Managing Editor
A while back I spent some time reflecting about how much old friends have contributed to my life. As I maneuver through the daily pitfalls, defining moments and notable achievements that I’ve experienced over the years, I consider myself fortunate to still have meaningful relationships with friends who have known me since I was young.
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| Three of Ed Pierce's high school classmates from 1971 have fun during a reunion gathering several years ago. From left are Tim Pietrzykowski, Jim Pennell, and Jerry Wells. COURTESY PHOTO |
After high school and college, I moved back and forth across the country and spent two years overseas for a military assignment. I got married, earned a college degree, and established a career in journalism that continues to this day. I didn’t know it, but something was missing from my life.
During the summer of 2000, a phone call changed all of that and reintroduced some of the most significant friends I’ve ever had to my world.
I was sitting alone in my apartment in Florida watching “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” when the phone rang and on the other end was a voice straight out of the past.
He said his name was Bob Fay and that my high school classmates had been looking for me for some time. He was working with a committee planning our 30th class reunion and he had tracked me down to invite me to that event. Apparently, my whereabouts had been placed on an “unknown” list by the reunion committee led by Janet McGraw Howland, and he was able to locate me and obtain my phone number.
That singular event changed my life. Prior to then, I thought class reunions were for others to show off how successful they had become in life or demonstrate that opinions some classmates held of them needed to be changed since graduation. Was I ever wrong.
I attended the 30th class reunion in 2001 and had a blast, reconnecting with friends I had known since we were in junior high classes together. Some classmates had changed very little and looked pretty much the same as the last time I was with them 30 years earlier. Others had overcome serious illnesses, divorces, layoffs or had moved out of state but eventually had returned to our hometown.
Despite not having seen any classmates for three decades or having gone to any previous reunions, I immediately felt accepted and part of the group. In many instances, it was like I picked up where I had left off with many friends such as Nick Vecchioli, Carol Messina and Amy Camardo Andersen.
In conversations with reunion participants, I enjoyed hearing about their lives, their families and their careers and that experience rekindled feelings of closeness with friends for me that was different from anything else I have ever known.
As it turned out, some classmates sought me out to discuss what it was like to work for a newspaper or to serve overseas in the military. I spent a lot of time at one reunion sharing stories about my career with my classmates Toby Clark and Sue Case.
For some reunion participants like my friends John Rosati, Jim Alexander or Todd Clemens, it was the final time I would see them as fate intervened and they died tragically or for one reason or another, they were unable to attend future reunion events. A few classmates continue to live in our hometown but have never attended a reunion, while others fly in from great distances such as Rob Branch and his wife Judith who live in England to not miss an opportunity to see and visit with old friends.
Since the 30th reunion, I have attended reunions marking our 35th, 40th, 45th and 50th graduation anniversary milestones. Several years ago, our class stopped having formal class reunions but instead hosted a Thursday night gathering at a bar followed by a picnic at a local park the next day. We did this for the 52nd and 54th class anniversaries and will do so again in August to mark our 55th class milestone.
For our 50th reunion, I had brought along with me a special gift for some of my friends. I hadn’t seen one classmate and close friend Mike Wilson since high school and found an old football card featuring our high school’s football coach Paul McKee when he played for the Washington Redskins in the 1940s. I bought it specifically to give to Mike but when I learned that he had died not long before the 50th reunion, in his honor, I purchased and gave the coach’s football card to every member of the Class of 1971 who played on football team attending the event that night.
Last summer, by chance I found an old high school basketball playoff program at a rummage sale that featured a roster of players from my high school from 1969. On that roster was the name of my classmate, Jim Quetschenbach, who had befriended me back in junior high in 1966.
I purchased the program for him and discovered he was going to attend the reunion picnic. The look on his face and his appreciation when I presented it to him was something that I will not forget.
Through the years, our class has lost many beloved classmates who have attended the reunions and each time that happens, I am profoundly saddened. Yet it also encourages me to see spouses of those we have lost to attend in their place. And it’s fun to see some classmates who have never attended a reunion event before to decide to drop by a reunion event to catch up with their friends.
One thing has remained constant for me through all of this. The joy I get in seeing familiar faces and hanging out with lifelong friends is undeniable. <
Since the 30th reunion, I have attended reunions marking our 35th, 40th, 45th and 50th graduation anniversary milestones. Several years ago, our class stopped having formal class reunions but instead hosted a Thursday night gathering at a bar followed by a picnic at a local park the next day. We did this for the 52nd and 54th class anniversaries and will do so again in August to mark our 55th class milestone.
For our 50th reunion, I had brought along with me a special gift for some of my friends. I hadn’t seen one classmate and close friend Mike Wilson since high school and found an old football card featuring our high school’s football coach Paul McKee when he played for the Washington Redskins in the 1940s. I bought it specifically to give to Mike but when I learned that he had died not long before the 50th reunion, in his honor, I purchased and gave the coach’s football card to every member of the Class of 1971 who played on football team attending the event that night.
Last summer, by chance I found an old high school basketball playoff program at a rummage sale that featured a roster of players from my high school from 1969. On that roster was the name of my classmate, Jim Quetschenbach, who had befriended me back in junior high in 1966.
I purchased the program for him and discovered he was going to attend the reunion picnic. The look on his face and his appreciation when I presented it to him was something that I will not forget.
Through the years, our class has lost many beloved classmates who have attended the reunions and each time that happens, I am profoundly saddened. Yet it also encourages me to see spouses of those we have lost to attend in their place. And it’s fun to see some classmates who have never attended a reunion event before to decide to drop by a reunion event to catch up with their friends.
One thing has remained constant for me through all of this. The joy I get in seeing familiar faces and hanging out with lifelong friends is undeniable. <
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