Todays story is about traveling to the past. I just returned from the town of Zion, and a special party-my 50th class reunion from Zion Benton Township High School. It was a lovely affair. Before too many stories, I must first thank Georgia, Cheryl, and Wayne for organizing this soiree. It was no small feat meeting the needs of 100 classmates, along with the addition of many spouses. There was space enough for both mingling and sitting, good food, display tables with memories, along with the much needed (for me especially!) name tags.
I knew I would need those name tags when first walking to the restaurant. My wife and I were alongside two others. I introduced myself, saying I know you (Sue) from this and that, and these friends…but can’t recall your name. Sue smiled and told me there would be more of those moments of uneasiness, but they would be short-lived. She was right.
Also, thanks to Phil for taking pictures throughout the night. I have unceremoniously lifted a few group shots of his from the class website for this entry.
With the preparedness of organizers, it made it easy for the rest of us to focus on just talking, updating others on our lives, along with reminiscing about the past. The class of 1976 was a great one, and I am honored to be a part of it. I was able to talk to a good many people. With a few others, we just smiled at each other, or merely shook hands. There would have been more talking but I had to leave. The gate at Illinois Beach State Park closed at 10:00 pm. I left at 9:40. Still was almost late, walking with Dan to his car. He was the last I chatted with, finding out we had both moved away and then for about 30 years lived close to each other, not knowing. Dan recently moved back to Winthrop Harbor.
There were several I had hoped to see. My homebase table had Charlie and Dennis. I came back often to sit and chat with them. They made it comfortable at each return. Dennis had me guess who the last person was in our senior pictures. (It was not Teri Z.) A few other great conversations were surprises. First with Doug-one note was we both had great respect for teacher Camille Taylor. She was a hard teacher whom I gave a hard time to, but she brought out my best; And another talk with Howard-he and I were one time same size, paired up for wrestling as freshmen. He was a quick, pouncing cat, and I was a wide-eyed poor mouse, doomed to die a prolonged death, being toyed with and bounced around.
Other good conversations were with Todd, Phil, Dave, and Jerry. They were all comfortable to talk with, and we found common ground. All still could speak their minds. Was our class the last one that could civilly “agree to disagree”?
Before entering Zion Benton High school, there was a group of us that grew up in Winthrop Harbor.
I chatted with Cathy, Kenny, and Janice. Cathy’s mom, and Kenny’s dad meant a lot in my life. Janice (next door neighbor growing up) was also close to my mom. Nice to reconnect with them.
I tracked down Cheri (another next door neighbor growing up), Ernie, Dale, Carol Lynn, and Don. They helped sleuth names from some old, old group pictures. We had grade school classes together years before Zion Benton High School.
It was nice to look backwards in time with my fellow ZBTHS comrades….us dinosaurs and amber-incrusted Zee Bees. I thought about that term “looking back in time.” It reminded me of a book with a little more detail:
“The Golden Age of Chicago Children’s Television” by Ted Okuda and Jack Mulqueen, published in 2004. It is signed by Jack Mulqueen. This book discusses old TV shows our generation saw in Zion and the rest of the Chicagoland area.
My classmates grew up with several TV shows, including Bozo’s Circus, The Ray Rayner Show, and Garfield Goose and Friends. I want to focus on Garfield Goose with Frazier Thomas for a minute. One of the re-occurring segments on the show were clips from a movie called “Journey to the Beginning of Time”.
This was a stop-motion and live action show much like Gumby and Mr. Bill. In it, four boys on a raft, floated into a river tunnel cave, and emerged into the time of dinosaurs. They kept floating backwards in time, recording their events.
Our ZBTHS 50th reunion was like being on a raft and going back in time (fitting we were at a harbor restaurant, looking out over boats!). We discussed and relived what we had done after high school. At the reunion, there were many photos and books on several tables about our four years in high school. They helped with those memories. I will only add the yearbook, and my senior picture.
Like those boys in the movie “Journey to the Beginning of Time”, some fellow classmates and I went even further back in time…before high school. Westfield was for grades five through eight.
