Time marches on

The S.O.'s 50th high school reunion was this past weekend. Not content with the usual dinner and one evening of reminiscing, the Chassell High School class of '65 turned it into a multiple day event: a catered dinner, participation in the annual Strawberry Festival parade, and an informal pasty supper at a classmate's house. The parade participation required float building, of course, so by the time the whole thing was over, a few folks were no doubt relieved this was probably a one-time deal.

On the other hand, I did overhear a couple of the S.O.'s classmates talking about doing something similar again next year, although one assumes they'd skip the parade participation part.

Their float kind of made fun of the idea of getting old -- it included stuff like rocking chairs, a wheelchair, etc. -- but like a lot of us geezers these days, the class of '65 seemed to be in pretty good shape. No one actually needed a cane or anything to get around, and everyone seemed to be quite active.

The float won an award as the best entry in the Humorous category. Of course, it was also the only entry in the Humorous category, but maybe that's irrelevant. It won a prize for something else, too. The cash award is being donated to the Chassell Schools Foundation.

It's real easy to tell that Chassell High School was not real big even in the baby boom years. The mid-60s was when school enrollments in a lot of areas crested as the baby boom kids started graduating. Nonetheless, the Chassell Class of 65 was able to fit every classmate who wanted to ride the float on to it. If I recall correctly, there were 24 students in the class originally, 7 have died, and of the surviving 17, 11 were at the reunion.

This was the first time the S.O. and I had been in Chassell when the Strawberry Festival parade was going on. We've gone to the festival many times, but never seen the parade -- and, as the S.O. noted, he still hasn't seen much of it. He had a decent view of what was coming up right behind the c;ass float, but that was about it.

I'm Class of '66 so theoretically have a reunion coming up next year. I don't think my classmates from J. E. Murphy (a gem of a school) are going to be nearly as ambitious with their planning. The last I heard, they were having trouble getting many people to show up for the reunions they do every five years so can't picture them fantasizing about turning the 50-year reunion into a mini-festival.