Here is a picture of me, Beth Harris and Tim at TJ for the 40th. Debbie Ruppel Menger

Laurel Stiles Miller

Fishin in Ferngully

Dear John,
Elway was to Denver, what Stearns was to TJ Students. I have a funny memory from a Pep Rally. All of the football players had been introduced, and after your name was called; they all stepped back and bowed. You were standing alone, front and center! Am saddened to hear about your illness, but I know you have given much happiness to others. With kind regards, Jan

P.S. If anyone knows how to contact John, could you please tell him about this Memories site.

Jerry Jones, Sandy Bither Fitzgerald, and Nancy Horner Meissner

Is anybody watching the Rockies pre-game? (5/7/2022) Do any of you remember John Stearns, class of 69? Rocked in football, basketball, and baseball. CU star in football. Played for the NY Mets baseball team for ten years. They are honoring him at the Rockies game. TJ is retiring his TJ#12. He is dying of prostate cancer. I remember him. More for basketball, but he was a Senior god walking the halls when we were freshman. My brother was in the class of 69, so I may have paid more attention to those seniors than my peers. Thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

My brother forwarded this link to video of John's baseball jersey being retired.  Enjoy

Jersey Retirement Ceremony

Mirko Vukovich & Jessie Baumgartner

Bob DeGraw) & Randi Reiff

Bob McIntyre and Marne Butts Kenshalo

Sharon & Casey Funk

Jeannie Wham, with friends at 2012 TJ Picnic

This memory is about friends. I went to Bradley and my best friend was Bill Norden. At the end of 5th grade, we moved closer to TJ, next door to Lynn, Larry, and Scott Cox.  Bill, Larry, and I spent many of split session morning shooting hoops in my driveway.  Bill, Larry, and I wished and hoped, each year, we would get placed in the same classes.  Alas, six years and never had one class with either one of them.  As we got to the high school years we drifted apart.  Bill played football, Larry played basketball, and I played tennis…and we found new best friends along the way.  But I attended every football game to root for Bill and every basketball game to root for Larry.

And I have wonderful memories of racing through summer dinners and cleanup, so we could go out and play Kick-the-Can or Hide and Go Seek, until the streetlights came on and we had to call it a night of fun.  Most everyone on the block played, including my brother, Lynn, Larry, and Scott, and others. Summers of wonderful fun.

Lynn Cox Ehmer passed away today and my heart aches for Larry and Scott.  And my mind recalls all those summer nights of fun.  And the time Lynn got on my brother’s motor bike in our back yard, turned the throttle and ran it into the chain link fence.  I wondered if her hand would ever stop bleeding or be the same again.

Lynn wasn’t in our class, so I couldn’t write this in the memorials, but Lynn was part of my TJ memories and I wanted to remember her tonight.  With tears in my eyes, I can hardly read what I’ve written, but I wanted Larry to know how much Lynn meant to my high school years.

Rest in peace Lynn. All my love to the family.

Something is Lost, Something is Gained: Jefferson Journal-Vol 12, Num 11, may, 1972, Page 2


Let’s go back in time. It’s your first day at Thomas Jefferson Junior-Senior high school. Something tickles your stomach with nervousness as you walk through the crowded halls. You feel very small.

Room number 136. Where is it? There is no room number 136. You search up and down the stairs. There are so many floors. There must be at least five floors.

It’s noisy and everyone seems to know where he is going. You grip your new red notebook and sharpened pencil tightly.

Finally, you find the room and the bell rings. There are friendly faces, people as frightened as you. You laugh.

A year or two go by, and classes become routine. Lunch hours, study halls, and hall passes are familiar scenes and even split session doesn’t seem to bother you, just getting home at 6:15.

Between the hurry of classes and the three-minute passing periods, dress codes and general confusion, we were learning something, but we weren’t quite sure what.

There were people we met and thought we’d always see again, faces and names that are a part of us, but were forgotten between our classes and grades.

Another year or two slip by.

As we graduated into senior high, we assumed a new role. We were finally allowed to participate in Color Day and the seniors didn’t seem quite so tall.

Only the homework piled up and there wasn’t as much time. Some of us stayed after school to work on plays or clubs. Somehow, we grew apart, then closer together again.

“Whom are you taking to Homecoming?”

“Want to buy a pep tag?”

“I’m running for Junior Class Secretary.”

And we wonder who we are.

As the last class to graduate from six years at Thomas Jefferson high school, it all seems to have passed over-night. What we will leave is perhaps just a shadow of who we were: a lost gym suit, a fee card, the Dean’s list…

..But we will bring with us something more. Something as intangible as the smile of a friendly face or the memory of a good book.

And years from now, the sound of chalk on a board could fill us with the nostalgia of who we were and all we’ve learned.

50th High School Reunion - Anonymous Author

We gather here once more
To remember a younger day,
When life was mostly before us
And the future a game to play.
Where activities with friends
Usually consumed most of our time,
And thoughts of a class or test
Occasionally crossed our mind...

There were ball games to play
Or as a spectator to see,
Prom dances and other outings
Where one just had to be.
There were certain groups
With which one must be seen,
And of course those clothes
Which made our fashion scene...

There was whispered gossip
As we walked the school hall,
And plans for dates made
As we responded to the bell's call.
There were classes in English, history,
Math, sciences, and language too,
And even an occasional crisis
Which we had to work through...

High school was a time for friendships
To last us all life long,
And maybe a future spouse to find
To help us sing life's song.
It was a time when adulthood
Was something we wanted now,
Because of all the freedom
We perceived it brought somehow...

Most of us gathered here today
Have children fully grown,
And maybe even grandchildren
To call our very own.
The careers we spent our life at
Are now almost through,
And in truth for most of us
Life provided a bump or two...

It is easy for us to see
How different we look this day,
And how the rigors of life
Have over time had their way.
But as we sit and share
The memories of times long ago,
We find that inside of us
Is still the youth we cherished so...

I bring this poem to a close
With a personal wish or two,
That GOD in all his mercy
Will continue to bless me and you.
And that what ever life
Still has for us in store,
We will ever remember
Those high school days of yore...