Since they were last in a classroom together, a world war had been fought, a man set foot on the moon and the Iron Curtain fell. Yet, these former classmates' memories from high school remain fresh.
Since they were last in a classroom together, a world war had been fought, a man set foot on the moon and the Iron Curtain fell. Yet, these former classmates' memories from high school remain fresh.
From July 23 to 24, the Grade 10 class from Olds High School's 1941-42 school year held a reunion at the Coburn Hall, where they reminisced about everything from their principal to walking multiple kilometres to get to class.
There were 12 members reuniting from that class with some coming from as far away as Kelowna to attend.
The group has been meeting up yearly since 1975.
It's an impressive feat and Edna Richards, one of the organizers, said all it takes to pull it off is a little initiative.
"I think most often it just takes somebody to go ahead and do it. It's like the younger ones that are having school reunions, they have them and then they sort of peter out," Richards, 87, said. "Somebody just doesn't go ahead and do the basic work that has to be done and it doesn't happen."
There's a conscious effort put into maintaining relationships and staying in touch.
"We stayed good friends as we grew older and married and we kept in contact with friends from school," said Jean Richards. "And I think that's basically why we started getting together for the reunions."
The majority of the organizing has been done by Edna, her brother-in-law Ralph Richards and his wife Jean.
Nobody was able to provide an exact number of people in the original class but Edna said it was a close-knit one. She keeps a list of classmates who have since passed away.
She said a lot of them were from the country and had to live on campus.
"To me, it's like meeting with brothers and sisters. I feel like I know them so well," she said."
Class reunions can be places where graduates return to boast about their accomplishments to their former peers.
Edna, who worked as a telephone operator after high school, said none of that happens when her group meets and nobody is meant to feel small.
"I think that's been one key to the success of us getting together is that we've never talked about what we've done with our lives or it hasn't been a competition of success or that type of thing," she said.
"And certainly there are lots of stories. There's been lots of successful people and lots of great things done by different people. It's just something that we don't bring into the conversation."
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