Lois McVicar Forsyth Aasen, BHS 1932

Lois McVicar Forsyth Aasen, BHS 1932

Published in the Billings Gazette, Billings, Montana, January 1981

Lois "Butchie" Aasen

GLENDIVE -  Lois "Butchie" Aasen, 65, moved to Glendive in 1952 where she and her husband owned and operated the Glendive Flying Service. Following her husband's death in 1964, she continued to operate the service until 1968 when she married Darrell R. Aasen.

Mrs. Aasen and her husband owned and operated the Aasen Lake View Cabins in Fort Peck. Mr. Aasen died in 1978 and she died Wednesday January 14, 1981 in Powell, Wyoming.

Born in Burbank, California, she was a daughter of Duncan and Helen Forsyth. She graduated from Burbank High School in 1932 and in 1943 married Arthur W. Soare.

Survivors include two sons, Malcolm H. Soare of Powell and Duncan B. Soare of Glendive; her mother-in-law, Marie Soare of the family home; three sisters, Mrs. Jean Parker of Florida, Mrs. Marian Pitkin of Laguna Niguel, California and Mrs. Barbara Tone of Burbank, California; and four grandchildren.

Services will be 2 p.m. Saturday in Zion Lutheran Church. Burial will be in Dawson Memorial Park with Silvernale Mortuary in charge.

Virginia Dare Roberts Dussault, BHS 1932?

Virginia (Dittie) Dussault died at the Aegis Assisted Living facility in Laguna Niguel on March 8 of complications due to Alzheimer's Disease. She was born on August 6, 1915 in Norfolk, Virginia and moved to Burbank when she was eight years old. She attended Burbank High School where she met Robert W. Dussault who she married on April 23, 1933 in Santa Ana. 

During the war, they made their first home in Arcadia, California, and Robert went to work for the Pasadena Post Office until his retirement as Assistant Post Master in 1971. Virginia was employed as one of the artists at Gladding McBean painting the Franciscan Apple Ware and Desert Rose design on their china. After moving back to Burbank, she was employed at Lockheed Aircraft until 1958. She pursued her hobbies of painting and gardening, and they spent weekends at their vacation home in Crestline, California. 

Upon Robert's retirement, they sold their Burbank home and moved to the mountains. They spent their retirement years traveling with their boat and camper around California and Arizona. They also belonged to the Crestline Couples Dance club, and loved to play cards with their friends. Upon Bob's death in 1978, Virginia moved to the Laguna Hills Leisure World and became a cruise ship devotee traveling to Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico with her "Our Gang" travel club. She remained in Leisure World until March, 2004 when her family had to move her to the assisted living facility. 

She had one daughter, Irene Grangetto Stagg, who passed away of cancer in Sausalito, California in March of 1994 and is survived by her daughter, Judith Kay Mittelman, granddaughter, Peggy Jo Grangetto, grandson, Arlan Stagg, and great-granddaughter Summer Irene Stagg. Services will be held Saturday, March 19 at the Faith Chapel at Hollywood Hills Forest Lawn Memorial Park at 12:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association of Orange County.

Published in Orange County Register on March 18, 2005.

Ruth Lois Bayon Casper, BHS 1932

This is from The Senior Bulldog Newsletter that Ruth Lois Bayon Casper passed away on August 2, 2018 at age of 104 and half years old. She is survived by at least one daughter, Sue Reynolds. Her daughter Sue said Ruth enjoyed her time as a Bulldog at Burbank High School. No other details at this time.

Ellen Joanne Lively Kettering, BHS 1932

ELLEN JOANNE KETTERING Age 89, died February 14, 2004. A resident of Burbank for 80 years. Ms. Kettering is survived by her sister, Jane L. Teague; brother, Walter A. Lively; son, Tom Kettering; and grandchildren, Keith Kettering and Kathy Irwin. 

Funeral Services were held Saturday, February 21, 2004, 11:00 a.m., at First Baptist Church of Pasadena. Interment was held at Grand View Memorial Park. ECKERMAN-HEISMAN FUNERAL SERVICE Directors 818-846-2131

Published in Los Angeles Daily News on Feb. 24, 2004

Alton “Longbow” Safford, BHS 1932?

Alton “Longbow” Safford, BHS 1932?


WWII Veteran, Educator, Outdoorsman

1914 - 2011

Alton “Longbow” Safford, long-time Wrightwood Resident, died peacefully in his home on December 21, 2011, having just turned 97. He was known throughout the West as an expert in Indian craft, primitive archery, flint-knapping and tanning in particular. He was also an expert marksman, fly-fisherman and a tireless hiker of the High Sierras.

