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Biographical Sketches and Photos Supplied by '60 Classmates
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David and I just celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary. I’m still teaching special needs students. We have two beautiful children, a daughter, Kathleen Bond who is an accountant and CPA and a wonderful son-in-law Mike Sims. Kathleen is presently a stay at home mom taking care of our two grandsons, Alexander who is 2 and Harrison who is 1. Let me tell you, they keep you hopping and are busy little boys. Our son, John, is an electrical engineer living in Maryland and working for the government. In 2000, he spent a year working in England; so, David and I went to visit for a month. That’s a vacation we will never forget. We are all sports enthusiast's who enjoy snow skiing in Colorado and boarding behind our Air Nautique. When not in Louisville you’ll find us at Rough River, at our second home, full time in the summer and most weekends in the off season. 
Kathleen Kast Bethge, her husband David and family spend all the time they can at Rough River.
Kathleen loves those grandkids, still teaches special needs.
No one from the class of 1960 will forget William T. Klapheke, Assistant Principal. He left nothing to the imagination about where he stood on disciplinary matters. One of his more famous lines, and there were many, came in our senior year when he announced over the public address system, in a very brusque voice, "All right, seniors, if you owe any money you might as well plan on coughing it up, or you're not going to graduate." Carolyn Crask Francis later told me that she owed three cents for milk from the third grade. I guess Wild Bill overlooked that one, because it never came to light.
Jim Latimer's Favorite Klapheke Story
Jim Latimer and Carolyn Crask Francis have been an 'item' around town for some time. At left, they pose following lunch in Shelbyville and, below, on a rail trip across eastern Canada.
Vol. 50, No. 1 FERN CREEK, KENTUCKY - Location of Friendliest School in the County October 3, 2010
Those who knew me at Fern Creek, including our esteemed Dean of Boys, George Yankey, didn't see anything in my academic prowess to indicate I was college material, but thanks to Ruth, her parents, the late Jim Paddock, and others who encouraged me, I graduated from U of L in 1964, with a Bachelors degree in Marketing and Business Administration.
My career in the auto industry began in 1965, after one unhappy year of working in sales for Johnson and Johnson. At Ford, I worked in both Louisville Assembly and later the Kentucky truck plant. In 1974, I was promoted to Ford's central purchasing office in Dearborn, MI. In 1975, I was recruited by White Motor Co. in Cleveland, Ohio to manage major component purchasing for their five truck assembly plants. It was a great opportunity; but unfortunately, White encountered a crippling cash flow problem about six months after Ruth and our two daughters joined me in Ohio. As a result, after eleven years in material management and purchasing, I left White Motors to accept a sales position with Stant Manufacturing, Inc, a small ($30 million annual sales) automotive parts manufacturing company in Connersville, Indiana. Among other things, Stant makes radiator caps, gasoline filler caps, thermostats and testers.During my twenty nine years with Stant, the company grew to $750 million in annual sales. I was promoted to corporate vice president in 1989, the position I held when I retired in 2005. In the years with Stant, we had four changes of ownership. Fortunately, each of our owners saw the potential of the company and allowed us the opportunity to continue to grow.In 2004, Ruth and I were looking forward to my retirement; however, those plans were put aside when I was asked to stay with the company for an additional year, to go to the Czech Republic and set up a new automotive parts manufacturing plant.In forty years in the auto industry, I had worked for three companies in four states, in a variety of positions, and was retiring as corporate vice president; but, this assignment was different from anything I had done, which is exactly why we accepted.In June 2004, Ruth and I made the first of six round trip flights to Europe, which ended when we flew home in May 2005. We believe the time we spent in the Czech Republic was the most rewarding assignment of my career. We had the opportunity to live in a country we couldn't have visited until the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. We rented and furnished our flat and learned how to function quite well in a city of 70,000, where we were the only Americans and only about one or two percent of the population spoke or understood English.The plant we started in Karvina, on the Czech Republic's eastern border with Poland, is rated as the best performing of the company’s five manufacturing facilities. Most of the staff we hired is still there.So, for a while the Czech Republic had a couple of Creekers running around in their country. We got the job done, learned and experienced a lot, and got home in time for me to take the lead in selling our country club, but that's another story.Ruth and I have stayed in Connersville, Indiana. Our oldest daughter and her family live two hours west of us; our other daughter and her family live two hours north. My mother and three brothers still live in Louisville, three hours away. We're both avid golfers, have our own golf cart and our home is beside the second tee of our local course. We're not frequent travelers, maybe because travel was part of my job for so many years. Even so, about every two or three years, we seem to find ourselves on a cruise somewhere in the Caribbean. Next year, we’ll celebrate our fiftieth wedding anniversary. Anything that we have achieved, we have achieved together. It's been a long time since Ruth and I walked out of Fern Creek together, but it sure doesn't seem like it.We are really looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion. Many thanks to the reunion committee for your good work. This is going to be a great reunion.Bill and Ruth Ann (Harrison) Thornton
The town square in Karvina, Czech Republic, is near the country's border with Poland. It is an industrialized town in a coal mining region, where Bill and Ruth Thornton established a plant for Stent Manufacturing.
Bill Thornton and Ruth Harrison met and dated as students in the Class of '60. After graduation, they married, raised a family and had a widely varied career in the auto industry.
