LINFIELDER JOHN PURYEAR, 1942-2023, Rest in Peace

LINFIELDER JOHN PURYEAR, Rest in Peace

FACEBOOK POSTINGS below about the death on May 25, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif., at age 81 of Linfielder John B. Puryear of Elk Grove, Calif.

He graduated from Linfield in 1969, and went on to teach and coach boys’ basketball at Pacifica High School (West Pittsburg, Calif.) and Mt. Diablo High School (Concord, Calif.)

Born 1/24/1942 (apparently) in Fayetteville, Fayette County, Tennessee, and died 5/25/2023 in South Sacramento, Calif. He was a 1964 graduate of Jefferson High School in Portland, Ore.

Nolan Mendoza on May 26, 2023, via Facebook
Bidding a sad farewell to a great man at MOUNT DIABLO HIGH SCHOOL AND PACIFICA HIGH SCHOOL.. teacher and coach, John Puryear ("J.P.").....R.I.P. MR.PURYEAR HE PASSED AWAY THIS MORNING

 

(Linfielder) Dale Newhouse on May 26, 2023, via Facebook
Proud to have been a friend and college (Linfield) partner. Excellent example of what Linfield expects of their graduates. God bless and rest in peace

Larry Hicks on May 26, 2023, via Facebook
Sad news. John Puryear, teacher and basketball coach at Pacifica and Mt. Diablo died Thursday night at Kaiser Hospital-South Sacramento. He was 81. John was even tempered and a terrific role model. He showed great patience to knuckleheads like me and along with other teacher/coaches such as Bill Matson, Charles Anderson, Sal Sino and Ron Remington were central in helping me grow as a person and athlete. He will be missed. RIP. Please share this on the Mt. Diablo page if you are a member there, too. — with Larry Estes and 15 others

Terrillynn Kopitar Costa on June 20, 2023, via Facebook
Mr Puryear's Celebration of Life 6/17/23 @ La Plazuela w Pacifica Spartans. Beautiful music, beautiful people, for a great Coach & Teacher. You are missed by many, bless your precious soul. — with Mike Costa and 2 others

 

Cheryl Seymour Gerber on June 19, 2023, via Facebook
More pictures from Saturday night at La Plazuela Restaurant for Celebration of life of John Puryear, teacher and coach at Pacifica High School, West Pittsburg, Ca. 1955-1976 and Mt Diablo High Schools! — with Mike Costa and 6 others

 

Larry Hicks on June 19, 2023, via Facebook
Nice gathering in Antioch Saturday evening to celebrate the life of John Puryear, teacher and coach at Pacifica High School, West Pittsburg, Ca. 1955-1976 and Mt. Diablo HS. Fond memories of the coach and good vibes seeing former classmates. — with Alex Dongallo and 3 others

 

NOTE: The 1950 US Census shows John B. Puryear (listed as “Johnny B. Peryear”) at age 8 in Fayette County, Tennessee, with his parents and siblings. Census says he was born in Tennessee. His father’s name was Rehobath Puryear. His mother was Betty M. Puryear. Both also born in Tennessee as were John’s siblings at the time. It’s a guess John was born in Fayetteville, Fayette County, Tennessee. Still have not figured out when the Puryears apparently moved from Tennessee to Portland, Oregon. During WWII a lot of people/families moved to Portland, Ore., and, across the Columbia River, to Vancouver, Wash. A major employment need was work in in the shipyards. However, the Puryears were in Tennessee in 1950, after the war was over. Perhaps they moved to Oregon because other family members moved there before them?

 

 

Bench honors Mac Hall on Linfield campus

Bench honors Mac Hall on Linfield campus

Story by Starla Porter, McMinnville N-R/News-Register June 30, 2023. Brothers Watson photo by Rusty Rae, McMinnville N-R/News-Register. Other photos by Wildcatville May 27, 2023.

Bricks from the walls of the venerable Mac Hall, razed to make room for Linfield University’s new science complex, were used to make a bench that memorializes the longtime men’s dorm.

People strolling along Linfield Avenue through the campus will notice the bench just behind the sign that says “W.M. Keck,” the name of the science center. 

