Yes, I saw old people again! I just traveled 1250 miles round trip to visit with a bunch of friends I went to high school with. And I had a good time catching up, sharing memories, and reliving our history in Rosenberg and our high school.

Danny and Sharon Klasel Slaviinski. Karen Sue Phillips Youngblood, Jan McDonald Silger, and Sue Kretzschmar Patton pulled it all together for our class, ‘64, to be represented at the All 60s Reunion at the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds in Rosenberg on May 6. This is the eighth such reunion, and over the years a few extra classes have joined the party: 1960 through 1972 were represented.

Each class had a table at which to gather. Some of the younger classes may have had longer tables since they might not have lost as many members as the older graduates have. Or maybe they were all more up for the party! We were missing quite a few people I wish were there.

I have been keeping a scrapbook of our reunions since the first one in 1969 celebrating five years. Well, along with  all the class pictures that I had accumulated in an old Sakowitz store box, which is pretty telling about our age in the first place! I had no pictures or mementoes from our first three reunions, but starting with the 20th I had things for the scrapbook. We had group pictures taken at the early ones, and I have copies of those.

But then starting with 35 years in 1999, I started taking my camera and taking pictures and gathering newspaper articles about our class reunions as well as the All 60s events. Barton Wood shared his pictures with me for the 40 year reunion, and I will have to say I have enjoyed looking back through the scrapbook now. I take it to the reunions for all to look at if they choose to.

I try to get shots of all of us, but alas, this time I was too busy talking to always remember to get a picture. I wish I had taken more. And we didn’t try to get everyone together for a group shot this time. Maybe I will think fast enough to do it at the next one.

So, for my fellow Lamar Mustangs, here are the pictures I came home with this time:

                                                          Danny and Sharon Klasek Slavinski

               Butch Carden                                                                                       Elaine Kunz Bowman

              Sherry Hajdik Bergen                                                  Annette Wittneben Warmke

                Leonard Vincik and wife-I’m sorry; yours was one of the names I didn’t get home with!

                                           Linda Shiller Reeh                               Jeanette Macik Drew

                                          Betsy Brown McInvale                                   Sue McNutt

                                      Darrell McNutt                                                                 Ishmael Osuna

                                         Ronnie Harper Henson and Barbara Henson

Alice Graves Liles, Dolores  and Joe Gonzales, Dennis Lindermann; and two more people whose names I didn’t get home with.

                                                     Jim and Nancy Fathelee

                                                               Jennifer and Lloyd Hartmann

                                                                      James Luksa

                                                        Lee and Barbara Ernest Briscoe

                                                            Bookie and Melinda Reichle

                                                  Anne Marie Dostal Murry                Bernd Rahm

                                                Bert and Jeanette Macik Drew

And some Lamar Mustangs from other classes:

                                                             Charles Susan Schultz Scheffer

                                    Connie Callender Lindsey                                           Beverly Ryan Richard

                                            Susan Schultz Scheffer                                 Maxine Cegelski Phelan

                                                  Joe Grillo                                                  Gorden Lee Koenig

We have been blessed at other All 60s reunions to have the Triumphs play the music we grew up with, and a couple of times B J Thomas came back to sing with them. The Triumphs officially retired and B J died, so this year the music was provided by a local group named Commercial Art. Their playlist was a bit different to the Triumphs, but they were very good, and I enjoyed their music.

The night started with introductions, singing of the school song and fight song, a meal catered by Ben’s Chuck Wagon from Wallis/East Bernard, lots of visiting, and dancing along with the band. As the time passed, it became noticeable that the tables on the side of the room for the younger classes were full and busy. Our side, the older folks who don’t like to drive in the dark, started thinning out. This happened at the reunion in 2019, too, and those of us who were some of the last to leave couldn’t help but laugh. Oh my. We really are getting old!

In this time of social media overload, class reunions have taken a hit. Why bother with going out of your way to see people you can see on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, ad nauseum ? Or perhaps not at all. Maybe you don’t want to see any of your old classmates, but I’ll bet there are at least one or two you would enjoy sharing some memories with. Facebook may have its place, but it’s not the same as actually talking to someone face to face.Young people today are missing out and losing face to face people skills. People tend to float in and out of our lives, and you may not care to keep up with all of them, but we don’t always stay the same person we were in high school, and it’s nice to see how we all turned out.

And who knows? You might actually come across someone from your past that you wouldn’t mind being a part of your present, now that we’ve all grown up. Finally.

Right?

Thanks to Danny and Sharon Slavinski for their help with this story, and to all of you who showed up for the reunion. Hail, Lamar High!