The Nottingham High School Class of 1967 recently gathered together for a warm, friendly weekend of friendship and camaraderie after many months of planning by a volunteer committee. A few of the committee members had been involved in several of the earlier reunions, being a 5, 10 and 20 year, so they had a fairly good data base and address list to start from.

But as usual for this type of get together, most of those attending were there to see that one or two special people that childhood friendships had fostered and left fond memories. And for others, there was always the lingering thought of  “If I don’t attend this 40th year reunion, I don’t know if I or my friends will be around for a 50th reunion. So I better get my a—there”!  After all, 18 of our known classmates have passed on.

I believe the count was 90 classmates plus spouses or significant others in attendance and even one teacher, Mr. Blydenburg, the “shop” teacher, Junior Varsity basketball coach, and later principal of the school.

I also believe that this time more so than in any other reunion, there was far less discussion of what profession each of us had chosen or where we were working. Many photos were pulled out showing off sons, daughters and yes, even grandchildren. It seems that this is our time of life to be helping our parents, also, transitioning into their next phase of life, the “Golden Years”.

Our reunion would not have had as much meaning to me without a guided tour of our alma mater. There were about 20 – 25 of us that made the tour thanks to Iris and our tour guide Sehl Burns, class of 1962 and owner of the funeral home located directly across the street from the High School. The physical plant was the same, but different. Our old gymnasium and cafeteria had been relocated into a new wing; the metal detector was there, waiting to be installed; the auditorium was great with new seats and a newly installed AV control room; and the new track and football field up above on the hill were a marvel (goodbye cinder track – hello to a new cushion track). Remember, this is the High School that gave us future NFL players Doug Swift, Keith Moody and Dorsey Levens.

Mr. Burns gave us a brief history of what happened to our school once we graduated and within just a few, short years thereafter, the busing of students from other parts of the city truly integrated our high School. The metal detector is there for a reason. I kept thinking how all of us with our diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds of Jewish, Greek, German, Irish, Italian and African-American all seemed to come into this post WWII Age of Innocence, while leading up to the Vietnam War era.

Well, I think we grew up in a great time period. The fact that we can draw 90 classmates to a 40th reunion coming from places as far away as Olympia, Washington, Florida, etc. and want a 45th reunion without waiting for the 50th, must say something to us wanting to see each other again. Heck, Clarita Redshaw, our foreign exchange student from Peru during our senior year, even found out about our reunion!  I, for one, will be waiting for the next notification and hope to see many of my other classmates who just couldn’t make the trip this time.

Nick Malagisi



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Updated: June 15, 2010