Reunion honors Harbor View Elementary Class of ’67’s favorite teacher

A group of former Harbor View Elementary School students honored their beloved fifth-grade teacher, Marilyn Conrath, last Saturday, almost 58 years after leaving the Corona del Mar campus.

About a dozen of the 33-member class attended a reunion and belated celebration of Conrath’s birthday held at El Adobe restaurant in San Juan Capistrano. She turned 89 on Dec. 19 and said she was both surprised and deeply appreciative of the effort put into arranging the event.

“For me it was so very special,” said Conrath. “The kids worked hard to have a good party and they succeeded. And I’m pleased and proud of them that they would be doing something like that.”

Miss Conrath, center, surrounded by 11 of her 1966 fifth-grade Harbor View Elementary School students.

(Cathy Sevel)

Conrath, sporting a smart fuchsia coat and matching floral top, gasped and pointed as waiters lit a pair of candles atop a cake she shared with her students at the gathering. Some hadn’t seen their former teacher since they were 11 years old.

They spent the afternoon lost in conversation together, learning about where life took each of them after finishing their education. Many of the former classmates had started families, embarked on careers and moved to cities across Southern California and beyond.

“I’d be interested to know about work, school, marriages, children, hobbies,” Conrath said. “It was really very interesting for everybody. This is just what I wanted to do.”

Conrath recalled the Class of ’67 as “good kids” who were “kind, considerate, most always so friendly and kind to one another.”

“She means more to us than any other teacher I’ve ever had,” said Cathy Sevel, a former student who now lives in San Diego and played a key role in organizing the reunion. “[For] young children she made learning come alive with creativity and fun and willingness for hands-on projects in the classroom and with many field trips. Kids were everything to her, she really cared about her students.”

Harbor View Elementary School’s fifth-grade class of 1966-67.

(File Photo)

One of her former students, Kevin Spangler, now lives in Menifee. He said he reconnected with Miss Conrath during a class reunion in 2010 and they have stayed in touch since then, exchanging emails several times a week.

“I’m in constant contact with her,” Spangler said. “She has such a good and sometimes screwy sense of humor, which I do too, so we both play off each other.”

Spangler said Conrath is a “car guy” like himself. He recalled picking her up at her home in Laguna Beach and taking her for a long ride. They cruised through Corona Del Mar, Irvine and San Juan Capistrano before catching lunch in Dana Point, and then went back up the coast through Laguna Beach.

“We were listening to ’50s rock ‘n’ roll the whole time. Miss Conrath kept telling me [about the songs], ‘I remember this one. Oh! this is a good one. I like this one.’ ... Chuck Berry & Buddy Holly sound so much better in a ’57 Chevy.

“She came to California in a brand-new ’64½ Mustang convertible,” Spangler added. “I got to ride in it once in 1967. She still talks about it and misses the car.”