Heads Up St. Paul. The Class of ’64 is coming home! This weekend the class of 1964 is celebrating its 50th Class Reunion. These are the boys who kept the Sisters busy. They always checked that belts were worn, jeans were not tucked into boots and collars were turned down. A few of us were sent home to shave. These are the girls who kept the Sisters busy. They had to kneel in the hall to make certain their skirts touched the floor—and NO patent leather shoes! On the first day of our freshman year we were joined by a new group from Greenbush. We were strangers for a day and then friends for our lifetimes. On the first day of our senior year we had a similar experience with our good friends from Walnut. We took our egg sandwiches to Mass each morning so we could eat them during religion class and leave the church smelling like sulfur. We drove two miles getting from the church to the school so we could stay out of sight and sneak in a cigarette or two. There were boys among us who local media called the fastest runners in the Mineral Belt League! Yet their bus drivers could barely sense motion between their front doors and the school bus. Halloween was a highlight of the year because it allowed us to express our creativity by decorating the town. Some of us also learned to recognize the sound of birdshot ripping through bushes. One Halloween many of the boys were sitting on the main street curb, after the night-watchman had rounded us up. Then Coach Montee showed up—“Looks like most of my football team sitting here enjoying their cigarettes!” Many, many wind sprints! These were the girls who made great pies during home-ec class and lined them up on the basement window ledges to cool. These were the boys who enjoyed pie on their way to football practice — more wind sprints! This is the bunch that had bonfire parties on the river gravelbars and at a broken river bridge. We could hit the Tower and Trianon ballrooms plus Joe’s Club, the Hilltop and Roadhouse on a single weekend—always after checking in with Ben at the pool hall. We didn’t have Ipods, smartphones or X-Boxes. We had basketballs, fishing poles, shotguns and some pretty neat automobiles that kept our bodies and minds busy; and kept us out of trouble. We knew when we were called to the office for disciplinary reasons we would bend over and grab our ankles. We didnt expect our parents to defend us—we knew the worst would come when we went home. We used to park our cars along the highway in front of school. On the morning after graduation one of us was asked to move his Corvette. The open trunk, prominently displaying a beer keg, didnt seem appropriate in front of a school. We were independent. One of our most memorable decisions didnt leave many memories behind—we decided to forgo a yearbook in favor of a class trip that most of us have forgotten. Oh Well. That’s life. Miraculously we all made it through school in one piece. Some of us graduated and immediately went to war—but made it home. Now, three of us are gone — we will remember them this weekend.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 15:29:47 +0000