50 years later, alum looks forward to class reunion

By Bob Bong

It seems like only yesterday I was one of the Meteors donning a purple cap and gown and preparing for commencement as a member of the T.F. North High School Class of 1972 in Calumet City.

Ours was to be the first outdoor graduation. We practiced a few times. On graduation day, howling winds and pouring rain forced us inside. Of course, we hadn’t practiced for that.

Then there were the graduation parties. Lots of graduation parties. But that’s a different subject.

Fast forward half a century, and several classmates are planning our 50^th reunion, which will be our last. After 50 years, we get lumped in with the TFN and TFS Golden Alumni group.

The affair will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, September 23, at the Wicker Park Social Center in Highland, Ind. So far, 103 alumni and significant others have paid up to attend. Some who stay over till Saturday may take a tour of our alma mater. How much could it have changed in five decades?

Alumni are coming in from across the country. Three are coming from California, including my childhood best friend, Carl Rosenbaum. One is from Maine. Four are from Florida. A few others are coming in from South Carolina, Texas and Arizona.

Many of us have reconnected on Facebook where we reminisce, argue politics, and talk about our grandkids.

Carl has endeared himself to our class in particular, and a couple of others, for keeping a list of our classmates who have passed away over the years. The list is up to 82.

One classmate who unfortunately made the list was John Sherrer. Everyone had a group of close friends in high school and John was in mine. It helped that John had three sisters.

John joined the Army after high school and was sent to Germany. He married his longtime girlfriend Fran and they had kids.

We lost touch for a while but reconnected thanks to Facebook and his daughter Tiffany. John had lost his sight, in part because of his military service. But he and Fran had a business teaching blind veterans how to use computers and such.

John had a great service dog and we’d get together when he was in town, usually during trips to the VA related to his blindness.

I miss him and our reunion will be little less fun without him.

Planners for the milestone shindig include former classmates Jeff and Deb Lundy, Paula Senek and Patti Judnick-Zurawski. I’m sure there are others I have missed.

They have an interesting night planned. 1970s music. Dancing (maybe, but we’re not as spry as we used to be). Memorabilia. Photos. Contact Paula if you have items to display.  Her email address is  paulaswan@aol.com 

A photographer will be on hand to take a class photo (I have class photos from our 40^th and 45^th reunions). The photographer will also offer photos of smaller groups, couples, and individuals. There will also be photo props for use by alumni who want to take their own photos.

Tickets are $55 per person and include a family-style dinner and one-hour open bar before dinner. The deadline to purchase tickets is August 1.

Deb Lundy keeps the list of attendees updated on our class Facebook page. Some of them I haven’t seen since we graduated. Some of them I have known since we were kids and played baseball together or were in Cub Scouts together.

Any alumni out there who haven’t signed up can find details on how to sign up at the TFN Class of 1972 Facebook page or email tfnclassof72@gmail.com

All together now, “Stay on the North side of Fractional and never cross that line …”

Bob Bong is editor of the Desplaines Valley News, The Regional News and The Reporter newspapers.