A-C Valley Class of 1967 recently met in the Allegheny Room at the Plaza Restaurant for their annual class reunion on Saturday, August 10th.
By Edward Master
Another second Saturday in August has come and gone, meaning so has another ACV Class of 1967 picnic. It really wasn’t a picnic though as in years past since we meet at the Plaza in Emlenton, but this was a class get-together none the less. In stead of gathering at Linda Shoup’s backyard, the park behind the Clintonville fire house, or the Grove in St. Petersburg, we settled on the Emlenton Plaza as a pseudo ‘central’ location. I’m thinking we’ll probably stay put for a bit.
Our class numbered 110 grads, and now with at least 27 classmates having passed to the after life, we had 40 classmates in attendance. I was surprised at how many formers I recognized. I had to ask about Fred Bowser though as his white beard and white hair gave him some decent camouflage. Sharon(?) Whitling and Patty Whitehill fortunately introduced themselves as each would have been unknown to me. I got passed the gray hair and white hair on others unscathed. I do wish Wanda Whitmer had made the dinner as it’s been awhile, much too long. Maybe next year.
I really enjoyed sitting and eating with Mike Rapp (The General), Bill Kunselman (Kooney), and Ruth Grimm. Mike and Bill are fairly local: Mike Cranberry (Butler Co.) and Bill (Oil City). Ruth, however, made the trek from North Carolina, and is looking to re-settle in our area. Fortunately, Mike and I keep in touch and he gave me a lift to our affair. I eagerly relayed the tale of Kooney’s whirl in the dryer at the Emlenton laundromat. I loved Ruth’s telling her tales of music adventure with Charles Tritle and Louise Girard. We laughed a lot about her escapades.
Even though I’m not an Emlenton native, I know enough of the streets, alleys, and idiosyncratic urban layout to hear and then laugh about Mike’s, Bill’s, and Ruth’s tales and escapades of their Emlenton childhood and youth. Who lived where, who did what to whom, what happened to? How about that path that went up the hill from high school to the ballfield for us track guys? K-C Russell lugged his pole up there for pole-vaulting for one whole track season.
We are lucky in one respect that we still have a class that wants to meet socially. A lot of schools have gone through consolidations, but whether they had to endure anything similar to our junior high in Parker is in the wind. Is that the reason we have hung together? Your guess is as good as any.
I know I feel fortunate and I look forward to next year. May be we’ll see Gail Sloan, Butch Alworth, Cathy Howell, Trish Marron, Liz McCall, and Wanda Whitmer.
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