Fitchburg High School Class of 1954

Class of 1954

Fitchburg High School
... classmates staying in contact

Fitchburg, Massachusetts

50th Reunion Recap

  Those of you that didn’t come to our 50th reunion weekend missed something very special. In some sort of mysterious way, when eyeing a long estranged classmate walk into the room, the years just melted away and there we were face to face with a person whom we almost instantly knew once again, bringing with it a flood of memories.

  At the reception on Friday afternoon 40 classmates came to be greeted by members of the reunion committee. This was meant to be a welcome for those who came from out of town by plane, train, and car. At least 30 classmates had rooms at the Sheraton.

  It was a short and sweet gathering because we were invited to a reception at Crocker Field beginning at 6PM. Approximately 60 or more classmates plus spouses assembled at the Field House for refreshments served by the Athletic Dept. It was so crowded that people took their coffee etc out to the terrace. At 6:45PM our group walked thru a passageway lined with cheerleaders. Betsy Chalmers overheard one cheerleader say ,“Aren’t they cute”. At the other side of the field the Hall of Fame committee members and the new FHS principal awaited us. Tom Conry, who was in the booth broadcasting the game said he bad butterflies when he saw how many classmates had come. Augie Sardinha , who thought he was still on the football team, took off running under the goalposts with the rest of us struggling to keep up. Augie presented the Hall of Fame committee with a check for $1000, from our class, to be used for the future honoring of outstanding athletes. Please refer to an earlier article on the web site for additional information about the Hall of Fame, We were warmly received and cheered and from the announcers booth we were praised for having the largest number of 50th reunion grads attend the game in recent years. We took our reserved seats and sat down to watch FHS beat Nashoba Valley by a couple of touchdowns. After the game 87 people returned to the Sheraton for a casual get- to- together. There were snacks, coffee and a cash bar awaiting us. Aileen Suomala Case played music from our high school days but not so loud that we couldn’t move about and visit. Some stayed until midnight chatting and viewing the memorabilia tables with pictures and other items familiar to everyone.

  On Saturday morning we congregated at the new high school cafeteria. Coffee , Finnish coffee cake , and donuts were enjoyed by 50 classmates. Betty Mellitt Kaake , who had until recently worked at the high school, led a tour around the state of the art building. It was very impressive; a beautiful school in a rural setting. Box lunches were then passed out containing sandwiches, chips, cookies , Marshall Farm apples, and a drink. Sally Jackson Condon’s husband Dick told us more about the technology used in the high school. For instance, a library with a few books, but with computer terminals everywhere, blackboards that can be erased then magically retrieved the next day. The trolley tour began at 1PM. Those who had signed up met at the Historical Society for what was reported to be a wonderful time. People learned things about Fitchburg that they never knew, as well as visiting many places from their earlier days in Fitchburg. The group was so enthusiastic the guide extended the tour an additional hour. For those not on the trolley there was free time to do whatever they wanted. To help out we had stacks of brochures collected by Al Lashua ,Wes Demont, and Aileen listing places to visit in the surrounding area. At 6PM the cocktail hour began at the Sheraton. This time there were 114 of us, a great crowd, many new faces, lots of hugging and laughter. Each elassmate%, upon their arrival, was given a name tag, not their own, and they were to asked locate that classmate whose high school picture was on the name tag. Sally Jackson Condon enlarged our yearbook pictures and then mounted them on a red background with stars and the number 50. They were very festive and it didn’t take long to fmd the classmate pictured on the name tag. The class picture taken by Leo Cardinal Studio was a bit disorganized because there were so many of us , but eventually we all got lined up and our picture was taken to join all the others taken at previous reunions. During this part of the evening a tape featuring Fitchburg in the 1940’s was continuously running on a TV monitor. The committee wanted to show how vibrant Fitchburg was during our growing up years. Then it was time to take our seats. The tables were set with white tablecloths, red napkins, red votives, and center pieces with red flowers and gray leaves., Each arrangement had a red and grey FHS 54 pennant. Beside each plate was a candy bar wrapped in grey parchment with the words WELCOME FHS CLASS OF 54. Augie welcomed everyone and introduced classmate Liisa Liedes who is a minister and whose home church is the Finnish Bethel Assembly of God of Fitchburg. Liisa gave the invocation before we started with an antipasto salad. The buffet consisted of soup, pastas, veggies, chicken, sausages, breads and assorted sweets for desserts.