Creeker Couple Concludes Career Constructing Czech Company
Dr. Lynn Flowers is the Associate Director of Research & Development for Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes, an internationally recognized leader in literacy research, remediation, and professional development. Dr. Flowers was previously on the faculty in the Department of Neurology at Wake Forest University Health Sciences. Along with her academic background, she is also a licensed psychologist and author.Dr. Flowers brings over 25 years of experience to the position as she leads Lindamood-Bell's research team and presents their findings at prestigious conferences around the world. While teaching at Wake Forest University, Dr. Flowers' area of specialty was in the neuropsychology of reading disabilities and their remediation. Dr. Flowers also worked with the Center for the Study of Learning (CSL), at Georgetown University, where she participated in research on the causes and effects of reading disorders and used Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to study brain activity of subjects receiving reading interventions."We are thrilled to have Dr. Flowers on board at Lindamood-Bell," says Nanci Bell, Co-Founder. "She is a perfect fit for our organization as she is already well-respected among the top researchers in the education community and shares our dedication to helping children and adults learn to their potential. Her expertise in neuropsychology and fMRI studies will greatly benefit the research that our organization has been conducting for the past twenty years."Dr. Lynn Flowers received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina. She has received many prestigious awards including being honored as a NATO scholar in both 1987 and 1991 and has received the Research Excellence Award in Health Sciences from Wake Forest University from 2005 to 2008. Dr. Flowers has authored articles and abstracts that have been published in journals such as Neuron and the Journal of Learning Disabilities. Along with these accomplishments, she is an invited lecturer at events for several international educational organizations, including the International Dyslexia Association.
We don't have any personal information, but we found some mighty impressive details about the career of our classmate Lynn Flowers Perryman, PhD
Dr. Lynn Flowers Perryman
Richard Schmidt is in his 27th season as The University of Tampa men's basketball coach, where he has led the Spartans to ten consecutive winning seasons. At the UT Athletic Hall of Fame induction in October 2004, Schmidt received the award after more than two decades of success and contributions to the basketball program.He has compiled a school record of 537-231 (.699),with a 240-125 (.658) record in the Sunshine State Conference. Before Schmidt’s arrival, UT basketball posted a 207-315 record (.397). Last season, Schmidt coached his team to a 16-12 record, which marked his 25th winning season at UT.With an all-time overall record of 565-258 (.687), Schmidt earned his 500th career victory on Dec. 12, 2005 with a 67-58 victory over Eckerd. He became the 116th coach in NCAA history to reach the 500 victory milestone and the seventh in NCAA II. He also registered his 500th Spartan victory at Lynn on Feb. 17, 2007.While serving as the head coach at Vanderbilt for two seasons from 1979-81, Schmidt guided the Commodores to a sixth place finish in the SEC in his first season. Highlighting his rookie season campaign were victories over LSU, Auburn, Florida, Mississippi State and Georgia. In his second season at Vanderbilt, Schmidt led his team to a 60-55 victory over Kentucky in the SEC Tournament before falling in the SEC Finals to Mississippi State. The 1980-81 season featured victories over notable opponents including Iowa State, Memphis, Alabama, Georgia, Auburn and Florida.Schmidt came to Tampa in 1982 to resurrect a program that had been dormant for 13 years. His first season (1983-84), he took a starting lineup of one junior and four freshman and won the Sunshine State Conference tournament and the accompanying bid to the NCAA Division II tournament, en route to a 20-11 season. It was the first time in NCAA history that a first-year team (in any division) made the national tournament. His teams have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, including the 2001 season, when he guided Tampa to the NCAA Final Four, where the Spartans fell to national champion Kentucky Wesleyan by one-point in overtime. The following season, in 2001-02, Schmidt guided his team to a 26-3 overall record while tying his school record for victories in a season with the 1986-87 and 1989-90 squads. Under Schmidt’s direction the Spartans have finished first or second in the SSC all but seven years. He was voted South Region Coach of the Year following the 1985-86 season and was named the Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year in 1986, 1989, 1990, 1993, 2000, and 2002.
Among the outstanding players who have adorned Tampa’s red, black and gold under Schmidt are the 2008 SSC Player of the Year Jeremy Black, 2006 SSC Player-of-the-Year and all-time career assist leader Mark Borders, 2002 SSC Player of the Year Jon Brown, 1998 SSC Player of the Year Tamari Thompson, 1995 SSC Player of the Year Idris Mays, three-time All-American and two-time Division II Player of the Year Todd Linder, NBA veteran Nate Johnston, two-time All-American and NCAA record holder Bryan Williams and SSC scoring champions Drexel and DeCarlo Deveaux, the latter also a two-time All-American and SSC Player of the Year.A 1964 graduate of Western Kentucky University, Schmidt began his playing career at Fern Creek High School in Louisville. In 1969, he became head coach at Ballard High School where he built a dynasty for the next eight years. Twice voted Kentucky’s outstanding high school coach and three-time Louisville prep Coach of the Year, Schmidt led Ballard to a 183-32 record during his tenure. His teams earned six district titles in addition to the 1977 Kentucky State Championship. In all, he sent 21 players to college on full scholarships.After winning the state crown in 1977, Schmidt moved to the collegiate coaching ranks as an assistant to Terry Holland at the University of Virginia. The Cavaliers participated in the National Invitation Tournament in each of his two seasons (1978-79) at Virginia and compiled a record of 39-18.A professional aviculturist, Schmidt breeds exotic birds (some of which he’s sold to Wayne Newton) and keeps well over 100 in his backyard aviary. Recognized worldwide as an expert in the field, Schmidt’s interest has taken him to China and Indonesia.Richard and his wife, Mary Jo, and have two children, Steven and Staci, and seven grandchildren.
We don't hear much from Richard Schmidt, but here's his biographical information as lifted from the
University of Tampa web site.
Coach Schmidt shows off his moves to his incredulous players
