Reminiscing

Friday I flew to Des Moines to attend my high school reunion. On my way to the farm, I decided to drive through Pilot Mound, where I attended school 1st through 10th grades. The red brick school building looks the same. Missing were the playground equipment and ball fields. Many memories, mostly happy, were cultivated there.



I stayed with Mark and Marla Friday and Saturday nights. Marla had flown up on Thursday to spend time with her hubby. They did a lot of planting...cannas, zinnias, tomato plants. Mark will enjoy them as Marla probably won't be back to the farm until Labor Day.









Saturday, Marla and I drove into Dayton. Our first stop was the cemetery. Marla goes there every Memorial Day week-end to place flowers on Mom and Dad's gravesite, as well as Grandpa John and Grandma Louise.


From the cemetery, we stopped for a nice visit with Gwen Peterson. Gwen is nearing 90 but still sharp. She is suffering from Shingles right now. I'm so glad I got that shot a year ago. Last stop was Jan and Clayton where we spent over an hour and a half catching up.

Sunday morning I headed back to Des Moines. I met Jody at 11:30 and helped her decorate tables and set up displays for the reunion and banquet. Social Hour was from 3-6 PM. This was the time we could mingle and visit with former classmates. Grand Community High School began 50 years ago and closed 26 years later. All classes were invited. The class of '59 had gathered the night before and most of them attended this reunion also. My class, 1960, had 25 members. Four are now deceased. Of the remaining 21, fourteen were in attendance. I had a great time talking about the "good old days."

I was happiest to see my basketball coach, Derald Swisher, and his wife, Emily. I asked him about the time my parents drove me to his house to turn in my suit. This was Grand's first year and two basketball teams had been brought together so obviously some changes had to be made. I always thought it was Mom who was upset because I was being told to share the post position with Boxholm's post. Swisher said Dad was the one who was mad, which really surprised me. He said Dad left laughing and I still had my suit. The following year, I didn't have to share the post position. We won the District tournament giving us a trip to the state tournament.

I was also happy to see Janet Zunkel. Janet and I were known as Mutt and Jeff when we ran around together 8th-10th grades. Since I had a motel room with two beds, I invited her to stay with me so we could have another slumber party. We talked until midnight, woke up at 5 AM and talked for a couple more hours. I don't know why they're called slumber parties when there's so little slumber.

After a GRAND week-end, I returned to Phoenix Monday afternoon. Marla and I were on the same flight so Arne picked us up. After dropping off Marla, Arne and I stopped at Desert Ridge Marriott to visit with cousins Marge and Eileen. They flew in Saturday and kept Arne entertained while I was gone.