Word on the street is . . . "This Was The BEST Reunion EVER!"
Submitted by Lynn Provasi, Chief Coordinator

Whatever it was that made that so, the planning committee took their bows at the 40-Year Reunion with smiles of gratitude. 

The persistent rains let up long enough for several classmates to play golf at the Barre and Northfield Country Clubs on Friday.  Didn’t hear about any “holes in one,” but everyone said they had a great time.

About 60 SHS class of 1968 graduates (and about half that number of spouses/etc!) attended the FRIDAY NIGHT SOCIAL, kicking off the Reunion weekend.  A banner welcoming Spaulding High School Class of 1968 “We’re Still Rockin’ & Rollin’!” designed and donated by Nancy (Chandler) Boutin greeted everyone at the Elks Club’s entrance.  Adelle (Nadeau) Sumner and Susan Mahoney registered and welcomed folks at the door.  The planning committee provided hot and cold finger foods.  Sandy (Davison) MacAulay played 60’s tunes in the background.  Clusters of people looked through yearbooks, reminisced, shared pictures of their grandchildren and had a grand time getting reacquainted—laughter could be heard well into the night.  The locally-favorite Wayside Restaurant was commemorating their 90^th birthday by serving 25¢ hot dogs and ice cream cones so, don’t you know, a few of us had to represent SHS until closing time!

Several Reunionese were seen having breakfast on the Aldrich Library lawn hosted by the Barre Rotary Club as part of the Barre Homecoming Festival weekend.  At 10:00 AM we joined JOE MAIOLA, our former history teacher and class advisor, at the auditorium entrance of Spaulding High School. 

At the start of our tour, Joe introduced Don Lessard, SHS Maintenance Department Head and “keeper of the keys,” Our tour wouldn’t have happened if Don hadn’t willingly given of his time on a summer Saturday and we sure appreciated it.  Throughout the tour, Joe shared comparisons of our ”old” school and today’s; highlighting some of the new academic programs afforded through the vocational-technical center that was built after 1968.  The Building Trades class is constructing a house in the school parking lot, adjacent to the school.  (They’ve transported some of their houses to Mississippi for hurricane victims.)  The Stone Trades course is, sadly, a thing of the past; cosmetology, technology and family/consumer science are top choices for students.  The new library, band, chorus, work-out rooms and three gymnasiums made quite an impression on the touring group.   Joe retired from teaching in 1996 and continues to work as a full-time sub at the school.  He has seen generations of families pass through those halls, yet was able to relate stories from 40 years ago as if they’d happened yesterday.  It was somewhat nostalgic to hear Joe say:  “Lots of good traditions ended with the graduation of the Class of 1968.  And even though you kids got into some mischief, most of it was harmless—especially when compared to what goes on now!”

We finished our tour where we began—at the auditorium.  There was a quiet hush as we looked for the carved names of family and friends on the Wall of Honor.  Those in the group who served in the armed forces posed for a picture and accepted a round of applause.

After enjoying some of the Homecoming events on the streets of Barre, we cleaned ourselves up and again gathered at the Elks for more munchies, reminiscing, music and photo opportunities.  Several graduates from Marian High School’s Class of 1968 joined us.  We all enjoyed reconnecting and plan to continue combining our reunion efforts for the future.  If everyone attends from both schools, we’ll need a much larger place to gather in 2013! 

George Scott produced a video montage representing our school years of 1955-1968.  He worked some long hours over many months putting together the presentation, complete with accompanying music.  In the last minutes of completion George encountered a glitch which prevented the music from being heard!  Our DJ, Jon Noyes, played some background music while the slide show wound its way through our elementary years capping off with graduation.  A special thanks to Pam (Farnham) Grimard, Arlene Johnston and Bob Haggett for setting up the media and screen.  What a task that turned out to be without “How To” directions!

As George predicted, comments were heard throughout the crowd, “Oh! I’ve got some pictures I should’ve sent him.”  George is eager to receive those photos and will round-out the presentation, fix the glitches, and be ready for the sequel in 2013.  He’d like to have current pictures of graduates to fill in the spaces next to our graduation shots.  (Won’t THAT be fun to see?!)  So, everyone:  Dig out those digitals and get busy! 

