Shane Taper by Rachel Turcott
Shane Kenneth Tapert (student in early 80s)
Shane was born in Everett, WA on August 14th, 1967. His parents divorced when he was two. He and his brother Mark have the same dad, but his other brother Zak has a different dad than them. Shane bounced between living with his mom and dad throughout High School in about six to eight different places in Everett, Marysville, and Arlington. Presently, he lives in Snohomish. He has been married to his high school sweetheart, Susan Hansen, for twenty-three years. They have three kids, Ryan (23), Rachel (19), and Rebecca (15). He owns and operates a commercial general contracting firm, Kirtley-Cole Association.
Life at Cascade High School was quite memorable for Shane. He distinctly remembers the different trends and technologies during his high school years.
The popular trends when I was in high school included being a jock, preppy, new wave/punk, Michael Jackson and Madonna, dance/hip hop/break dancing, hair/glam metal, feathered black hair, and lots of bold colors, prints, stripes. The fashion trends that influenced me generally followed my musical taste. In my freshman and sophomore years I was into rock and “hair/glam metal,” therefore a black jacket was a must. In my sophomore and junior year, the “new wave/European” fad was in, including influences from Michael Jackson and Madonna; hence “Dancewear” was popular. As I moved into my junior and senior year, a more mature “preppy” look was popular. This included skinny ties, izod shirts, member’s only jackets, denim jackets, and swatch watches. The only thing I never dared to try was punk/new wave, but I did just about all the rest of it. The new technologies that were becoming popular among high school students were the Walkman, and digital watches. I got both of them.
Shane lists many different artists that were popular around his time, and remembers which his favorites were. He also included how music has affected his life.
The kinds of music that were the most popular were European music like Duran Duran and Culture Club, Rock music such as AC/DC, Rush, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Scorpions, and Bon Jovi, and Pop music like Michael Jackson, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, The Police, Phil Collins, and Journey. How music played a big role in my life was because I came from a musical family. My Dad played drums, my grandma was a big band singer, and I had aunts and uncles who were in rock bands. Being that I was from a divorced family, and did not have much stability, music became a way to “time stamp” my life. I was introduced to Jazz in HS by Ken Kranitz and Dave Cross. Music was emotional to me, I could understand it, so I could connect to it. It became part of my identity. It defined my personality, who I was, and where I was at in my life at any certain time. It influenced me.
Activities for high school students then were not too different than what teenagers today do, and many timeless movies came out during that time.
Activities popular outside of school included dancing, roller-skating, movies, and video arcades.
Hit movies that came out during my time included movies like Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars), Back to the Future, 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing, Footloose, Superman, or The Terminator. High school students connected with Back to the Future, Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing, Footloose, and 16 Candles because they featured “teens” dancing and included romance.
When asked about world events, Shane remembered many of them that affected him and others.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan became the 40th president, Mount St. Helens erupted and John Lennon died. In 1981, Pope John Paul the second was shot, Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married, Muhammad Ali retired from boxing, Bob Marley died, and the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. In 1982, M*A*S*H* ended after 251 episodes, and Karen Carpenter died. In 1984, Los Angeles hosted the Olympic Games, MTV started, and Marvin Gaye and Count Basie died. In 1985, the Live Aid Rock Concert raised over $600 million dollars for African famine relief, and Orson Welles and Rock Hudson died.
Some of the events that personally affected me were President Reagan, Mt. St. Helens, and John Lennon. President Reagan was like Obama today. He was the first president that I was really aware of. I didn’t five the presidency much thought before HS. I had an understanding that he was different, and things were changing. His assassination attempt made me think. Mt. St. Helens was another significant event. I remember the day Mt. St. Helens erupted. I was playing all-star baseball. We could see it from the field. I didn’t understand the significance until many days later. John Lennon’s death affected people like Michael Jackson did. It affected everyone. I grew up with the Beatles and John’s music was still relevant to me.
Shane’s high school experience is quite memorable to him.
The thing I will remember most about my high school experience is that I met and fell in love with Susan Hansen, had a handful of special friends, pride for CHS, doing music particularly in the Del Sonics, and Dave Cross.
