Several weeks ago our class of 1956 had our 62nd
class reunion, and it was one of the best I ever attended. Because of the age
of our class members, we decided to have another one next year instead of
waiting two years or more because already 18 of our seventy class members have
died and some others are in nursing homes.
As we did two years ago we again met in Jeannine
Beagle Morris’s home where she and her husband had it two years ago. They fixed
some food and others of us also brought something to eat. Jeannine had put out
four albums with class pictures on a card table for us to browse through that
had graduation pictures as well as pictures from prior reunions.
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| Jeannine is standing next to her husband. |
There were a little less than twenty people there. I
lost count because some were classmates and some were spouses. When you very
rarely see these people it’s hard to recognize them. Some I knew right away and
others who may not have come to a class reunion for some time I wasn’t sure if
it was a class member or someone’s spouse.
Because it was the Friday before Labor Day, Jeanne
had decorated the tables a little for this holiday with red, white and blue
center pieces as well as American flags. She had set up a large round table in
the kitchen and a long table in was the dining room or a section of the living
room which was el shaped. There were ten people sitting at that table where I
sat.
We had lively conversations getting reacquainted. After we were filled
with food we took our plates out to the kitchen where Jeannine’s husband Karl
rinsed them off and put them in the dish washer while the rest of us went out
to sit in the longer section of the living room. She put some chairs up there
in a row and three men sat on a couch there and some people sat in chairs and
others lined up behind us while Jeannine took pictures and others sort of sat in
other places.
Then Jeannine had a contest where she asked
questions about our class such as “What was our class color?” Only one person
guessed correctly that it was pink and white, and it wasn’t me. “Class flower?”
Someone guessed carnation which was right, but I didn’t remember that. She
asked other questions, too, like who was the principal? Who was the school
superintendent? Which teachers taught what? Etc. Everyone who got a correct
answer got a small bag of candies.
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| The man on the left is Ralph Hoover, |
This was the highlight of our evening. If only
someone had recorded all of us singing. Ralph Hoover, a very large man, who sat
on the couch close by had the most gorgeous singing voice. I’m sure there were a
few who didn’t put their all into it, but they were few. After we finished with
those songs someone suggested Christmas songs and that Jeannine play her organ,
too. So she played a few Christmas songs before we called it a night. It was before
we left that we all decided to have another class reunion next year instead of
putting it off for two years and having it at Jeannine’s house again. So many
of our members didn’t come because either they lived out-of-state or they never
had any interest in coming. And some of them we have no idea where they live so
Jeannine couldn’t contact them. Still there were some who came from
out-of-state this year, too.
Do you go to your class reunions?
If you don’t, why not?
If you do, do you enjoy them?
