Members of Greenwood High School's Class of 1934 will be honored as the 50-year class at the all-school alumni reunion. In their high school graduation picture, front row, left to right are: Arlene [Meinholdt] Perastek, Lillian [Behrens] Redgreen, Mary [Culp] Gillard, Louise Meyers, Margaret Knudson] Ruth, Lucia [Poole] Petrick, Myrtle [ Gilbeck ] Lee, Hazel [ Kirn ] Mueller, Lucille Vollrath, Row 2- Mildred [Plank] Carney, Ethel [Brenamarn] Holt, Helen [Lindaman] Perko, Delores [Walters] Bokosky, Mr. Muenschow [Principal], Arlene [Horn] Ansky, Arlene [Jornby] Aanrud, Nelle [Hartsen] Wuelbruth, Row- 3 Left to right Don Stabnow, Jake Barr, Ezra Poirer, Herman Fabian, Herb Humke, Reynold Syth, Elmer Meinhardt, Gerald Luther. Back row- left to right, Rudolph Kokaly, Claire Hindle, Eugene Carteron, Joe Voloshek, Marcellas Hinker, Harold Borkaw, Merrill Dunn.

    The end of May brings graduaton when several hundred area high school students will leave their classrooms to strike out into "life after high school." Few of them will give much thought to looking back to their old school days for quite some time.

    Shortly after graduation however, another group of ghgh school graduates will converge on Greenwood, all intent on peering back into those good old days.

    May 26 is the date set for Greenwood High School's all-school alumni reunion, a tradition that is enteriing its 43rd year. Since 1941 graduating classes from Greenwood have returned to swap memories and catch up on the activities of old friends in the years since graduation.

    At the first all-school renuion, 90 alumni attended bringing a total of 122 people to the event held at the old high school gym. The oldest alumni attending that year, Olive Rand Dickson and Maple Rossman, graduated in 1899. Of those attending the first alumni reunion, about 46 are still living today and many are expected at this year's reunion.

    The reunion has attracted upward of 200 people with the highest attendance reaching 250 people in 1967 and 1968. Last year about 180 people attended.

    After the reunion had become a tradition, the alumni decided to honor the 50-year class of 1934. Twenty one of a class of thirty one are still living and reunion organizers report that all but one of those has responded to the invitation. Seventeen of the 21 plan to attend the reunion. Among them are Greenwood area residents Jake Barr, Reynold Syth and Helen (Lindaman) Perko.

    Mercedes Liebzeit, Greenwood, who is coordinating the event this year, has never missed a reunion since its beginnings. She credits Mabel Bishop, a greenwood resident who passed away years ago, for originating the idea of an all-school reunion.

    "It's been very successful. It's unique in that it's continued all these years. There's lots of enthusiasm for it," says Mrs. Liebzeit.

    She recalls with fondness her own 50-year class reunion two years ago. One of her teachers, 79 year-old Sigrid Stark, drove alone all the way from Hammond, Indiana, to attend. She came with a box full of pictures of her students in their school days.

    For the past 10 years an outstanding alumni has been honored at the banquet. Area residents who have received the award include: Mr. and Mrs. Art Turnquist, Mrs. Vera Wuethrich, Miss Ruth Verhulst, Gilbert C. Rohde, Mrs. Geneva Berrett, John D. Wuethrich, Abbie Neuenfeldt, Helen (Chadwick) Behrens and Harry Liebzeit. The honor is awarded based on the recipient's outstanding work in the school, the community or in his or her profession.

    Organizers of the banquet include Helen (Turnquist) Axelson, Harry Johnson, Louis Landini, Roger Standiford and Carol (Drew) Turnquist. Mrs. Turnquist, who has played a key role in coordination the banquet for the past 12 years, has turned over those duties due to ill health this year to Mrs. Liebzeit.

    Helping with the reservations is no small task. It involves stamping, signing and mailing over 300 envelopes. Mrs. Liebzeit also began what she terms a futile task, that of updating addresses of all alumni, filed in three wooden file boxes that date from 1898 to the present. She has now devised a system where the 50-year class will update their own addresses when they attend the banquet.

    This year's banquet will begin at 7:30 at the old high school gym. The high school Swing Choir will entertain. The youngest classmate to reserve a place at the banquet graduated in 1961, while the earliest class representatives are Julius Hembre from the class of 1912 and Mrs. Katie (Griese) Lindner, class of 1914.

    Three classes, the class of '34, the class of '39 and the class of '44 plan to hold their own reunions before attending the alumni banquet. The class of '44 plans on a good turnout with 25 of its 36 classmates indicating they will attend.

    Deadline for reservations is May 22; however, about 50 extra places are usually set for those who decide at the last minute to attend.

    The temptation to talk about the good old days can strike at any time, and any Greenwood High graduate bitten by that temptation will be welcome at the all-school alumni reunion.

Source:  May 16, 1984 Tribune-Record-Gleaner.