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Lonnie Adams
Highlights since 1975:
After earning my business degree from the University of Colorado in 1979, I moved to Denver to begin a career in banking and lending. I spent eight successful years focused on small commercial loans before an opportunity arose in 1988 to expand into the Capital Markets side of the lending business. This new chapter relocated me to Southern California.
Once settled, I met my first wife, with whom I shared 20 years of marriage. Together, we raised two incredible children — a son and a daughter — who are now in their 30s, married, and (hopefully soon!) making me a grandparent.
Eventually, my first marriage ended, and another exceptional career opportunity presented itself, leading me to Northern California. I settled just outside Sacramento in the charming town of Folsom, where I met and married my current “partner in crime,” Patty. We’re enjoying life here together, surrounded by good friends, great wine, and plenty of adventure.
Moving to California proved to be one of the best career decisions I ever made. Over the past 30-plus years, I’ve built and led Capital Markets divisions for banks and mortgage lenders of all sizes. Today, I continue to serve as part of the executive leadership team as Director of Capital Markets for a nationwide lending institution.
Outside of work, I enjoy hiking, spending hours at the gym, and perfecting my aim at the local gun range. Wine has become a passion of mine in recent years, and I love visiting Napa Valley to sample extraordinary vintages and expand my collection. Patty and I also love cooking, reading, and escaping for long weekends to Napa, Lake Tahoe, and the occasional trip back to Salida — where it all began for me.
My favorite trip of all was taking my daughter on a two week visit my son in Japan. He was there for two years on a mission trip. The Bamboo Forest near Kyoto is amazing!
Favorite high school memories:
Participating in Student Council, campaigning for student council president against Dave Scanga (SOB — Scanga’s our Boy — that is a classic!!), cruising F street and tubing down the Arkansas river.
Joey Armenta
Current data:
Highlights since 1975:
After graduation, I went to work for Climax Molybdenum company and worked there seven years until the company had a mass layoff. During that time I met and married Sandy Haremza from the Salida High School class of '77 and we had a daughter, Shalene. Being a new dad was very special for me. Several years later, Sandy and I divorced and I spent a couple of years in Colorado Springs building trusses for a construction company. Being apart from my daughter was wearing on me and soon after I moved to Grand Junction, where my ex-wife had moved, in order to be near Shalene. The job I took in Grand Junction turned out to be a 25-year career in tire business management.
A few years into my time in Grand Junction, I met and eventually married my wife, Beverly, who is the love of my life. I gained two more daughters after marrying Bev and through the years have been the proud grandpa to six grandchildren and two great grand children. Bev and I have had a great time going on cruises and vacations throughout this great country. We’ve camped and made motorcycle runs on our Harley Road King Classic throughout the western United States.
In 2015 we decided it was time to get back to the east side of the Continental Divide and transferred to Denver. We’ve loved it here ever since. I retired soon after the move and fulfilled my promise to myself to continue my love for music by picking up my guitar again. I’ve met some great musicians in the Denver music scene and haven’t looked back. Currently, my band SoundBite, is very busy playing music throughout the Denver area. I can’t think of a better way to spend retirement!
Favorite high school memories:
Walking one block to school. Living close to school had its perks. Watching our football team win the state championship was pretty cool!
Favorite teacher: Rod Farney
Shannon Arnold
Highlights since 1975:
Graduated Fort Lewis College, Durango CO in 1979 with BA in Accounting.
Lived in Telluride, CO for a couple of years and worked as the San Miguel County Budget Officer and at Telluride Ski Company.
Moved to Denver in 1982 and began career in financial services industry to present: RIA financial principal, equity fundamental analysis and publication, active trader broker, call center workforce management/forecasting, data analysis, digital communications, wealth advisory broker.
My daughter Kate and her family live in Parker CO. Fly fishing rules their house.
I spend alot of time between Elizabeth and Salida and visiting in Parker.
Weekends - I'm usually outside at one of the places.
Favorite vacation spot: Homer, Alaska. Beautiful.
Favorite high school memories:
Skiing with Steve and Doug. The rule though was "If you're going to ski with us, you need to keep up." (Words to live by.)
Jim Andon
Highlights since 1975:
Married Jean Cawley (class of 77); 2 kids Kenny And Nicole; have 5 grandchildren 8 years to 26 years. Jean and I divorced in 1996.
After high school, worked at Climax and at Salida Salvage, moved to Pueblo in 1990; worked at Train as a certified welder for 8 years; moved to Denver where I met my second wife Pam; been married 27 years. From there we moved to Las Vegas in 1998 where I worked in the precast concrete industry as plant manager, was transferred to their plant in Sacramento, CA In 2017 for 5 years, then retired in 2022 and moved to Pahrump, NV, just outside of Las Vegas. Still love to hunt and fish
Favorite high school memories:
Couldn’t wait to graduate. Do have a lot of great memories of Salida.
