I was a nerdy kid in high school, more interested in Science Club and Latin Club than Pep Club, so the "Go Bulldogs!" school spirit was something I indeed felt, but not likely to be the first greeting out of my mouth to my classmates.
Our Class of 1964 reunion was held in the multi-purpose room of Heritage House, a newly-built retirement home a few miles east of Nappanee. There were 60 in attendance from our class of 90: 40 classmates and 20 spouses. Twenty-five of the classmates had already died.
Here are the participants in that reunion:
I'd asked my Cousin Don's wife Betty's cousin, Wayne Klotz, to be my buddy for the reunion. Wayne and I were always friends; he'd stayed in Nappanee after college, teaching elementary school and going up the administration line to Principal in almost 40 years of work. I'd left at age 18, and except for trips back to see my cousin Don, to go put some of my Dad's ashes, and then some of my Mom's ashes in the Brumbaugh family graveyard out there on County Road 15 south of US 6 and just a tad beyond the railroad tracks, I really hadn't returned. Wayne was a great companion for the whole weekend!
The initial socializing was a bit awkward. Truthfully, the guys had changed a lot, and the gals were mostly identifiable. Some of our Amish and Mennonite female classmates attended even though most of our Amish classmates were pulled out of school at age 16 by their religious parents. Our Mennonite classmates, some of them, went on to college and taught. Many of our classmates stayed in farming or other trades. The call to supper was not ignored, and Del-Mar catering did a good job with the meal: chicken in a white cream sauce with poppyseeds was the favorite on the buffet. (We'd see this one again the next night...) Everyone got chatting over supper, and then there was that silence after the organizer, Linda Reed Corwin, asked for folks to share their stories.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and so do I. So, I stood up and started talking. The rule, I explained, was that whoever was mentioned in the story had to stand up NEXT and tell their anecdote.
"Well," I said, "Many of you know that I live in San Francisco, but I want to preface my story with the information that I am not Gay."
"When I was a first grader at Central School, I noticed pretty quickly that the boys seemed to have all the fun during recess. They ran around everywhere, yelling and screaming and shoving and doing all the fun stuff. The girls gathered in little groups and pointed fingers at other people and whispered.
I marched over to the boys and said I wanted to play with them. NO, they said, You can't play with us because you are not a Boy. I am too a Boy, I stamped my foot and proclaimed. The Boys laughed at me. I assessed the situation pretty quickly, and determined that Gary Hollar was the biggest, tallest and most substantial boy. So I chased Gary around the playground and caught him and pushed him down and sat on his stomach and pummeled him until he said, OKAY OKAY You Are a Boy.
Playground time was so much better after that."
The initial socializing was a bit awkward. Truthfully, the guys had changed a lot, and the gals were mostly identifiable. Some of our Amish and Mennonite female classmates attended even though most of our Amish classmates were pulled out of school at age 16 by their religious parents. Our Mennonite classmates, some of them, went on to college and taught. Many of our classmates stayed in farming or other trades. The call to supper was not ignored, and Del-Mar catering did a good job with the meal: chicken in a white cream sauce with poppyseeds was the favorite on the buffet. (We'd see this one again the next night...) Everyone got chatting over supper, and then there was that silence after the organizer, Linda Reed Corwin, asked for folks to share their stories.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and so do I. So, I stood up and started talking. The rule, I explained, was that whoever was mentioned in the story had to stand up NEXT and tell their anecdote.
"When I was a first grader at Central School, I noticed pretty quickly that the boys seemed to have all the fun during recess. They ran around everywhere, yelling and screaming and shoving and doing all the fun stuff. The girls gathered in little groups and pointed fingers at other people and whispered.
I marched over to the boys and said I wanted to play with them. NO, they said, You can't play with us because you are not a Boy. I am too a Boy, I stamped my foot and proclaimed. The Boys laughed at me. I assessed the situation pretty quickly, and determined that Gary Hollar was the biggest, tallest and most substantial boy. So I chased Gary around the playground and caught him and pushed him down and sat on his stomach and pummeled him until he said, OKAY OKAY You Are a Boy.
Playground time was so much better after that."
 |
| "I am too a Boy! |
At that juncture, Gary spoke up and said, "I bet I have a better way now of figuring out if you are a girl or a boy!" (Thanks, Gary, for the great ice-breaker!) After the laughter died down, Gary stood up and the good times and good memories really did roll.