Alton was born where his father, Lee Ashton Safford, worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Toppenish Reservation near Yakima, Washington, on December 6, 1914. His mother, Alice Agnes Lugton, was born in Magdalena, U.S. Territory of New Mexico. As a child he learned to make Indian bows and arrows and to brain-tan deer hides, lessons he never forgot. Indians from all over the west lived there; Sioux, Arapaho, Utes and Cheyenne. He watched Indian women brain-tan buckskin and men make their small plains-style flat bows. They taught him to shoot when he was six and he made his first bow, of willow, when he was eight. He learned to make his own moccasins and baskets.

Alton’s parents were told by a doctor that Alton and his brother, Lee, were not thriving as they should be because of the damp climate, so the family moved to Greater Los Angeles. Alton joined the local Boy Scouts and attained Eagle Scout rank. While in high school in Burbank he and his brother sneaked off to Catalina Island and shot a buffalo with their handmade bows and arrows. They were eventually caught and paid a penalty.

Alston graduated from high school during the Great Depression and among other jobs, he cleared trails in the Civilian Conservation Corps (Roosevelt’s CCC), worked in a junk yard, as a “grease monkey” in a garage, on oil rigs, in mines, and for the railroad. One job that stands out was his co-ownership of an archery shop in Hollywood, where he became well-acquainted with all the great Southern California archers of the time, such as Howard Hill, Captain Jack Hoefer, Frank Garske, and his close friends Hugh Rich, Howard Mathisen and Fred Bear. He recalled great camaraderie with this group, as they hunted deer in the California foothills with their self-made 100-pound bows and broadheads. Also, because he had a tuxedo and could work as an usher in theaters, symphony halls, and other venues for live performances, his life became enriched by this education in drama and all kinds of music.

In 1937, influenced by his reading of Ernest Hemingway, Alton traveled to Spain in support of the Loyalist democracy against Franco’s fascist opposition. He drilled troops with wooden machine guns, expecting a shipment of arms to arrive from the Soviet Union. The arms never came. When Barcelona fell, he and others hiked over the Pyrenees to France, where he was arrested and deported back to the United States.

Having taken some machine shop courses in high school, he was able to get a job with Lockheed as the country geared up for World War II, working on Lockheed P-38 Lightnings. At that time he met and married his first wife, Margaret Blankenship. He was promoted to Senior Machine Parts Inspector. In 1943 he was drafted even though he was then 29 years old and working in the defense industry.

In the Army Alton was first posted to England with the 9th Air Corps but in June,1944 went ashore at Omaha Beach, Normandy, landing on D-Day + 17. As the best shot in his outfit, for a time the Army made him a sniper. He once said it was a strange duty because he always felt that when he was aiming, the enemy sniper was probably sighting him. He worked across France preparing advance air field bases, was in Paris for its liberation, was witness to de Gaulle’s triumphant return, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war he ushered at the Nuremburg Trials before coming home.

Back in California, Alton returned to work at Lockheed and became the father of two children, John and Jeanne Safford. Laid off for lack of production, he decided to use his G.I. Bill to get a higher education at nearby Occidental College. He earned a B.A. degree in education and taught 5th grade for about 8 years while working on his M.A. degree.

Divorced, Alton met his second wife, Juliana Brailovsky in Eagle Rock. They lived and taught in Ojai briefly before returning to Los Angeles where he administered academic tests for the Palos Verdes school district. Alton entered the doctoral program at USC and earned his degree in Education in 1965 at age 51. From his second marriage he now had three more children, Monique, Kimberly and Tony Safford. For the rest of his career he worked for the County of Santa Barbara as head of its Special Education department. Always an unusually good listener, he also used his skills and education as a practicing educational psychologist. Divorced, he met his third wife, Miriam Sacks Coker, a local Santa Barbara educator. They remained together for the rest of his life.

Since his father had died of a stroke at age 54, Alton decided to retire at age 63. He and Miriam moved to Wrightwood in 1977 where he continued with a limited practice for a few years. It was here for the next 34 years that he flourished, passing on the old ways of bow- and arrow-making, bone work, tanning, and hunting to whoever would listen and work with him. Alton found a group of wonderful friends and students at the annual Wrightwood Flintknapping Rendezvous, which drew Indian-lore aficionados from all over the West. Alton attended the first California Flintknapping Rendezvous in 1983 set up by Ray Harwood at California State University at Northridge. Subsequent Wrightwood Flintknapping Rendezvous were held at Jackson Lake, Camp Guffey, and Indian Hills Ranch. He participated in archer shoots across the state and particularly enjoyed the annual Mountain Men Rendezvous in the southern Rockies. He was known as “Longbow” among flintknapping friends and collected a room full of rare and significant Indian artifacts.