Annette Barnes
Current data:
4220 Forrest Hill Rd. #A
Colo. Sp., CO 80907
719-694-8104 home
719-359-0167 cell
Not married
Son: Travis
Dog: Prince
Highlights since 1975:
Giving birth to Travis in 1985 watching him grow and joining the Marine Corp shortly after
9/11. 2004-2008 active duty 2009-2013 inactive duty. Travis is what makes my heart sing, I am so blessed.
My dad died in 2020 from cancer.
I retired in 2020, best thing ever. Have done some traveling and plan on more. I love being in the outdoors and spent years camping/rock hunting and hiking.
Worked 24 years in manufacturing for aerospace, computer, and gas/oil drilling industries. Duties included electronic assembly, inventory/production control, materials planning, government property control and supervision.
Worked 16 yrs in hospitality duties: Marriott Hotel restaurant purchasing, supervision. Log Cabin Court in Salida ,maintain motel and rent rooms. etc. I did it all! After 2 years Dad decided to sell the place. My last job was at Safeway in Salida and Colorado Spring working as a barista and supervisor in Starbucks also worked in the Deli, meat/seafood departments and other stores in COS. I liked working in manufacturing and hated retail.
I am trying to make money for my trip to Hawaii next year. Travis and I are taking a 7-day cruise to four islands. Check out my Facebook store! https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550800746917
I am selling rock specimens, hand-made jewelry, and collectables. I personally prospected and cleaned the gems and minerals that I use for pendants.
Favorite high school memories:
A few nice friends other than that none really, only attended there one year, prior to Salida went 1 year in California and 2 years in Northglenn, Colorado. I hated school all my life.
Rex Bell
Current data:
Address: Fort Collins, CO
Married, 4 kids, 16 grandchildren
Email: rabell4447@gmail.com
Phone: 303-588-1631
Highlights since 1975:
Denise (Gleason) Bell and I will be married 50 years next March. We have four wonderful children (Tiffany, Abby, Todd and Gregg) that thankfully married great people along the way that actually enjoy spending time with us. We have been blessed with 16 grandchildren ranging from 21 to 1. We are very grateful that all our kids and grandkids live in Fort Collins so we get A LOT of family time (not counting the many Gleasons that reside in the area).
It is hard to believe we have been in Fort Collins for 22 years. Prior to that, we lived in Steamboat (18), Rifle (4), Grand Junction (2) and Gunnison (attending Western State a.k.a. Harvard of the West!).
Denise and I enjoy being with our family, have travelled to some great places across the globe, and like to boat, bike, camp (RV style) and attend a lot of kids sports. I probably have too many hobbies.
Blessed to have a wonderful family that supported my career, my choices, and my bumps in the road. Careerwise, I spent 30 years with a large, employee-owned, multi-national engineering/construction company. I was fortunate to have had many roles and responsibilities over the years and had the opportunity to work with many talented, diverse, and interesting people around the world. Between work and fun, I have been to over 35 countries with the majority of my international time spent in South America, Australasia, and Europe. I have nearly 2 million miles of airtime.
I retired in 2015, but didn’t feel quite done so we bought a company that our son runs and even went back to work for a few years in 2018. This position was based in Fort Collins and didn’t require much travel. It was a fun hobby job and we did some good things. I am now officially retired and doing much better at being “retired from work”.
Favorite high school memories:
Favorite memories are many growing up in Salida. Marrying Denise and joining the Gleason clan, the creation of life-long friendships, the many experiences and lessons learned, and the success of Spartan Football would be my favorites. While the Salida trips have declined over the years, I have always said going “home” was always good for my soul. I love seeing old friends, miss those friends that have passed, and it’s always fun to see some teachers that seemed so “old” back then…and now realize they were so young. My favorite teacher (and influencer) will forever be Coach Breunich.
Charlene (Bradbury) Smith
Highlights since 1975:
The last 50 years has flown by so quickly. After graduation I went to work full time for Harold R Koster and Salida Finance as a secretary and bookkeeper until 1980. While at the same time working evenings and weekends at the Salida Sweet Shop. I managed the arcade that my folks also owned until we closed it in 1985 when Climax reduced its size. I worked at the Salida Sweet Shop until my folks sold it in 1991. In about 1992 I went to work for Denoyer Flower Nursery until 1997. In May of 1997 I went to work for Developmental Opportunities/Star Point working with physically and mentally disabled adults until 2007.
I married Richard Smyth, from Salida, in January 1980 becoming a wife of a truck driver and rancher. Learned the challenges of operating a cattle ranch where we had about a hundred head and five horses. Though it was hard work; I enjoyed it greatly.