Shane was born in Everett, WA on August 14th, 1967. His parents divorced when he was two. He and his brother Mark have the same dad, but his other brother Zak has a different dad than them. Shane bounced between living with his mom and dad throughout High School in about six to eight different places in Everett, Marysville, and Arlington. Presently, he lives in Snohomish. He has been married to his high school sweetheart, Susan Hansen, for twenty-three years. They have three kids, Ryan (23), Rachel (19), and Rebecca (15). He owns and operates a commercial general contracting firm, Kirtley-Cole Association.
Life at Cascade High School was quite memorable for Shane. He distinctly remembers the different trends and technologies during his high school years.
The popular trends when I was in high school included being a jock, preppy, new wave/punk, Michael Jackson and Madonna, dance/hip hop/break dancing, hair/glam metal, feathered black hair, and lots of bold colors, prints, stripes. The fashion trends that influenced me generally followed my musical taste. In my freshman and sophomore years I was into rock and “hair/glam metal,” therefore a black jacket was a must. In my sophomore and junior year, the “new wave/European” fad was in, including influences from Michael Jackson and Madonna; hence “Dancewear” was popular. As I moved into my junior and senior year, a more mature “preppy” look was popular. This included skinny ties, izod shirts, member’s only jackets, denim jackets, and swatch watches. The only thing I never dared to try was punk/new wave, but I did just about all the rest of it. The new technologies that were becoming popular among high school students were the Walkman, and digital watches. I got both of them.
Shane lists many different artists that were popular around his time, and remembers which his favorites were. He also included how music has affected his life.
The kinds of music that were the most popular were European music like Duran Duran and Culture Club, Rock music such as AC/DC, Rush, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Scorpions, and Bon Jovi, and Pop music like Michael Jackson, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, The Police, Phil Collins, and Journey. How music played a big role in my life was because I came from a musical family. My Dad played drums, my grandma was a big band singer, and I had aunts and uncles who were in rock bands. Being that I was from a divorced family, and did not have much stability, music became a way to “time stamp” my life. I was introduced to Jazz in HS by Ken Kranitz and Dave Cross. Music was emotional to me, I could understand it, so I could connect to it. It became part of my identity. It defined my personality, who I was, and where I was at in my life at any certain time. It influenced me.
Activities for high school students then were not too different than what teenagers today do, and many timeless movies came out during that time.
Activities popular outside of school included dancing, roller-skating, movies, and video arcades.
Hit movies that came out during my time included movies like Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars), Back to the Future, 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing, Footloose, Superman, or The Terminator. High school students connected with Back to the Future, Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing, Footloose, and 16 Candles because they featured “teens” dancing and included romance.
When asked about world events, Shane remembered many of them that affected him and others.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan became the 40th president, Mount St. Helens erupted and John Lennon died. In 1981, Pope John Paul the second was shot, Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married, Muhammad Ali retired from boxing, Bob Marley died, and the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. In 1982, M*A*S*H* ended after 251 episodes, and Karen Carpenter died. In 1984, Los Angeles hosted the Olympic Games, MTV started, and Marvin Gaye and Count Basie died. In 1985, the Live Aid Rock Concert raised over $600 million dollars for African famine relief, and Orson Welles and Rock Hudson died.
Some of the events that personally affected me were President Reagan, Mt. St. Helens, and John Lennon. President Reagan was like Obama today. He was the first president that I was really aware of. I didn’t five the presidency much thought before HS. I had an understanding that he was different, and things were changing. His assassination attempt made me think. Mt. St. Helens was another significant event. I remember the day Mt. St. Helens erupted. I was playing all-star baseball. We could see it from the field. I didn’t understand the significance until many days later. John Lennon’s death affected people like Michael Jackson did. It affected everyone. I grew up with the Beatles and John’s music was still relevant to me.
Shane’s high school experience is quite memorable to him.
The thing I will remember most about my high school experience is that I met and fell in love with Susan Hansen, had a handful of special friends, pride for CHS, doing music particularly in the Del Sonics, and Dave Cross.