Cazenovia High School Class of 1955 alumni were buzzing with excitement and nostalgia to tour their old stomping ground Saturday morning, July 31. “I don’t know if it’s like this in other schools, but Cazenovia loves to get a tour,” said Superintendent Robert Dubik, who led a tour of Cazenovia High School and Middle School during the Class of 1955’s 55 year reunion weekend. “They love to see their old school.” Twenty-five class members came from as far away as California, Florida, Idaho, Nebraska, Virginia and North Carolina to attend the July 30 to Aug. 1 reunion weekend. “Everyone in the class was amazed to see how different the school appeared from the school they had known and to hear about the issues now confronted by the school,” said class member Frank Stritter, a retired faculty member of the University of North Carolina who lives in Cazenovia during the summer. The alumni were eager to tout the values of their graduating class.
“We were undoubtedly the best class ever in the history of the school,” said Betty Gariepy, visiting from Florida. “In all modesty!” another tourgoer chimed in.
Gariepy and her husband recently returned from Egypt, having spent 30 years overseas.
“We had the townies and the farmers,” she said, explaining Cazenovia in the early ’50s. “I was a farmer.” The alumni marveled at the changes to their school in the past 55 years; showing off a viewpoint from a second-floor window, Dubik detailed the progression of four separate additions to the school. Festivities began the night before with a social at Albert’s Restaurant. Several members of the Classes of 1956 and 1957, which had also been invited to attend the social, joined their friends from ’55. Following the 9 a.m. tour of the school, Dick Butler, a class member residing in the Cazenovia area, then served as guide on a two-hour bus tour of the Cazenovia area. “The class members were once again amazed to see the changes in the area,” Stritter said. The schedule for Saturday night included a cocktail hour, dinner and program at the Lincklean House. The guitar playing of recent Cazenovia graduate Matt Dudley, a memorabilia table and a memorial to the 20 class members who had passed away highlighted the cocktail hour. A program led by Master of Ceremonies Bob Wilkins of Mill Valley California followed dinner. Matt Dudley, class of 2010, and Maggie Dougherty, class of 2008, offered musical renditions during the evening. Reminiscing by various class members, an auction of a piece of CCS gymnasium floor and a slide show of high school photos concluded the evening. The weekend ended with a picnic on Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Park.
“The class members greatly appreciated the efforts of Barbara Colligan Gathman of Erieville, chair of the arrangements committee, and the hard working members of her committee that made the weekend so enjoyable for everyone,” Stritter said. At the end of the weekend, members of the Class of ’55 promised to reunite again in five years for their 60th.