Inducted in 2011
Russell Letlow - CLass of 1931
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Velma Ritter - Class of 1922
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Lt. Cmdr. Churchill James Campbell - Class of 1934
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Etiam at tortor arcu. Proin lobortis eget est sit amet porta. Integer suscipit hendrerit magna. Duis aliquam eros pretium eros pretium, laoreet mollis tortor scelerisque. Phasellus at facilisis odio. Proin ac mattis nibh. Vestibulum feugiat tortor vitae ultrices eleifend. Integer quis odio consectetur, condimentum velit quis, lacinia augue.
Dr. Louise Lowe Chiu - Class of 1951
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Etiam at tortor arcu. Proin lobortis eget est sit amet porta. Integer suscipit hendrerit magna. Duis aliquam eros pretium eros pretium, laoreet mollis tortor scelerisque. Phasellus at facilisis odio. Proin ac mattis nibh. Vestibulum feugiat tortor vitae ultrices eleifend. Integer quis odio consectetur, condimentum velit quis, lacinia augue.
Robert "Bob" Colston - CLass of 1949
Bob Colston was born to Oliver and Eva May Colston at a midwife's house on the corner of Rose and Wood Streets on October 19, 1931. He attended Belridge School and graduated from Taft Union High School in 1949. He went on to Taft College and graduated in 1951.
In his early years he worked at the Taft College Student Union and Ricards Shoe Store. He opened Bob and Vic's Shoe Store in the late 50's and started his first building project under Colston Construction in 1963. That project was the Imperial Gardens and The Tradewinds apartments, which are located where the old Saint Mary's School and Convent used to stand between Fifth and Fourth Streets on Woodrow. He has been responsible for building hundreds of high quality homes in the Taft area.
He has made donations to civic groups, foundations, The Fort, and recently donated the A Street Park to the Westside Recreation District.
He has served the community of Taft through his long-time membership in Rotary Club, Westside Children's Camp Inc, as a Taft City Council member, a member of the Taft Chamber of Commerce Board, a member of Taft National Bank Board of Directors, a Trustee for the Westside Mosquito & VC District, and a Little League sponsor. As a long-time member of the Westside Children's Camp Inc., Bob has donated his time, money, and equipment to improve the camping experience for children using Camp Condor. He was also a member of the Oilworker Monument Committee for the 100th anniversary of Taft, giving time, money, and equipment to develop this centennial masterpiece. He is co-founder of The West Side Development Co. LLC.
Richard "Mike" Garratt - Class of 1966
Richard Michael Garratt, was born in Taft on January 9, 1948 attended Taft schools and graduated with the Class of 1966 as a CSF Seal Bearer. Even though he played football, basketball, and track & field, two sports came to the forefront. In football, Mike was All League in 1964 and 1965 and the League MVP in 1965. He is a co- holder for most touchdowns scored in one game, and he holds the records for most rushing yards in a game, most rushing yards in a season and most carries in a game, the latter a record which he held for 41 years. In track & field, Mike is the Taft High School record holder in the shot put with a throw of 62' 6 3/4", set in 1966, and he has held this record for the past 44 years. He is a three-time state track meet qualifier (sophomore, junior and senior years) and a National Decathlon participant in 1965 through 1967.
After graduating from Taft High, he received a full athletic scholarship to UCLA and played football lettering in 1967 through 1969 and he was team captain for the UCLA Football team 1969. He played tight end and was on the punt return squad. In track & field Mike lettered in 1967 in the shot put, the discus and the javelin. He also played rugby while at UCLA and lettered in 1969 through 1970. He was a member of the All UC Rugby Traveling Squad which competed in New Zealand and Australia in 1970. Mike Garratt was a player and a co-founder of the Kern County Rugby Club, and they were State Champions in 1974.
His professional experiences have included being a teacher, coach, athletic director, assistant principal, and principal in California communities such as Taft, Fort Bragg, and Bishop from 1973 through 2008.
Stephen K. Hall - Class of 1969
Stephen Hall was born on a U.S. Air Force base in Narsarsuaq, Greenland in 1951, moved to Taft at age eight, attended Taft Schools and graduated from Taft Union High School in 1969. After graduation, he earned his B.A. at CSU-Fresno.
He became manager of the Tulare Lake Drainage District in 1976 and started developing water policies that would carry him to the position as Executive Director of the Land Preservation Association in 1985. Four years later, he took a similar responsibility with the California Farm Water Coalition, a high-profile job where he quickly made a name for himself as a dynamic and powerful public speaker.
