Classmates reunite every month
Published 8:25 pm Thursday, July 12, 2012
Gathered for lunch Thursday at Olfactory Hue Bistro are, clockwise from left, Niles High School 1944 classmates Leon Smith of South Bend, Robert and Janyce Etzcorn, Lois Young Root, Bob Root, Harold Finley, Robert Hamilton, Charnley Schnoor Allen and Gene Allen of South Bend, Doris Zechlin Kennedy (standing), Tom Kennedy, Dorlene Jones Sarratore, Doris Short Casperson and Eleanor and Bill Hassinger of Edwardsburg.
It’s not unusual for high school classes to reunite every five years or, as classmates age, to get together more frequently.
But Niles High School’s Class of 1944 eats lunch together every month — and has for more than a quarter century, without fail.
The “caller” decides where they’ll meet. Thursday afternoon it was a table for 15 at Olfactory Hue Bistro. It’s normally the first Thursday, but waited a week in July because of the Fourth.
The Class of 1944 has reunions, too, such as its 65th in 2009.
The class, which consisted of about 180 graduates when it left the high school where the post office is, entered to learn but left to serve.
“Most of our class is gone,” said Bob Etzcorn, 86. “Number one, World War II decimated our class. Most of us got drafted and are veterans.
“Twenty-five or 30 years ago, someone said, ‘Let’s meet once a month and have lunch.’ We have done that consistently. We don’t always meet in Niles.
We’ve met in South Bend. We’ve met at the Golden Nuggett and at Prime Table. We always have a nice, big Christmas party. I doubt if we’ll have any more reunions. If we do, it will be this group. The rest are gone.”
“We just enjoy being together,” said Etzcorn, who retired from French Paper Co. as director of industrial relations.
