Why do we continue to hold class reunions years after graduation? Is it to see how each student has or has not achieved success? Do we want to see who got even more attractive or less? Is it to rekindle old friendships? Certainly, all that occurs in those early reunions. Ten years or twenty. Maybe even 25. But then they go on. Forty or even fifty years after walking across that platform for some. But when it becomes 65, the whole scene changes.

We were the class of ‘60 from Central High in Clifton. We had sixty graduates, which made it easy to remember. Eisenhower was president. Khrushchev was the Soviet leader. Gary Powers was about to make his famous U-2 flight over Russia. Sit-ins were occurring across America. And we were about to enter a very different world.

In 2009, I was asked by Rob Small to write a column for the Kankakee Daily Journal. I was surprised but decided to take the challenge. That following summer, Roland Rosenboom and other classmates decided to celebrate that 2010 was our 50th anniversary of that graduation date. A rather large party was created with a huge tent on Roland’s farm for the celebration. At that time, there were only four classmates who had died, and the attendance was fantastic.

I decided that the occasion needed an article, and as my 29th column, I wrote about how those 56 survivors had entered the workplace and had a fifty-year life of hard work. I followed through with an outline of the various occupational fields these graduates had taken. We had teachers, principals, superintendents. We had nurses, postmen, writers, editors, interior designers, plumbers, electricians, real estate agents, an auctioneer, farmers, and, yes, one lawyer

Now we move forward to 2025. It was now 65 years since that day, and several people decided to try again to come together. Except the field had changed. The field of 60 had been reduced by 32 classmates who had died. Two were in mental and physical care facilities. Some had moved quite far away with retirement and the trend of one’s children and grandchildren moving across America.

We got 16 to come to Kankakee for the evening. That left 12 we thought to be alive but not making the trip. I, personally, know several of those names who are alive and a bit far away to attend. But that brings up a rather amusing story.

When the event was being planned, I wondered how many of us should still be alive. So, I Googled this fact. Born in 1943 (my year), male, and American. I got a site that let me enter these three facts, and 1943 came back that 80% of male Americans born that year were still alive! How could that be? My personal experience has seen so many of my friends dying already.

I then checked other sites, but none were that specific. Finally, I went back to the original site to check for accuracy. It was then that I found that the site and information I got were written 11 years earlier. Unfortunately, that made a lot more sense. But it did cause me to think that in those 11 years at 80%, our class should have only 12 deaths and 48 survivors. Those 11 years had reduced us to 28 survivors, or a death rate of almost 55%.

I decided that I had to go and see those who had made it. Central, as you may know, is made up of three towns and, at the time, three grade schools: Chebanse, Clifton, and Ashkum. Of the seven men who came, five were from the Clifton Grade School. It makes one wonder if we were healthier or just lucky. Of course, we know that women outlive men, but we did pretty well.

As I sat there, I thought back on the times we had spent together post-graduation. We had met fairly regularly every ten years except during COVID. We had aged pretty well. Those there were seemingly physically able and mentally sharp. So, there was no sadness in seeing the surviving part of the class. But we all had to notice the aging that had taken place, be it our hair, faces, and for the men, tummies. At least we were alive and capable of attending.

So, if you have the chance to go to a reunion, do it and enjoy that some of you have made it far past the national statistics. Maybe it was all that good, clean country air and that work ethic that we had, and for some, still have. I don’t know about 70, but I’m hoping. By the way, this article is my 795th. Whew.