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After 51 Years, We Had a Picnic ... and a BLAST! Our 50 year reunion in 2011 was a wonderful event, but it left us with a taste for more fun and frivolity. Since a group of our classmates, most of whom live in the area, were meeting regularly to plan that reunion, they just kept on meeting ... and soon found themselves planning a picnic on Aug 11, 2012. First order of business is to thank and compliment the folks that put in the hard work to make it all happen ... Darlene Peebles, Shirley Clarke, Janise Bilski, and Karen Justus. Others who attended planning sessions and helped with details also deserve recognition, but we wanted to single out these four folks in particular. We had a pavilion at Lake Antoine Park, on a perfect sun-splashed day, with enough breeze to keep the skeeters away and the geezers from wilting. The fun began about 2:00, and we had about three hours of socializing before the PASTIES arrived! Our music began mid-afternoon, provided by a wonderful DJ/karaoke guy named Mike Roberts. He performed a lot of vocals himself, and was really GOOD, featuring tunes we could all recognize and relate to. Point at any face and that portion of the photo will enlarge! After dinner, more music and socializing kept us laughing, chatting, singing, and dancing until 8:00. There was a brief and ... ummm ... unique musical performance by the Unrehearsables, so named because their three numbers were totally unrehearsed, and it was obvious. But no rotten vegetables were thrown, and audience members were seen singing along! This was billed as a barbershop quartet, but there were six singers and not much identifiable barbershop harmony. It was a tribute to our terrific music director, Ernie Hammill ... but probably good he wasn’t there to hear it! Those who risked the throwing of rotten vegetables were Al, Carol, Dick, Kenny, Tom, and Bert. A bit later, during a group sing-a-long of the Mac Davis hit “Hard to be Humble,” Johnny and Kenny further abused everyone’s musical sensibilities by taking the microphone and leading the singing. Johnny was most appropriately dressed, with a shirt that read “I’m Not Only Perfect, I’m Italian.” Kenny had joined in to provide Scandinavian balance, but neither seemed particularly humble. Or talented Point at any face and that portion of the photo will enlarge! Hard to believe we’re looking BACK at our 50 year reunion! It’s remarkable that so many of us are still here to enjoy getting together for a good time. A brief remembrance was held in honor of the classmates who are no longer with us; earlier in the day, a number of our classmates attended a memorial service for Dick Thomas, who passed away several months ago. Dick and Kathy were at the reunion last year. It’s hard to believe that he became ill and passed away in a very short time. We’re fortunate to be able to enjoy events like our reunion or this picnic, not just to reminisce, but to have fun in the moment. That thought struck your webmaster like a whack upside the head as he watched about eight of our women rock out to “Y-M- C-A.” There’s a picture above ... you go, girls! Many of us probably left hoping we’d be able to gather again in the future, but no plans are in the works for anything specific at this time. However, we’re going to keep posting notices here of the occasional gatherings in Norway at the former Poo’s, now Mike’s on Main. We hope that classmates who are within a reasonable distance will make the effort to attend. This was a good class ... who could have imagined we’d have e-mail and the web to keep in touch? Here are a few more photos from our 51 year picnic in 2012 If you have photos you’d like to contribute, please contact Kenny. His e-mail address is on the bottom right corner of the homepage. Don’t send photos until you’ve contacted him. If they’re hi-res (large files), he’s got a different e-mail address that you should use ... kja1961@gmail.com

Click any small photo to see it enlarged in left frame. Then point cursor at any part of the photo you want enlarged! Some of these photos are repeats of those above ... most were shot at low resolution and get “fuzzy” when you zoom.