CAN YOU BELIEVE 50 YEARS??? Borah High School Class Reunion

     June 11-13, 2012 brought the big event... the class reunion that people both dread and look forward to!   Talk about nervous!   I very nearly didn't go to the first event, but knew that I had to...to get the anxiety over with!

     I went knowing that hardly anyone would remember me or care if I was there.  I was not exactly well known or popular during my Senior High years.  But I had strong feelings for my LDS friends that I knew because of Seminary and Stake activities.  Among them I was at least accepted, if not on the most popular list.

     That group had gotten together at one other earlier reunion and we had shared what our lives had meeted out to us in the intervening years.   It was an occasion that had great impact on me.   I had left Boise for BYU...and in a way never came home again....so years and years have passed without seeing these people.    But I remember that first gathering with clarity.   These were fine and wonderful women!  I really wanted to repeat THAT experience.

     What a pleasant surprise EVERY planned event turned out to be!  My classmates have done with posturing for each other.  The truth is - as I kept telling myself - that everyone has had sadness, successes, failures, challenges.  People were accepting, happy, glad to be together.   All of us have changed - sometimes a LOT!  Hair color (or lack of it) makes a big difference in the recognition factor.  We quit trying to pretend we knew each other and just openly looked at the photo name tags and then said, "Oh, Hi!!   I remember you!"      So glad I went.

Borah High School as it looks today.  It is just down the block from the old Boise 5th Ward Bldg. where we used to all go to early morning Seminary.  Now there is a new, separate Seminary building right across from this parking lot.   That is where we me for our LDS alumi gathering.

We are gathering in the Cafeteria for a brunch and a memorial to all of our graduating classmates who have passed away.   This was one of our nicest experiences together.  Linda Hochstrasser Garner's daughters catered the lunch which was excellent.  Balloon we handed around with the name of each classmate who had died.

This group is holding the balloons for Renee Snead, Cheryl Wilson Howell (later my roommate at BYU) and Jan Renell.   Also deceased was Marilyn Kelly who had been part of our group.  Her brother got to release her balloon.

We all trooped outside the cafeteria.  The names of the dead were read in groups of 10.  With each name read the corresponding (biodegradable) balloon was released.  It was actually very moving to see them floating into the sky and to pause for that moment to think about the one who had died.  Not everyone had seen the memorial board so sometimes when a name was called there was an outcry of surprise & sadness.  

Another personal note was that part of my anxiety at coming to this reunion came from the knowledge I would again be seeing my "bully."   ( Doesn't everyone have someone who made fun of them in school?)   I wanted to see Ann, and maybe even talk to her.   I did not take any satisfaction to learn that she was among the ones who had passed away. (Apparently early and after a fairly difficult adult life).  I bare her no ill will and I am sorry that her time was cut short.

Here we are - the LDS group of girls (minus several who were not in attendance).  There was a sweet magic among us .  We loved getting re-acquainted and have vowed to stay in better touch through e-mails, Facebook, blogs, etc.   I so loved being part of them for the three days we got together and reminisced. 

     This blog post will only be interesting to those who attended, so I'll cut it short.  I just had to add a significant 2012 memory in case this blog should endure forever!   I'll end with some random photos for any of the classmates who might see this.

Our Mascot - The Borah Lion

And the view of the Boise State Capital (zoomed in) from the Bronco Stadium Events Center where the dinner/dance was held.

Thank you Linda Hochstrasser Garner for all your effort on the planning committee to add a personal touch and groundedness to these wonderful events and for hosting us all at your home for the "Borah Babes" luncheon and the Sunday-after-church gathering where we got to meet up with other good folk from our High School Days!    Loved seeing Jim and Jack Wilson and Dave Despain.   I will never forget that spirit in your home and yard and how it radiates from you and Royce to so many people you have hosted over all these years!

Wardles, Kellys, and Wheelwrights - We are glad we got to spend at least one event with you, even though we would have liked longer!    

Thanks to those who brought scrapbooks and old yearbooks to help our 67 year-old brains down memory lane!!

Also a BYU roommate, my always-smiley friend

Norma Benton Lacy showing off Linda Hochstrasser Garner's beautiful balloon arrangements at the dinner dance.  Norma moved and did not graduate with our class but had joined the Church while associating with "The Ladies".   She and I were dorm mates at Bowen Hall at BYU our Freshman Year (fall of 1962).

The Crandall twins (Dorene and Ilene) were always objects of my admiration, and, yes - envy - in my High School Days.  They lived in a different part of the Stake so we were not in contact much, but at this reunion I loved being with them and feeling their good, genuine spirits.  Lovely ladies.

They were also just one of several sets of twins roaming Borah's Halls!  Others were the Jeppson brothers and the Theobold twins (brother & sister).

Linda hosted us in her back yard for two events:  the Borah Babes luncheon on Thursday (all girls and LOTS of food contributed by everyone) and the post-Church luncheon on Sunday for some who had traveled to Boise from farther away.  That is when we got to see some of the other LDS kids that were not in our graduating class but with whom we had fun Church experiences.   I felt a new and profound bond with Linda on this trip.  She is one amazing lady!   The Garner home, kitchen and huge backyard is a place of rendezvous for the whole ward and neighborhood!

Gloria & Kent Rydalch currently live in Centennial, Colorado.  Another amazing couple who are faithful and giving, even after experiencing a lot of pain with a son who is struggling with a difficult health issue.   It was so nice to have them with us!

 

It was an amazing surprise to reconnect with Leroy Kelly after 50 years!  His sister Marilyn was my tried and true Saturday Night Dance-going partner!   She had a joy of life and an effervescence that made her really popular with everyone (especially the boys we BOTH had crushes on)!   Marilyn passed away from Cancer in 1993.   She married & left a happy, solid family.  Leroy went on to achieve good things in film-making and other entertainment areas 

David Despain was my brother Roger's best friend and the younger brother of Carolyn Despain Purcell who was my closest friend on Franklin Rd.  Dave now looks just like his Dad who was my seminary teacher and a great example and influence in my life.  (David & Carolyn's Dad below with Gloria Taylor.  See - she hasn't changed much!) 

Pam Cannon and her husband Bruce Karn.  Pam's first husband passed away.  She and Bruce are happily completing their third mission together!   Pam was also a roommate at BYU for a short time and her dear mom was our Mutual Advisor.  We called her Aunt Lucy and she was mom and confidante to lots of us!

Jim Wilson is the brother of our sweet Cheryl Wilson Thornton who also passed away too soon.  Eileen was another soulmate from my Borah Seminary days.  Jim and Eileen spearheaded the LDS gathering after the Classmate's Memorial on Saturday.  A bizarre thing I learned when Eileen was bringing us up to date on her family was that her brother Richard Thomas had served in Chile and had been called from his mission there to go be mission president in the Dominican Republic.  I was astounded because I remember the Senior Missionaries talking about them when we arrived.  I am not sure that we overlapped.  I think they had just left to go to the DR!   What a small, small world!

This is Durinda Booth Sands.   She was unable to come to the reunion because of some family commitments in Oregon but since Victor and I had seen her and Ned in March up in Oregon I got to tell everyone I saw hello from her.   Her husband and I knew each other in California when I worked at the Los Angeles Temple Genealogy Library and he was still single.   Another "small world" ocurrence that they found each other and married.

I hope other friends who could not attend the reunion will see the blog and share photos and updates with us.  I continue to feel the effects of friendships renewed....but MORE than renewed!  Many of them are BETTER.   What is true is that we are all more alike than we are dissimilar as our lives progress.   So glad I went and could share four glorious days with these people.

Thank you, thank  you Reunion Committee for all your hard work!