Bill MacKenzie

Update from 40th anniversary

After graduation, I went to AV College for a year then, using my education, I picked peaches in Littlrock.

I transferred to Fresno State College where I graduated ('63) with a bachelor's in radio and television broadcasting. Mary Lou Downs (AVHS '61) and I were married that fall and left immediately after the wedding for Philadelphia.

I worked one shift in radio, none in television, before continuing at Temple University, Philadelphia, close on the heels of Bill Cosby. (Heard I was coming, obviously). I gave up after one semester of a master's course in mass communications and joined the Peace Corps (There was the unpleasantness in Dallas about that time). We were "selected out" during Peace Corps training so, instead of going to Venezuela, we came back to the Antelope Valley.

I went to work as a photographer/reporter for the Valley Press in the fall of 1964, left in 1967 to teach journalism, English and photography at AVHS for two years (1967-69). I edited the Boron Enterprise for six months before going to work for the Ledger-Gazette, Lancaster, in 1970. In 9 1/2 years, I worked through the ranks up to managing editor. After I left, the new owner closed down the Ledger. (Not my fault!)

In 1980, I went to the copy desk of the Valley News and Green Sheet, now the Daily News of Los Angeles. During the five years I was there, I studied up on the computer system they were using and took that knowledge back to the Valley Press in 1985 where they were still using electric typewriters.

At the VP, I researched computerized publishing systems and recommended the system we've used for the last 12 years. Monty Odett ('62) and Bill Odett ('64?) were part owners of the VP at that time.

Since then, my department has been responsible for keeping the publishing system running. Now, we're in the process of selecting another system. Just couldn't get it right the first time.

As part of my duties at the VP, I developed the newspaper's Web site, www.avpress.com, which is how I came to volunteer to create www.phs59.av.org and how Quantum Networking Solutions, made this site available free.

Mary Lou and I have two children; Kevin, 34, and Wendy, 32. Neither is married, nor do we have grandkids.

Kevin (QHHS '83) is full-time National Guard tracking down marijuana plantations all over California. He served in the Army holding down the frozen northern frontier at Fairbanks, Alaska, for four years. One of our neatest vacations was three weeks we spent wandering the roads of Alaska, part of the time with Kev.

Wendy (QHHS '85) is working with an office furniture company in the Irvine area after quite a few years with a bank in Laguna Beach. She picked up her bachelor's in business last year.

May Lou and I will celebrate 36 years of marriage Aug. 25. We've lived in the same house in Quartz Hill for 33 years. When it works for you, don't change it, I say.

We enjoy travel and camping, sometimes just going for a ride that might last all day and several hundred miles. We've come to know the Antelope Valley flora and fauna pretty well and really enjoy a good wildflower year. We bought a 1986 motorhome last winter and we're just getting through the gas pump shock from our not-too-adventurous vacation this year.

My eyes light up when I see a vintage sports car or well-restored vehicle from the golden years when they were just more cars on the road. I still remember fondly the time when Carl Martin had a Jaguar XK120, Jim Irving had an MG TD and I had a TR3. That was some fun. Good times. Good people.

My parents are living in the California Gold Country with my three sisters, so we do the highway 99 run every once in awhile. (Jim Irving may fly down from the same area in a couple of hours to see his mom, but it takes us about 5 1/2 to drive it on a good day.)

Retirement isn't coming any time soon (not soon enough, anyway), so I expect we'll be in the same house for 40 years before we hit the road in a big way. Maybe, by then, gas prices will have gotten lower, or the motorhome's fuel economy will have improved. (Yeah, right!)

The reunion committee has a great time putting these things together. We have much fun at the meetings. We'll be just "pickled tink" to see you enjoying yourselves Oct. 15-16.

Be there!

Bill MacKenzie