| By Nicole Laskowski
Gaylord - On June 28, three friends who have known each other forever sat around a dining room table. Linda (Myers) Reinhardt, Judi (Snell) Martenson and Betty (Hitch-cock) Moore, all members of the 1960s reunion committee, open a 1965 Gaylord Yearbook.
Time subtly bends back and forth between photo and memory, between the past and the present. The '60s was a time before John Jenkins became the city police chief, before Evelyn (Montgomery) Pratt ('65) became the county clerk, before Tom Johnson and Jenni Mongeau ('69) were married, before Betty (Hitch-cock) Moore ('64) owned Jet's Pizza.
A time of the Beatles and MoTown, of space exploration and moon walks. It was a time of war, of race riots, civil unrest and assassinations. And for Gaylord, Michigan, it was a time when girls always wore skirts to school and boys wore collared shirts. A movie - popcorn included - cost 50 cents. Teenagers gathered at the A&W Toot 'n Tell (where Gobbler's is now located) or went to the Teen Chalet off M-32 where they danced or listened to music. Downtown was just beginning to transform into the Alpine Village. But memory for these three women is different than you would expect. For them it is not about a single moment. They see how their high school days back in the '60s shaped where they are today. Memory is about the things that have transgressed both the pressure and heat of time: influences, connections and friendships. said Martenson. About a year ago, Reinhardt was in Petoskey when Steve Andrews, owner of Sturgeon River Pottery and a 1967 Gaylord graduate, sug-gested a 60s high school reunion to her. She loved the idea, and since her class was already working on a 40th reunion, she decided it would be worth expanding so that every class which graduated during the '60s would be invited. |
Starting with the birthday girl and moving counterclockwise: Linda Myers, Janet Myers, Marilyn McMullen, Janette Fox, Beth Jehle, Mary Morrow, Lynn Fritz and Judi Snell. Linda, Janet, Snell, McMullen and Morrow will all be attending the '60s reunion.
Linda (Myers)Reinhardt
"It was such a small school and a small community that at the time, we were all friends," said Martenson. She began calling people she knew from the various classes who still lived in Gaylord until she collected enough peo-ple to form a committee.
In October, the 14-member reunion committee held its first meeting. Reinhardt made sure as many classes as possible had a representative in charge of contacting old classmates. thought abut in a long time," |
Judi (Snell) Martenson
said Reinhardt who is the driv-ing force behind the reunion. The other half was used to organize the details of the event. The reunion is set to take place the weekend of Alpenfest on July 16.
Currently, 200 people are expected to attend, 36 of them from the class of 1967 alone, with graduates traveling from as far away as California, Oregon, Washington and Florida. Reinhardt, Moore |
Betty (Hitchcock) Moore
and Martenson are all looking forward to the reunion, to reminiscing with other class-mates, and reconnecting with both upper and lower
classmen.
"We still have people pictured as they are in their yearbooks," said Reinhardt. |
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