Tonight, the widely-scattered Class of '74 gathered at La Placita Restaurant in Old Town Albuquerque for the 36th year high school reunion! About 150 people showed up.
These events are rare. There had been a reunion in 1994 (I didn't hear about that one) and now this year's event. This year's reunion is a trial reunion for the Big Blowout in 2014 (the 40th year reunion).
I was a bit apprehensive about the reunion. West Mesa High school suffered severe overcrowding in 1974, to the point where senior and junior classes went to a morning session, and freshman and sophomore classes went to an afternoon session, in order to squeeze out enough room in the overcrowded facility for everyone. The graduating class of about 660 was New Mexico's largest that year. Thus, I expected to know few people at the reunion, because I just didn't know enough people in the class at the time. This stress put a lot of pressure on school spirit, and as a result I was surprised to learn that it was the Class of 1974 that was taking a lead on this reunion. The center-of-gravity wasn't the North Valley: instead, it had to be the area right around the school proper. Somewhere there, the school spirit struggled on.
I worried about strange things. One day, in 1973, I mentioned to classmate David Brown that pennies have a definite odor - get some in your hand, roll them around, and check it out! David thought this very strange, so, for almost every day in my senior year he would come up from behind and ask: "So, been sniffing any pennies lately, Marc?" I fretted that he would remember and ask this question again at the reunion.
Some people I didn't expect were at the reunion, and some people I did expect weren't there. I was sad to hear that Cash DuHigg left this life, and didn't make the reunion (we gathered in his memory).
Photo captions:
Lawrance Bernabo, Class President, Newspaper Editor, Class Valedictorian, etc. Lawrance achieved fame several years ago for writing more product reviews for Amazon.com than anyone living. It was great to see him again after all this time!
Danny and Sylvia Herrera. Danny is head of the editorial board for the Albuquerque Journal: he lived a decade in Modesto, CA. Danny was always an affable character, and I'm glad to see the newspaper business has been good to him and his family.
Lee Owens and Dan Brummel. I recollected how shocked I was when Dan Brummel won the class medal for Perfect Attendance (Dan never missed a day in school for any reason for four long years). Dan Brummel? Dan Brummel!
Dan told a funny story about how he decided, for the sake of irony, to deliberately ditch the awards ceremony and skip his award for Perfect Attendance. Dan, in turn, was shocked when a streaker unexpectedly interrupted the ceremony before Dan had a chance to leave the gym. Huffy school authorities closed and locked the doors to the gym, forcing Dan to abandon irony and humbly accept his award.
I didn't know that Lee Owens at one time married Brooke Bigney! When did that happen? Whodathunk?
Danny Villanueva: It's Danny Villanueva! Danny and go all the way back to first grade! First grade!
David and Donna Brown: To my relief, David asked no questions regarding "sniffing pennies". Instead, he related rock climbing tales.
Nancy Garnett: Always had a crush on her. Finally let her know!
Ken Sanchez: Never knew him, but they say he's on the Albuquerque City Council.
One woman (didn't catch her name) confessed she was now a school principal. "I was the girl most likely to ditch class," she said. "What would Mr. Barefoot (Vice-Principal in charge of discipline) think now?"
No comments:
Post a Comment