Our reunions got off to a slow start ... I believe our first one was 12 years after we graduated. I’m thinking we got a late start on our 10-year reunion. Our gathering became more organized after the first one, and now we have one every year.
This year’s get-together will be Sept. 9 and 10, and we will attend the Southport-Terre Haute football game. Athletic director Pete Hubert and athletic secretary Peg Warner allow us to sit as a group at football and basketball games, and we have been recognized by the public address announcer.
For many years we have been lucky to have a former classmate, Judy Tout-Snyder, who does an amazing job tracking down members of our class.
We are missing only two of our living class members: Donald J. Hubbell and Albert P. Priller. If anyone has information on these guys, call me here at the newspaper.
Judy has assisted a few other classes in finding missing members. I have questioned her on a few occasions about her past employment. I’m thinking CIA, but she has never owned up to that.
Besides our reunions we have a monthly breakfast and lunch. The breakfast is mostly guys, and we meet at the same time and location each month. We feel the need to keep things simple.
The lunch group, which mostly ladies, jumps around to a different location each month. I attend several of these during the year. One of the gals who attends on a regular basis told me she enjoys seeing the puzzled look on the face of the waiter or waitress when they notice one guy with about 14 gals.
A few weeks ago I received a telephone call from former classmate Robert Bonar, who resides in Florida. He explained to me that he was in possession of the school newspapers from our junior and senior years at Southport.
He mailed them to me, and they are in great condition for being about 25 years old ... whoops, make that nearly 60 years old. It is interesting to read about my former classmates and those ahead and behind me.
I have posted several pictures on our class’s Facebook page. One gal, who I won’t name, claimed that she didn’t recognize herself in one of the photos. I’ll be posting several more and will have some copies on display at the reunion.