55-year Reunion
After informal gatherings and visits as a prelude, the "official" reunion began Friday evening, Oct. 5, at the VFW. A variety of activities and gab sessions filled the daylight hours of Saturday before the evening (Oct. 6) banquet at the Country Club.
The official head counts are these:
Friday evening at the VFW -- 74 classmates, 47 spouses/guests, 121 total.
Saturday evening at the Country Club -- 65 classmates, 42 spouses/guests, 107 total.
Number of individuals at the reunion -- 76 classmates, 48 spouses/guests, 124 total.
The committee who worked out the reunion details under the leadership of Sheri Lockard Becker consisted of Sandy Wise Giersch, Larry & Sharon Beichle, Jim & Nadine Cox, Betty Harr Baxter, Phil Rinard, Anne Sawaya Scuitte, Jeannette Turner Wooster, and Gary Winslow.
The Group Photo is in two parts because of space and lighting limitations. But that means everyone shows up more clearly. Move the mouse pointer over any part of the photo and identifying numbers will pop up on each person. Names corresponding to these numbers are given below the photo. (On an iPad the number appears when the screen is touched, but touching it a second time does not remove the numbers. Go to another screen and come back to clear numbers.)
I, Phil, am responsible for the names. If I have any of them wrong, please let me know and I bet I can fix it quickly.
The photos are by John Lamone with his fine camera and bright flash. The Photoshopography is by Phil Rinard.
1 Rosie Allen Kiene 2 Beverly Moad McSweeney 3 Marcia Chrisbens Fox 4 Jane Meier Hite 5 Karen Porter Fay 6 Joan Howell Whitaker 7 Helen Zerbe Witbeck 8 Ann Bell Mitchell 9 Joyce Sanborn Ditto 10 John Lamone 11 Liz Felten Guillette 12 Dianne Nelson 13 Dixie Pierce DeLaney 14 Dick Wakefield 15 Sheri Lockard Becker 16 Jimmy Roeser 17 Jim Cox 18 Sylvanus Rome 19 Betty Milliman Craig 20 Bill Waller 21 Joan Sumstine Pogue 22 Chuck DeLaney 23 Darlene Sutton Henning |
24 Nettie Smock Zehms 25 David Kendle 26 Frances Couch Lujan & Echo 27 Sandy Wise Giersch 28 Keeta Wilcox Long 29 Joan Miller Denton 30 Dennis Schneider 31 Gary Winslow 32 Bill Flemming 33 Larry Beichle 34 Barbara St. Clair Pickering 35 Evan Jones 36 Gary Hindman 37 Sharon Heatwole Foiles 38 Bob Francisco 39 Loren Conrad 40 Janice Harmon Greer 41 Jim Nothern 42 Jaron Leander Lewis 43 Sandra Fleming Wilhelm 44 Pat Blick Richards 45 Bob Steele 46 Pat Cruce Gunter |
47 Elsie Gillispie Ohlson 48 Marlene Pinkham Jones 49 Patty Stauffer Davis 50 Joe Minneman 51 Ron Asbridge 52 Harry Becker 53 Betty Harr Baxter 54 Jerry Cunningham 55 Allene Cox Grossman 56 Charlene Hite Branch 57 Pricilla Herring Keefer 58 Jerry Davis 59 Butch Smith 60 David Webster 61 Judy Larsen Daugherty 62 John Ivan 63 Barbara Carter Nelson 64 Jeanette Turner Wooster 65 Twila Von Fange Crawford 66 Anne Sawaya Scuitte 67 Glenda Hoesch Jarvis 68 LeRoy Schmidt 69 Phil Rinard |
To download the photos as a JPEG file, click here; then right-click and "Save image as..."
To download the photos in a WORD file, click here.
To download the photos in black & white with the names as a WORD file, click here.
The Banquet Program
Here's a summary in words and still photos of the program at the Saturday night banquet. I made a video with a digital camera but the file size of even a 5-minute clip is too huge to reasonably download from this web site. I will send the whole 54-minute video to you for free on a DVD if you just let me know. (A DVD for computers only [VERSION A] is reliable and simple to use; a version for computers and TVs [VERSION B] usually works but such things don't always work on all TV players. Let me know what you prefer.) The lighting was poor, the sound barely adequate, and the photography (mine) third rate. If you find a better video, let me know.
The large, dark, fuzzy photos below are frames from the video (I've run them through Photoshop to brighten them a bit and improve the colors). The bright, sharp close-ups are still photos taken by John Lamone during the program with a flash camera and telephoto lens.
