Our 30 Year Reunion...

THE REUNION EVENING       

     The reunion began at 6:00 p.m.  After signing in, finding a seat and grabbing a beverage from the open bar class members mingled with each other until 7:15 p.m. when John Hagel was kind enough to open the reunion with a welcome speech.  He entertained us with some memories of days gone by and a short list of what money could buy thirty years ago. (By today's standards, it was amazing how little things cost back then.)  Then Terry LaDuke (who is a pastor of his own church) got up and said a few words for the 15 classmates who are no longer with us.  Darla Pariseau followed Terry in saying grace before our dinner.  The buffet was set up on the raised dance floor.  Dinner included delicious roasted chicken, sausage with peppers and onions, mostaciolli, stir fry vegetables, quartered red skins, salad, relish tray and rolls.  Coffee and dessert were served at another location. 
     After dinner was through everyone participated in a get-to-know-you activity called Stand Up/Sit Down where if the topic pertained to the class member they stood up, if not they sat down.  We learned how long everyone was married (surprisingly enough there were quite a few that have been married 25+ years!). We found out how many children everyone has…Anne Trombley and Herb Christie each have five and Terry LaDuke has six! There may have been others with large families but at the moment I don't recall whom.  Many of our number have grandchildren.  Herb Christie, Dave Welch, Maureen Carter  and Duane Hovey are grandparents, while Gloria Gallo--who I saw the night before at the Perch Festival boasts a whopping five grandkids!! Once again I apologize to those not mentioned---I should have taken notes!   (Email me and I'll add your name! OK?)  Most people still live in New Baltimore and the immediate area.  Others came in from other parts of the state.  All points of the compass were represented.  Our out-of-staters are Lynn Schneider from Georgia, Duane Hovey from Texas, Sheryl Paull and Paul Gaedcke both from Florida, Ron Naldrett from Virginia, Judy Schotthoefer in from far away Alaska and Tom Blaess came to us from Switzerland!  A 1973 grad, Mike Nuyts, joined us all the way from California.  We found out who participated in what in school like sports, drama, choir, band, cheerleading, honor society and even had a few admit to skipping a class or two!  None are retired…yet.  As for visitors to Las Vegas or Disney World---both were well attended.  Does anyone speak a foreign language?  Yes, two…Sherry Miller uses American Sign Language in her daily life and Tom Blaess, living in Switzerland speaks a lesser known German dialect in the area of which he lives.  (He teaches classes in this language.  To read more on his business please visit his website via the link listed on the "Classmate WebPages" to the left.)  Although not a mega payout, Darla Pariseau has collected on a sizable lottery jackpot.  No one is a pilot, can juggle or has parachuted.  After the question of "Have you ever served on a jury?" was asked (in which many responded) someone yelled out "Has anyone been judged by a jury?" I can honestly tell you that nobody stood up.  The last question was "Please stand up if you like to party."  As a group the room rose and then they were asked to look under their chairs for a red cutout of an anchor.  The prize?  Their centerpiece---a decorated bottle of wine.  Another two bottles were awarded.  One was given to John Hagel for being the first to send his reunion money in last fall.  The other went to Tom Blaess for traveling the farthest….almost 4300 miles.  After this, everyone was thanked for attending and then the party truly began.
     Before I can say anymore, I must once again apologize to Dave Welch for forgetting to bring him up for a closing toast.  Earlier I had asked him to say something and it completely slipped my mind to call him forward.  They say the number one fear of adults is public speaking.  Put a microphone in my hand and I proved that point. My mind went blank.  Sorry, Dave!  Could you be talked into making a toast at our 40th?  Please?

