Anaheim a 4-1 record to end the season and bettered the team’s overall win total for 2019 (when the Colony finished 3-7). The win over Santa Ana Valley was also the 85th career victory for Coach Lanny Booher, pushing him past Dick Glover, who won 84 games over 16 seasons during two stints from 1931 to 1942, and then again, from 1946 to 1949. Booher’s career win total now ranks as the second-most in team history behind only Clare Van Hoorebeke, who won 189 victories over 23 seasons from 1950 to 1972. Booher, an Anaheim High School graduate (Class of 1981), completed his 17th season as head coach, having led the team since 2004.
Anaheim Loses Oldest Graduate Elmer Thill
November 19, 2020 by
Elmer Thill – April 19, 1914 – November 17, 2020
Lifetime Anaheim resident Elmer Thill passed away of natural causes on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at age 106. He was at home surrounded by family. Thill was Anaheim’s oldest resident and the oldest known living graduate of Anaheim Union High School (AUHS).
Elmer was born to August and Anna Thill on August 19, 1914, at 219 S. Olive Street in Anaheim. He was baptized at St. Boniface Catholic Church, attended elementary school at St. Joseph’s Academy, junior high school at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Fullerton, and graduated from Anaheim High School in 1932.
2020 Spirit Award Winners!
June 29, 2020 by
Congratulations to our outstanding 2020 Spirit Award winners. These students are scholars, school leaders, athletes, musicians, dancers, and community volunteers who have consistently given back to their school and community throughout their four years at Anaheim High. Congratulations to these 2020 graduates, who had their senior year cut short, but will go on to successful futures as they continue their higher educations.
