South Pasadena High School
Alumni Association - 1907-2023
Connie L Wardlow
Connie L's Latest Interactions
I met Marta in 7th grade homeroom. Her aunt Barbara and my aunt Barbara were best friends in high school. Marta and I were friends all through junior high and high school. We both went to PCC for a while and lost touch. I moved back to SP from Carlsbad in 2011 to take care of my mother, who lived in the family home on Oak Street, jyst around the corner from Marta, living on Marengo. We reconnected, and I enjoyed being her friend once again. I can't relate any wild and crazy experiences we had: we were just boring kids, eating lunch together every day at school, talking on the phone in the evenings, trying to make sense of the world and the people in it. Highlights were new Beatle albums, the week's top 20 on KRLA, and movies. As we grew up, we disagreed on politics and religion, but that was okay. It sucks that she was taken too young, by cancer, the scurge of our times. She will not be able to be a grandmother to her young grandchildren. And the rest of her family and friends, will miss her forever.
Gary and I met in kindergarten at El Centro. We were buddies all through until junior high, and we split off with new friends, as one does. Really didn't have much contact with him. Then graduation. I heard later he went into the military, which surprised me. They sent him to Nam three times.
Fast forward to 2014. We saw each other at the annual Garfield park picnic and exchanged emails. Turns out he, like me, had moved back to South Pas to help his mom. We spent many hours together at the local pub, reminiscing and catching up. We discovered we had both worked for the same State agency, me in San Diego, him in Santa Barbara.
Gary suffered with diabetes for years, but later discovered he had stage four liver cancer, which is what eventually got the better of him.
Gary had the most inquisitive mind I've ever known; it was all over the place.
Gary's passing was a sad and sudden shock to me. I will miss him so much.
Connie Wardlow