High School Reunion

All posts tagged High School Reunion

Monday ~ July 13, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on July 13, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

Ridgeway-1B

Happy Monday!

I thought I would show you a couple of aerial shots from the Ridgeway reunion.  I’m still struggling a bit with the video portion of the Phantoms.  I can’t seem to get the results I want.

One of the things that you will notice is just how much green space there is on Main Street.  When I was growing up there Ridgeway was a vibrant community with an active and thriving downtown.  Two cafes, a pool hall, two grocery stores, two gas stations, a bank, a wonderful drug store and soda fountain, a beauty shop, a doctor’s office, and a variety of other stores.  Not bad for a little town of only 450 people.

It’s sad to see the state of downtown now.

Ridgeway-1A

On Saturday there was almost always a dance at the Lion’s Hall.  Various bands would come to Ridgeway and play at what was called “Teen Town.”  At one time there was even a movie theater in Ridgeway and my Dad ran the projector.  I got in free.  🙂

Well those days are gone but the memories remain and those will be with me to the end of my days.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  I’m not happy with the quality of the video but it will give you an idea of the community.

Enjoy your day and 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.

July-04-2015

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.

July-04-2015A

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.