50th Reunion PHS Class of 1965

Has it really been 50 years since we walked across that makeshift platform at the old football stadium on Tatar? How is that possible? It seems like only yesterday we were assembling beneath the bleachers and filling the air with nervous but happy chatter.

Yes it really has been 50 years! Time seems to have flown by. I hope all of my classmates from the Pasadena (Texas) High School class of 1965 will join me and the rest of our high school friends and acquaintances for a fantastic weekend of reminiscing old times. I also want to extend an invitation to those who would have graduated with us had it not been for the collective ignorance of our school board back in those days. I also hope those who failed to graduate because of military service will join us as well.

This most likely will be our last formally planned reunion. Many of us see each  other regularly on Facebook but this is our best chance to see each other face-to-face. All the information you need to register is locate on our class website. So get ready to sing that school song one more time. See you in October!

A half-century ago, the war in Vietnam was escalating, the space race was in full swing, the Rolling Stones were on a world tour, the civil rights movement was in full swing leading to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, and the St. Louis Arch was completed. The United States occupied the Dominican Republic, Malcolm X was assassinated, NASA's Mariner 4 flew by Mars, race riots erupted in Watts, California, and Muhammad Ali defeated Sonny Liston.

1965, the year we graduated, was marked in history as the year  when the first US combat troops arrived in Vietnam and by  December some 190,000 of us were there as soldiers. It was also the year that The Sound of Music premiered and Ralph Nader published his book "Unsafe At Any Speed." Winston Churchill died and the first space walk took place.

When we walked across that platform at the old Pasadena Memorial Football Stadium across the street from the first Baptist Church the cost of new house was about $13,600 and the average income per year was $6,450.  Gasoline cost 31 cents a gallon and brand new car could be bought for $2,650. A loaf of bread cost 21 cents and if you rented a house it would set you back about $118 per month.

For most of us it was the year we ceased to be kids and were considered adults. We were expected to either go to college or go to work. . . and that is precisely what most of us did. A few of us ended up going to war or getting married, which one fellow grad said was, "About the same thing."

At our 10^th and 20^th reunions, many of us were striving to impress each other. At our 25^th high-school reunion, we drank too much, bragged too much and generally hung out with the same crowd we hung with when we were in High School. Image was important. 

One classmate said, “Isn’t this great? We’re 42 years old but tonight we’re 18 again. Tonight we have it both ways.” It sounded good but it really wasn't true.

At the 30^th and 40^th, most of us were struggling with self-assessment.

But that was then and this is now. Now it’s our 50^th high-school reunion, and we'd like to ask "Sandy" to slow-dance again but our arthritis just will not allow it. So we just chat and it's not long before someone will say, “Isn’t this great? We’re 68 years old but tonight we’re 18 again."  I have to remind myself that this isn't Brigadoon and we'll never see 18 again except in the corners of our minds.

We will laugh as an old song from the '60s plays. A few will find their way to the dance floor and all-in-all it will be a wonderful night that a few of us wish could go on forever.

Ours is the second wave of the Baby Boomers, those born in 1946-47 who graduated from high school in 1965, and we are having our 50^th class reunion. The room is filled with the former seniors of the class of 1965 who are now genuine seniors of 2015 gathered together trying to remember “the way we were.”

We will squint at each others’ name tags, shriek with recognitions, hug each other warmly and then talk pretty much nonstop. Countless sentences will start with the words: “Remember when we….?” Classmates will drink, eat, dance, laugh, cry and ask how all those years went by so fast.

All the while there is inside each one of us an 18 year old young person wondering, "What the hell happened?"  Well, life happened, that is what . . . for starters: There were Jobs, Colleges, Romances, Marriages, Children, Grandchildren, ("Did I show you my photos?"). We bought or rent homes, paid rent or Mortgages and other bills. There were Infidelities, Lies, Divorces, Wars, and Deaths. We've struggled with Cancers, Surgeries, Drugs, Addictions, Recoveries, Triumphs, and Failures. We've had Promotions, Demotions, Bankruptcies, Start-overs, and Makeovers. There have been Epiphanies, Confessions, Apologies, Acceptances, Retirements and at last, perhaps a measure of Peace. Joy. Wisdom. Contentment.

At this our 50^th, it’s just time to profess: “Here’s who I am, for better or worse. Accept me, and I’ll do the same for you.” As one classmate put it: “There are no pretentious people here.” We are the blessed ones . . .  we are here. 60 of our classmates are not.

Some of us, as Paul Simon sang, are “still crazy after all these years.” But you and I and the rest of our 50^th reunion classmates are mostly crazy about family, kids, grandkids, friends, health, homes, gardens, pets, hobbies, trips, books, faith, love; i.e., the things that truly matter in life.

On the last night of our reunion there will be a nice buffet dinner accompanied by the playing of hits from the '60s and '70. People talk their heads off. Yep, we may be 68, but for a couple of days we really are 18 again. As I (we) look  around the room, memories flood in from the recesses of our minds and we wonder to ourselves, “If we had a chance to do it all again, tell me, would we, could we?”

As you look around you see  the smartest kid in your class who was once seemingly shy and self-conscious, now relaxed and gregarious. You see a girl you first met in elementary school and the first girl you ever kissed. You see your first “steady” girlfriend from junior high school, now married with kids and grandkids . . . In my case my kids and grandchildren. You see guys who were the best athletes, some now a bit overweight or talking about their knee and hip replacements. You see the boy and girl voted Most Likely to Succeed — which they did.

You are embraced by classmates you have known for at least 50 years — and some you’ve known for 65 years, since pre-school. You tell story after story, take photo after photo, have hug after hug. When you leave, after midnight, you are aglow with something profound, deeply bonding, almost tribal.

That’s what 50^th High School Reunions are all about. To each of my fellow PHS Class of 1965 I say, "I really would like to see you." Join us on October 24th. at the South Shore Harbour and Resort Don't miss your 50th Class Reunion..