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 Hi Classmates!

I just wanted to share and inform everyone that a great time was had by all that attended the 35^th reunion of the Class of 1976 this past Saturday.  We had a total of 11 former classmates attending:  Don and Debbie Hopson Sears, William Tabor, Angela Lambert Fisher, Eddie Dyer, Randy Hunter, Mike and Gayle Greene Molander, Steve Curry, Jane Welch Cummins and Bruce Poteet along with spouses, significant others and friends, as well.  All of those unable to attend were greatly missed!  We were also fortunate that former faculty member, Joan Hunter, vocal music teacher for many years, attended and it was great to catch up with her.  She looked great!

We began by meeting informally at the old Sunset Elementary School where the school and alumni association has created a great museum full of pictures, artifacts and other memorabilia that really brought back lots of memories.  If you get the chance, everyone should visit the museum to reflect and reminisce the years of attending Healdton schools!  The school and alumni association have done a tremendous job with this museum and are continuously updating and adding more exhibits to this space.

After remembering the grade school past, we took a stroll over to the high school building to walk through and relive those junior high/high school days all over, at least in our minds!  The high school building has recently been remodeled and was looking good.  I think we all heard faintly the marching band playing the fight song through the halls as they had done so many game days before!  We also remembered who was teaching in each classroom as we walked by and the special, or not so special, memories of those classes! 

Special thanks go to Don and Debbie for opening up their home to us in between the museum/school tour and the alumni banquet.  It was very hot outside and was nice to cool off and rest/relax, while reflecting the school years, before the banquet began.

At the banquet, William provided the class response to the crowd and gave a poignant commentary of the Healdton teachers and individuals, while he was growing up, that strongly influenced and made a difference in his life.  Later on, he presented two $1000 scholarship checks and a plaque, to be displayed permanently within the school museum, to 2011 seniors, William Skelton and Trey Treadwell.  These scholarships were a result of the generosity of the Class of 1976 to honor the memory of our late classmate, Matthew Miller.  A special ‘thank you’ to all who were able to financially and emotionally support this worthy endeavor! 

Those of Matt’s family attending the banquet were his wife, Debby Hunter Miller, his daughter, Tesia Miller Hoffman and her husband, Mike, his son, Matthew Richard Miller and his brother Bobby Miller.  They were very appreciative and touched by the generosity of our class to make these scholarships happen in remembrance of Matt!  It was great to see and visit and share with them during the banquet as well.  Please continue to remember them in your thoughts and prayers.

We also want to remember other classmates that have passed much too soon and are missed very much:  Ricky Palmer, Vicki Allison Webb, Judy Ratcliffe Butler, Clint Banta, Tony Jones and Alan Lankford.

Speaking of Ricky, I was fortunate to have met his son Saturday during lunch with my family in downtown Healdton at a new diner that is located in the old Winston’s Drug building.  His son, named Brian, looked just like Ricky, only taller, and when I introduced myself, he told me that everyone had told him that his Dad always walked around ‘with a smile on his face’!  I replied ‘He sure did’!

On a final note, the recurring theme of Saturday’s events was “Let’s Not Wait 15 Years Again!” to get together!   I totally agree and hope this past day, June 4, will encourage us to not let so much time pass between visits, reunions, etc.   Many at the reunion began discussing ideas of having a tailgate party at an OU football game this coming fall and just to keep things even, I think Gayle volunteered to host an OSU tailgate party (wink, wink!) for us!   We have two great tools to use in continuing the momentum gathered so far, our class website that William created and Facebook.  Any ideas or suggestions you may have, please contact William or myself and we’ll gladly post for everyone.

Finally, it was so great to see all that attended this past weekend in Healdton!  I and many others are looking forward to many more frequent gatherings of classmates!

Best wishes for a great summer!

Bruce

P.S. – To all those that attended and took photos, please post them on the class website and Facebook so that we all may enjoy.  I didn’t get nearly as many photos as I wanted nor were they as clear.  Thanks!