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View Full Version : How many attend their HS reunions???



mark page
08-19-2008, 11:14 PM
I just got emailed that my 30yr HS reunion is about to take place. Starting to make me feel old. Unfortunately I have missed all of them to date because of business reasons or residence reasons. I'd kinda like to at least attend one to "check out" all the balding fella's, pot bellies, beer guts, gray hair, flabby butt's, whoa you were a cheerleader once!!!!!, damn you do look like your mother, glad I didn't marry you!!!!, how many kids??? how many divorces???, plus all the good stuff they can say about me, but again, business beckons and I will be away for the 30th. Damn the bad luck!!!!

Ken Fitzgerald
08-19-2008, 11:30 PM
Mark...for life reasons......job, place of residence, kids etc., I didn't go until my 30th and last year I attended my 40th. It was surprisingly enjoyable. I met my wife 160 miles away the year following HS graduation and I wanted my classmates to meet her. She went last year with me to my 40th and she enjoyed it.

BTW....I was the fat, balding, beer gut guy....but I wasn't alone!

Robert McGowen
08-19-2008, 11:39 PM
I went to my 25th one and it was actually a pretty good time. I would do it again. I took my wife to my senior prom in high school. Still going strong almost 27 years later.

David G Baker
08-19-2008, 11:45 PM
I attended my 5th, 10th and 15th. Missed the 20th, 30th and 40th. Now that I reside in Michigan I probably will not attend my 50th in 2012 in the Sacramento area of California. The reunion planners decided to combine graduating classes in the last couple of reunions and from what I heard the old grey mare wasn't what it used to be. The cost per person was $70 for the last one and it was held in a less than desirable setting. It was also put on by a company that does reunions as a business with a larger than reasonable profit motive (bad food).

Mitchell Andrus
08-19-2008, 11:56 PM
I went to the 20th, skipped the 25th and 30th.

I'm not much for rubber chicken and small talk about what our kids are doing. I'd rather look forward to the good times ahead than back to the 70's.

Jim Becker
08-20-2008, 8:50 AM
I'd go in a flash...if there was one. We've only had two so far, and the last was the 20th back in 1995. I actually enjoyed it a lot. Maybe someone will arrange a 35th. Biggest surprise at that 20th was the number of classmates who were already grandparents. :)

Fortunately, I still have minor contact with a few classmates, so at least I'm not completely cut off from the 177 people in my graduating class. LOL

James Jaragosky
08-20-2008, 9:41 AM
It was a 3 day affair.
Friday night was at a local bar near the HS, now owned by a former classmate
Saturday was a picnic.
Sunday evening was a formal dinner.
I had a great time
I was amazed on how many people I could not recall that I should have.
The cheerleaders didn't show for the most part.
To be honest it was so enjoyable that I do not remember the food. besides I didn't go for the food anyway, they could have served chips and salsa and I would have been happy.
This summer will be 30th for me, if one is scheduled. service.

Belinda Barfield
08-20-2008, 9:47 AM
I missed the 10 year, but made it to the others. 30th coming up in 2010. We have had a very poor turnout for the reunions, with the exception of the 5 year. We are considering combining a few years for the next one, and I sort of like the idea. I was friends with lots of folks two years ahead of our class, and behind our class.

I have really enjoyed the past two reunions. It is fun to see how much people have changed, and how much they have stayed the same. The star quarterback had a beer gut and shaved head, the Prom Queen was still snooty. The funny thing is, you won't believe how much older everyone else looks! :)

Through Classmates.com I discovered that a guy in my graduating class, Andy, lived less than five miles away from me. He was the golf pro at The Ford Plantation. We met up a couple of times for drinks and dinner just prior to our 25th reunion. We talked a great deal at the reunion and a small group of us swore that we would not lose touch again (that happens at reunions). The week following our reunion Andy was found dead on his sofa. He died of a heart attack. I was so glad that I got to the chance to spend some time with him at the reunion and wish I had made more of an effort to spend time with him prior to his death. At his funeral the same core group of friends again made promises to keep in touch, and we did for a while, but we've drifted apart again.

Maybe things will work out so you can make it to your reunion. I think you'd enjoy it.

Mike Henderson
08-20-2008, 11:08 AM
I missed my 40th but put up the web site for the reunion. So I got to communicate with many of my classmates and got their stories. Doing it electronically was good. I was able to pry for details (so I could help write their story) and I was able to spend time with each person - much more than I would have in person.

