Class of 1965

All posts tagged Class of 1965

Tuesday ~ July 07, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on July 7, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

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Happy Tuesday!

If you didn’t grow up in Ridgeway, Missouri or go to school there let me apologize for today’s post because it is all about the extraordinary all school reunion that was held this past 4th of July Holiday.

These are my two closest mates in high school.  Terry Maxwell and Everett Harding.  Seems like anything I can remember about those days these two guys or at least one of them was involved.  🙂

I haven’t seen Everett for 30 years and yet when we talked on Saturday it was like I had just seen him a couple of days ago.

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Jeanne wanted me to tell all my friends just how special you all made her feel.  We talked about each of you and the event all the way home and she said that she felt like she connected with so many people who now seemed like close friends.  She has heard me talk about you for the last 39 years and then to meet and visit with you helped her connect all the dots.  🙂

July-04-2015-2BThe “other women” in my life.  All dear friends one of whom stomped on my heart in first grade.  🙂

Jackie (far right) and I grew up as neighbors and were friends all through high school.  They were all like my younger sisters and I loved them very much.  To see them again after 30 years was a delight that I cannot describe.July-04-2015-2DI actually didn’t take all that many pictures.  I had intended to make as many images as possible so that I would have them in later years but I got so involved with each new encounter the camera just stayed on my shoulder.  In fact most of the images I have were taken by other people with my beloved and highly prized Nikon D4.

The above image is of my friend Lane Smith.  Lane graduated two years ahead of me with my sister Becky.  He never looked at me as an under class-man and we always had such good times together.  He portrays General Robert E. Lee in Historical Reenactments at various venues.  Wonderful human being.
July-04-2015-2ERoger was one year ahead of me and his wife Linda was in my class.  Roger and I were always good friends and he was a superb ball player.   He played short stop and third base.  I always got put in the outfield because I couldn’t do anything else.  Occasionally I got a hit and the ball went a long way.  I could turn any home run into a single.  🙂

Roger and Linda just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary!
July-04-2015-2CFinally I’ll leave you with this image of my great friend Kathy (Middleton) White.  She lived two houses up and across the street and her Mom and Dad ran the drugstore in Ridgeway.  They were beautiful people and everyone loved and respected them.

Kathy was my little sister and I enjoyed her company when ever she had the time for me.  She was so active in high school and later we reconnected when she attended college at NWMSU where I was a police officer and a student.  Such memories of life long friendships that will never fade.

I’m still on a memory high and Jeanne and I talked about that magical weekend this evening at dinner.  Thanks to my non classmates for indulging me this trip down memory lane.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Enjoy your day and as always be careful.

Monday ~ July 06, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on July 6, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , , .

1952-FirstGrade copy

Happy Monday!

They say, “You can never go home again.”  But for 12 glorious hours I did just that and it was beyond my highest expectations.

The image above is of my first grade class in 1953.  I found it a few days before the “All School Reunion” that was held in Ridgeway, Missouri.  Ridgeway is a little town of 450 people plus or minus a few people over the years.  It is located in Northwest Missouri 22 miles South of the Iowa border.

I graduated in 1965 in a class of 16 students.  Of the 16 students that graduated 12 made it back to the 50th reunion, two have passed away and two were unable to attend.  So it was a remarkable turn out.

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The image above is left to right, Richard, Jim, Sharon, Darrel, Shari, Terry, Diana, Me,  and Everett.  Can you match them up with the original 1953 image.  🙂

More than just our reunion however, because the school was small it was more like one big class.  We knew everyone and knew almost everything about everyone.  So it was one joyous reuniting after another all squeezed into those wonderful 12 hours of reliving a past that was filled with wondrous and happy memories.

These are the friends who know everything about you and still love you in spite of that. I do not have the literary skills to adequately convey the joy, warmth, emotion, and love that I received and gave during that period of time.  It had been 30 years since I had seen most of them, and 40 – 50 years since I’d see some of them.  So there was a lot of catching up to do and so little time to do it.

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The lovely silver-haired lady in black and white was our 3rd grade teacher “Miss Marilyn.”

One of the greatest things that has happened over the last few years has been reconnecting with many of my childhood friends through Facebook.  Which was the predominate reason I wanted to attend this year’s celebration.

I have some images and video that I will share during the week.  It started Friday evening when I crashed the reunion dinner of the class of 61 and ended Sunday with a two-hour breakfast with my dear friend Kathy and her wonderful husband Phil.

The image above is from our reunion lunch at Sharon’s home.  It was a great time that was over in the blink of an eye.  I didn’t get a chance to visit with all the wonderful people in this image.   If there was one wish I would have asked for the power to slow time down for at least that day.

Thank you for stopping by the blog.  I hope you don’t mind my journey down my memories of those remarkable years.

Enjoy your day and be careful.