Jerry Davis was excellent as the Master of Ceremonies. He led off by recognizing the reunion committee members (led by Sheri Becker) and senior class officers. I have apologized to Harry Becker for carelessly, unintentionally showing him so prominently during much of the program. He graciously agreed to let us use the video unchanged (I don't know how to change it anyway). |
John Ivan reminded us that Dan Wiggans' stroke has kept him away from this reunion after being MC in 2007. John has visited Dan and read a letter from Dan to the class. During the Friday night get-together several guys shared a phone call to Dan as a small way to let him join in the reunion. |
Jerry discussed the changes he's seen since our graduation. He began with the remark that, having recently watched our senior movie, he noted how beautiful and well heeled all the girls were! This frame from the movie shows Sandra Wise, Sharon Doebert, Marcia Chrisbens, and Jane Meier, with Karen Fitzhugh battling the Kansas wind. Jerry noted that there were no baseball caps on backwards, tattoos, or piercings. Among Jerry's other observations he noted that the last time he filled up his car's tank it cost more than his first car! |
Loren respectfully read the names of the Class of '57's deceased while we also looked a projection of their photos as shown on this web site's In Memoriam page. |
Sheri had picked out humorous bits from our Junior High Lights and Jerry read through them in an entertaining manner. |
Betty Baxter wanted everyone to appreciate the gift from Brenda Barringer Howard. With her death in 1996 looming, she gave her three scrapbooks from high school to Sandy Giersch. They then went to Betty and I have been able to use the huge collection of photos on this web site. Thanks, Brenda! |
Jerry asked for stories from the audience and Butch Smith gave a heartfelt talk of the bond among those with motorcycles that continues today. |
Also from the audience Chuck DeLaney told how he was delayed getting to his 1958 wedding when Gary Hindman handcuffed him to a post. The audience looked stunned when John took this photo early in the story, but enjoyed the humor Chuck gave to the story as it unfolded. Chuck's cousin found and rescued him in time to get married. |
At intervals during the program I showed a few old photos that many of you have sent to me. In addition to being fun, they were to set up the showing of this one. I thought I could surprise and confuse Jerry and Patty with this one because it is a fake composite of photos by Liz Guillette. A group of four couples had an outing at Kanoloplis one fine day; Jerry was with Sandy Shilling and Patty was with Dick Eddington. I created this photo to make it seem that Patty & Jerry went together. However, Jerry immediately knew it was a fake, told how I did it, and named everyone in the four couples. It was fun if it didn't mystify them even for an instant. |
After Jerry twisted her arm to come to say a few words, Anne Scuitte told a humorous yarn about the time her biology lab partner, Butch Finch, fainted when they cut open a frog; and about a friendly ribbing she got from Lloyd Jackson after Anne got on Miss Andrews' bad side. |
John told of getting a ride on a motorcycle behind one of the usual suspects (exactly who is fuzzy) but fell off the back end within 30 seconds. |
Gary Hindman confessed to giving Aaron Merriman an unofficial haircut, and of finding a school list of troublemakers. Gary & Jerry debated who was #1 on the list, but the statute of limitations puts them all well in the clear by now. |
Bob Steele came to the podium to explain an old photo from the 50s. His motorcycle spun out on a patch of black ice, leaving him stunned with a broken jaw. Salina had no ambulance in those days -- a hearse was always called to transport the merely injured to a hospital and the photo captured the moment he was being loaded into the hearse. Can YOU say you have ridden in the back of a hearse and lived to tell about it? |
Ron Asbridge provided prizes of bags of delicious walnuts coated with sugar and cinnamon. In this photo Jerry is awarding two bags to Jim & Nadine Cox for having the most children (8), grandchildren (20), and great-grandchildren (19).
If you intend to win this prize at the 2017 reunion, don't wait till the last minute.
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Loren wanted everyone to know why Guy Campbell couldn't get to this reunion. Guy was on his honeymoon after marrying his daughters' mother-in-law. |
A closing prayer was given by the Rev. Bill Grossman, the husband of Allene Cox.
As an introduction, he joked that after hearing some of the old stories perhaps he should be giving absolution as well as a prayer. |
Again, if you'd like a free DVD of the program video (no refunds, no returns), just drop me a note at prinard@Salina57.com and I'll mail it to you. Tell me if you intend to view it only on a computer (VERSION A) or on a TV (VERSION B) as well as a computer.
SALINA HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS OF '57