1955 Photo of Phil Clites 1999 Photo of Mr. Clites

Mr. Philip Clites

University of Wisconsin, B.S., M.E.
University of Oregon, Extension
Photo Club
Triple "S"
Advanced Algebra
Trigonometry
Algebra
Physics
Chemistry
Phil Clites
321 N.James St.
Silverton, OR 97381

Dear Class of '55,

I left (graduated from) Silverton High School in 1957, having taught a total of 10 years. Raggie and I continued to live in Silverton (same old place on James Street across from the high school) while I worked at the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Albany, OR. One reason for staying in Silverton was to raise our three children here. They now have families of their own: Jenny Morgan, living in Silverton, Julie Johnson in Wilsonville, and David in Alexandria, VA. We have seven grandchildren.

While at the Bureau, I work as an engineer conducting research in the field of vacuum metallurgy, specifically research related to the melting and casting of reactive metals such as titanium and zirconium. I worked there until retirement in 1984. Now that I am retired, I keep busy gardening, woodworking, bee keeping, and in general trying to keep out of trouble. For the past ten years I have been a volunteer math tutor at the high school. During most of the school year, I spend Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 7:00 to 8:00 trying to keep at least two pages ahead of the students. What a time to be studying math! We also have studewnts at the house after school and evenings when they get desperate. It has been interesting to see how the math program in high school has changed since your time. Now they are involved in graphing calculators, logic, statistics, matrices, and lots of things we didn't cover.

Silverton is changing rapidly, with the influx of new people, the new gardens, and lots of new building. We continue to fight "progress" at our place on James Street where we have two acres with a large garden, lots of fruit and nut trees, and more grass to mow than I like. Our location hasn't changed and isn't likely to in the near future, so drop in to visit when you are in town.

Phil Clites

Algebra and Trig. Class in 1955
1955 Photo of Phil Clites teaching algebra and trigonometry
Mr. Clites at work

Photo Club in 1955
1955 Photo of Phil Clites in Photo Club
Mr. Clites in his less formal role

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Updated: June 28, 2000 by David A. Nelson   (Fox'55 WebMaster)
URL: http://www.sunrisesheep.com/Fox55/InfoFiles/IFclites.htm   (Silverton Union High School Class of 1955)