Former students from near and far reunite for educator's birthday
Students of longtime Newport-Mesa teacher Garlan Wetzel, who
turned 82 Friday, threw a big reunion Saturday in honor of their
favorite teacher. "Wetzel's Pretzels," as they called themselves,
picked their former educator up at his Costa Mesa home in a yellow
school bus and escorted him to a party in his honor at the Chicken
Coop, in Newport Beach.
The fourth- and fifth-grade elementary school teacher was so well
loved that nearly 40 students from his 1957-58 classes at the former
Lindbergh Elementary School in Costa Mesa came to the reunion dinner.
Some traveled from as far as North Carolina, Mississippi and Utah to
see him.
Wetzel taught in numerous Newport-Mesa schools from 1953 until his
retirement in 1983 and served as principal of the former Bayview
School by John Wayne Airport, known as Orange County Airport at the
time.
-- Lolita Harper
