Wasson High 40th Reunion - Class of 1968

40+ years - it seems impossible. Just yesterday, I was a teenager walking the halls of Roy J. Wasson High School in Colorado Springs. This weekend, I had the opportunity to walk those halls again at our "Fashionably Late But Great -- Our 40th for 68" Reunion. Wow - what a lot of memories were floating in those hallways! It's true, I couldn't remember where my locker was or which classrooms I had been in for sure but everywhere I turned there were memories. Most of them good - great friends, good teachers, and fun times; but also those of the sophomore history class I had to take in my senior year - and the coach who finally gave up and passed me just to get me out of there LOL. To this day every time I drive my car I hear the words of my Driver Ed Teacher, John Alderton, saying "check over your shoulder, check your mirrors at least every 10 seconds, and stop far enough back to be able to see the tires of the cars in front of you!" I got my first speeding ticket on the last day of high school! I don't remember him ever saying anything about speeding.....

Ah yes, those great high school years! Fall football games, standing around the fire at woodsies, cruising between Garth's and J's Drive-In, Manitou Springs, Junior Prom, Senior Prom, my '49 Ford, Sandy's Volkswagen, being "queen" at the speedway .... Ah yes .... and then there were the boys ....

I flew into Denver on Thursday, rented a car, met my girlfriend Sandy, and we drove to Colorado Springs for our 40th high school reunion. We stayed at Clark's Bed & Breakfast (aka my sister's house) on Thursday and Friday night. We spent the day on Friday touring town, spending money in Manitou Springs, and talking about all the good and bad times we had during our "formative" years in school.

On Saturday we switched to the Marriott where our reunion was being held so we wouldn't have to drive far after a night of "wild" partying with our classmates. There we met our good friend Linda Worthey who was joining us for our "jammie" party and wild partying LOL. We started the party in our room - Sandy had filled the sink with ice, where we had wine, malt beverages, and champagne on ice. The ice machine was out on our floor, so we made several trips down one flight for enough to fill the sink LOL. We were joined by Shirley Smith and Lance Newcomer and made our way downstairs to the official party room.

So many familiar and unfamiliar faces. Out of a graduating class of 577, there were approximately 70 classmates and their spouses on hand to celebrate. I must say that most everyone has held up pretty well over the past 40 years and some even looked better than high school! I wish I had Dana Swanson's energy!!!

It was great to see everyone and hear the different versions of what they perceived had happened at various events through the high school years. My, I thought we were all at the same party but to hear the stories I guess we weren't really LOL! Linda, Sandy and I called it a night about 11:30, but we heard the bar didn't shut down until after 2:00 AM. Don't know how they did it!

Sunday some of us met at Wasson and did a self-tour of the school. Not much had changed in 40 years. It was fun to look at the hall of fame for the athletes, the memorials for Gib Funk and Sheryl Snyder, and the cafeteria looked much smaller than I remembered it! From there we moved to the Visitor Center in the Garden of the Gods for lunch. More schmoozing and tall tales, friendships established and renewed, a sudden down pour, and the weekend came to an end all too soon!

I hope you enjoy the photos and I'm looking forward to 2013 for our 45th Reunion.

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