North Las Vegas' first high school will be razed next month after more than a half-century of service. In August a new $75 million campus, looking something akin to a two-story mall that divides the school into smaller "learning communities," will open next door.
"In this town when something gets to be 50 years old, you either make it better or you blow it up," said Bob Chesto, who graduated in 1963 - and has returned as the school's principal.
So Rancho Alumni Association President Greg Townsend thought it would be good to have one final celebration.
Townsend found addresses and e-mail listings for more than 2,200 of Rancho's estimated 15,000 graduates, from the inaugural class of '57 to this year's senior class. More than 700 Rams showed up this month at the East Owens Avenue gym for one last dance.
"It reminds me of all of the dances we had after the games," says Dwight Melvin, Class of '69. "It's a good way to say goodbye."
And it was a good way to catch up.
THE GIRL NEXT DOOR
Freshmen Carolyn Mitchell and Tamas McFarland hardly crossed paths in 1960, even though they were next-door neighbors.
That changed after McFarland brought home a spotty report card and his parents put the brakes on his social life. Stranded at home on Taylor Street, the girl next door held fresh appeal.
"I couldn't go out and get the paper in the morning without him seeing me in curlers," Carolyn recalls.
The two classmates became an item . They broke up in January 1964, and the next month Carolyn accompanied a girlfriend to a dance at Nellis Air Force Base. And McFarland was history.
"Tell the truth, you met somebody better," says Nick Muscari, who married Carolyn in August 1964 .
The former high school sweethearts remain friends - probably because they never married, Carolyn says.
"I tell Tamas we would have had a couple of kids, gotten divorced and ended up bitter and hating each other," she says. "It's better this way for everybody."
THE JOCKS
In 1988 quarterback Anthony Lewis and tailback Tony Spencer led Rancho's football team to its last state championship in any sport.
The following year Anthony was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals and played professional baseball for seven years.
Mingling at the dance with former classmates and fans, Anthony says his successful high school athletics career paved the way to his future successes.
Tony, now an assistant football coach at the University of South Dakota, comes back often on recruiting trips. Last year he nearly signed the younger brother of a former classmate.
The new school may have "Rancho" on its sign but, "This," says Tony, as he watches the crowd flow from the gym to the cafeteria, "is the Ranch."
THE THESPIAN
Barbara Dexter cried when, because of school boundary changes, she had to leave her boyfriend and pals at Las Vegas High School and attend the brand new Rancho. She was later proud to be part of the first graduating class in 1957 and performed the lead role in the senior play.
"The building may be going but the spirit of Rancho is going to continue," Barbara says. "It's just moving next door."
Barbara and her high school boyfriend married other people. Their paths crossed again in the 1980s because they each had children attending the same Iowa college. Barbara was living near Lake Arrowhead, Calif., and her former sweetheart Bruce Clark - Las Vegas High School Class of '56 - was in Minden.
As fate would have it, Barbara and Bruce would become single again.
And July will mark the third anniversary of their Las Vegas wedding.
THE MARINE
Ask community college student Hess Sherrod how he feels about Rancho's demise and the U.S. Marine Reservist nearly loses his cool.
"They invested millions to renovate it and now they're to tear it down for some cookie-cutter box that looks like every other school in the district," says Hess, Class of '02. "They're robbing our history from us."
THE STUDENT COUNCIL
She's only been gone a year, but Carla Avila, Class of '05, comes back to Rancho "all the time." The last dance turned into a mini-reunion of the 2004-05 student council executive board, composed of Carla, Afsha Farmanali, Susan Taylor and Marybeth Acac.
The new campus won't hold the same appeal, says Carla, who just finished her first year at Georgetown University.
"The new place is beautiful, but it's not where I went to school," Carla says.
BEST FRIENDS
State Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, class of '81, goes camping every summer with his best friends from high school. It's an eclectic group.
"We've got a banker, a cop, a teacher and a candlestick maker," says Warren, president of Associated Builders and Contractors of Las Vegas.
Mark Ruesch is the Metro Police officer. Michael Lowe is in sales with Sysco Foods. Last year James York launched the first chartered bank in North Las Vegas. And Jeff Hybarger, class of '80, is principal of Goynes Elementary School.
The getaways to northern Utah with their families offer a chance to reminisce and reconnect.
"Now that our careers are more established and our kids are a little bit older, we're finding our way back to each other," Warren says.
NOT READY TO LET GO
Queenie Johnson, Class of 1986, is a juvenile probation officer for Clark County. And it tears her up, thinking about June, when the wrecking balls will pull down the walls of the school she loves.
She's been back many times over the years, usually to visit Kimberly Scott, who graduated in 1984 and returned to Rancho as a guidance counselor. They both count Karen Hall, class of '78, as a good friend.
At least they know better than to tease Karen about her yearbook picture.
"That huge flower in my hair!" Karen says with a laugh. "What was I thinking?"
Kimberly has been quietly saying goodbye to her alma mater all year long. Queenie isn't ready yet.
"I get all choked up," says Queenie . "How can they tear down our school?"
RIDING THE BUS
Ronald Kimbrew used to take the bus to school back in the early 1970s, and he took the bus to the last dance.
This time, from Little Rock, Ark.
It took him 36 hours. And as soon as the dance was over, he was back on the bus, headed home. Flying out for the dance wasn't an option because it was too expensive, and missing the last dance wasn't an option, either.
"There's no way I would miss this, no way in the world," says Ronald, who was the first black student at the school to run for student body president.
There was an undeniable sense of racial divide in the late 1960s, he says - manufactured, perhaps, by how school bus drivers dropped off their passengers.
"The bus from the west side of town used to drop us off in front of the school, and the other buses went around the back," Ronald remembers. "I always wondered why that was. We were all together in class, and I never saw one problem, not one."
SIBLING RIVALRY
It might be tough to swallow when your little brother climbs a few rungs higher than you on the Clark County School District career ladder. But Pamela Hybarger Freeman, Class of '75, says she would gladly go to work for Jeff Hybarger, Class of '80, principal of Goynes Elementary School.
"I used to boss him around; now he could boss me around," says Pamela, a first aid safety assistant assigned to Hummel Elementary School. "He's not only a great administrator, he's a great brother."
Jeff says that, all teasing aside, Pamela is a "delightful and wonderful person and a terrific support staff employee.
"And I could never pull rank on my sister."
THE BUSINESS TEACHERS
Their friendship began in 1972, when they arrived on campus as business teachers. Rita Riedlinger transferred to Valley High School in 1984. LueAnn Amburn followed suit four years later.
"I remember manual typewriters, then electric typewriters and finally the Apple II," says LueAnn, who was only the second business teacher in the district to add computers to her classroom curriculum.
MEDAL WINNER
Dave Doucette's yellow Class of '71 letterman's sweater may smell of mothballs and not fit quite as well as it used to. But the medals he won at the state's high school dramatics competitions still look good, decorating the cardigan's pockets.
"I was one of the big shots," Dave says.
He worked in advertising for 15 years and later provided costumed characters for special events. He performed the "Pee Wee Herman" impersonations himself. Business was great until the "cease and desist" letters arrived from Disney.
He drives a cab now and has never really left town. Yet, in 35 years he hasn't crossed paths with even one of his classmates.
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