Stephanie Part One

It all started around September 8^th or at least that week…the first week of school and it was in the first few hours of my senior year… I was so looking forward to all the fun that this year would bring. Nothing much ever happens in those early days of the school year except getting accustomed to the new classes and finding them if it is still the first day. It was a somewhat cool day which was unusual for September in Costa Mesa…we usually were in the midst of the Santana winds which makes it hellishly hot. Fortunately, those had not yet begun. The point of this story is that this morning I met a girl who still haunts me and always will… I later on learned her name and it was as magical as I had hoped… Stephanie Anne Shumate. She had moved down that summer with her mom and dad and two sisters from Danville, California up near San Francisco. She went to San Ramon Valley High School in the shadow of Mount Diablo…very ominous… Devil Mountain!!!! I spotted her very early before classes began that morning. She was in a group of people that I was very good friends with so seeing her and my friends in animated conversation I had to saunter over (I doubt that I did do any sauntering but it sounds good!) and stood next to a friend and cast my view on pure loveliness. 

Stephanie’s school photo from September

… taken just a couple weeks after I saw her the first time…fabulous!!!!!. 

She was born in July.. Just thought I would toss that in! So that made her a baby junior in school…meaning she would not be 17 until after the school year had passed entirely.I was mesmerized by her and her telling her story that had everyone so interested. She had a soft warm low voice that belied her obvious youth. She was talking under the part of school that was the open area for checking in at the office windows when you were late. It was like a huge carport with the second floor above acting as the roof. It was a good spot to stand when it was raining and since it was a cool autumn day everyone was wearing light jackets as I walked up. She was explaining to someone asked why she had a dark area and a mouse under her eye. It looked like she had been in a boxing match and had been punched there. She explained that she and her sister Sandy were having a fight and Sandy threw a book at her and she just didn’t duck far enough. I was spellbound of course and I never took my eyes from her until the bell rang for first period. I suppose it was only for 15 minutes at the most. I later asked Bill Dunn (who was the friend I had come to stand next to there in that group) if he knew her and he said she was in his Chemistry class. It was the first time in my life that I wish I had taken Chemistry. It was probably good I wasn’t in her class… I would have been jealous of any guy that was her lab partner and I would have made a total fool of myself had I been that fortunate soul. She was a tall (5’9”) blonde with long straight hair with dazzling blue eyes and a nice trim figure. I was absolutely in love, but I was still very shy and a partial dork. So I didn’t talk to her that day … I did make eye contact and that was good enough for me at the moment. I never did talk to her again until June or late May… Oh, I saw her often from afar and I once in a while wandered over by Bill’s class to see him and hopefully catch a glance of her as she left for her next study period. It was encouraging to see that no guys escorted her from class to class…that meant I had at least a chance.

This is Stephanie in her HiFliers Club for taller girls.

So we get to the end of the school year and my girl friend at that particular moment, Terri Weedy had backed out on an important date (Gradnite at Disneyland) and I needed a replacement. Terri was only just fourteen and a freshman (she was born in November …so she was a baby freshman! Maybe it’s that baby thing that gets me) and her parents were reluctant to have their baby spent the night with an 18 year old even if it was at a totally chaperoned date at Disneyland. I was stung and I tried to get her parents to change their minds but it was to no avail at all. So here I was getting ready for the best date possibility of my senior year and I had no date to possibility with. 

This is my favorite photo of Stephanie …she loved sweaters …so

did I…and I worked so hard to get it in the yearbook and then they put a bad caption on it so I never told her it was my doing or fault.

It said…”I can’t understand it…I rolled it so tight last night!!”

I talked and talked to John Anthes to get a copy of this too! I got one but then they add that caption

……Arggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!

Rick’s mom decided to take care of it and she asked Marianne Tankersley if she would go should she get a chance to ask me. Marianne was all for it...she would be nearer her knight in shining armor….Rick! I heard about that and I was definitely not ok with that idea at all. So I grew desperate and since I knew I would never ever get the chance again in this lifetime I decided to risk my reputation and heart and whatever else and call Stephanie. I knew approximately where she lived in Mesa Verde (why I knew that I have forgotten… I must have asked around) and looked up the last name Shumate…her dad Norris being listed thank God!!! So with shaking paws I dialed and she herself answered the phone… panic struck and it took a couple seconds before I croaked or squeaked out a hello but we talked a moment or two and she of course had no idea who I was I assume! She had to be amused that some idiot boy would call her out of the blue. Having gone that far now I knew I could do it so I popped the question and I asked her to go with me. My poor heart was beating so hard I bet my voice even sounded like it was throbbing. She agreed without being sure at all who I was. She must have looked in the yearbook while we spoke (we had just got them that week) and decided that I was normal… little did she know!!!!But the next night she called me back and said we had to meet first and get to know each other. That both scared and pleased me but it was more than fine with me … I get more time to be near her. I guess she needed that huge roadblock and a test to see how badly I really wanted to go out with her. I am not sure… no girl before or since has ever had me do a test like that. The test was for our first meeting we should all get together as a group…all her thousands of girl friends and my small group of select but terrorized by girls… friends of mine. Actually the numbers were closer than that but when she called and told me to find dates for her friends I was panic stricken. Had it not been a girl I worshiped the whole year from a good distance I would of course told her there is no way I will put any friend of mine through that kind of idea. So, I was scrambling like mad to get some friends to come down to the beach with us. I got Bill Dunn, John Forgie, (God, what great buddies they were to do this for me!) and their brothers and a couple other guys who were just as flummoxed by girls as they were! But I begged and begged and even offered to pay them all and finally they agreed to come and keep the other girls company. These other girls were muy caliente as well so that may have caused the guys consternation as well.

I proposed we all meet at my grandmother’s beach cottage on 24^th Street…very small and cramped so maybe I could get Stephanie to walk a bit with me. We got there and then I actually did get to take a walk with Stephanie along the beach. We walked from the street where my grandmother lived down the sidewalks…called a boardwalk even though not a scrap of lumber was involved… to the pier and out on the pier and then very slowly back. On the way back some drunken lout was weaving down the sidewalk towards 

us. I felt very protective towards Stephanie so I pulled her around to the safer side away from him. He came up to me and was semi-coherent asking where we were going. I talked to him as calmly as I could since I wasn’t very sure of things…and I was an 18 year old kid trying to impress a 16 year old goddess. He did calm down and went on his way but Stephanie was directly behind me with her hands around my arms peering at him over my shoulder. This made the whole thing more than worthwhile and I did feel very good about being protective towards her…it was better than running off just ‘cuz the guy looked weird. We continued on back and she just was very sweet to me and it was just wonderful, for me anyway. Anyway she was not turned off so much to say she couldn’t go so I must have been at least better than a slug! We talked on the phone regularly until the time to go on Thursday June 17^th…the day I graduated from high school.