25th Reunion

PHOTO ALBUM
OUR 25th REUNION
June, 1987

This is an odd album, since all but one of the pictures in it are cribbed from the special reunions issue of Darrow Today, which Jerral Miles invented and used as an alumni-news supplement to the Peg Board for few years in the mid-1980s. I assume I took my camera along—I found a single photo, the color shot of all of us outside the chapel, in my family photo album. But for reasons I can’t recall, I have no other pictures from that weekend. Maybe my camera broke, or maybe I was too busy chasing a toddler around or just having fun. In any case, this album reflects our reunion as recorded by the school’s photographer. If any of you have additional or better pictures from this event, please send them—and we’ll upgrade this memory album.

There was no formal group picture of the class that year, and unlike at our 20th, we didn’t organize one of our own. So this is as close as we’ve got to a class portrait. And most of us aren’t in it. As far as I can tell, this shows, left to right, Francie Sharpe, Laurie Coffee, Bob Lang’s then-current wife or date (help us out, Bob?), Jerrie Davis (with camera—did you get any good pictures?), Bob Lang (in white 62 shirt), Charlotte and Kip Smith, Joe Coffee (behind Charlotte), Howdy Davis (behind the post), Gene Cook (hand on hip), and possibly Dave Griswold, behind Gene. I know that Carl Sharpe was there (Francie didn’t come by herself!), as were Frank and Ellie Rosenberg, Pierre Loomis, Bill Anthony, Kiyo Toh, Anson Perina, Scott Leake, Denny Hopper, and Dave and Linda Benson, and of course, Sharon and I. According to the school records, 16 of us made it (I thought there were more but can’t prove it now). We got new, Darrow red T-shirts and had a dorm—I think it was Brethren’s, this time—all to ourselves.

The faculty wouldn’t play softball against our all-’62 team—they’d learned their lesson five years before—but Peter Bowen and the classs of ’57 were brash enough to take us on, so we kicked their butts instead. Then some of us hung around and played in the “regular” game against the faculty. The school photographer continued her fixation with Joe Coffee, as another shot of him in the batter’s box was featured in Darrow Today. (This time they didn’t misidentify him as Gene Cook—his shirt had his name on it.) Kiyo Toh got the award as the alumnus/na who came from farthest away—Tokyo.

In honor of our 25th reunion, and in conjunction with a fund drive going on at the time called the Wickersham Challenge, our class raised $25,000, which we specified was for remodeling and refurbishing the old Meeting Room (used as the library, in our days) on the second floor of Wickersham. At our request, the room was dedicated to the memory of Richard Bethards, who had died that May. A dedication ceremony was performed at the reunion, and we were presented with a plaque honoring our contributions, which is mounted at the entrance to what is now known as the Bethards Room.

As we had at our 20th, we were the center of attention that weekend, which is good—it means Darrow Today was full of pictures of us. With my apologies for the lack of my own pictures, here is that photographic record of our reunion.

Left: Sharon, Sarah and I, Ellie and Frank Rosenberg, and I think that’s Ben, playing by Tanner’s pond, before the alumni meeting.

Below: Kiyo Toh and his wife enjoying lunch.

Joe and Laurie Coffee with Coach Mahnken on Saturday afternoon; Carl Sharpe catches up with Dick Nunley; Denny and Joan Hopper chat with Bill Anthony at the reception.

These dazzling, flattering portraits of our class appeared in Darrow Today:

At the meeting in the chapel, John and Jean Joline sat with us, as they often do, since we were their first senior class. When Bill Doswell took a moment to recognize John from the podium, John and Jean stood up and waved, and we all applauded.

Here are the obligatory softball pictures. No action shots—just Joe getting ready to hit, and Carl, Gene and I standing there rooting, while Joe waits, bat on shoulder in the background, to pose for the photo at left.

In addition to John and Jean Joline, Dick Nunley and Coach Mahnken, all shown in photos above, several other former faculty were present at this reunion. Here, Horton and Jean Durfee talk with Dirk van Loon ’57. Also around were Jack Van Vorst and Des McCracken.

Later that day, I had to put on a suit (can you imagine!), for the dedication ceremony in the Bethards Room. Dick and Des are visible behind Bill Doswell and me, here. We re-cut that ribbon about six times, so that everyone—trustees, students, parents—could get their picture taken at this event.

There was just one more ’62 photo in Darrow Today. This one was captioned “Class of ’62 wives at lunch.” The “wives” shown are Francie Sharpe, Laurie Coffee, and Bob Lang’s companion—not sure she was a wife though. I think that’s Heather Sharpe in the foreground, and Gene Cook in the background. This is the kind of weekend it was—great June weather, a lot of relaxed sitting around. It was a memorable reunion, even if I didn’t record it with my own camera. If any of the rest of you did get better photos than these, please send them to me and we’ll add them to this album.