Oceanside High School needs to induct second-generation members into its Hall of Fame.
In public ceremonies at 10 a.m. on Oct. 8 at the school, David Meyer — and six other inductees — will join his father, Herb Meyer (honored in the first group in 2006), as members of the Hall of Fame.
The hall, supported by a foundation and an alumni association, was established that year in recognition of the school’s 100th anniversary.
The only previous inductee over two generations was the late Jerrell Bussey, honored in 2015. His daughter, Susan (Bussey) Shimanoff, was a member of that original 2006 group.
There were several groups of siblings. This year is no exception – Molly (Hatter) Barron joins her brother Larry Hatter.
Inductees are selected in six areas: academics, arts, athletics, business, community service and public service. There may be more than one winner in each category, so all seven this year, with two – Eileen (Greer) Frazier and Leif “Eric” Leaf – in the academics.
The other recipients are Roberta Millman-Ide, arts; Arthur Lee Guetterman, athletics; and Kerry Abbott Kukoyi, public service. Barron is the recipient of community service.
Frazier, an OHS Class of 1988 Salutatorian, is the only one still living in Oceanside. She is the principal of El Camino High and has spent 28 years educating local students.
Her Marine Corps father, stationed at Camp Pendleton, brought the family here in time for them to attend elementary schools in North Terrace and Santa Margarita and Jefferson and Lincoln colleges. She taught math at OHS, served as dean of students and vice-principal at OHS, and principal of Jefferson and Chavez colleges.
Meyer, Class of 1974, is the closest, living in Carlsbad. Born in Oceanside, he attended St. Mary’s Elementary School before OHS and MiraCosta College. He played football and baseball in high school and college and was drafted by the San Francisco Giants.
Instead of playing ball, he later got his law degree. His business career began with Morey Boogie at Oceanside in 1978. He later joined a law firm dealing with sports franchises and was instrumental in relocating the Raiders football team from Los Angeles to Oakland. He opened his own law firm in 2000.
“It was nice” to play for his own high school coaching father, Meyer said last week, but it was especially difficult to take a human physiology course with him as a teacher. “It was the toughest class,” Meyer said.
Guetterman, Class of 1977, stuck with baseball — from 1981 to 1996, at least. Drafted by the Seattle Mariners at Liberty University in Virginia, where he still holds pitching records, he also played with the New York Yankees and Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals. He and his wife founded and ran Crossroads Christian Academy in Lenoir City, Tennessee.
Barron, Class of 1969, first taught five grades in a two-room schoolhouse on Palomar Mountain. Her husband, Eric, became president of Florida State University and then Penn State University, and his community service on those campuses included libraries, arts, veterans, and an arboretum.
Leaf, class of 1970, attended Oceanside and MiraCosta schools and earned a doctorate in neuropsychology. He worked with Oceanside Unified as a speech pathologist. He specializes in head trauma.
Millman-Ide, class of 1976, said last week that she focused on music at the OHS, playing flute and piccolo in concerts and marching bands. Then she moved into art and lives in Florida, where she has run her own graphic design/advertising business, is an exhibiting artist, and supports women’s arts organizations.
Kukoyi, Class of 1975, moved to Oceanside as a freshman when his father became the school district’s assistant superintendent. His career as a school psychologist spanned 41 years – 35 in Castro Valley in the Bay Area.
She said last week she was planning a five-minute acceptance speech, praising the diversity, military families brought to Oceanside High and praising specific teachers.
Kukoyi said the careful and methodical methods used by these teachers have served well all of the special needs students she has mentored over the years.
Sherman is a freelance columnist. Contact her at [email protected].
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