Alton was active until the very end, continuing to hike and camp and even renewing his driver’s license for two more years late in 2011. He had many circles of friends, including the Saturday and Monday Hiking Groups, the flintknapping friends, the Thursday Breakfast Group, the First Friday Reading Group (where his wide knowledge and expansive reading were particularly appreciated), ex-students and clients, and hundreds of people with whom he corresponded. A memorial was held for him on Wednesday, December 28, at the home of Ed and Phyllis Gallagher. Half of Alton’s ashes were interred at the Riverside National Cemetery with full military honors on January 13, 2011. His friends and family plan a spring flintknapping memorial and will also scatter his remaining ashes in the High Sierras as soon as weather allows.

Alton is survived by his wife, Miriam; his son and daughter from his first marriage, John and Jeanne Safford; and former wife Juliana and his children from that marriage; Monique, Kimberly and Tony Safford. He is also survived by five grandchildren, Joseph David Safford, Janet Arlene Safford, Miles Jameson Safford, Sophia Rose Mindas, Benjamin Jacob Safford and one great-grandchild, Benjamin David Safford.

Alton Safford–, one of a kind.

Mountaineer Progress Newspaper, December 2011

Egbert Edwin "Ed" Sieckert, BHS 1932

Egbert Edwin "Ed" Sieckert, BHS 1932 
(1914 - 2011)



Ed Sieckert of Murphys, CA, passed away peacefully in Lodi, on September 17, 2011, at the age of 97. He was born in Rialto, CA, to Edwin and Marcia Sieckert on June 18, 1914. The family later moved to Burbank where Ed graduated from Burbank High School in 1932. After graduation he attended Los Angeles Trade Technical School where he majored in art and sign writing. On April 5,1941, Ed married Elsie Dort and they made their home in Burbank.

Ed joined the sign department at Lockheed Aircraft Company where he worked through the war years. After the war he co-founded Burbank Sign Company with partner Cliff Sundstrom. The business flourished and served numerous commercial firms in the Burbank/Glendale area for 15 years. Ed then left the partnership to work at Universal Studios and later Columbia, MGM, and Disney Studios until he retired in 1972.

Ed and Elsie then moved to the historic mining town of Murphys to enjoy the beautiful forest and the slower pace of life. In retirement he and Elsie enjoyed traveling in the U.S. and collecting, refinishing, and selling Victorian era antiques. Ed was also a member of the Philatelic Society and a stamp collector for over 75 years. In 1991, Ed and Elsie celebrated 50 years of marriage. Elsie passed away a month later. In 2009, Ed moved to Lodi to be closer to family and became a resident of Chancellor Place.


He was pre-deceased by his parents, his wife Elsie and his sisters Mary Sterling and Nancy Stapleton. He is survived by his only child Ed Sieckert (Kathy) of Lodi, grandson Scott Sieckert (Shannon) of San Mateo, granddaughter Erika Honsinger (Justin) of San Diego and 1 great-granddaughter Bridgette of San Mateo. He is also survived by a brother Harvey Sieckert of Lancaster, CA, and a brother Bob Sieckert of Boise, Idaho. He will be missed by all whom knew him. There will be no service at his request.


Published in Lodi News-Sentinel from September 24 to October 1, 2011

Roger Louis Olson, BHS 1932

Roger Louis Olson, BHS 1932

Burbank Leader, Wednesday, August 31, 2003

Roger Louis Olson, 89, of Burbank, California, son of the late Louis and Anna Johanson Olson, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, August 19, 2003.

Roger was born June 20, 1914 in Burbank and lived his entire life there. His father, who came to Burbank from Sweden in 1889, was the first blacksmith and the first Fire Chief in Burbank.

Roger was a graduate of Burbank High School and UCLA, receiving a B.S. in Chemical Engineering on February 2, 1936. He did graduate work at USC, joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity on May 17, 1935 and was a life-long supporter of UCLA Alumni Association. Roger worked for over 42 years at both Goodyear during WWII and later Emery Industries (currently Henkel). On June 1, 1940 he was united in marriage to Thelma Hoist Olson. They were both life-long members of First Presbyterian Church of Burbank.

Roger was an avid deep-sea fisherman, tennis player and photographer. He belonged to the American Chemical Society and was the local Southern California Chapter President. He was a Master Mason and a former Master of Burbank Lodge #406 F. & A.M., Secretary of the lodge for 10 years as well as an Officer's Coach, a member of Al Malaikah Shrine of Los Angeles and a member of the Burbank/Glendale Shrine Club. He and Thelma entertained the Shriner's Club for their annual 4th of July party in their backyard for 14 years.

Roger is survived by Thelma Hoist Olson, his wife of 63 years; daughters Anna Bania of Connecticut and Karin Mather of Arizona; three grandchildren; and four great-granddaughters. His two brothers Elmer and Victor Olson preceded him in death.

Graveside services were held at Grand View Memorial Park in Glendale, California on August 22, 2003 with Eckerman-Heisman Funeral Services in charge. Dr. Gary Alan Dickey officiated. Don Holbert performed the Masonic gravside service with fellow Masons.