This week I would like to recognize six people who have been selected to the Arvada West High School Hall of Fame (in Arvada, Colorado). It would seem that “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends” is a song that has nothing to do with that subject, so a brief explanation is in order.
Phil Ochs wrote this song in 1966, inspired (if that is an appropriate word) by the murder of a woman named Kitty Genovese in Queens, New York, on March 13, 1964. Ms. Genovese was attacked by a stranger in the parking lot of her apartment complex when she came home from work in the early morning hours. The attacker stabbed her, but left the scene when a neighbor yelled for him to leave. Ms. Genovese was seriously injured, but crawled across the parking lot. She was unable to open the locked door to the apartment building, and that permitted her killer to return a few minutes later and resume his attack. It was reported that as many as 50 people saw some portion of those events or heard her cries for help. Most of them did not comprehend the gravity of the situation, and apparently only one called the police. Their inaction has become a symbol of the perceived apathy of people.
Phil Ochs’ song begins by looking at those events, and then presenting other situations in which action is called for, but the response is merely indifference because “it probably wouldn’t interest anyone outside of a small circle of friends.” The real strength of the song lies in the irony between its serious message and its upbeat, honky-tonk arrangement. As thus presented, societal apathy seems even more egregious.
[This note is added on April 5, 2016: The man who killed Kitty Genovese was one Winston Moseley. He was convicted and imprisoned for his actions. Shortly after his conviction he escaped from a hospital, raped another woman and held hostages at gunpoint before he was recaptured and returned to prison. Moseley died last week, still in prison where he had been for nearly 50 years.]
Turning now to the Hall of Fame: Arvada West High School opened its doors in Arvada, Colorado in the Fall of 1963. Since then, more than 25,000 students have graduated and moved ahead with their lives. Many of them have accomplished good, or even great, things, and are a credit to the education they received. In 2013, the Arvada West High School Foundation, a Colorado nonprofit corporation, decided to recognize some of those people by establishing a Hall of Fame. To date, fourteen outstanding individuals have been inducted into that Hall of Fame. Six more will be recognized at a ceremony on October 15, 2015.
Now, six inductees may sound like a large number, but none were recognized for more than 50 years, so there is some catching up to do.
To tie the Hall of Fame ceremony into Phi Ochs’ song, two points seem important.
First, although I don’t know whether any of the people being honored have ever witnessed a crime or called the police, I can tell you that none of them are apathetic. Each has taken action to improve our society and make this a better world for the rest of us. The characters in “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends” may be an apt stereotype for some portion of the population, but these Hall of Famers are representative of what I think is a larger portion – those whose lives are lived with purpose and compassion.
Secondly, the ceremony on Thursday is going to be attended by 100 or so people. Of that number, 65-70 will be the inductees and their families and close friends. Most, but not all, of the Foundation Board members will attend, as will the school principal and assistant principal and three of four former faculty members. It appears that no students or current faculty of staff (aside from the administrators) will be there; and almost no members of the general public Thus, we conclude that, at least in this context, recognition of exemplary people (who do not happen to be celebrities) is another thing that “doesn’t interest anyone outside of a small circle of friends.”
I am being facetious, of course. Most people have an interest in other, good human beings; so I will recognize the Hall of Fame inductees here, for cyber-posterity. They are:
Dale Anderson (Class of 1965): Dale was Head Boy during his senior year at AWHS. Then he received B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Colorado, and spent his career as an educator and administrator in Jefferson County, Colorado. For many years, he was a high school principal, including serving as principal at AWHS for five years. He is now retired.
Ralph W. “Bill” Ashton: Bill – or Mr. Ashton, as we all knew him – was the Chemistry teacher at Arvada West the first year it opened. He continued teaching at the school for 23 more years. He is an active member of the community, being a former president of the Arvada Historical Society and has been honored as Arvada’s “Man of the Year.”
Kendra Ball Fleischman (Class of 1982): Kendra is an artist and sculptor who has completed and installed works for private, corporate and public art collections throughout the United States. Her works are displayed at the Arvada Center, Lakewood Cultural Center, Anschutz Medical Campus, Benson Sculpture Park in Loveland, Fountain Hills Community Center in Arizona, Western Kentucky University, North Central Michigan College and other locations. She has taught in Jefferson County schools and at Denver School of the Arts through the Denver Public Schools.
Barbara Dorough Gablehouse (Class of 1969): Barbara is a physician specializing in pediatric medicine. I learned from my wife, Cathy, who is a nurse, that Barb is one of only a few local doctors who are willing to treat low income Medicaid patients. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Colorado, married in 1973 and began raising her family before receiving her M.D. in 1987. She opened her practice at Lutheran Medical campus in 1990 and opened an additional office in Winter Park in 2003. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Colorado and on the medical board of Children’s Hospital Denver. She is author of The Potty Project.
Jayne Gibson McHugh (Class of 1978): Jayne was an All-American volleyball player at University of the Pacific and a member of the 1988 Olympic volleyball team. She later coached for 17 years at University of the Pacific. She is now volleyball coach at Saint Mary’s High School in California, coaches at Pacific Coast Volleyball Club and is an educator at Annunciation School in California.
Gary Ramstetter (Class of 1964): Gary taught at Alamosa High School in Colorado for 31 years and has served as the school’s wrestling coach for more than 34 years. His teams have won nine state championships. He was named Colorado Coach of the Year in 1992, 1995, 1998 and 2006 and national Region 6 Coach of the year in 1996 and 2006. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame awarded him a Lifetime Service Award in 2012. Earlier, he was captain of the wrestling team at San Jose State University and participated in the NCAA Division I wrestling tournament.
If anyone living in the Denver Metro area should read this post before October 15th, think about attending the celebration and congratulating these very impressive people in person. Festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. in the clubhouse of the Indian Tree Golf Course in Arvada. More information is available on the Arvada West High School Foundation website.