Class celebrates 70th reunion
LYNDORA — The Butler High School Class of 1951 had its 70th and final class reunion Oct. 2 at the Tanglewood Center, 10 Austin Ave. The class members had dinner, a raffle and after-meal entertainment.
Class member and reunion committee member Louise Adams Spohn said this was probably the last reunion. She said most class members were in their upper 80s now, and many were either in nursing homes or physically unable to attend. “We decided we weren’t going to have them anymore,” said Spohn. “We were having a hard time getting people this year.”
She called the ones that were able to attend “the lucky few.”
It will be the end of a long tradition for the Class of 1951, which has had reunions every year since graduation with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.
The class left high school during a different time. Its members were all born during the Great Depression and grew up during the Depression, World War II and the beginning of the Korean conflict.
Young people were not considered adults until they turned 21. Nondiscrimination laws were not passed until the late 1950s. Some colleges and college classes were closed to women. Still, the classmates had many activities: after-school dances, sports and spending time at the local malt shop.
Most seemed to have the same curfew: when the streetlights came on. Spohn remembered the Butler High football team won the 1950 WPIAL Class AAA football championship.
The high school was in downtown Butler in those days. Spohn said, “Our class painted murals on the walls. They later painted over them. We’re looking for pictures of the murals before they were painted over.”
Even though the reunions may be over, Spohn said she still will keep in touch with some of her classmates through a monthly breakfast gathering.
