Alumnus John Iles is proud to be a graduate of PHS, class of 1964.

“I enjoyed my high school very much. I had a lot of good friends,” Iles said.

Iles recalled freshman year, when the class of 1964 won a competition against the other classes.

“When we were freshmen there was a competition to have a skit. It was done in what was the old gym, in the center of the school. We were freshmen and we beat the seniors that year. That was impressive,” Iles said.

Traditionally, the seniors won all of the competitions.

“The skits were a competition: who was going to have the most interesting [skit]… we won. We beat the seniors,” Iles said. “I think [our skit] referenced the Space Needle, I do not exactly remember. We had made a needle out of some cardboard and foil. It was a good time.”

However, the year was not entirely good.

“That was the year that John Kennedy was killed. I do not know if it affected my schooling but I will always remember where I was when I heard about it. I was leaving physics going over to the cafeteria area. Everybody was all abuzz about it,” Iles said.

One of the other classes that Iles took at PHS was typing.

“I do not know why I took typing but I did. There were plenty [of kids] in the typing class,” Iles said. “It was one of those deals where you had to have so many electives.”

The typing class that Iles took proved to be helpful later in his life.

“[When I took typing] I thought that it was ridiculous but later on it paid off because I had a little tiny bit of skill when computers came in,” Iles said. “The last 10 years of my life I had a job as a representative for the building trades and I needed to have computer or typing skills.”