I had two cousins in my class, by the way (my father, Howard Brumbaugh, was one of 10 children). My cousin Denny Miller was the Salutatarian to my Valedictorian. Denny has Parkinson's and did not attend, sadly. My cousin Keith Blosser was always mechanically minded and had a great career as a manager of one of our local trailer factories (read: RV, recreational vehicle = trailer) and married Shirley Fisher in 1964. They have a wonderful family.
The challenging part of this reunion event was the fact that Betty Fervida, my cousin Don's wife, had sweet-talked me into giving the keynote speech the next night, and also Emcee-ing, the all-classes reunion. I didn't realize what a big deal this way until Linda Reed Corwin informed me that 270 (Two Hundred Seventy!) people were attending.
I was terrified I'd make horrible gaffs…I’d been away so long. So, I asked Wayne if he'd help Emcee the program and we created the Wayne `N Barb show. (It was very well received; jokes helped!)
But the Keynote required a lot of thought. (in retrospect -- belatedly publishing this blogpost in 2021 -- after my 10 months of living fulltime and working for Democracy and against Trump in 2020-2021 back home in Indiana, I didn't do myself {or the Democratic Party} any favors with this presentation. The town really hadn't changed much since the 1960's EXCEPT to become more Republican and conservative. But you don't know what the culture of a place really is until you've lived there for almost a year. More on that experience, later. There is a lot to process!)
I had two cousins in my class, by the way (my father, Howard Brumbaugh, was one of 10 children). My cousin Denny Miller was the Salutatarian to my Valedictorian. Denny has Parkinson's and did not attend, sadly. My cousin Keith Blosser was always mechanically minded and had a great career as a manager of one of our local trailer factories (read: RV, recreational vehicle = trailer) and married Shirley Fisher in 1964. They have a wonderful family.
 |
| Keith Blosser, my cousin, and his wife Shirley Fisher Blosser: both 1964 classmates. |
The challenging part of this reunion event was the fact that Betty Fervida, my cousin Don's wife, had sweet-talked me into giving the keynote speech the next night, and also Emcee-ing, the all-classes reunion. I didn't realize what a big deal this way until Linda Reed Corwin informed me that 270 (Two Hundred Seventy!) people were attending.
I was terrified I'd make horrible gaffs…I’d been away so long. So, I asked Wayne if he'd help Emcee the program and we created the Wayne `N Barb show. (It was very well received; jokes helped!)
But the Keynote required a lot of thought. (in retrospect -- belatedly publishing this blogpost in 2021 -- after my 10 months of living fulltime and working for Democracy and against Trump in 2020-2021 back home in Indiana, I didn't do myself {or the Democratic Party} any favors with this presentation. The town really hadn't changed much since the 1960's EXCEPT to become more Republican and conservative. But you don't know what the culture of a place really is until you've lived there for almost a year. More on that experience, later. There is a lot to process!)
But here is the keynote I gave then:
I loved Latin, and beginning the summer after my 1st year of Latin in 1961, she’d occasionally invite me to her house for tea. Back then, a teacher could do that. We’d look at her scrapbooks of her trips to Italy, and she’d talk about her travels and fill my mind with image after image, story after story.
Sel set me on the path of a guiding principle -- figure out how to get to “YES” . And with certain exceptions, inevitable roadblocks and stupid mistakes along the way, I’ve been able to get to YES a lot in my life. As I am sure you all have too.
Wayne Klotz, my co-host later this evening, talks about how his teacher, Mary Metzler, inspired him to teach.
Because of the preparation of these great teachers in part, I was able to get into Harvard Business School. I’ve joked for years that I got in because of the poet and socialist quota. Truth is, my application essay on organizing tenants in the ghettos of Newark New Jersey to hold rent strikes against slum landlords was probably not a show stopper. But the essay on my belly dancing classes at the Boston YWCA probably made the application reviewers sit up and say, “We’ve got to have HER here!” That education enabled me to start a business that required a lot of travel. I was able to take my kids with me often, too.
We were lucky at Nappanee High School to have great and dedicated teachers. Coming back for reunions reminds us of that.
For entertainment, I thought I’d tell you a bit what it is like to live in the most liberal city in America, where I’ve lived for the past 10 years. That is San Francisco. Just a few glimpses of daily life.
I don’t live alone, I have BOB the Dog as company. He’s a rescue, 65 pounds with black on his
tongue and his own FaceBook Page. (I
help him with that.) Bob and I were
walking past city hall the other day. I
was stunned to see friends and relatives celebrating a just-married couple
right there on the steps of City
Hall. There are always marriage celebrations,
but this one was for a MAN and a WOMAN.
