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Teachers remember ‘good times at Cody High'
By Amber Peabody
This document was published online on Monday, May 19, 2008
Since the beginning, Cody High School has had some great teachers - Wynona Thompson, Dorothy Banks, Paul Sweitzer and Shad Martoglio are just a few who won't soon be forgotten.
Two current teachers with more than 60 years experience between them share memories of their time at CHS.
Dan White (1977)
When Dan White retires from CHS this year after 31 years of teaching, it will be the people he will remember most.
“People at CHS is what has made my time here so great,” he says. “I love watching high school kids grow to become the people that make Cody such a fine place to live.”
In 1977, when he began teaching at the school, the first girl to show up for class was a perky, smiling sophomore named Sue Simpson.
“She was helpful to a novice teacher, but left at midyear,” he said with a laugh. “Something about her dad had to go to work in Washington.”
That same year White was trying to keep some order in class and he turned around to see the “perfect” girl, Nancy Banks, dumping a liter beaker of ice water over the head of “class clown” Kirk Cozzens.
“Kirk said, ‘Mr. White did you see what she did to me?' I just said, ‘Kirk, I'm sure you deserved every drop.' My class got better after that.”
When White was still new to Cody, the Northwest Singers came to CHS for a concert and a “skinny kid” named Arley George stepped up and belted out “Ghost Riders in the Sky.”
“Johnny Cash couldn't have done it better,” he said. “Since then, George after George has never failed to sing with amazing grace.”
In fall 1980 about 10 junior high boys started the fad of driving their tractors to school.
“Beck Avenue had a full row of John Deeres and Ford 8Ns - cool times for 13-year- olds,” he said.
One day the school had an assembly and White was surprised that it featured a quiet sophomore who always sat in the back row of class.
“I soon learned why when Greg Pendley wowed the whole school with his guitar and ballads that left a hush in Wynona Thompson Auditorium,” he said.
In the 1990s White recalls “hilarious overacted” class movies done for biology class with Sam Krone as George HW Bush explaining the world of dinosaurs and Glen Reed as David Attenborough living the life of neanderthals.
One of the many sports highlights for White came in the 1994 football season. A lackluster first half had Star Valley leading 20-7.
“The Broncs returned from the locker room and played like men possessed,” he said. “J.O. Jensen, Ryan Selk, Matt Winninger, Brent Lorenz, Ben Larsen and the rest of the team put on a show that drove the huge crowd into a frenzy.”
The final score was Cody Broncs 27, Braves 20.
During his 25 years of coaching the CHS alpine ski team, he's been impressed with the many great performances and racing careers he's seen. The boys won six state championships - in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1990, 2004 and 2005.
“The drive, spirit and athleticism of those boys was so great,” he said. “They really knew how to work hard, go fast and have fun. Great performances, whether they happened at Sleeping Giant, Red Lodge, Jackson or Laramie - they always were a pleasure to Cody's tight skiing community.”
A few of the runs White will always remember were turned in by Troy Kincheloe, Bret Reed, Cortney Feeley, Scott Martin, Kasi (Davidson) Robison, Scott Bragonier, Chris Kenney, Shane Anderson, Heath Overfield, Tim O'Leary, Josh Martoglio, Justin Wright, Nikki Maxwell, Cole Axthlem and Brian Farmer.
“There are too many outstanding Cody ski racers to name them all, but the same questions were always asked by the coaches and racers they had just defeated,” White said. “‘How do these guys do it when you don't get to ski every day?' My answer was always the same. ‘In Cody we just get good athletes to work with and the town really supports us.'”
Mike Riley (1976)
Mike Riley has seen many changes and memorable moments at CHS during more than 30 years of teaching. But the school has always had great kids, he says.
“We're really fortunate and blessed with what they send us,” he said. “They're wonderful kids and that's the way it's been since I've been here.”
Riley, who has no plans to retire, began teaching at the junior high in 1974. The next year he replaced Evelyn Shaver and began teaching Western Literature at the high school.
“There's not many schools in which Western Literature classes have survived,” he said.
When Riley taught the class he used to take students to Old Trail Town to make movies.
Riley also encouraged students to participate in the creative writing program.
“When I came here it's one of the reasons I was excited about teaching here. Students could enter the Stock Writing Contest for a chance to win $100 in different categories.”
The school also printed a literary magazine every nine weeks.
Later, Riley was in charge of the Equus newspaper and KYDZ, the school's radio station. After more than 20 years on the air the station ended in 1998.
“I was really sad about losing KYDZ,” he said. “I saw students' lives changed so positively, especially students who might not make it through school at all.”
When the school board decided to quit funding the radio program, (the late) principal Terry Statton wanted Riley to start a television program. Riley wanted to continue both.
“It was so unusual and the kids loved that and would listen every morning,” he said. “Seeing its demise was sad.”
His television production classes are taught in the old choir room and the darkroom where he used to teach photography is now a control room for the technology department.
CHS was the first high school in the state to send a girl to the state tennis tournament. In 1976 there was girls tennis but not a state competition so Riley took Suzie Newton to compete against the boys.
“She could beat all the boys on our team except John Barrett,” he said. “When we got there everyone asked ‘What are you doing? You can't bring a girl.' The coaches voted whether to allow her to play and she was allowed by one vote.”
Newton ended up finishing third in No. 1 singles.
He has been pleased with the addition of a television in every classroom. With the introduction to computers students are much more technologically savvy than in the past.
“Students have changed with the revolution of technology,” he said.
(ON Wednesday: Students reminisce about their high school years.)
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Brad Butler wrote on May 21, 2008 9:47 AM: