High School reunions usually take place about every 10 years.

Then there is a 50th and everyone is around 67-68 years of age. A lot has happened in that 40 years and life is considerably different than at the 30th reunion. My husband graduated in 1957 and I graduated in 1958 from Manatee County High School in Bradenton, Florida. We attended many of the reunions but in our 60s, we moved out of the area and were involved in other things.

One of my classmates was a retired librarian who had gathered emails of classmates and produced a monthly newsletter consisting of items like who had grandchildren, traveled, or any news that could be shared. We remained in contact and were notified of any classmates who had passed. In 2016, he knew he needed a 6 vessel coronary bypass. He prepared his obituary in case he did not survive and passed the baton and list of names and addresses to me to carry on with the newsletter. I do not remember now how I managed to earn this honor. Unfortunately, he only survived a few days after surgery.

I shared the obituary with everyone and began to write and publish the monthly newsletter. This was not a difficult task. However, in May of 2023, someone emailed and said this is the 65th year and we need a reunion and that it will probably be our last one since we were in our 80s now.

I put it in the May newsletter and asked who wanted to plan a reunion and who wanted to attend. Two said we will help you plan it so let us know what you want us to do. No this isn’t happening, I thought — I was roped into the newsletter and now I am commandeered to put together a reunion. I currently live 600 miles from Bradenton. The lady in charge of the Alumni Association at our high school is on our newsletter email list. When she read about our considering a reunion, she was excited. She emailed and said I could call her if I needed suggestions and she had some things to donate to the event. A conspiracy, she assumed I had been put in charge without asking me.

Where do I start? I searched online and began calling restaurants, yacht clubs, country clubs, and hotels. I asked about the cost of reservations, meals, group rates, accessibility for elderly, and other events such as touring our High School which had been rebuilt over the last 65 years. Just renting a room and a buffet dinner menu began to sound very expensive.

Even if classmates had successful careers and lived comfortably, they might not want to spend $3000 for a 2-3 day reunion. Some classmates may not be able to afford that. There would be three nights in a motel in tourist season with a banquet, other activities, and travel expenses for those who did not live in Bradenton or the surrounding area. After many emails between myself, the classmate in Oregon, and the classmate in Bradenton, we finally arrived at decisions. I wrote the agenda with the dates and cost.

I scanned in pictures from the yearbook to add to the name tags as many of us looked very different from our graduation pictures. I bought 50 small gift bags that we filled with small items and pieces of assorted candies. We had 42 registered but we wanted to be prepared if someone decided to come at the last minute. We had a classmate in Thailand. He was not able to travel at the time we scheduled the event so I talked with him about holding a Skype session online. He felt that was a great idea. Wow! We are all set.

One week from the Oct. 31 scheduled Meet & Greet, I was notified that the Oak & Stone was closed due to fire damage. I had 38 people scheduled to arrive. This should not happen to this old person. My blood pressure soared but within two days I had a new place, a new plan, and on the third day everyone had been notified.

October 28 arrived. My daughter and I drove from NC to Bradenton, where we arrived on the evening of Oct 29. We met with the other two reunion planners the next morning to put the bags together, get table decorations and any other last minute preparations before the event began the next day. The weather was nice and comfortable. The Meet & Greet began with everyone arriving early and the tables were filled with people and conversations. There were appetizers and drinks. Then at 7:45 PM, I set up my laptop and extra monitor to connect the SKYPE session with our classmate in Thailand.

Everyone enjoyed it as they had not seen this classmate in many years. We were people who attended a high school that was not air conditioned and computers did not exist. We were born in 1940-1942. Here we were in 2023, experiencing a segment of Walt Disney’s Tomorrowland at Disney World in Orlando during the 1970s. The scene depicted an older couple who were looking at and talking to a large TV screen on the wall. The picture showed a family having a birthday party. Here we were forty years later in our 80s having lived through many modern advancements and now experiencing the world of electronics that was only imagined in the 70s.

On Wednesday, the museum trip was interesting and fun. The banquet dinner in the evening was successful. The next day, we went to the Florida Maritime Museum in Cortez. hat afternoon the Principal of MHS guided our tour through the “new” and expanded high school. It was amazing and it was air conditioned. Where did the time go? I remember graduation as if it were yesterday.

The next morning we left to return home. All the work and stress was worth it. The event was a plus for everyone and we are planning another one sometime soon. Friendships were rekindled. Rather than say, no we are too old, we said yes, we want to do this. Is it time you had a reunion with old classmates and friends?