In true liberal fashion, they were throwing bits of rice paper squares
printed in various colors with non-toxic ink, there were flowers from organic
sustainable local farms; and there were
toasts with unfiltered non-sulfated wines.
Why was I surprised? Well,
usually it’s a MAN and a MAN or a WOMAN and a WOMAN who just got married. The constant is the rice paper, the flowers,
and the wine choices.
Our huge homeless population is a well known fact. You see, nobody dies of the cold in San Francisco. We pay incredibly high income taxes in California, but the social nets still have big holes in them.
If you have leftover food from a restaurant meal, you almost always take it with you. There’s always someone within a block’s walk who is grateful when you hand them a meal.
My friend Nicole buys pairs and pairs of clean thick socks and hands them out to homeless people who panhandle or sleep in doorways on the street. Many homeless don’t have access to even elemental medical care and foot problems are rampant.
Many of us take a dollar from our pocket every day to buy a copy of THE STREET SHEET, sold by folks trying to preserve some dignity while being homeless. A short walk anywhere in San Francisco will take you to a STREET SHEET seller.
We leave piles of clean clothes folded on street corners for those who can’t afford a thrift shop.
All of these people are somebody’s son, daughter, brother, sister, mother, father.
When Bob and I walk on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, I see the great container ships coming into San Francisco Bay every day, piled high with goods from around the world. I like to take a minute to reflect on the trend of globalization. But the real core knowledge from those reflections, is that we are all connected. That’s why we are here today… we’re connected by the values and the education that we got at Nappanee High School.
So today we celebrate each other, the school, and the great teachers we had. God bless. Enjoy the fellowship! Wayne and I will be back after dinner with the Wayne N’ Barb show. “
#
Wayne and I kept it light, and Betty had sent a folder of jokes as starters. We talked about things we miss, like those little wax bottles filled with sweet liquid, and sitting in the balcony of the Fairy Theater and throwing popcorn at the folks on the main floor, and Christmas Club savings accounts at the bank.
We joked about foods we never thought we'd eat, like artificial crab, soybean burgers, hummus, Kimchi, guacamole, enchiladas. We had a lot of jokes about diets, weight gain, hair loss, exercise programs.
And then we asked the classes to stand up, one by one.
To help people reminisce about the changes in our lifetimes, there were two handouts I prepared. Here they are:
Oldies but Goodies (That would be US and our Music both!)
All in all, it was great fun. I think I'll go again when I can. In Shallah, as they say in many places of the world... God Willing.
“It’s great to see such a turnout today,
and it verifies a truth I’ve figured out since I left Nappanee in 1964: ALL ROADS LEAD TO HOME.
JULIA MILNE, my beloved Latin teacher at Nappanee High School, would
wonder at that turn of phrase. She knew
it as ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. It really
is Mrs Milne’s fault that I’ve been on so many roads in the last 50 years – she
instilled me with an interest in other countries. I loved Latin, and beginning the summer after my 1st year of Latin in 1961, she’d occasionally invite me to her house for tea. Back then, a teacher could do that. We’d look at her scrapbooks of her trips to Italy, and she’d talk about her travels and fill my mind with image after image, story after story.
It’s her fault, you see, that I did take all the roads I could. I’ve made it to Rome and to Istanbul,
Khartoum, Mandalay, Bombay, Beijing, Mendoza, Cairo, Sao Paulo, Algers,
Guatemala City, Johannesburg, Melbourne,
as well as Chicago, New Orleans, Atlanta and a few more places. Ten years after I left Nappanee, I hitchhiked
from Mombasa to Nairobi in Kenya, alone.
On other travels, I’ve been hassled by Russian soldiers on a train
across East Germany, before The Wall came down. I’ve seen a villager shivering from malaria alongside
a trail on a mountain in Papua New Guinea. Most recently, I shared a hotel room with a
large rat that paid a nighttime visit in Ethiopia. Lots of adventures in those 70 countries….
and still traveling. All Julia Milne’s
fault.
SEL COPELAND played a part too.
He taught me how to think. I can
remember being in his chemistry class, staring up at the Periodic Table of
Elements before he pulled the cord and rolled it up. “You don’t need that,” he’d say. “You don’t need to memorize it. You use it enough, you’ll learn it
anyhow. Instead, think about how to get
to the final answer.”Sel set me on the path of a guiding principle -- figure out how to get to “YES” . And with certain exceptions, inevitable roadblocks and stupid mistakes along the way, I’ve been able to get to YES a lot in my life. As I am sure you all have too.