An easel showing yearbook photos of "missing" classmates (designed by Jeanne [Burrington] Hommel) drew attention that resulted in a few clues on how to locate some. (This is the fewest we’ve been unable to locate in several years; Internet searching sure helped!)  We’re still looking for:  Larry Bell; Douglas Carpenter; David Emery, Jr.; Julia (Fuksman) Howard; William Goodell; Richard Hart; John Lauderdale; Lloyd Lemieux; James McGilvray; Minnie (Messier) Blanchette; Ronald Perreault; Lana Ramey; Robert Rea and; AFS Students:  Juliane (Frick) Walk and Suksan Fuangrit.

A U.S. map flagging classmates’ current states of residence (put together by Bob Haggett), accompanied a display of our yearbook, grade school pictures and prior years’ reunion photos.  There were a few notes from classmates who could not attend this year’s reunion. Imagine, Steve (Stud) McCleod not at a reunion?  He’d suffered a ruptured appendix earlier in the week and was recuperating at his home in Bolton Valley.  Sharon (Carpenter) Dupuis, Lorene (Shangraw) Bouffard and Charlie Brigham send notes and pictures.  A photo tribute to our 18 deceased classmates (done by Lynn Provasi) provided the backdrop for a book of their obituaries.  Classmates gathered and shared memories of:  Vincent Alonzo, Donald Ashford, Tom Belville, Judy Bernatchy Main, Michael Borne, Claudette Boutin Wilkin, Michael Calcagni, Dana Cerasoli, Robert Cummings, Michael Danforth, Willard Emerson, Marjorie Garnick Monahan, Dennis Goulette, Ellen Hoffman, Joan Hutchinson Wells, Carl McCarthy, Donald Murphy and Rose-Mary Pryor Kilian.

Master of Ceremonies, Gilles Moreau, welcomed everyone to the evening’s celebration and shared bits of trivia with the audience.  We had a record 272 graduates in 1968.  (That record wasn’t broken until the 80s.)  With 15 we’re unable to locate and 18 deceased, we had the potential of 239 attendees.  There are 188 of us still living in New England, so the 63 members in attendance represented a quarter of our potential.  Again this year, the majority attending traveled from out-of-state. 

Gilles introduced and thanked Lynn Provasi, on behalf of the gathering, for spearheading the event.  “I may have ‘taken the bull by the horns,’ but I couldn’t have wrestled him to the ground without the rest of committee,” Lynn joked.  She continued, “I would never take on this task without the great committee of:  Betty (Perreault) Cutler, Ron Edson, Bob Haggett, Jeanne (Burrington) Hommel, Sherry (Searles) LeBlanc, Sandy (Davison) MacAulay, Sue Mahoney, Gilles Moreau, Bill Noyes, George Scott, Adelle (Nadeau) Sumner, Nikki (Trottier) Sweet and Georgette (Vigneault) Coleman from Marian High School.”  Lynn thanked each person on the planning committee for his/her efforts, energy and expertise in putting together a great reunion.  She shared, “They are very generous and ambitious—they kept costs to a minimum with their various donations”.  The registration fee collected was used for printing, mailings, hors d'oeuvres, Saturday’s meal, decorations, DJ services and overhead expenses.

Gilles led a hearty round of applause as he asked those who had served (or are still serving) in the military to stand and be recognized. He introduced ’68 classmates who had married other ’68 classmates.  Symbolizing about 114 combined years of marriage:  Gary and Marilyn Couillard Allen; Gilles and Vicki Owen Moreau; Jacques and Mary Sabens Martel; stood to be acknowledged. (Absent were Christopher and Jeanne Christensen Kelly.)  Also recognized were Jean and Cheryl Booth Perusse—Cheryl was a ’68 Marian graduate; Jean from SHS!

Continuing to jog the audience’s memory, Gilles asked if anyone remembered Principal Pendo’s first name (no, not Dr! – Anatole!).  Was it really Dr. Sally Cummings who rode her bike on stage during the Class Day Skit to the song “Mustang Sally”?  And try as he might, he could not get Oliver Twombly to sing “The Impossible Dream” as he’d done at our graduation ceremony.  After pointing out the little-known trivia that we had graduated in ’68 and at our 50-Year Class Reunion most of us will be 68 years old, Gilles handed off the mike to Marian High!

