In the 1979 Del Valle yearbook…
we find an entry for the 1978-1979 Del Valle Radio Club.
The members are listed as follows:
Charlie Jursch
Kevin Ridout
David Crane
Chris Verdugo
Ross Archer
Jonathan Hymer
Bill Lewis
Kirk Weir
Darrell Haydon
Ron Mickaels
Miguel Flach-Alaznar
John Zib
According to the 1980 Aklan (Acalanes High School yearbook), additional members were:
John B. Shelan
Matthew F. White
Wendell Pleis was still their faculty advisor.
This is the last year for the Del Valle FM Radio Club because Del Valle closed in 1979.
Reading the yearbook, it seems like they didn’t know the school was going to be closed until they were part way through the creation of the yearbook.
A year ago Del Valle’s new freshmen were the upper classmen in Jr. High. This year they started at the bottom again. Aside from getting used to High School life they were busy making friends with all the new kids from different Jr. Highs, as well as the upperclassmen already attending Del Valle. Homecoming was a success for the freshmen class. With only two float meetings a week they placed second in the float competition. Their skit even placed third in the rally. Michelle Rivera was the freshmen class princess. The car weaving on the track during the volkswagon pushing contest proved the freshmen need a little more muscle and some driver’s training. But the class of 1982 also proved they will become an energetic part of Del Valle High School.
Later in the yearbook, reality sets in.
As Shakespeare once said “Beware the Ides of March.” That day, March 15, 1979, Mr. Ballock’s voice came over the loudspeaker to announce the fateful decision that Del Valle would be closed. The dark skies added to the depressed atmosphere of the campus and the flags were hung at half-staff and upside down in the courtyard signaling an international crisis. The vote to close Del Valle High School by the school board was 3 to 2.
The time has come
Destiny pulls us apart,
Struggling each minute to the last.
Memories are branded on the tombstone,
Our souls remain the landscape.We are Del Valle,
Glittering in the air forever.Patricia Ann Woodring
Class of 1979
While this marked the end of Del Valle as a regular high school, the Radio Club would continue at Acalanes.
The original plans were to have an FM radio station at Del Valle, but the registration with the FCC appears to have been at the district level. You can see this on the FCC history card for KCEQ.
Presumedly this was one of the reasons it was relatively easy to change the location for the transmitter.
Many of the students and faculty ended up at Las Lomas, while others were scattered across Miramonte, Campolindo, and Acalanes. Wendell Pleis did transfer to Acalanes along with a few others from the FM Radio Club. Jonathan Hymer didn’t end up at Acalanes, but a freshman named Mark Jeffrey did and ended up being the primary student driver for continuing the process to get the station built.
While the FM Radio Club made the transition to Acalanes, it seems that the amateur radio station did not. In fact, 1979 is the last time we find an amateur radio station anywhere in the district.
B Del Valle ARC, 1963 Tice Val Blvd, Walnut Creek CA 94595
Wendell says they did some amateur radio broadcasting from Acalanes, but we couldn’t find any records in the callbooks.
That’s all the information on this part that we have at the moment. As with all these posts, please feel free to share any information you might have.
For more on the Acalanes Radio Station KCEQ rabbit hole and other Lafayette History Rabbit Holes.
I was teaching Electronics and Automotive at Miramonte from 1969-73. We worked with Tony DiBellis on building, testing, and promoting electric vehicles. There was also a science? teacher who was totally involved in the MER, Marine Ecology Research Project, George XXXXXXXXX? Miramonte students built a 12 foot long “wave machine” for the most impressive Marine Research facility ‘On the Bay.” I appreciated the great amount of Marine Chemistry that was being conducted —-getting High School students DOING SCIENCE!!
According to the 1971 Mirada, while there were two teachers named George, the teacher who advised both the Biology Club and Ecology Club was Al Kunz (Biology teacher). It says:
“New at Miramonte this year, Ecology Club is off to an enthusiastic start. Club members have attended two Board of Supervisors’ meetings to lend their support to the County Park Ordinance. In January members were involved in beach clean up near Point Reyes. They also have participated in project M.E.R., a marine research project involving the San Francisco Bay. In the early spring, a U.C. field station on Grizzly Peak was the destination for a group of club bicyclists; members toured the field station where twenty-six wolves are cared for and observed. As a money raising project the club has sold basic H (a bio-degradable cleanser) and bike packs. The successful club is advised by Mr. Kunz, and directed by President John Mott, and Vice President Tom Fortman, pictured at left, Treasurer Barbara Campbell, and Secretary Kathy Kuykendall.”
This is probably the teacher you were thinking of. The other two are George Zunich (Math teacher) and George McCain (it doesn’t actually say what he did other than “bring order out of chaos in the faculty room”).
It’s always amazing to find out about some of the projects these clubs accomplished. Thank you!
I was not clear. Tony DiBellis and George? ~~Cavallini?? were both teachers at Campolindo High School. DiBellis’ students were testing big vehicle batteries one day to establish their “watt-hours/pound” rating and a student accidentally placed a big crescent wrench too close to the terminals of a battery. The wrench welded itself to the terminals, Current Draw through the wrench was suddenly “very high.” The resultant sulfuric acid steam that blasted from the battery was MOST MEMORABLE as it “disassembled” the battery. As I remember, a similar event happened to an electric VW Dune Buggy parked over at Rossmoor.