Harlem Class of '73 Holds Reunion

A small number of the 53 graduates from Harlem High School's Class of 1973 gathered at Zurich Park on July 8-9 for their fifty year class reunion. Those in attendance threw horse shoes, tossed bean bags in a corn hole tournament, and spent a fair amount of time just visiting and reliving memories.

Since their graduation day on May 16, a lot has changed. Back in 1973, "The Exorcist" and "American Graffiti" were playing at the movie theater for the ticket price of $1.77, Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" and The Rolling Stones' "Angie" were heard on the radio, the retail price for a gallon of gasoline averaged 39 cents, and the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour.

After a welcome delivered by Class President and Salutatorian Colleen Bailey Overcast on Saturday, the former classmates sat around, ate a pizza lunch, and reminisced. Conversation frequently flowed around recollections of leisure time. Dan Stout's 1967 Ford Galaxie 500 was the "party wagon," and many of the class parties took place at the red bridge on Eight Mile Hill Road. According to Jeff Sather, "If that car could talk, it would have a fair number of stories to tell. We would fill Dan's car with oil and check the gas before heading out." Chuckling at the humor in that remark, Dale Kinzel agreed.

Another group spoke about their exploits in the FFA. Giving new meaning to the F in FFA, Darwin Zellmer facetiously stated: "We were the best behaved." Among their stories about putting on a NASA presentation at the 1973 Harlem Seed Show-for which the Chapter received a letter of commendation from Garth Hull at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-were those about setting a motor with a jack knife or forgetting their FFA competition tool box.

On one of those occasions, Stout explained, "We found a few tools on the blue bus: a crescent wrench, a pair of pliers, and a screwdriver and figured we'd use those to compete. When some of the other competitors harassed us for not having our equipment, Scot Strauser simply said, 'I guess we'll have to kick their asses!'"

Stout and Sather both remember Strauser as a "natural born comedian" who would "drag his notebook around like dragging a log chain. He just wasn't a big fan of school work," Sather stated.

From dances at Hogeland to drives that involved dodging cattle and siting UFOs, members of the Class of '73 relived the "good ol' days," times when "we respected each other and the property of others as well as the discipline issued by parents and school faculty," Zellmer claimed.

Their Reunion Agenda also slotted 4:30-6:00 p.m. on Saturday to give teachers the "opportunity to apologize for all those F grades so freely handed out." Jim Murch and Dave Boisvert were two of the class' former teachers who were scheduled to attend.

In the Zurich Park Hall, a memorabilia table collected several icons from the seventies: a corded wall phone, eight track tapes, vintage license plates, and Olympia Beer and RC Cola cans. There were also two rolls of 1973 pennies that were distributed to class members so that each could treasure a lucky penny keepsake. Another table displayed silent auction items, and a third held White Elephant Gifts. These were concealed items that "could be a gag gift or something sweet, funny, fancy, used, or new," Overcast explained.

Class members exchanged these in a fashion similar to a Chinese auction with each gift being purchased for $5.00 followed by a two minute period during which it could be exchanged for another dollar. The class used this system and the silent auction to fund their reunion.

Sunday found the group reading autobiographies, taking photographs, visiting, playing games, eating, and holding a memorial service-led by Zellmer-for the ten members of the class that had been lost to date.

At the reunion's close, Overcast announced: "Thank you all for attending; we hope to see you in another fifty years."