On behalf of the 1968 Marian High School classmates, George Mitchell also thanked everyone for coming and expressed their gratitude to Georgette Coleman for having Marian graduates invited to participate in the reunion.  Marian’s Class of ’68 had 50 graduates.  Two classmates have died:  John Churchill and Mirla Rivas.  They also have classmates who are married to classmates:  George and Jane Jarvis Mitchell as well as Steven and Mary Lynne Isham Adams.

Following a buffet dinner of roast beef, turkey and the fixings, Gilles introduced our guest, Joe Maiola.  Joe spoke about our tour that morning, and reminisced with us about “the good old days”.  His ability to remember specific football plays and sporting events guided us down memory lane!  Joe recalled the “mischief” some of us had gotten into (Harper and Bobby Mitchell; Joe Morrison, Joe Furloni…) He stirred up memories of our Class Day Skit, the “underground newspaper” (Steve, “Stud” McLeod, Editor-in-Chief), drama productions, detentions, teachers and administrators (Amy Goodell, Julia Austin, Clyde Fussell, Dr. Pendo) and closed by reflecting (a little wistfully?) “Lots of good traditions ended with the graduation of the Class of 1968.”

A number of spouses focused their digitals and 35 mms.  Then they waited patiently while we lined up for a group picture. The photographers were challenged to get the entire group of Spaulding and Marian in one picture.  Check out the photo gallery section of our website to see how well they did!

A donated gift basket was raffled, and a 50/50 raffle ($141.00) drawing was conducted by Sandy (Davison) MacAulay in support of the SHS/MHS Reunion Fund.  Unbelievably, both were won by Bob and Sherry Searles LeBlanc! 

While the Homecoming Festival fireworks broke through the air, Reunionese found it difficult to tear themselves away from the music and camaraderie the evening had fostered.  More dancing, conversation and lots of laughter was heard.  Tom Barnett and Jeanne Hommel joined Alan Desautels and Judy Inkel Nokes on the dance floor.  Gail Baldwin Barrett and her husband Robert were dancing the twist, trying to show-up Rock Benoit and Becky Isham Ross.  Robert twisted down to a prone position—his head all but on the floor—seconds later springing back upright.  Then a flash went off in his face and he left Gail standing on the dance floor while Becky and Rock celebrated their victory.  When asked what happened, the bewildered, Robert exclaimed, “I saw a flash, then an angel appeared!”  His angel turned out to be Sandy MacAulay; the flash was her camera as she took his picture to prove to us all that we are, indeed, aging – but most of us have still got it!  Watch the website for proof in pictures!  The pictures should go a long way in convincing you to attend the 45^th (mark your 2013 calendars)!

As 1st time reunion-attendee Merritt Hunt circulated through the crowd saying his “goodbyes,” he wrote down names of folks who promised to join him at our 80-Year Reunion in 2048.  He returned to Seattle, Washington with quite a lengthy list!

Lynn mingled among the crowd garnering compliments (thank you, one and all!) comments and suggestions for future reunions and asked folks to share their e-mail addresses or, at the very least, to keep their mailing address current.  She also issued a challenge for the next reunion (2013):  Everyone who was at the 40^th is to bring at least one other classmate who has never attended a reunion!  You’ve got 5 years to work on it – get ready, get set, GO!

Footnote: Photos are currently being gathered, prepped, and will be posted soon. Stay tuned!

He said, She said . . .

Just read the summary of the reunion you wrote. I realized I missed some of the displays that were around! Darn!. Still brings a smile to my face when I think of the reunion! Need that with all that is going on in this world!

Thanks for the nice write up and can't wait to see how stupid I looked doing the twist!

~ Becky R.

AS always great job in writing up the weekend events. Thanks again for all your hard work.

~ Pam G.

Great pictures and commentary on this year's event!! Keep up the good work, Lynn!

Gino C.
(Formerly known as Terry)

What an awesome job on the website – thanks again so much for inviting us – we really did have a blast!

~ Georgette C.