Sara (Yaple) Varney
As I looked through the Col-Hi '60 yearbook recently, many memories came flooding back - of Mr. Den Adel's chemistry class where Tom "Babe" Oakley was a distraction; of Miss Trawick's first period history class where Bob Cook once ad-libbed a 45 minute oral report on World War II; my scariest class was Miss Ingham's plane geometry (from which I barely escaped with a passing grade).

After my graduation from OSU in '64 I taught high school English for 2 years before working one year in the Red Cross Recreation program in Vietnam. I married in '67 and have 2 children, now in their early thirties living near me in Denver. My 2 granddaughters give me great pleasure, especially when I drag them all over the country on RV trips with my son and my orange tabby cat, Orlando. Speaking of trips, Jean McNally Whelan and I have enjoyed two fabulous weeks in Hawaii and three fun-filled cruises together in the past 10 years. We went through the Panama Canal shortly after 9/11 and have more recently been on two Mediterranean cruises. Ask us about the dinner cruise on the Bosporus in Istanbul! I retired from teaching in 2000 and have since devoted my time to community volunteering including 10 years as a tour guide at the Colorado State Capitol. Last year I was honored to be "Channel 7's Everyday Hero" for my 20 years as a volunteer in the Denver Health Emergency Department. Here are a few of the items on my (long) "bucket list": drive the Al Can highway to Fairbanks (in a RV, of course); visit all 50 state capitols (I've been inside 26 so far); visit Africa, Antarctica, Australia . . . . . you get the idea. It's ahard to believe how many of our classmates are already gone. My motto: Carpe diem!!!! Here's another one from Girl Scouts: Make new friends but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold. I look forward to seeing all of you at our 50th!!!! Wildcats Forever!!!!! The picture of me was taken in May 2009 near Sorrento, Italy (near Naples).)
Sadly, Sara passed away on Sept 21, 2010 just before our 50th reunion - without getting to fulfill much more of her bucket list.