Some classmates we couldn't find and a few declined to participate (give their bio), but most did. And while most of the bios were like those Christmas letters you get - where everything is wonderful - a few people wrote realistic stories, stories of pain and loss as well as achievement. It was very interesting for me.

Mike

[Note: I put a password on the web site so only classmates could access it - those stories were not public.]
[Second note: Katrina dispersed my classmates even further so I doubt if we'll have another reunion - that 40th was probalby the last.]

Lee Schierer
08-20-2008, 11:10 AM
We've been to all of ours, but then LOML and I both graduated from the same school. The organizers didn't do one for the 35th, so we got involved and helped set up and run the 40th one. We've had a good time seeing old friends and some teachers who were invited. It is interesting to see where everyone has ended up. The ones that everyone thought might be most like to end up in jail are running businesses and are CPA's, some of the hot girls are well, not so hot, some still are and some you liked but weren't at your perceived social level tell you that they always hoped you'd ask them out. It makes for an interesting weekend and no we didn't spend the whole time talking about our kids.

If your class isn't doing anything then get involved in setting up your own reunion. We were able to contact about 80% of the class after 40 years, but it took time to put the list together.

Ed Breen
08-20-2008, 3:49 PM
I missed the 60th but am going to the seventieth which will be in 9 years. Siunce there were only 13 in my class I wonder whose left???
Ed:D:D:D

Jim O'Dell
08-20-2008, 7:14 PM
Only one I've been able to get to was the first one, I believe it was the 10th. Missed the last 2. I really enjoyed it. We had a good turn out for the 10th. One guy I grew up about 2 blocks from, came all the way from Japan! Several of the popular girls didn't show because they had gained a lot of weight. One in particular that showed was as trim and beautiful as always. Several of the snooty girls had grown up and were quite nice to talk to for a change.
I hope I can make the next one, be it the 35th next year, or the 40th after that. Just wish they would do it in a cooler part of the year and I'd take a couple of the dogs with me!! Jim.

mark page
08-20-2008, 11:00 PM
Ed, you have my best wishes that all 13 show up!!!!!;)

Andrew Derhammer
08-20-2008, 11:23 PM
Sheesh you guys are old!:eek: I don't even graduate highschool until 2011!

Jim Becker
08-21-2008, 8:43 AM
Sheesh you guys are old!:eek: I don't even graduate highschool until 2011!

Andrew, I think you'll find that most folks here are "young", no matter what their chronological age...

Joe Mioux
08-21-2008, 8:57 AM
I attended the 5,10,15,20 yr reunions.

I didn't want to go to the 25th and I have the 30 year reunion in a few weeks. I will miss that one as well.

I sort of got tired of people bragging about their jobs and vacations.

I am on my HS's Board of Education, so I see alot of my classmates and upper and lower classes as well. Also since I run a small retail business I see alot of my HS friends anyway.

joe

btw: Last year, my dad went to his 70th HS class reunion. Half the graduating class is still alive and they all attended. Of course, there were only 14 graduates.

Belinda Barfield
08-21-2008, 9:08 AM
Sheesh you guys are old!:eek: I don't even graduate highschool until 2011!

Andrew, ever wonder how we got that way . . . just keep getting up every morning and it will happen to you too. BTW, we managed to live this long by not calling other people "old" . . .:p

Rod Torgeson
08-21-2008, 10:34 AM
I attended my 50th reunion this past June and enjoyed it. I traveled from Appleton, WA which is about a 100 miles east of Portland, Oregon and then north of the Columbia River to Joplin, Missouri. This is the first reunion I have attended and it was well worth it. It was only for one evening. I did get together with some of my class mates a day or two before the reunion. Like others have stated, I did not recognize most of them.

Also incorporated in my trip was a visit to a friend of mine and his wife in Harrison, Arkansas and also a visit with Dennis Peacock in Conway, Arkansas.

The whole trip was around 4900 miles. When at the reunion, they were talking about having one next year also(51st year reunion) and I think I am planning on going. The reason for the 51st reunion is that you don't know how many classmates will still be around. I think there have been 6 so far that have passed away.

Mark, on my trip back to Missouri I traveled very close to Smithville. I stayed overnight in St. Joseph.

Rod<---in Appleton, WA

Brent Ring
08-21-2008, 11:16 AM
I went to my 20th, and that has been it. I live so far away from Indiana now in Utah, and while I had a small social circle in high school most of my friends were from church.

Since I don't drink, when I won a bottle of wine at the 20th, I promptly gave it to one of the organizers. It was fun to see everyone, but I enjoy life at the here and now. Amazing at how time evens everything out for everyone too!