In 1990, Steve emerged as a principal player in the so-called "three-way" negotiations among urban, agricultural and environmental interests. The endeavor yielded historic progress toward resolving a long-running conflict among the three groups and helped usher in a new era of collaboration on water. In 1993, his water industry knowledge and negotiating skills, and his remarkable reputation as a public speaker, landed him the job as Executive Director of the Association of California Water Agencies.
It was from this position that he was able to accomplish so much toward achieving a safe, clean, and reliable water supply for California. Under Hall’s direction, the Association of California Water Agencies developed a joint powers authority which allowed members to purchase electricity at a discounted price. He also guided the association’s work on special district issues, gaining representation for districts on Local Agency Formation Commissions, defending local property tax revenues and securing meaningful local government reforms.
Much of Steve’s work rarely caught public attention, but his reputation was widespread and highly respected by those who struggled over water distribution rights, and his work laid the foundation for the legislative remedies and funding that safeguard our water supply today.
Dr. Charles Hanna - Class of 1952
Charles "Charlie" Hanna, a scholar athlete, was Student Body President of the Class of '52, and was "point guard" on the Wildcat team that won the first Valley Basketball Championship in 1952. His leadership qualities carried on as president of both Taft College and his Creighton Medical School class (1961), where he earned his medical degree, and upon graduation was awarded the Mosby Scholarship Award for his class. While serving in the U.S. Navy for six years, he was one of 10 out of a pool of 300 applicants selected for training as a Flight Surgeon. He accumulated 750 hours flight time (250 in jets), and in 1964 was chosen North Island Naval Station Flight Surgeon of the Year.
He also flew with the Coast Guard on many of its airborne rescue missions and ultimately received eight commendation awards in recognition of his noteworthy rescues both on land and sea.
Few of us are fortunate enough to discover the special work that taps our abilities, challenges our leadership potential, and gives us opportunity to serve others. After his discharge from the Navy, Charlie spent the next forty years as a family doctor in San Diego, during which time, due to his athletic abilities, he was twice the national doubles champion in Racquetball, and the California state singles champion. He ran six marathons including the 1980 Boston Marathon. Charlie was team physician to the NBA San Diego Rockets, and the sports physician to the University of San Diego. He was selected by notable public figures as their personal physician and in his practice, Charlie often served three generations of the same family. His commitment to them, his family, and the men who served their country was expansive, outstanding and notably memorable.
Dr. Richard "Dick" Henning - Class of 1953
Dick Henning graduated from Taft High in 1953 and Taft Junior College in 1955. At age 10, he took boxing lessons from his neighbor Johnnie Foy and participated in Golden Gloves in 1954-55; in high school, he swam for Coach Paul Smith and broke several long-standing records. He loved drama and appeared in plays for community, high school and college theatre. In 1953, he worked a summer in the oilfields and that inspired him to enroll at Taft College. While there, he also worked as a disc jockey at KTKR, the local radio station.
He went to San Jose State on a boxing scholarship and was also a member of its swimming team. For seven years, he taught high school English and public speaking, then moved on to Foothill College where he served as a professor, dean, and vice-president while earning a doctorate at U.S.C. In 1968, he created the Foothill College Celebrity Forum, a speaker’s series cited as “Best in the Nation.” Now retired, he continues to run the Forum which is in its 43rd year. Its format, which has three audiences totaling 7,200 people for each speaker, has hosted every U.S. President since Richard Nixon, famous actors, scientists, historians, CEOs, politicians and hundreds of national and world leaders.
Henning’s five college degrees, including a doctorate from USC, carried him through life. He brings humor, insight, knowledge, competitive drive and organizational ability to each personal and professional challenge. He has visited 58 countries, several for Rotary projects ranging from solar cooking in Rwanda to an AIDS Clinic in South Africa. In 2010, he won Rotary International’s prestigious Service Above Self Award, the highest award an individual Rotarian can receive. He has won numerous awards and recognition for his volunteerism and contributions to his community of Los Altos, California and to Silicon Valley.
Dr. Laverne Johnson - Class of 1943
Laverne Johnson, Student Body President, graduated in 1943, enlisted in the armed services and navigated B29s in the Pacific with the 20th Air Force. After the war, he attended Stanford and completed his PhD in Psychology (1954).
