Members of the R.E. Hunt High School 1967 graduating class will gather this coming weekend to celebrate the unity they forged a half century and more ago in Columbus. Among Baby Boomers born in 1949, the alumni are among many across the country this year marking 50th reunions and “the way we were.”
The first night of the weekend-long Hunt ’67 reunion begins Friday, June 30 at R.E. Hunt Museum, the place where the former students attended classes, dated, played sports and formed lifelong friendships.
Class member Mary Austin Woodrick, one of the reunion coordinators, said the experience of contacting fellow class members was a like taking a trip down memory lane. “We worked hard as a committee to contact everyone who was a part of the class,” she said.
Woodrick estimates about 75 of the original 155 class members will attend the three-day event which includes a Friday night social, Saturday night banquet and a special Service of Remembrance on Sunday for deceased classmates. “We will also include a special tribute to our veterans, many of whom went off to war in Vietnam during that time,” she said.
Jerry Turner, Class of 1967 historian, provided historical details for the event including special highlights. “The 1967 baseball Hornets won the Little Six Championship with a 6-1 record that year,” said Turner.
As every class does, the Class of ’67 experienced its own slice of national history, including Vietnam, Kent State, Jackson State, civil rights struggles, women’s liberation and the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, noted Woodrick. They also witnessed the election of Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States.
Their own lives have seen colleges, careers, marriages, children, grandchildren, retirements, triumphs, failures and epiphanies, she continued.
“Experience has taught that at 10th and 20th reunions, people are trying to do a little impressing. As the 30th and 40th reunions roll through, many are struggling to self-assess,” the co-organizer said. “At the 50th, it’s just time to say, ‘I’ve known you for at least 50 years — for better or worse, you accept me, and I accept you.’ Isn’t it great? At last, peace, joy, wisdom, contentment.”
For more information about the reunion, contact Woodrick at 662-328-4811.
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