50 years flies by, but memories remain.
That is what a small group had in mind as they plan to celebrate 50 years since they were students of Drumheller Vocational-Academic High School.
The classes of 1964-1966 are holding their class reunion on the weekend of September 25. Oscar Leske and David Lehn have been working on organizing the event. Leske says it has been like detective work to track down contacts for his classmates, but it has been rewarding.
We’ve have had a very good response,” said Leske. “It started off as a handful of people and has grown from there.”
“The Place to be Since ’63,” the Drumheller Vocational-Academic High School opened its doors five decades ago. Drumheller was growing and so was the need for schools.
The school opened as part of the Drumheller School Division and it combined a High School with a vocational school. It had 14 regular classrooms as well as science labs and a business training section.
It also had vocational sections with labs for trades including beauty culture, automotives, electronics, welding, carpentry and drafting. The school has an auditorium and gym, a library, cafeteria and residence capable of housing 100 students.
Over the years, the school has undergone many changes, both physically, and its programming. In 2011, the school became DVSS after an extensive renovation. Today it offers Grade 7-12, as well as an extensive international program, which reopened the dormitories.
While they have done their best to invite the grads from 1964-1966, they welcome any student who attended the school during those years.
“Some are coming because they know the people, or they may have been in Grade 10…we’re keeping it open like that,” said Leske.
They have a full slate of activities planned for the weekend.
On Friday night, the reunion is kicking off with a dinner reception at the Badlands Community Facility. Registration begins at 4:30 p.m. for an evening of appetizers, dinner, speeches, reminiscing, visiting, music and dancing.
Participants are asked to bring anything harking back to high school days. This could be everything from sport uniforms, to yearbooks, photos, class projects or other high school memorabilia.
On Saturday morning, participants can come and reacquaint themselves with the hallways of their old school. A tour begins at 9:30 a.m. Following the tour, there is lunch at the Last Chance Saloon in Wayne. The rest of the day is open to revisit the valley. This could mean checking out the museums and sites, golf or other activities.
On Sunday morning classmates are invited out to the East Coulee pancake breakfast for one last chance to visit and remember their school days.
Leske says it is very important for organizers to pin down their numbers to aid the caterers for Friday night's get together and for lunch in Wayne Saturday.
He asks those who have not yet responded to their invitation, or have just learned of the reunion and want to participate to email oleske@telus.net or lehn2@telus.net.
