Robert Llamas

Although I'm mostly retired, I'm still licensed as a psychologist (the marriage family therapist license is inactive). I worked for 30 years in the foster care industry at every level from child care worker, social worker, administrator, program consultant to founding nonprofit child care agencies (+more).

In Los Angeles we have the largest out-of-home foster care system in the US. It is an industry that lives at the intersection of government, the judiciary and private corporations; a place you never want your loved ones to be caught up in. While I had many rewarding experiences, along with many not so rewarding experiences, and some small victories, foster care as it exists today is a system impervious to change.

I've lived primarily in California. I'm a native, born in San Diego. With the advent of WW II my mom and I went to live in Pasadena with my aunt and uncle while my dad "went off to war." After my dad returned, we settled in Burbank. During the summer between 4th and 5th grade we moved to So Pas. The first kid I met was the late Bob Gloyn, who lived across the street.

I went to Marengo Elementary in 5th grade, then spent 6th grade (because they were building up Marengo) and 7-9th grades at SPJr HS and 10-12th grades at SPHS. I made many friends during this time and am proud to have been a member of Durf's Gang.

From '63-69 I lived in San Francisco while I worked and graduated from San Francisco State University. Those were magical times--when change was all happening all round-- music, politics, the war, etc. In '64 I roomed with the now infamous Al Loosli for a year in the Height-Ashbury while he was at Med School and I was his freshman year med school class president. Huh? I know, it's a complicated story and scheme cooked up by Al, the late Mike Smith and some of their friends. Al enjoys telling people about it, although Al's dad (who at the time was Dean of USC's med school) was not pleased when he got a call from the Dean at USF med school wanting to know what his son was doing.

When I returned from Europe in the early 70s I lived in Orange County, primarily in South Laguna. I commuted to graduate school in San Diego, completed a Masters and PhD, finished an internship in Orange County, and a post-doc fellowship at UCI. Later I moved to the Los Angeles area where I have pretty much stayed.

I have 3 brothers: Dave, Richard and Roger; one step brother Eddie and my sister Rosemary. Dave, Richard & Roger and Eddie all went to SPHS.

Senior year prank. (The names of those involved shall remain anonymous but the statues of limitation have long passed, so yes, Durf's gang was deeply--read exclusively--involved.) The night before Senior Day (or whatever it was called) our group obtained entry into the bowels of the stadium where a statue of Teddy Roosevelt lived. This was a larger than life-sized statue made out of plaster and "bronzed" in color and weighed a ton. It took about 8 of us to lug Teddy from under the stadium, across the field, across Diamond Street, up the steps, past the cafeteria and host him up on top of the Girls Gym--with a "Class of 1960" paper banner under him. But we weren't done. We then got into the auditorium and climbed up above the stage (in the pitch dark) and exited to the roof and hung a large banner made from, as I recall, bed sheets that said "Class of 1960." School officials were not amused. The pathetic, sad thing about this whole episode was that the janitors who were tasked with getting Teddy off the roof of the Girls Gym ended up breaking him into pieces.

I'm mostly retired but have kept my psychology license active.

So I ride my road bike a lot. In my 60s I'd ride about 200+ miles a week and raced. Now, not so much, although I was still racing cyclocross (as of 2019). The COVID virus shut down all bike racing locally in 2021.

Racing Highlights. I won the State Climbing Championship (the Everest Challenge ) twice in the really, really old age class (i.e., 65+). Unfortunately the Everest Challenge isn't put on anymore but it was a two day stage race outside of Bishop, CA. The first day--120 miles with 15,000 feet of elevation gain (Mosquito Flat, Pine Creek, South Lake); and the second day--80 miles with 14,000 feet of gain (Glacier Lodge, Waucoba Canyon, Bristlecone Pines).

In December of 2009 I placed second at the USAC National Cyclocross Championships in Bend, OR. (What's cyclocross? Go to YouTube and enter "cyclocross"--that's probably the easiest way to explain it.)

Update: I won the 70+ Masters National Cyclocross Championships in 2013 (Madison, WIS) and again in 2014 (Boulder, CO). And was third in the UCI Masters Worlds in Louisville, KY in 2013.

So anyway, I still ride my bikes and have many friends who ride. At its core cycling is essentially a social endeavor. I encourage everyone to get a bike and ride!

Karen and I are planning to move to Coos Bay, OR this summer (2021). Probably won't be attending the next class reunion. :-(