Mars opened new building 50 years ago
ADAMS TWP — Most 50-year high school reunions include memories of the place where young minds take shape, friends are made, and teachers are cherished or reviled.
But the Mars High School Class of 1963 50-year class reunion celebrates a building that has accommodated thousands of teenagers.
Class members will mark their anniversary at Monticello's in Allison Park.
The 85 students in that class were the first group to graduate from the building on Route 228 that remains Mars High School.
Chuck Beaver of Annapolis, Md., was class president in 1963. He recalls marveling at the difference between the new building and the aging, cramped high school in Mars, which is now the Woodland Valley Church.
“We were on split shifts for two years at the old school,” Beaver recalled, “so it was a difficult adjustment moving to the brand new school. We were very excited, but it was so different. Everything was squeaky clean.”
He recalled visiting Mars High 10 years ago expecting to find an aging building that would show the wear and tear caused by thousands of teenagers over 40 years.
“It was just as clean as the day we graduated,” Beaver said. “That says so much about the administration, the maintenance staff, the kids and parents.”
Beaver's classmate, Becky Kocher James, said Route 228 was not yet in existence when the high school was built, and she recalls buses accessing the school via Brickyard Road. She also said first- through fifth-graders attended elementary school in the building that is now the Bell Tower Apartments in Mars.
She said she and her classmates felt they were special because they were the first graduating class from the new high school.
“The gym was something we were not used to,” James said. “It was just phenomenal. There was so much room compared to what we had been dealing with.”
She also recalled when principal James “Ham” Hudson died in January 1963. The students dedicated the yearbook to him.“In memoriam: This book is dedicated to Mr. James H. Hudson, who devoted over 30 years to education at Mars. May this new school be a lasting memorial to his efforts” reads the 1963 yearbook.James, whose husband, William, served on the Mars School Board in the 1990s, said she is sure the school will be a topic of discussion at the reunion on Saturday.“We felt so fortunate to be the first graduating class from that school,” she said.Class of 1963 secretary Arlene Cowan Pate is traveling from South Carolina for the reunion.Pate's family moved to Mars when she was a freshman so she was enrolled in the old high school that year. She said students, teachers, administrators and residents were so friendly that she grew to love the old building.“The new school was great, but I have a lot of memories from the old high school,” Pate said. “We had a lot more room in the new school, and, of course, when things are spanking new, it's very nice.”She focused on commercial secretarial classes at Mars, and said that her success in that field can be attributed to the district.“I got a really good education at Mars High School,” Pate said. “My years at Mars gave me a very good base for my later jobs.”Pate looked forward to seeing her former classmates.“It's unbelievable it's been 50 years,” Pate said. “Where in the world did all that time go?”
