Dear Folks, I'm in the process of putting in order the last segment of my book. That's when I was reminded of our 50th class reunion of Niagara Falls High school--class of 49. I had written down a couple of incidents about the reunion in 1999 but I'd like to mention how those of us on the reunion committee managed to put it all together. First off, the committee first met in 1998 to start to put together the reunion. There were classmates we couldn't find, we had to agree on where we would have it on the Friday get-together, we checked out the restaurant and found that they couldn't accommodate us inside that day but that we could get together outside and set up our beer bar and tables there. We arranged with the restaurant for snacks and beer and everything was set. OK, that took care of Friday. The committee met once a week for a year and eventually made the arrangements for Saturday morning. Our old alma mater was in jeopardy of being torn down to make way for a mini shopping plaza and we felt that it would be our last chance to walk through the halls that all of us still remembered. The tour was finally arranged and down pat. In the meantime we had been working on where our extra special Saturday dinner dance would be held. We wanted it to be an extra-classy place and the best place in Niagara Falls was the elegant exclusive Niagara Falls Country Club. One of our classmates, Dr. John Marino, was a member of the club and managed to sponsor us and we went from there. We had to agree on the dinner menu, the price per person, the flower arrangements, the number of dinner tables needed, the favors and heaven only knows what else. All of us on the committee were exhausted before the Friday get-together was to be held. We had every base covered with one exception. The weatherman predicted heavy rain on Friday. Oh that was just great inasmuch as our get together was planned for outside. I believe that it was late on Wednesday when we got the news and the only thing we could think of was to rent a party tent. I don't know how George did it but he was actually able to find a tent to rent and have them set it up by Friday evening. Note: it didn't rain a drop, everything went smoothly and we all had a ball. Saturday afternoon's tour through our school went without a hitch and we all felt that we had taken a trip down memory lane. Saturday evening all our committee members arrived at the country club a couple of hours before happy hour was to begin. That's when we met with a near disaster. It had been settled that there would be a cash bar. However, someone checked the club rules and found that it was against their constitution (or law) that they could sell drinks to nonmembers. I don't know the details of how that was finally settled but it was. The club agreed that if everyone would pay $5.00 per person, they could drink as much as they wanted. Wow, you certainly couldn't beat that sort of an offer! However, that wasn't our only problem. When a couple of us counted how many tables were set up in our dining room, there were about three tables short and the room was already crowded (there were about 300 of us). We didn't have time to go through the chain of command so we ordered the waitresses or serving people to drag out more tables and nicely arrange them. I don't know how we ever did it but by the time everyone sat down at the dinner tables, everything was perfect. Sitting near our speaker's podium was one of the last remaining teachers that we had in school. It was Miss Maxmillian. After our MC John introduced her and everyone applauded, I piped up and said that I wanted to ask her a question. It was the first time I had the opportunity. Ever since I was in high school I remembered Miss Maxmillian and also my teacher Miss Rassmussen. The question was, "If Miss Rassmussen missed school, would Miss Maxmillian miss Miss Rassmussen?" Note: that's a tongue twister that every was, especially after a few glasses of wine! Miss Maxmillian thoroughly enjoyed it! Dinner was impeccably served, the food was perfection and after everyone finished their dessert and coffee, they milled around and checked everyone's name tags. When they found someone they remembered, there were squeals of delight (from the girls) and hugs were exchanged. Such a happy time. Note: the members of our reunion committee congratulated each other for putting together the greatest 50th class reunion ever. Again, we couldn't believe that we had pulled it off. The class lingered and some of us wandered into the bar area/dance floor. It was there that I capped my evening off. Years later it wrote it all down. Dancing to Night Train August 9, 2002 This evening while listening to my recording of "Night Train," it reminded me of our 50th class reunion of Niagara Falls High School in 1999. All of us were around 68 years old at the time. I was thoroughly enjoying listening to the band's selections of the great old songs of the 40s and 50s but there came a point to where I just had to dance! And there was our classmate George Tirabassi, the dancing fool, who was ripe for the picking's! I tore him away from his wife Ida and insisted we dance together. He didn't object (nor did Ida) and we waited for the band to play the next number. That's when the band struck up the 1950s instrumental of "Night Train." Oh, what a smooth melody with such an exotic, exciting beat to dance to. Frankly I had never danced to it before in my life and I had never danced with George before in my life, but I kicked off my shoes and we danced. We were the only ones on the dance floor. It was like it all came back to both of us what it was like to dance to a soft, sexy, slow jitterbug with all the right moves. Dancing with each other peeled the years away from both of us. The two of us were perfection! A crowd gathered around the dance floor and watched as we danced and danced and danced. We were the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers of the Class of '49! While the rest of the class who had gathered around gave us a grand applause at the end, I noticed Dr. John Marino, another one of our classmates, with his medical bag in hand, standing by fully prepared to deal with a possible coronary on either of our parts! Oh it was so wonderful and so rejuvenating to realize that at the age of 68 you can still dance as well (even better) than you could when you graduated from high school fifty years before. Trust me, I didn't know then what I know now!

How interesting Vee. I wonder how many of us have had a 50th class reunion? Mine won't be until 2007 and hope I'll be able to attend. I went to my 20th and it was nice but nothing like your 50th Vee. So okay gals and guys, tell us about your 50th (or less) class reunion. Thanks Evelyn

> So okay gals and guys, tell us about your 50th (or less) class reunion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While I cannot lay claim to any of the planning, my husband's 35th was a lot of fun. And, since we went to the same high school, I got to see a whole lot of people who were seniors when I was but a lowly freshman. ~~Leslie (Bridges) Kohler~~

Dear Folks, Regarding my story about our 50th class reunion, I was inspired to write it because I realized what our reunion committee went through to put it together. For our 10th reunion in 1959 I flew from California to Niagara Falls to attend. I had a ball. We had our 20th reunion in 1969. I flew back again and had a ball. By our 25th reunion in 1974 I had moved back home to Niagara Falls only a few weeks or days prior to the reunion. I had a ball. By our 30th reunion in 1979 I was hooked on our reunions and volunteered to be a member of the committee to put our reunion together. I had a ball at the reunion. Next was our 40th in 1989. I was on the reunion committee again and it was tough to get all the problems ironed out. Nonetheless, I had a ball and danced my fool head off! When it came to our 50th in 1999 all of us committee members had the drill down pretty pat but because of the importance of our 50th bash we had to work our heads and behinds off. I believe it was after the last hurrah at the reunion, that the individual committee members decided that we were too pooped both mentally and physically to even consider a 55th reunion in 2004. By then we'd be in our 70s and we had been losing more and more classmates. Nonetheless, the reunion committee and our classmates had a ball at our 50th reunion and I don't believe that anyone was expecting another one in five years. If any of you receive an invitation to your next class reunion, make every effort to attend. I guarantee you'll have a ball. By the same token, let the reunion committee know how much you appreciate the year-long effort it took to put it all together. vee