He helped establish a research unit in San Diego, now called the Naval Health ResearchCenter (NHRC) (1960). His focus on sleep research began in 1962 when he was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to study the psychophysiology of sleep. He joined eleven colleagues in establishing the scientific basis for the study of sleep by defining physiologically the stages of sleep: Stages 1 and 2, Slow Wave Sleep and Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM) (1967). These classifications are still used by sleep researchers and by clinicians treating sleep disorders. From 1980 to 1986 he served as Scientific Director of NHRC. During his career, Johnson received Superior Civilian Service Awards from the Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (1974 and 1986), the Distinguished Civili an Service award from the Secretary of the Navy (1977), and became a Charter Member of the Senior Executive Service (1979).
Johnson and his work were known internationally. He collaborated with international colleagues on research projects, presented papers and lectured at international congresses organized by scientific societies and NATO.
Also an educator, Johnson was Adjunct Professor in Psychiatry and Neurosciences at University of California San Diego (1971-1991) and Lecturer in Psychology (1961-1986) and Full Professor (1986-1990) at San Diego State University.
He was widely recognized within his profession, being selected (1993) for the Sleep Research Society’s highest accolade, the Distinguished Scientist Award. This award recognized “a career based on significant, origin al and sustained scientific contributions to sleep and circadian research, work which awakened the public to the psycho-physiological rhythms and implications of sleep and sleep deprivation”.
Dr. Kenneth Kidd - Class of 1959
Kenneth K. Kidd, Class of ’59, earned hi PhD at the University of Wisconsin (1969). He is now Professor of Genetics, Psychiatry, and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Yale University School of Medicine. One of the pioneers of human population genetics, he has contributed extensively to the construction of the human genetic map. His laboratory studies the genetic variation among almost fifty groups of humans from around the world and has made important discoveries about how human evolutionary divergence has led geographically separate populations to differ at the level of genome detail. His work has demonstrated that those differences can be used to determine a person’s ancestral group. Yet, to his great credit, Professor Kidd has been a leader in proving that the concept of race has no scientific or genetic basis.
He has also examined the involvement of genes in important diseases, like Tourette’s syndrome, schizophrenia, and particular cancers, and has made a detailed study of the association of specific genes with alcoholism. After serving on the DNA identification advisory groups for the World Trade Center Attack and Katrina, he began forensic research in his lab on panels of SNP markers for use in forensics. His laboratory has developed advanced techniques for forensics so that by examining a DNA sequence one is able to identify an individual’s ancestral origination, to identify relatives, and to predict what color hair, eyes, and skin an individual is likely to have.
He has authored or co-authored over five hundred scientific papers and has trained seventeen Ph.D. students as well as many undergraduates and post-doctoral fellows.
His achievements aren’t limited to human genetics; he is the author of Genetics for Iris Breeders: Introduction to the Basics and has developed several cultivars of that popular flower. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
melanie Parrent - Class of 1984
Melanie Parrent, Class of ’84, was a member of the 1983-84 Volleyball team that went undefeated and won the Valley Championship. She is also the best softball pitcher in Taft High history, once throwing three no-hitters and a perfect game in a single week.
Heavily recruited by numerous Division I colleges, she chose Fresno State, a school that to this date has competed in all 29 NCAA softball tournaments. Melanie brought a new level of skill to the Bulldog’s softball accomplishments. There are many numbers that can attest to her dominance on the mound, but take note of these three: seven collegiate no-hitters; two perfect games and 59 shut-outs. In 1986 and 1988, she was selected as an N.C.A.A. Division I All American. This is a remarkable, unique accomplishment in that Melanie remains the only Taft High graduate ever to be recognized as a Division I, All-American athlete. Fresno State chose Melanie as its Female Athlete of the Year in 1986 and 1988. After a year of professional competition in Italy, Melanie returned to Fresno where she taught physical education and served as Athletic Director for Washington Academic Middle School; she also coached softball at Sanger High School where four of her players won scholarships to Division I schools. As a pitching coach, many of her players became All American pitchers, and coaches.
Melanie Parrent combined unusual talent, with equally unusual determination to succeed, to be the best pitcher she could be, and it took her to the highest level of athletic accomplishment. In 2000-2001, she was recognized by the California Interscholastic Association for enhancing girl’s athletics in California. Wherever the highest levels of women’s softball are contested, her reputation as a committed, talented and successful competitor remains. Melanie was a winner in softball, and she is a winner in life.
