Maine Township High School Class of 1959

The music may have stopped, and the balloons are no longer floating above the tables, but the connections that have been re-kindled after 50 plus years are still going strong. Some of us feel a little melancholy as the festivities recede into the back ground of every day life. It is difficult to believe it has been 50 years since our high school graduation.

The reunion week end started with the home coming parade, at the high school. Despite the drizzle our former Drum Majorette, Arlene Rodriguez Harriman led the parade of classmates carrying our reunion banner across the football field. After that we shared memories at the Elk's Club with a pizza party, where we displayed a Memory Board and pictures of many of our homes from our high school years.

Saturday morning a big group started with the tour of the high school, walking the hallowed halls of our youth. The afternoon picnic attended by almost 200, was fun with a few of our classmates bringing antique cars to display. Saturday evening we hosted a table of several former teachers, at cocktails, dinner and dancing at the Embassy Suites. There were over 287 attendees enjoying the evening. Sunday many of us lingered over brunch, reluctant to let go of the memories and time shared with old friends and making new friends.

There were many unfinished conversations and shared memories yet to be explored. We will be sending a Memory Book to recapture some of the week end, it will include a directory so we can keep the connections going. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the 55th reunion, if not before!

Carol Swagler Christensen

We had a tremendous 50th High School Reunion thanks to the hard work of our “perpetual Reunion Committee.”

For some of us, the reunion actually started on October 2008 when our record setting two successive State Championship Baseball teams [1958 & 1959] held a 50th reunion of our own.  We had excellent attendance, which included:

• 24  players and student managers
• 3  coaches [Al Carstens, Vic Giovannini and Woody Hughes]
• 2  Faculty members [John Huizinga and Les Rozdalovsky]

Add to that number an additional 10 classmates who wanted to share our memories and all of our wives and significant others who didn’t want to miss a party. We had a great time and an opportunity to pay tribute to our mentor, Al Carstens.

This year my reunion began with a round of golf Friday morning with 13 classmates from 1959, many of whom hadn’t seen each other since graduation.  The greetings were warm and sincere. The “kidding” was reminiscent of the “good ol’ days”. And catching up on 50 years of education, career, marriage(s), children and grandchildren preempted the quality of the golf.  It was a wonderful prelude to the Friday night cocktail party.

The Saturday night Reunion party was the best.  I have attended many previous reunions [but not all] and it seemed to me that we had a far better representation of our class this year than we have had in previous years. I saw many classmates that I hadn’t seen in 50 years.

It was a wonderful opportunity to reminisce our high school years and to realize once again that we were most fortunate to grow up in the 1950’s and attend Maine High School.  Maine was big, very big, but our class of nearly 1000 had an esprit de corps then, as it does now, that helped beget the individual character of us all and reflects on the quality of the faculty that influenced our education and maturity in so many ways.

Thank you Reunion Committee.