My new/old friend Julius

By

Gerry Niskern

“Make new friends, but keep the old,

One is silver, the other gold.”

(an old traditional Girl Scout Song)

I met Julian Reveles six years ago at the Annual Phoenix Union High School picnic. He was the very talented MC every year. Then later, we ran into each other at A Js.

We both had been going there almost every morning but had never met. He always worked at a particular table. He was writing a memoir about his life growing up in Phoenix. I was sitting  at the other end of the outdoor patio working on my newspaper column.

That all changed because we both loved to talk, a lot. Because we both grew up here, over the next few years we had many good natured arguments about the location of certain buildings, “back then”. I claimed to be right because I  was three years older. He never conceded.

We both remembered how much fun the  rodeo parades  down Central Ave in April were. We compared the three five and dime stores, Newberrys, Kresses, and Woolworths. We both experienced the excitement  of the giant Christmas tree the City of Phoenix erected every year in the center of Central and Washington streets.

Saturday movies were a common bond; I mentioned the Strand and Rialto and he remembered going to the Romona and others. We compared different teachers at Phoenix Union and the separate  experiences we had at the high school. One topic led to another and each conversation was really “to be continued.”

Julian told me about his work in broadcasting. He spoke of interviewing Ted Kennedy once. In later years when I knew him,  he was giving lectures about Movies, Latino culture and Arizona history. I heard him speak once  at a meeting of the First Family organization. He was a member also and told many  humorous stories of his large extended family.

Julian is gone now and everyone will miss talking with him and I will too.

I wasn’t finished.