Every other year, those seventh and eighth graders could pay for a trip to Washington DC. I was in seventh grade for this picture. We could not visit the Washington Monument one day due to a protest going on The Mall. There were fears of safety. We then spent an additional day at the Smithsonian. I really wanted to see the Washington Monument, though.
When no one else wanted to go sneak over to the Monument with me, I headed off myself. Went through the front doors, across the highway, and then over the field. I stood in line for several hours alongside many protesting hippies, but finally made my way to the top of the Washington Monument. Because of the crowds, I could not walk down the stairs-something I wanted to tell my dad I did. I was upset, trudging across the field back to the Smithsonian.
As I made my way across the highway in front of the Smithsonian, I saw someone else upset. It was Mr. Metzger our principal. He was pacing back and fourth alongside a full school bus. I was late. Everyone else was on the bus. I tried to swing around like I was coming out of the Smithsonian but he saw me. Grabbing my ear, Mr. Metzger pulled me up the steps, and into an empty seat at the front of the bus.
“Welcome to your new best friend.” he muttered. “You will be next to Mrs. Becker for the rest of the trip.” Everyone laughed. As it turned out, Mrs. Becker knew a lot about everything we saw for the rest of the trip. She was a private tour guide. We became friends because of that event. For several years, after I left Westfield, when I would stop in to visit my mom (a teacher there), I would always stop in and spend time with Mrs. Becker. Also for years, when teachers discussed an upcoming trip to DC, my name would come up, actually just the term “that kid” to save embarrassment to my mom. But she knew.
There was not one boy in our fifth grade that wasn’t in love with Miss Hackler. She was a brand new teacher, and we were in her class. I was brave enough to ask to take her picture. And of her new Ford Mach 1.
I certainly was not the biggest student in this group. It is a reminder that my sports career ended in fifth grade.
I tried…and also failed in baseball. Will Incorporated sponsored us-my Dad and Granddad’s business. I had to wear number 1. I was not deserving of that number. On a good note, I did enjoy that all little league baseball players were taken to see a Cubs game every year.
I did do well in scouting, as did other Winthrop Harbor boys. We had two troops in Winthrop Harbor, that finally combined to one when Kenny and his dad (and several others) quit scouting to focus on high school football.
Before our harbor group went to Westfield, we went to Spring Bluff school. It was for grades kindergarten to fourth. Carol Lynn at the reunion, pointed out that because of her height, every year but one, she had to stand in the back row.
Mrs. Osborn for Grade Four.
Mrs. Dicastri for Third Grade. She was the meanest of teachers. Or perhaps I was the most troubling of students. I once walked up to her in class, and asked her “Would I get in trouble for throwing a paper airplane in class…like this?” I then threw a plane. She responded by sending me to the principle, Mrs. Cairns.
Mrs. Schenk was our Grade Two teacher.
Mrs. Smeby taught first grade. That class was upstairs in the Baptist church next to Spring Bluff school. The smells of sloppy joes from the cafeteria there were wonderful.
Sue Pryse was our morning kindergarten teacher. As you can see, there were some of us that spent 12 or 13 years of school together finishing through ZBTHS. With many, we lost track of each other not after, but during high school.
Like in the movie ‘Journey to the beginning of Time” our store ends and begins at the ocean, or in our case, Lake Michigan. I took this picture at Illinois Beach State Park while visiting Zion for this 50th reunion.
It was absolutely wonderful to see and visit with so many peers from ZBTHS. What a great group of people!
Thank you for reading.
P.S. My wife also had a great time at the 50th reunion. She was frank explaining that she was a Sequoit, from Antioch H.S. It didn’t matter to anyone. She was told though it might have been different had she been from North Chicago. My fellow Zee Bees were good to her.
My wife also won $1000 at a slot machine at the restaurant there, when she took a detour from listening to one of my stories for the tenth time.
P.P.S. There is a plaque at Illinois Beach State Park honoring Todd’s father for his role in establishing the park.
