Reuniting

We had a brief family reunion of sorts last night when Bill was able to sneak out a little early from his fire job in Bonners Ferry. Annie had decided to stay the day and leave early this morning, so, at least, they were able to see each other during her visit. We dined at Spuds. Now, it's just after 6 a.m. and they're both headed off on separate ways----Annie, back to Seattle and Bill, back to Bonners Ferry.

This is class reunion week for me. More than one third of our Sandpoint High School Class of 1965 will reunite this Friday night at Swan's Landing for the first time in ten years. We'll do some recreational stuff Saturday (golfing, hiking, boating, swimming) and enjoy dinner together at the Elks that evening.

Our committee has been meeting since September of last year. We don't accomplish much business at those meetings, but we do have fun thinking about who we're going to see and how much fun the gathering will be. That excitement intensifies during the week preceding the reunion cuz people show up early.

I've already heard from one classmate who was packing her clothes in Palm Springs and wondering if she should bring a sweater. Another wrote on Friday asking about the dress code. I assured her we live a casual life here in Sandpoint. She hasn't been back for a reunion in 30 years, so she's definitely going to notice some changes. We have a couple of classmates who have never attended.

One of them in Maurine Marks Wheatley who has spent the last year living in Beijing, China, teaching English. Before that, she lived on the East Coast in the Carolinas. Maurine and I had geology together during our sophomore year of high school. Our small small sixth period class of 13, was taught by Bill Straley.

I remember a lot of laughing and joke telling mixed in with the study of rocks and earth stuff. "Wild Bill," as we referred to him outside of class, left SHS for another job after our sophomore year but returned, to the delight of all of us, halfway through our senior year when the chemistry teacher resigned.

I even taught with Bill a few years later. He eventually went to work for the Forest Service as a geologist, ending up in Helena, Mont. He's now retired but planning to come with his lovely wife Ruth who served as the school secretary for a time. My fondest memory of Ruth came the day when she took her big office scissors and cut Ray Gapp's tie off. He was the deadpan typing teacher who had done something impish to deserve this good-natured attack on his clothing.

One classmate, whom I've not seen in 30 years, is now confined to a wheel chair. She seems to have a good attitude about it and apparently a very supportive husband. She received a degree in nursing from the University of Oregon, says she never used it but did work with teenagers with special needs.

To prepare for our Saturday night program, I've been assembling a list of classmates who've died. Without help from any other committee members, I've already come up with a list of 14. The reality hits pretty hard, especially considering there may be a few more I haven't thought of yet. Our class of 194 was the largest ever to graduate from SHS, and we maintained that record for a number of years.

It should be a fun week and, of course, a tiring weekend. When it's over, though, we'll have lots of good memories to store away and revive in ten years when we renew the bond again and celebrate 50 years as proud Sandpoint High School graduates.