Carlisle High School - Class of 1973 Reunion
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2008-09-21 14:32:16 - Graham EllisSaturday, 20th September 2008 - at the Expo Centre, K Street, Carlisle, PA
Oh goodness - I'm not one for the formal pictures! Let me tell you a little bit about the event and then you can go to http://www.wellho.net/share/reunion.html to see a set of candid letterbox pictures. And do keep visiting http://www.chs73.info/ for the official site ;-)
The event was held at the Expo centre in Carlisle, PA ... but it's the people and not the place that make the event. The American High School reunion is something quite outside my UK experience, with this group of 50+ year olds meeting up some 35 years after they have left the school. They travelled long distance to get here (though I think our trip from the UK was by far the longest!) ... and they travelled short distances too as some still live just round the corner.
There must have been a hundred people in that room - from company directors to posties, from New York stage actresses to the military, from the fabulously fit ("still runs marathons") to the poorly. Time passes, and some names can now only be there in memory. There are never-marrieds through to thrice marrieds (and I may have missed some even higher tallies), childless to countless-time grandparents. There are all shapes, colours ans sizes. The bearded and the beardless and the haired and the bald. The natural look through the fully manicured to the overdone make-up brigade. The smart suited through the casual to those who look like they rushed out of bed to get here (oops - that last we us as we overslept!)
It's the people who make it. There's the local group who never aspired to get beyond Cumberland County, who haven't got beyond the county, and are utterly contented with their lot. There's the students who have grown into "good old country boys" - perhaps making it though some local business, yet still seeing the North East of the USA as the world - or their world. There's a significant group who moved away from Carlisle, made something of their lives, but have moved back here or near here - and what a huge compliment that is to the town. And there are the high flyers who have come from far and wide to the reunion. Yet everyone gets on, everyone is mixing. Everyone hugging. Have a look at some more of the pictures (HERE - another plug) and see the groups.
Will we be back in September 2013 for the 40 year reunion? As an 'outsider', I could consider it more a duty than a pleasure, yet actually I too would like to meet up with the group again. More will be retired by that time (there are a handful already, especially those who were cradle-snatched by older partners) and sadly some of the faces who were there last night probably won't be with us any more. But an easier pace by that time may give us, too, a little more time to relax and to take in the sights and sounds and people of the town. This article is being posted, the morning after, from the Comfort Suites, downtown Carlisle; we'll be checking out in an hour or two and headed for lunch at one of the old classmate's diners, then south through Gettysburg and back over into Maryland and Virginia and a whole different life. Carlisle did wonders for Lisa; I'm truly delighted to come here and see and share it from time to time.