Alpena High School Class of 1953 Holds 70 Year Class Reunion

The Alpena High School graduating class of 1953 got together Tuesday at the Courtyard Ristorante for their 70 year class reunion. This is the 11th time they have gotten together since graduating.

“I guess because we love each other, we really like each other,” said Shirley Vam-Abend, a member of the graduating class of 1953 at Alpena High School. “Look at it, it’s fun, everybody’s talking and having a good time.”

There were 136 members of the graduating class at Alpena High School in 1953, and just about 30 remain to this day. Keeping track of even this many people can still be difficult, but Jeanne Frantz–Szymanski makes it happen.

“Well, I have a computer, that helps me,” said Szymanski. “I worked in an office for years, so I found it very easy to keep track of things.”

Abend shared people’s ambitions they wrote down in the yearbook to see if people achieved their goals throughout the evening, an idea she came up with to remind people of their heyday.

“I just picked them up and wondered if they had done them or tried to make it into a joke,” she said. “There was one girl who wanted to go to Tokyo and she loved horseback riding, so I asked her if she rode the horse to Tokyo, because I didn’t know. That’s kind of how I did it, there’s about 10 people that I did that with.”

Overall, it was a wonderful experience for the class of 1953 to reminisce on old times seeing their dearest friends.

“It’s just good to get everybody together because all of us are between 88 and 90,” said Abend.

The old friends enjoyed dinner and drinks into the evening on Tuesday, enjoying each other’s company, something they’ve done now for 70 years.