Reunions Are All About Class

When hanging a new calendar last January, I was reminded that 2018 would be the 45-year class reunion for Catherine and me, both of us graduates of Red Wing Central High School.

Doing the math tells you that we graduated in 1973. Our class has held organized reunions every five years, starting with year 10. Nonetheless, counting our recent one, we have now held eight of them at various locations.

Catherine and I have always been part of the organizing committee and, somehow, I have always been the emcee. I’m not sure how that happened but it’s OK with me. I’d rather be directly involved than sit on the sidelines wishing I had. It is getting harder, though, to recall high school experiences the class can relate to and then attempt to make them worth remembering. But I have always found something to say. I look at it as a personal challenge to keep my aging brain functioning. Sort of like writing this column.

For this reunion, classmate Bryce Anderson and I did a Carnac skit, only this time Carnac was the Grateful Graduate (Bryce). One example: the answer was “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” The question in the envelope was “What were A, B, and C lunch?” You don’t even have to be from that era to get that one.

Since Catherine and I were in the same class at the same school, we have no experience attending other reunions. So, we have nothing to compare our reunions with. Really, if you think about it, the main reason for a reunion is to get together to visit with classmates and see how we’re doing.

You don’t really need much organized entertainment, so the presentations are short. A looping slide show of pictures from our yearbook and past reunions helped bring back memories, especially of how thin and young we looked at that first reunion when we were about 28.

We also had some oldies playing in the background. Our class has been fortunate one of our classmates is Mike Murphy, also known locally as “Community Mike” since he is often seen providing the sound equipment for public functions. He has been an awesome DJ for us over the years. There was no dancing at this reunion. Everyone was too focused on visiting.

Our first reunion was held at the old VFW on Main St. I now think we went overboard. We had a Friday night warm-up party at classmate Randy Juliar’s family farm. At the reunion, the men wore suits and ties and the women were really dolled-up. On Sunday we had a family day celebration at Colvill Park so classmates could show off their kids. I was commuting to the Cities for work in those days and I remember driving there on Monday and falling asleep in my cubicle. That reunion set the tone, although we no longer have Sunday activities, volleyball or fancy dress-up.

Until this year, all of our reunions were held in the summer. This time we decided to hold it in the fall, on the same weekend as the Red Wing Fall Arts Festival. I thought we might be crazy to hold it then but it turned out to be a popular weekend for reunions as there were three others in the area. We held ours at the Red Wing Golf Club.

On the Friday before the reunion, we gathered at Bay Point Park to Cat the Loop, something only older Red Wing students will remember and long replaced by cell phones and social media. We got separated in all the Arts Festival traffic so it didn’t work very well.

Our class has gotten along pretty well over the years. I don’t know how our class compares with others but our reunions have been well attended and we keep in touch through social media. The one thing that helped our reunions the most was setting up a class website. It’s a site where those who register can keep track of each other. More than half of our graduates have joined it and many have posted pictures. We can also email the class if we want. It’s a godsend for planning a reunion, helping keep track of registrants and providing a nice way to print nametags.

This reunion was different from previous ones in one noticeable aspect. Many of us are now retired or very near retirement and it was apparent, at least to me, that everyone seemed much more at ease than at other reunions. No pretentions, just honest laughter and camaraderie. Everyone was smiling. It’s our time now to really enjoy life. In fact, when I approached a group of women in our class to take a picture of them, they started laughing and said that they were discussing how easy life is now that they are past menopause.

One of our classmates, Arlen Diercks, is the current Red Wing School Board Chair. At the reunion he asked all of us to support our local schools. He especially asked the local attendees for their support in the upcoming referendum.

Five years ago we took up a collection for the Red Wing Public Schools Foundation. This year we passed a collection box around for donations toward the Sunnyside School Playground Project. Arlen mentioned that Sunnyside is the only remaining elementary school from our years attending Red Wing schools.

Our class received a donation of centerpieces that had been used by the class of 1968 at their reunion this year. Then they passed them on to other reunions, as we will also do. That same donor gave us an enlarged photograph of the Delta Queen at Red Wing, taken from the Wisconsin side of the river. Upon closer inspection, the year painted on Barn Bluff is 73. How about that for irony this year?

The class of 1973 is not a class of famous people. But we have a core group that cherishes the chance to compare notes and laugh with each other. That’s it, nothing more.

Now, on to planning for our 50-year reunion. Five years goes fast. May it be one for the books.