VENTURA : New Pool Named for Alumni Couple

For George and Dorothy Graham, there are two passions that highlight their lives: swimming and Ventura High School.

The couple, both Ventura High alumni in their 70s, led the effort to raise funds for a new swimming pool at the campus. On Wednesday, as the pool was dedicated, they learned that it would be named for them.

“These people never stop working,” Principal Jerry Barshay told the crowd on hand for the dedication. “They are constantly raising money.”

Poolside, Dorothy Graham confided that she would like nothing better than to jump in. A swimming instructor for 40 years, she still teaches and swims three days a week, despite crippling rheumatoid arthritis.

“I love it--he just likes it,” she said, pointing to her husband, who also swims regularly.

The couple’s fund-raising efforts, which included two barbecues, have raised $16,300 to help pay for the pool’s concrete rim. The total cost of the pool was $470,000, which came mainly from Ventura Unified School District bond funds.

The original pool, built in 1953, was closed in 1990 after developing a serious leak caused by the ground shifting underneath. Construction of the new pool began last April, with California Pools the prime contractor.

The new pool is 25 meters long and is certified for competition. With nine lanes, it is larger than the old one, which had only six lanes. Instead of two diving boards, the new pool has three.

After the poolside ribbon-cutting ceremony, the school’s water polo team roared into the pool amid cheers. The school has a diving team in addition to swim teams. The Ventura Park and Recreation Department and a private swimming club also use the facilities, which have been open since the term started.

Dorothy Graham, who graduated from Ventura High School in 1937, reminisced as the pool was officially broken in.

“I did a lot of swimming in that old pool,” she said. Her daughter was on the school’s swim team during her high school years.

“This is still our school too,” she said.