Our Plymouth High School class of '49 held a 60th reunion on September 12, 2009 at the Hilton on Sheldon Rd. It's hard to believe 60 years have gone by since graduation, where oh where did the time go, and so quickly? I lived in Livonia, as did others in my class, and we had to bused to Plymouth since we did not have a high school in Livonia at that time although they were working on Bentley High. There we were, 18 years old and ready to conquer the world, and now those of us left are now 78 years old. But everyone attending the reunion all really looked good. In fact, the good-looking girls attending the reunion looked VERY good. Maybe it's just ego that I don't want to consider myself, or my classmates, as old people.
Out of our class of 130, 39 attended our 60th reunion. Sadly to say that 69 classmates are deceased, and we haven't heard from at least 22 others. Three of us live in Salem Township, including Ferman Rohraff and Bob Houghton. I was on the reunion committee to help out but Doris Tillotson White and Dick Weinert did most of the work and we are grateful for their effort at every 5 year reunion. Several of us were asked to speak to tell about our most interesting experiences, mine being the Township Supervisor for 8 years.
I think about my good buddies from Livonia: Don Patterson, Ted Burton, Jim Wagenschutz, and Jim Kolak and all the fun we used to have. Don Patterson was probably my best buddy and we used to hang around together driving our Fathers' cars around going to fast food drive-ins, which were plenty in those days. My favorite memory was Don Patterson and I driving around Hines Park at night looking for parked cars. When we found one, we threw a lighted fire cracker under the parked car. The couple in the car would get a rude awakening and they would yell and cuss at us, and we would take off laughing. Well, one evening we did that to a couple in a 1940 Chevy. At that time we were driving Don's car, a 1932 Chevy, that his dad gave to him for a birthday present. This guy in the '40 Chevy was so enraged that he took after us! We didn't know if he had a gun or what. We got onto Schoolcraft Road fairly quick heading east, but the top speed of our Chevy was only 61 mph, but the guy's car was much faster. We tried to lock our doors, but they could only be locked from the outside. We were finally able to get the outside door key loose from the ignition key chain, while Don is yelling all the time "Alfred, get the censored door locked!" So we're traveling 61 mph and I have my head outside trying to lock the damn door which finally got locked. Eventually, the guy in the '40 Chevy gave up the chase, and I can assure you we were relieved. Needless to say, we gave up this kind of fun and spent more time at the drive-in's.
We had a great time at the reunion visiting with those we haven't seen for years. Then talking about old times as though it was last week or something, but yet I can't remember things I did yesterday. I'm hoping that somehow we could still have another re-union although it would be in 2014, that would be iffy at best. In the meantime my best to all my classmates for good health and thanks for all the good memories as we prepare for another and new life.
Fred
Comments