  The Class meeting was called to order by Augie. Tom read the names of all our deceased classmates and a moment of remembrance followed. Augie read a proclamation from Fitchburg Mayor Dan Mylott naming Oct 2 FHS Class of 1954 Day. A discussion followed of if and when our class should have another reunion. The majority wanted to wait five years. Tom , chairman of the class gift committee, gave a brief explanation of our scholarship gift of $10,000 announced last May but not presented until after the reunion. Refer once again to the web site for the particulars of our gift. Sally presented Marcia Dexter Hastbacka with a corsage, and a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble for her many hours of work dedicated to keeping our class lists up-to-date, collecting the bios and then putting it all together in a very nice directory. Richard Hansen designed the cover depicting fifty nostalgic post card scenes of an earlier Fitchburg. Pat Lundberg Mogensen gave a brief accounting of our finances while paying tribute to deceased treasurer Bill Dooley. We ended the class meeting by singing the class song and the Alma Mater. Anne Henreckson DeVries who wrote the music for our class song accompanied us on the piano. A champagne toast to our classmates ended the class meeting.

  Tom was the MC for the rest of the evening. He read messages sent by classmates who were unable to attend-Richard Kenyon, Dick Keoseian, Jerry Levitan, and Nancy Lowe Crocker. There was an open mike for anyone who wanted to speak—a few did so. The prizes were then awarded in several different categories. Who came the furthest Bill Sumner from Hawaii, Lived in the same house the longest—Barbara Palomaki 68 years, Longest beard George Mikkola, Oldest great grand child Sally Ames Fuller 7years old, Manied the longest Sally Ordway Baker 50 years, Newest married Jan Mylott., Youngest child Bob Tanguay 15 years old, Drove the furthest Jan Mylott from Florida, Worked for same company the longest Augie Sardinha forty plus years, Drove the oldest car Paul Bureau 1960’s Mustang. Barbara Barton Badstubner on behalf of the committee presented Pat with roses and an engraved gold disk for her part in planning the reunion. Her husband Ken was named friend of the class for his help with the reunion. Barbara was also busy making sure that everything we contracted for at the Sheraton was in place. She used her negotiating skills more than once. There was more planned but it was time to mingle and to resume pre dinner conversations. Everyone took with them a goody bag with a FHS Class of 54 mug, a magnetic note pad with a picture of the old high school, a directory, a pen, a humorous “Older than Dirt” and other brochures (thanks to Al Lashua) about Fitchburg in the year 2004. Aila Roiko Crawford who maintained a reservation lists for each event, was also in charge of the goody bags with help from Betty. The committee cleaned up and took down all the memorabilia exhibits. Unclaimed was one girl’s basketball or volleyball shirt with a 54 in the center and several names written on it. Anyone claim it? Also found a silver earring. There were some humorous exchanges at the memorabilia table as leftover fudge from Marshall’s farm was handed out as well as a colorful brand new knockoff purse( no one knows where the purse came from). An interesting story was fabricated and the E-mails continued to fly back and forth. Last heard the purse was seen in Florida clashing with a red hat and orthopedic shoes. Sunday afternoon Wes Demont, with John Roncone’s help, organized a golf outing at Oak Hill Country Club. The group was small but enjoyed the experience.

  We have heard from many of you telling how much fun the reunion was, I think we all knew the 50th would be special and everyone came prepared to have a good time. Those of you who missed will just have to wait for the 55th One thing we forgot to do was to cheek over your information in the directory to make sure it is correct. If your address, e-mail address, or telephone is wrong piease let Marcia know. We will post corrections on the web-site in a few weeks. If you move before the next reunion please send her your new address. Thanks to all who attended the reunion, contributed to the class gift, have kept in touch via e-mail, and have accessed the web site. We would like to keep the web site active, if you would like to share a humorous story, a touching moment, an interesting experience from the reunion, or would just like to say hi to a classmate who didn’t attend. we would be happy to post it on the web site. Send it to Pat.

  Many thanks to Jack Christiansen and an anonymous son of one of our alumni for developing and maintaining our web site.

  A special thanks also to the reunion committee members who dedicated substantial time in the last year to make this a special and memorable occasion. Everyone had a job to do and they did it well.