As one of
the fortunate ones to find a spouse from the
Granite Falls High School class of 1975, I was
allowed to attend their 30th reunion this
weekend at JB Yates on the west edge of
Granite. It was a nice crowd that had more
than a little to talk about and that's just
what they did. There were the usual glances in
disbelief at seeing some rather long lost
schoolmate and a lot of talk about families
and memories. Just about everyone who goes to
a class reunion is interested in telling a
little about themselves and even more
interested in hearing about everyone else.
Hanley Falls native and class reunion co-emcee
Kevin Eye asked if I'd be willing to give a
little mayor's welcome as he and his co-emcee
Shawn (Johnson) Hipp started their
entertaining power point driven program. I
agreed to do that and when I got up to give my
greeting and looked around the room, I saw a
lot of familiar faces from all around the
country. It still kind of amazes me where all
those classmates drift off to and what happens
in their lives. There is something about
coming back home that appeals to most people
even if it's just for a little while and not
too often. Finding and holding onto our roots
is pretty important and when it involves an
interesting community that makes it all the
better. I said the obligatory welcome message
and pointed out a few familiar faces from my
old neighborhood and from far away. That
includes California, South Carolina, Idaho,
Utah and Illinois.
Now, most of you
know that I don't mind doing a little speaking
and usually have something or another to say.
Well, I cut it fairly short and figured that
they didn't come to hear me expound on this or
that and walked back to our table. On the way,
a couple of things occurred to me that I
probably should have said. First of all, it's
always a good idea to tell a crowd that they
look good and I missed my chance to do that.
The other thing that I wish I would have
mentioned is what a good thing it was when the
Hanley Falls kids came over to school in
Granite. That happened in the fall of 1968
when the class of 1975 was going into 6th
grade. It brought in a new bunch of kids and
from that there actually are a few marriages
and a lot of good friendships that came to
pass. There's a lot of social dynamics that
happen when you bring schools together. As I
thought about that, it occurred to me that the
same thing has happened to the many kids who
have shared their junior and senior high
school days together in Clarkfield and
Granite. New friendships and young romances
take place and all the fretting that parents
and other adults do about the school issues
fades into the background for the kids. They
are eager for the future and don't really have
a lot of time to look back at much of what
concerns their parents and grandparents. They
will bring their friendships with them to
class reunions in the future and the old
anxieties will be forgotten.
All those young couples and new friendships
that happened as a result of schools combining
makes for a lot of community intertwining and
it forces parents to get to know folks they
just wouldn't otherwise cross paths with.
That's a good thing for almost everyone. There
was a lot of good evidence of that at the
class of 75's reunion. And, by the way, they
did all look pretty good, too.
