In 1981, our Class of '61, held a 20th year reunion at O'Fallon Park. We had well over half the class show up for hot dogs and pot luck. It was a beautiful day and we were happy to see some of our former teachers - Sr. Mary Constance (1st), Sr.Mary Arthur (4th) - now Sr Elizabeth Kolmer, and Sr Mary Anthony. We hardly recognized Sister Mary Anthony who underwent quite a transformation from the stern, no-nonsense nun to a happy, cordial nun. She travels the world to spread God's love - Guatemala, China, and more. We spent the afternoon talking about our children, our jobs and our hobbies - and, yes, the many memories at St. Albert the Great. Unfortunately, all the pix taken that day were ruined. So, we only have memories!
In 2001, we had our 40th reunion in the new "Air-conditioned" 7th/8th grade annex at St Albert's - during the annual picnic. The smell of fried fish brought back many memories. Almost half the class attended and again we saw many classmates that we hadn't seen since graduation - 40 years ago! There were 9 different high schools to choose from back then and our class of 50 went off to public high schools in O'Fallon, Collinsville, East St. Louis, Belleville and Catholic high Schools - Cathedral (later Althoff), Academy of Notre Dame, St. Theresa's Academy and Assumption!! We had surprise guests - Joan Becherer Mulvanney from CA and Roger Downey from AZ. Others we had not seen: Paul Brenner, Barbara Wood, and Gary Forcee.
The most fun at this reunion was the resurrection of our classmate - Rich May. For years it was known that he died in Viet Nam. But as I scanned Classmates.com, I came across his name - and living in Mexico, MO. Land 'o Goshen! It was him. He came and surprised everyon - including Ron Hindman who saw his name of the Viet Nam Wall. Rich had to show his ID before Ron would believe it was him.
We lost several of our former classmates in those past 40 years - Tom Richardson, John Lindner (Viet Nam), and Vernon Buddy Barcum. Dave Tissier, and Dana's husband, Dwight died shortly after the reunion.
