By Karen Haave
Eight members of the Peotone High School Class of 1954 marked their 70th reunion this summer, a celebration filled with memories and tinged with wistfulness.
The class has met for 32 reunions over the years, in restaurants, state parks, Joliet Frontier League baseball games, Twilight Cruises, a Passion Play, and quiet suppers in members’ homes. There were trips to Chicago, Peoria, Starved Rock, Shipshewana, Nebraska, and Holland, Michigan.
Most recently, they gathered at Faith Connect Wilton Center Federated Church for boxed lunches from Tony’s Pizza.
Dona Condon Steen, who organized the event, believes this one will be the last. Unlike some high school classmates who drift apart, the 31 graduates from 1954 remained good friends, and have enjoyed many wonderful times together.
“This class has stayed very close,” Steen said. “This year will be the last reunion we are planning on having. I believe it will be our 32nd one. We have gone a lot of places, including the Riverboat cruise, a weekend in Chicago, White Pines State Park, and Omaha, Nebraska, plus many other places.”
Attending the 70th Reunion with Steen were Warren Beckman, John Fahs, Shirley Harms Holl, Carol Knickrehm Murphy, James Lalumendre, Glenn Mueller, Joyce Scheer Hecht, and Shirley Strubar Hall.
Warren Beckman has attended all but two of the reunions. He said his favorite memory of Peotone High School was “the day I graduated.” But he also said he loved history, with Mr. Troutman as his teacher.
He didn’t recall having a favorite classmate, but he did say he “got along with everybody.”
As for this being the last reunion, he said, “Let’s go for 71!” adding “I’m glad I’m able to be here.”
For Carol Knickrehm Murphy, the best memory was the senior trip to Washington, D.C., which included an outing to a nightclub for teens. Math was her favorite subject, and Shirley Strubhar was her favorite classmate. “We sang in the choir together,” she noted.
The thought the 2024 Reunion might be the last makes her “a little sad,” but it was “good to see (the others) and be a survivor.”
John Fahs recalls “Joyce and Shirley” as his favorite memory of high school, but when it comes to naming a favorite classmate, he quipped, “Don’t ask!” And the thought that this is the last reunion emphatically makes him “Sad!’
Shirley Harms Holl loved English and Advanced Algebra back in the day, had “a lot” of favorite classmates, and remembers that “The whole class was friendly with each other.” Thinking about the final reunion, she added, fills her with “mixed emotions.”
Others at the reunion said they loved choir and band, typing and math, English and music, being a pole vaulter and making “such good friends.”
And one said Dona Condon Steen was their favorite classmate, thanking her “for all her efforts in putting this together every year.”
And still one more suggested this reunion doesn’t have to be the last. “No, we could go out to lunch. No organizing for anyone.”
The 31 members of the Class of 1954 were Helen Albers, Kenneth Andres, William Allen, Warren Beckman, Gaylen Broadrick, Audra Brtva Bisping, Dona Condon Steen, John Fahs, Carol Gall Ponton, Shirley Harms Holl, James Hart, Dorris Jones Amiot, Carol Knickrehm Murphy, Richard Krapf, Doris Krohn Kuhn, Walter Kurima, James Lalumendre, Beverly Meyer Case, Genn Mueller, Joyce Pauling McKay, Judy Pralle Troutman, Betty Rehberg Wofford, Loisanne Robbins Orlovich, Loretta Ruhbeck Becker, Joyce Scheer Hecht, Nellie Schartz Soper, Naomi Singleman Wolfe, Alice Sovet Thrun, Bette Stassen Kusunis, Shirley Strubar Hall and Lyle Wilke.