Class reunions are very common this time of the year and so earlier this month we gave a “Thumbs Up” in our Darts and Laurels column to the Pontiac Class of 1951, which observed its 60th class reunion.

It was felt that 60 years is an exceptionally long time for people to maintain such high school relationships, even if they are only renewed briefly every five years.

However, as we found out, the Class of 1951 isn’t the only one that is proud of its longevity.

Thanks to the Darts and Laurels feature, we got a call from Ellen Reynelles of Pontiac, who informed us that her Class of 1936 was going to celebrate its 75th reunion tomorrow (Saturday, July 16) at Ginos Restaurant in Keego Harbor beginning at noon.

She rightfully noted that although the Class of 1951 deserves credit for its 60th reunion, “the class just sounds so young to us in the Class of 1936.”

I can’t argue with that. When Ms. Reynelles class graduated from high school, the Class of 1951 members were just 2 and 3-year-old toddlers.

Ms. Reynelles says the Class of 1936 originally had about 300 members. She says there are 16 members who are known to still be alive and may attend tomorrow’s reunion.
However, after all these years and with their classmates in their early 90s, they have simplified the party.

“We don’t buy green bananas, so no reservations have been made,” Ms. Reynelles says. “We’ll just order from the menu.”

The focus obviously is not on the food but on socialization and camaraderie.
In fact, because all of the class members don’t want to waste time or miss out on keeping up with their high school friends, they’ve changed the reunion format a bit.

“We used to just meet every five years but these later years we’ve decided five years is too long, now we meet every year,” Ms. Reynelles says.

May they continue to meet for many more years.