An attached plaque tells about the history of Mac Hall, which was built and opened in 1937 to serve the growing student body. It remained a dorm for more than 60 years, then was used as the center of campus technology.

The plaque says the dorm “was named Mac Hall to honor those who helped McMinnville College (Linfield’s original name) endure, as well as the town that graciously supported the college. It was home to thousands of students and helped create lifelong memories for generations of Linfield Wildcats.”

Linfield plans to add a time capsule to the bench, as well. The bench and plaque are centerpiece to a landscaped plaza with lavender, conifer and grasses, and a pair of large picnic tables

Mac Hall was torn down in 2021 to make room for a new building that opened this February as part of the science complex. Adjacent Graf and Murdock halls were extensively remodeled in conjunction with the project.

Don Watson of McMinnville, a 1971 Linfield graduate, was part of a committee that met in the fall of 2021 to discuss whether and how to memorialize the old dorm. Members quickly decided the first question — a resounding yes, Watson said — and soon agreed on the second, a bench made from reclaimed brick.

“It’s appropriate for sure to honor Mac Hall,” Watson said, adding that he likes the look of the completed bench.

Watson has special memories of Mac Hall. He lived there in 1967 as a freshman before joining the Delta Psi Delta fraternity and moving into the frat house.

He recalled looking out his first-floor window at students playing tennis on the courts that once stood just east of Mac Hall. A math major, he also recalled stepping across the hall to ask for assistance from upperclassmen who lived there.

“Each floor had a TV room, and I remember going in there to watch,” he said, although he doesn’t recall whether it was “Star Trek” or other shows popular at the time.

Watson, who came to Linfield from Salem, isn’t the only member of his family who lived in Mac Hall. His younger brother, David, followed him and lived in the same room before graduating in 1976.

Their father also lived in Mac, moving there in 1941. He left Linfield to go to war, but returned to finish his degree afterward, graduating in 1948.

Even his mother, Thelma Adams Watson, roomed in Mac Hall. “During the war, there weren’t many fellows on campus, so it became a residence for women,” Watson explained. “Mom lived there before she graduated in 1944.”

Watson himself chose Linfield because of his parents and because of the school’s American Baptist Church affiliation. 

In addition, as a fifth-grader, he had met the late Win Dolan when the physics professor taught a star gazing class at a Baptist church camp. “Years later, I took his astronomy class at Linfield,” he said.

The only member of Watson’s immediate family who didn’t live in Mac Hall is his wife, Linda. 

They were dating while he was studying at Linfield and she was at Oregon College of Education, now Western Oregon University. “We agreed that we wouldn’t get married until one of us graduated and found a job,” he recalled.

After Linda Watson received her degree and started teaching in Amity, he said, he had to put his money where his mouth was. The newlyweds moved into an apartment at College and Cowls streets, in an old house owned by the late Elmer Fricke — one of Watson’s main professors in the math department.

Today, Watson often relives his Mac Hall and Linfield memories with friends in a men’s group at the McMinnville First Baptist Church. He said he will do the same when he visits the memorial bench on campus.

“It will be a good place to sit and ponder history,” he said.

Photo: Brothers Don and Davis Watson visit the bench memorializing Mac Hall on the Linfield University campus, where both lived as students. Their father and mother also lived in the dorm, built in 1937. Mac Hall was razed in 2021 to make room for the new building that’s part of the W.M. Keck Science Center, next to the bench. (Rusty Rae, McMinnville N-R/News-Register)

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Text on bench: One side - PRESERVING LINFIELD'S HISTORY. Obverse - MAC HALL 1937-2022. The early years of what was then called Linfield College were tenuous. A residence hall built in 1937 was named Mac Hall to the town that graciously supported the college. It was home to and create lifelong memories for generations of Linfield Wildcats.

RUTSCHMAN REUNION June 3, 2023

https://youtu.be/hJRzm5wGqsE

Honorning Gene 'Ace' Forman on his birthday in 2023 .... He was born June 22, 1944 (North Bend, Oregon)

Gene 'Ace' Forman message NOT on the Linfield Maxwell Field  jumbo scoreboard.  This was 'photoshopped.' He was born June 22, 1944 (North Bend, Oregon)