Sunday, August 06, 2006

 

Old friends are great

While on my recent RV trip to the Spokane, WA area, a group of friends who attended Lewis & Clark High School together until we graduated in June, 1961, got together to reminise in Spokane. One came from New York where he is a chemistry prof at a university there. Another works for the State of California in Sacramento in the education field. One is a public school teacher who retired a few years ago but still teaches about 60 days a year to finance his travels. One works for the City of Spokane. Four of us are retired. I have known some of them since we started Kindergarten together and the others since 1955 when one of them moved into a new house two houses away from where I lived. Three of them I have stayed in pretty close contact with over the years, the other four have just been occasionally when our schedules happened to put us together at the same time.

We spent Saturday going around looking at the houses we lived in at the time, or at least those that were still there. We also visited our high school but since it was the weekend we couldn't get inside the building. The current Lewis & Clark HS building was built in 1912 after the previous building was destroyed in a fire. My Mother graduated from there in 1931. Her favorite history teacher was the principal when I was there from 1957 - 1961. The building is a historical thing so when it was to be replaced, the basic shell was kept with much of the interior rebuilt. It has a second "cornerstone" that says it was "Rededicated in 2002." This building is almost in downtown Spokane. Here is a photo of a part of it that gives an idea what it looks like:
LC group 01

This photo shows the group (less me as I took the photo) standing on 4th Ave. in front of the school:
LC group 02

My parents were married in 1938 and bought this house in 1940. It is the only home I knew while growing up. It was in the family until the death of my Mother in 2000 when it was sold to a young lady who grew up across the street & had always loved it. Her Mother still lives in the house across the street:
LC group 03

I have already posted the photos from our dinner at the Hot Rod Cafe in Post Falls, Idaho. We gathered a few more times at different places. I had wanted to stay a couple more days to go to Newman Lake with this group on Sunday, July 29th, but the campground had reservations coming in right after me so I couldn't get those extra days. I checked out of Yogi Bear Campground about 09:00 that morning and drove home that day, but I took some photos of my Sea Breeze RV in it's space there before leaving. This photo was taken about 08:30 before I moved out of that space.
Yogi Bear Sea Breeze

This was a wonderful get together and we hope to do it again on a fairly regular basis. As I have said before in my blog, I think friends & family are a great thing to have and cultivate, especially as we grow older. This group was pretty close during high school, then drifted apart after HS with some of us going to different colleges and a couple into the military. Now most are retired & all probably will be within two or three years, so we want to stay in contact & not let so many years go by before we gather again. In five years we will have our 50th reunion. I know I'll see most of these guys before then.

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Comments:
Wonderful to have friends from so long ago!! I have contact still with one friend I made the one year we lived in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho...back in 1966. But my other friends have crossed my path since then.

You are indeed blessed...and Spokane is a wonderful city too.
 
It sounds like you had a wonderful time. I haven't been inside my old high school in over 30 years, but do drive past it once in awhile. It is nice to connect with childhood friends. Glad you got a chance to see yours.
 
Guess I graduated a year ahead of you Dick. Sounds like a great reunion. I pretty much lost all contact with my high school classmates due to the fact that my career involved me living elsewhere for the majority of it.
 
What a great time!! I love your old homestead!! How many hours did you spend on that beautiful front porch drinking iced tea??

I've always wanted a house with a big front porch on it!
 
What a great post, Dick! I love your old house, it's a charmer. It's really great that you've all stayed in touch, what memories huh?
 
A great time with great friends... priceless.
My HS got torn down three years ago, and a brandy new one built on top of it. That's okay; I haven't even been to any of my class reunions...
 
I keep in contact with all my high school friends. We fund a myfamily.com site. We share news, have debates, post funnies and photos.

We just don't skinnydip together anymore.
 
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