KAET Arizona Memories from the '50s

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Look for these nice folks in Arizona Memories from the '50s.

Charles R. Allen is recognized nationally as an innovative public television executive. The native Arizonan became general manager of KAET in 1987. Allen has served as a member of the PBS Board of Directors and its Executive Committee and as a trustee of Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunications.

William Adler arrived in Phoenix in 1953 with his parents and three younger brothers. They made the trip from Clarksburg, W.V. in a 1948 Buick, towing a trailer. When Adler enrolled at Arizona State it was a college; when he graduated, it was a university.

Lloyd Clark has lived in Arizona since 1948. He was a newspaper reporter and public administrator in Prescott, Flagstaff, Bisbee and Phoenix. For the past four years, he has written a weekly column for the Daily News Sun in Sun City.

Anne Coe, a fourth-generation Arizonan, was raised on a ranch where she developed a deep love and respect for the desert. She has been a professional painter for more than 20 years, successfully combining art with her involvement in environmental activism.

Jannelle Warren Findley, a native Arizonan, is an associate professor of history at Arizona State University with a specialty in 20th century American history. She served as president of the National Council on Public History from 1998-1999.

Phoenix attorney Grady Gammage, Jr., a native Arizonan, consults with cities about development regulation and is the author of numerous articles on land use and growth issues. He is an adjunct professor at Arizona State University where he teaches classes on land use regulation and historic preservation planning.

Robert W. Goldwater comes from pioneer stock. His father was the Valley’s leading merchant and his mother was the territory’s only registered nurse. He has been a successful businessman, a civic leader and a championship golfer who was instrumental in bringing the Western Open to Phoenix.

Scottsdale native Jo Ann Handley became involved with the Scottsdale Historical Society in 1974 when the fledgling group was working to save the Little Red Schoolhouse, which it now operates as a museum.

Broadway actress Ann Lee Harris built and operated the Sombrero Playhouse in Phoenix from 1947 to 1956. Though she married and moved to California for several years, she returned to the Valley and opened Harris’ Restaurant in 1996.

Irene Hormell, a bilingual school speech pathologist assistant, was born and raised in one of the Tempe barrios and graduated from Tempe High School. Though she lived in Florida for many years, she returned to Tempe, which she always considered her home.

Edward "Bud" Jacobson came to Arizona 55 years ago for health reasons. For 49 of those years he has been a member of the law firm of Snell & Wilmer. His avocation has been the arts, and he has served on the boards of the Heard Museum, the Phoenix Art Museum and the State Arts Commission.

Delbert R. Lewis was one of the founders of KTVK TV-3, the flagship of a media organization that was family owned until this year. Raised in Florence, Ariz., he and his wife, Jewell, have been honored by dozens of civic organizations and were recognized as "Historymakers" of Arizona in 1997 by the Arizona Historical Society.

In 1947, WW II veteranJohn F. Long came to Phoenix to build a house for his new bride. Since then, he has built more than 30,000 homes and master planned communities with provisions for schools, parks and other facilities. Many of the new construction methods he developed have been adopted by builders and engineers all over the world.

Arleen Morckel's, first husband was a WWII veteran whose injuries made the Michigan winters difficult to negotiate. They came to Arizona in 1953 with their two children and a U-Haul and settled in Mesa, where she has lived ever since.

Emily Ragsdale is a nature lover, a licensed pilot and a motivational speaker. A fourth generation funeral director, she manages the family’s Universal Memorial Centers in the Valley with her brother, Lincoln Ragsdale, Jr.

John J. Rhodes II represented Arizona’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1953 and served until 1983. He was the House Minority Leader from 1973-1981.

Marshall Trimble , Director of Southwest Studies with Maricopa Community Colleges, is an award-winning author who has written more than 15 books about Arizona. An Arizona native, he is also an entertainer, storyteller and cowboy poet who is one of America’s most popular speakers on Arizona and the Southwest.

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