Wayne Klotz, my co-host later this evening, talks about how his teacher, Mary Metzler, inspired him to teach.
Because of the preparation of these great teachers in part, I was able to get into Harvard Business School. I’ve joked for years that I got in because of the poet and socialist quota. Truth is, my application essay on organizing tenants in the ghettos of Newark New Jersey to hold rent strikes against slum landlords was probably not a show stopper. But the essay on my belly dancing classes at the Boston YWCA probably made the application reviewers sit up and say, “We’ve got to have HER here!” That education enabled me to start a business that required a lot of travel. I was able to take my kids with me often, too.
We were lucky at Nappanee High School to have great and dedicated teachers. Coming back for reunions reminds us of that.
Reunions or not, there is always a way
to get back home to Indiana. Admittedly,
things have changed here and elsewhere. How much they’ve changed you can see in
the basic NEWS AND EVENTS sheet I prepared for tonight.
For entertainment, I thought I’d tell you a bit what it is like to live in the most liberal city in America, where I’ve lived for the past 10 years. That is San Francisco. Just a few glimpses of daily life.
I don’t live alone, I have BOB the Dog as company. He’s a rescue, 65 pounds with black on his
tongue and his own FaceBook Page. (I
help him with that.) Bob and I were
walking past city hall the other day. I
was stunned to see friends and relatives celebrating a just-married couple
right there on the steps of City
Hall. There are always marriage celebrations,
but this one was for a MAN and a WOMAN.
In true liberal fashion, they were throwing bits of rice paper squares
printed in various colors with non-toxic ink, there were flowers from organic
sustainable local farms; and there were
toasts with unfiltered non-sulfated wines.
Why was I surprised? Well,
usually it’s a MAN and a MAN or a WOMAN and a WOMAN who just got married. The constant is the rice paper, the flowers,
and the wine choices. Our huge homeless population is a well known fact. You see, nobody dies of the cold in San Francisco. We pay incredibly high income taxes in California, but the social nets still have big holes in them.
If you have leftover food from a restaurant meal, you almost always take it with you. There’s always someone within a block’s walk who is grateful when you hand them a meal.
My friend Nicole buys pairs and pairs of clean thick socks and hands them out to homeless people who panhandle or sleep in doorways on the street. Many homeless don’t have access to even elemental medical care and foot problems are rampant.
Many of us take a dollar from our pocket every day to buy a copy of THE STREET SHEET, sold by folks trying to preserve some dignity while being homeless. A short walk anywhere in San Francisco will take you to a STREET SHEET seller.
We leave piles of clean clothes folded on street corners for those who can’t afford a thrift shop.
All of these people are somebody’s son, daughter, brother, sister, mother, father.
When Bob and I walk on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, I see the great container ships coming into San Francisco Bay every day, piled high with goods from around the world. I like to take a minute to reflect on the trend of globalization. But the real core knowledge from those reflections, is that we are all connected. That’s why we are here today… we’re connected by the values and the education that we got at Nappanee High School.
So today we celebrate each other, the school, and the great teachers we had. God bless. Enjoy the fellowship! Wayne and I will be back after dinner with the Wayne N’ Barb show. “
#
Wayne and I kept it light, and Betty had sent a folder of jokes as starters. We talked about things we miss, like those little wax bottles filled with sweet liquid, and sitting in the balcony of the Fairy Theater and throwing popcorn at the folks on the main floor, and Christmas Club savings accounts at the bank.
We joked about foods we never thought we'd eat, like artificial crab, soybean burgers, hummus, Kimchi, guacamole, enchiladas. We had a lot of jokes about diets, weight gain, hair loss, exercise programs.
And then we asked the classes to stand up, one by one.