Patricia McLeod Robin - Class of 1955
Patricia (Tricia) McLeod Robin, Class of '55, earned her B.A. in Theatre Arts from UCLA (1961) and entered the entertainment business with Capitol Records. She was subsequently hired by agent, Jerry Perenchio, to work at MCA Artists, Ltd. a talent agency which would later become Universal Studios.After a ten year sabbatical to focus on raising her children, she went back to work in 1972, becoming Executive Director at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, where she reported to a Board of Governors composed of two people from each peer group of the television world: actors, directors, writers, producers, etc. As Executive Director for eleven years, she oversaw production of the annual prime- time Emmy Awards shows and was also the first publisher of Emmy magazine.
In 1983, she moved to New York to take a position as Vice President, Special Projects at the CBS Television Network, reporting directly to the President. In this role she produced all CBS affiliate conferences throughout the United States. Her career turned toward non-profits in 1986, when the head of marketing at the ABC Television Network, and the President of Time introduced her to Teresa Heinz. Heinz selected her to move the headquarters of the National Council for Families and Television from Princeton, NJ to Los Angeles, CA. and to serve as its President. There, she focused on educating prime-time television's creative community on the different perspectives of their product and on the culture of families in the US.
Tricia McLeod Robin was the first female graduate of Taft High to become an executive in the entertainment industry, opening doors to other talented women. She did this while raising two sons, Michael Robin and Steven Robin, both of whom are award-winning television producer/directors. Her distinctive successes have left her mark on the entertainment industry.
Doug Smith - Class of 1957
Doug Smith, Class of ’57, is Taft High’s fastest recorded sprinter (9.7) in the 100 yard dash. Chuck Coker coached him at Occidental College, and on May 14, 1960, Smith defeated Ray Norton winner of his previous 33 races, in a new world record time, 9.2 for 100 yards. Smith’s record lasted only as long as it took timing officials to doubt their own watches and change the winning time to 9.4.
After college, Smith ran for the Southern California Striders. In the 1962 season, he ran a then world best time of 20.3 in the 220. His desire to compete and to share his competitive knowledge with others led him into coaching, a career that has never ceased and has touched both the personal and athletic lives of dozens of young people who have passed through the field of his expertise. His students have ranged from 10 years to 50 years of age, as he himself has passed through decades of competition, sharing his knowledge, his vision of success, and his training commitments with others who would sometimes become his competitors. In Master’s Track, he set national and world records, as he progressed through his age groups. At the age of 60, he ran times of 12.1 in the 100 meters and 25.4 in the 200 meters.
A founder and CEO of “Youth On Track Foundation”, he provided free track clinics for youngsters, and as Girl’s Head Track and Field Coach at Edison High School, Huntington Beach, he won nine league titles in 10 seasons and had a dual meet record of 47-3. He is a member of the Bob Elias Hall of Fame. Doug Smith is an extraordinary athlete of outstanding character whose lifetime commitment to his sport has graced the lives of dozens of young people and senior competitors.
Dr. Hazel Hitson Weidman - Class of 1941
Hazel Hitson Weidman pursued a life remarkable in its diversity and enduring contributions to American society. Soon after graduation she joined the WAVES, where she trained Navy pilots to fly by instruments and radio navigation in flight simulators, later in actual air-flight. NAS pilots taught her to fly their airplanes by “the seat of her pants”. Further educated in celestial navigation, she served at Alameda Naval Air Station; then at Livermore NAS until the end of WWII.
Drawing support from the G.I. Bill, she enrolled at Northwestern University, majored in anthropology, (Phi Beta Kappa) and chose further study in an emerging field: medical anthropology. Admitted to Harvard/Radcliffe, she pursued family research in Boston; then traveled to Southeast Asia (Burma) to produce a doctoral dissertation on a topic related to both settings.
Her experiences, published as a chapter, “On Ambivalence and the Field”, in Peggy Golde’s(ed) Women in the Field, is a remarkable exploration of Burmese traditional culture. It is, equally, a fascinating account of her personal challenges in moving through this extremely complicated social dynamic as it worked its effects upon both her research techniques and her interpersonal relationships.
Her paper, “Family Patterns and Paranoidal Pe rsonality Structure in Boston and Burma”, presented to the American Psychiatric Association, led Hazel into a national and international career, including consultations with cities, public agencies, states, and scholars abroad on issues of culture and health. She taught at the University of Miami School of Medicine, and her organizational efforts in her chosen field led to the creation of the Society for Medical Anthropology, now an international organization.
Her professional papers are in Harvard’s Peabody Museum archives. Her personal and family history papers are in the Radcliffe Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.