 GREAT TIMES, GREAT FRIENDS, GREAT MEMORIES

     Our 30th class reunion was held at the Bahama Grill in the Mt. Clemens Comfort Inn held July 17, 2004.  Upon entering the restaurant, our school colors were evident everywhere, from decorated tables, a huge school banner on the wall, to display boards.   Red and white balloons in the entryway greeted classmates and guests upon registration.
     Nametags, given to each class member as they signed in, really helped us to identify one another.  The tag bore the classmate's name in large black type (readable by less than perfect eyes) and included their graduation photo from the 1974 ABHS yearbook. There were similar tags for each guest, without a yearbook photo, of course. This was functional, since the presence of a photo meant you were looking at a classmate, even if you hadn't the slightest idea of who it was. While some of our classmates were easily recognizable as merely older editions of the person you knew 30 years ago, most people had changed enough that you needed the name tag to connect the present to the past. The nametags themselves were great icebreakers. (Those of you who still look like you did in the yearbook have obviously made your deals with the devil. Your time will come! LOL!)
     The atmosphere was a little surreal throughout the night. At times, I felt as if the past thirty years just melted away, taking us back as we once were---kids at Anchor Bay High School.  However, cell phones and digital cameras brought me back to reality. I believe our reunion was a fabulously fun evening.  The chitchat and laughter throughout the room echoed the enjoyment of linking up with our school friends. The evening was spent greeting old, no, no, I mean 'former' classmates, rehashing events and shenanigans in and out of school. It was so good to see all of you and even if the night had gone on longer, there still wouldn't have been enough time to catch up on what everyone has done over the years and to share their future plans!  It was awesome!
     A special thank you to all who attended and to those who helped---even in some small way--- it made our 30th Reunion a huge success!  We must not let this be our last meeting.
     Finally, to those who were unable or not inclined to attend. You were missed!
                                               Take Care, everyone, 'til we meet again…
                                                                                             Your classmate,  Beth




A BLAST REMINISCING THE PAST!!
     THANK YOU to the 25 classmates who attended our 35th-year class reunion held under the Big Top Saturday, July 18, 2009 at the Immaculate Conception Perch Festival in Ira Township (Anchorville). We had a great time mingling and catching up with each other. There were even a couple of new faces who've never made it to any previous reunions! Hopefully, if you weren't able to make it to this informal gathering you will make plans to be at our 40th in 2014. (Yikes! What a number!)

A Note from the Class of 1974 Reunion Committee on our 40th Reunion!
The Class of 1974 from Anchor Bay High School celebrated their 40th reunion on Saturday, July 19, 2014 under the Big Top at Anchorville's Immaculate Conception’s Perch Festival. A whopping fifty-three ​classmates attended with spouses and friends totaling just over 80 people in our own corner of the tent! ​Class members came from as far as Switzerland (Tom Blaess), Texas (Duane Hovey), ​Indiana (Herb Christie), Alaska Judy (Schotthoefer) Basler, and all points ​within our home state of Michigan. We started with our five year reunion and have met every ten years since graduation (and sometimes in between) and still enjoy reminiscing about school and life since. Special guests were Mr. and Mrs. Carrothers, who were teachers and administrators in our early school years. Mrs. Carrothers, our choir teacher at Ashley
Elementary School (then Anchor Bay Elementary), even led us in a rousing rendition of the school fight song! Surprisingly, we still remember it!
ABHS Class of 1974 60th Birthday Bash!!!
8

A GREAT time was had by all. A REALLY great time!
If you weren't there, you were missed!
Held at the Concorde Inn in Mount Clemens on July 16, 2016.
Herman Alexander
Cindy Beauvais DeNeve
Cheri Bode Imboden
Doug Borawski
Bill Calihan
*Maureen Carter Scheid
Herb Christie
Larry Day
Suzzanne Dyer Austin
*Randy Frederick
Patty Gaskill Henning
Dave Gillis
*Gordon Glance
*Dawn Graham Cochrane
John Hagel
Gary Haglund
Cindy Hamblin Rackham
Sue Harnish Ericksen
Gordon Hellebuyck
Duane Hovey
David Howcroft
Steve Huber
Rita Kaminski Hartner & Chris Hartner
Rhonda Kaminski Bode


Ruth Leroy Thomas
Don Ludeman
Mark Mack & Lynn MacKenzie Mack
Mike McCarthy
Ted McCulloch
Sherry Miller Rising
Ron Naldrett
Mona Neale McCruden
*Ron Ramales
*Beth Rasmussen Baker
Mary Reinhard Axtell
Sid Spiekhout
*Darla Pariseau McCulloch
Penny Springer Marsack
Ed Scheer
Karen Suess Marcinkowski
Ed Swistak
Chuck Tipper
Dan Vannuck
Art Wagner
*Larry Whitenight
Mary Ziehmer Templin
Steve Wolf
*Denotes Committee Members