To help people reminisce about the changes in our lifetimes, there were two handouts I prepared. Here they are:
News
and Events Info courtesy of www.infoplease.com
1934
US Population: 126,373,773
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Federal Spending: $6.54 billion
Unemployment 22.0%
First Class Stamp: 3 cents
WORLD:
Hitler becomes Fuhrer
US:
Lawmen ambush Bonnie & Clyde in Louisiana
SPORTS:
St. Louis Cardinals d Detroit 4-3
1939
US Population: 130,879,718
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Federal Spending: $9.14 billion
Unemployment 17.2%
First Class Stamp: 3 cents
WORLD:
World War II begins; Roosevelt
proclaims US neutrality
US:
New York World’s Fair Opens
SPORTS: NY Yankees d Cincinnati 4-0
1954
US Population: 163,025,854
President: Dwight D Eisenhower
Federal Spending: $70.86 billion
Unemployment 2.9%
First Class Stamp: 3 cents
World: Dien Bien Phu falls to Viet Minh
US:
Senate condemns Sen McCarthy for misconduct; Supreme Court bans racial segregation in public schools
SPORTS:
NY Giants d Cleveland 4-0
1959
US Population: 177,829,628
President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Federal Spending: 92.10 billion
Unemployment 6.8%
First Class Stamp: 4 cents
World: Fidel Castro assumes power in Cuba
US:
Alaska and Hawaii become 49th & 50th states
SPORTS:
LA Dodgers d Chicago White Sox 4-2
|
1963
US Population: 189,241,798
President: John F. Kennedy/
Lyndon B. Johnson
Federal Spending: 111.32 billion
Unemployment 5.5%
First Class Stamp: 5 cents
World:
There are 15,000 military advisers in South Vietnam. Pope John XXII dies. Cold war continues
US:
President Kennedy killed in Dallas; Supreme Court rules that no
locality may require recitation of Lord’s Prayer or Bible verses in public
school; “March on Washington civil”
rights rally
SPORTS: LA Dodgers d NY Yankees 4-0
1964
US Population: 191,888,791
President: Lyndon B. Johnson
Federal Spending: 118.53 billion
Unemployment 5.7%
First Class Stamp: 5 cents
World:
Krushchev deposed; China detonates its first atomic bomb; US Congress
approves Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
US:
Three civil rights workers murdered in Mississippi; Jack Ruby convicted in slaying of Lee
Harvey Oswald
SPORTS: St. Louis Cardinals d NY Yankees 4-3
1969
US Population: 202,676,946
President: Richard M Nixon
Federal Spending: 183.64 billion
Unemployment 3.6%
First Class Stamp: 6 cents
World:
Nixon begins “Vietnamization” in SE Asia; US, USSR +100 countries sign
the nuclear nonproliferation treaty
US:
Apollo 11 astronauts take first Moon walk;
NYC Stonewall riot begins gay
rights movement
SPORTS: NY Mets d Baltimore 4-1
|
Oldies but Goodies (That would be US and our Music both!)
1964: Top 5
I Want to Hold Your Hand (The Beatles)
She Loves You
(The Beatles)
Hello, Dolly! (Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars)
Oh, Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison)
I Get Around
(The Beach Boys)
1934: Top 5
Moon Glow (Benny Goodman)
Continental, You Kiss While You’re Dancing
(Leo Reisman)
Tumbling Tumbleweeds (Sons
of the Pioneers)
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes ( Paul Whiteman)
Cocktails for Two (Duke Ellington)
1939: Top 5
Over the Rainbow (Judy Garland)
Moonlight Serenade (Glenn Miller)
God Bless America (Kate Smith)
Strange Fruit
(Billie Holiday)
Body & Soul (Coleman Hawkins)
1954: Top 5
Mister Sandman (The Chordettes)
Secret Love (Doris Day)
Sh-Boom, Life Could be a Dream (Crew-Cuts)
Little Things Mean a Lot (Kitty Kallen)
Hey There (Rosemary Clooney)
|
1959: Top 5
Mack the Knife (Bobby Darin)
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (The Platters)
Venus (Frankie Avalon)
Lonely Boy ( Paul Anka)
Battle of New Orleans (Johnny Horton)
1963: Top 5
Devil in Disguise (Elvis Presley)
If I Had a Hammer (Trini Lopez)
Hey Paula (Paul and Paula)
Be My Baby (The Ronettes)
Louie Louie (Kingsmen)
1969: Top 5
Get Back (The Beatles)
Sugar Sugar (Archies)
In the Year 2525 (Zager & Evans)
Honky Tonk Woman (The Rolling Stones)
Suspicious Minds (Elvis Presley)
Right Now -Summer 2014:
Fancy (Iggy Azalea and Charil XCX)
Problem (Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea)
Rude (Magic!)
Turn Down for What (DJ Snake and Lil Jon)
Stay with Me
(Sam Smith)
|
All in all, it was great fun. I think I'll go again when I can. In Shallah, as they say in many places of the world... God Willing.
