Oct. 16, 2005
By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN
Hays Daily News
Class reunions are for reminiscing and talking about the good 'ol days.
Alumni of Hays High School did that and then some this past weekend while enjoying 2005 homecoming activities at their alma mater.
A lot of alumni attend the annual assembly at HHS Friday afternoon, when the king and queen candidates are recognized, and anyone graduating in the early 1980s no doubt has fond memories of the building that was brand new during his or her high school years.
But the classes of 1965 and 1955 could tell those “youngsters” that it's even more special when you can revisit your high school 40 and 50 years after graduation.
Part of the activities for the 40- and 50-year reunions this year was taking a tour of the old Hays High building where they went to school, which now houses district offices at 322 E. 12th.
“I got shivers when we walked into the auditorium. We started remembering every musical,” said Denise Gooden from Hays, a '65 HHS graduate who helped plan the tour of old Hays High. “They're talking 90 miles a minute.”
The “new” auditorium at that time was finished in time for the 1955 graduation. But that part of the building wasn't what attracted Don Stanley, in town for homecoming from his home in southeast Kansas.
“The auditorium doesn't have any history for me since it was here just one year,” Stanley said. “Now, the old gym ... that has some memories.”
The gym to which Stanley was referring actually is no longer there. It was torn down after the new Hays High building at 2300 E.13th was completed in 1981.
However, alumni did a lot of reflecting in the “new” gym, now used for youth and adult community activities.
Different alumni remembered different things from their high school days.
Peggi Bell, class of 1955, said she is thankful that Clyde Phillips, superintendent of Hays public schools at the time, started a spelling bee in the high school.
“I'm thankful to him that I learned how to spell,” said Bell, who went on to medical school after graduation and now lives in Denton, Texas.
The class of 1965 remembered Valis Rockwell, who succeeded Phillips as superintendent and for whom the old Hays High building, now called the Rockwell Administration Center, was named.
David and Mary Lee Harris from Protection said what they like best about returning to Hays for their class reunions is getting the chance to visit with old friends.
Hays High traditions run deep for the Harris couple.
They met in seventh grade at Hays Junior-Senior High School — the school included grades 7 through 12 at the time — and started dating their freshman year.
The high school sweethearts were, coincidentally, crowned king and queen for the school's sweetheart dance the winter of their senior year. They later married and will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in June.
David Harris was a member of Hays High's only undefeated football team in 1954. He went on to attend Fort Hays Kansas State College, received his degree and taught industrial arts at Protection High School for 38 years before retiring in the late 1990s.
Now, he and his wife both are bus drivers for the Protection school district.
The Harrises have returned to Hays for most of the five-year reunions and definitely made plans to attend this year's homecoming.
“Getting to see old friends is really special,” said Mary Lee Harris, the former Mary Lee Powell.
“We've really had a good time this weekend,” said David Harris, whose mother, Alice Harris, 92, still lives in Hays. “I couldn't believe how much Hays has grown just since the last time we've been here.”
There also was another former member of Hays High royalty touring the old school Saturday.
Bonnie Nelson — the oldest daughter of local author Katherine Rogers, also a journalism instructor at Fort Hays — was a homecoming queen candidate in the fall of 1954. Nelson's picture is featured in a homecoming picture collage on the Hays High Web site at www.hayshighindians.com.
The alumni talked about how there was just one school bus for Hays High students and that the cemetery at 27th and Vine was at the edge of town.
No one spoke of their present life, but rather seemed quite content to talk about the past.
“My mother is the oldest (Hays High) graduate around here,” said LaVetta Rolfs from Topeka, whose mother, Iona Westphal from Hays, graduated from HHS in 1935. Iona Westphal wasn't on the school tour but planned to attend the alumni banquet in celebration of 70-year class reunion.
Gooden said that she had planned for some time to give a tour of the old HHS building to the class of '65 this weekend, then later decided to include the 1955 class as well.
“They remember every detail,” Gooden said Saturday afternoon as former students looked at tarnished trophies in the trophy case and, as they walked down the hallways, remembered particular instances like it happened yesterday instead of decades ago.
Then, just a few seconds later, they had trouble recalling the first name of one of their teachers.
“We're having a lot of senior moments, too,” Gooden said with a laugh.
Reporter Diane Gasper-O'Brien can be reached at (785) 628-1081, ext. 126, or by e-mail at dobrien@dailynews.net.O