In 1981 we welcomed our oldest son William who has given us a granddaughter Jessie and grandson Kody. William is in Greeley, Colorado along with his son Kody working currently for Walmart Automotive. Jessie is in Cañon City. Jessie gave us our great granddaughter.
1984 we were greeted by our second son Steven who also lives in Greeley, Colorado. He drives truck for a local construction company.
In 2007 we moved part time to Trinidad, CO for Richard’s job. Spent two years there then his job took us north to Brighton. Then in 2015 we sold our place in Salida and bought a home on Eaton, CO just northeast of Greeley, CO. We sold our home in Eaton in 2021 when we started full time RV'ing first for Richard’s work. We spent about 2 years in Idaho. Time in Wyoming, then went east to Arkansas for about two years, then on to Missouri then back to Colorado near Colorado Springs where Richard retired March 2024. We have been traveling down to Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona and up to Washington for the summer. Our home is a 45 ft 5th wheel camper with six slide outs that we pull with a semi tractor. We love it and traveling with our Buddy, a small Chihuahua Jack Russel mix.
Richard and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary this year and still going strong.
Favorite high school memories:
My best memories of school was Mr. Dixon’s history class and Mr. Farney’s art class.
Hope to see all of you at the reunion.
Jamie (Cardinelli) Webb
Highlights since 1975:
I married my high school sweetheart Rob Webb in 1980. We will be married for 45 years this year.
We moved to Boulder, CO in 1980 and lived there until Rob finished his engineering degree. While in Boulder I worked for Empire Savings for one year. After Rob graduated we moved to Lander, WY where we lived for over three years. During that time period I worked for First National Bank of Wyoming. In 1982 we had our first child, Christopher. In 1984 we moved to the Denver metro area, eventually settling in Arvada where we lived for 38 years. I worked at Citizens Bank until the birth of our daughter Stephanie in 1986. I then went to work for Albertsons Supermarket for 20 years until they closed. I then went to work for an assisted living facility until retiring in 2020. In 2020 we purchased a home in the Nathrop area and made it our permanent home in 2023.
Neither of our children are married and we have no grandchildren. Our daughter has a PhD, works for the state, and does counseling. Our son works part time in construction and is working on becoming a Journeyman Electrician. They both live in the Denver Metro area.
I like to cook as well as walk, hike, and read. Rob likes to hike and mountain bike. In the future we plan on doing some travelling. We would like to go to Europe, especially Italy and Germany.
Jill (Chavez) Murphy
Highlights since 1975:
Well, it’s been 50 years since we all graduated from high school and Steve and I have been married for 48 of them. We have lived in Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wyoming, and Oklahoma. We moved back to Castle Pines, Colorado before retiring. We had two children, our son Shaun and our daughter, Tara. We also have 9 grandchildren we are very proud of. We spend our free time traveling, hiking, taking photos, golfing and watching all the grandkids and their sporting events. Our home away from home is in Pacific Grove-Monterey, California. where the winters are mild and the coast is wild. Sadie is our faithful rescue dog that goes with us everywhere. We have been blessed with good health, lots of love and family and want for little. My wish for all of you is the same.❤️
Favorite high school memories:
I have a lot of memories of SHS but will keep most of them to myself on the grounds that it may incriminate me and others that are still alive! You know who you are! I remember always having cinnamon rolls on the days we had chili. I remember cruising F Street, the bowling alley, keggers, riding the bus to watch out-of-town games. I remember ice skating at the ball park rink, and Mr. Custer insisting that because my last name was Chavez, I should be fluent in Spanish! I also remember never having to worry about locking up the school to keep out anyone trying to hurt us.
Mary Cortese
Highlights since 1975:
I graduated from University of Colorado Boulder and received my Masters degree from the University of Oregon. I spent 26 years as Business Administrator at St. Mary’s Cathedral in downtown Colorado Springs. I married the love of my life in 1984. We met in college and had a 9-year engagement because neither of us wanted to marry a student. I have a stepson named Eric and a step grandson named Adam. My husband and I have two daughters named Stefanie and Genevieve. I have three grand dogs. Stefanie has two dogs named Raava and Sokka and Genevieve has one dog named Yue.
The major issues I have faced have been health related. I was diagnosed with MS in 2002 and I was recently diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. It has been difficult but I have a good support system and that has made it easier. I am still here!
Favorite high school memories:
My favorite memory of high school is Mr. Held and his music program. I was in Select Choir and Treble Clef. There was the singing Christmas tree with all of us climbing that wooden structure to sing for an hour! Apparently, being a teenager meant not having any fear or sense. How did he talk us into getting on that wooden tree?
