Yakima and AC Davis High School 50th reunion

After Kennewick we drove 85 miles northwest to Yakima, Washington. Jim graduated from AC Davis High School in Yakima, and we attended his 50th high school reunion. 

I remember going to my high school alumni meeting the year I graduated from high school and seeing the handful of folks celebrating their 50th graduation anniversary. I also remember wondering how they could even walk at that age. 

Well -- here we are. We’re not only walking but feeling pretty good, as were the 100 plus people at Jim's reunion dinner. 

The reunion committee planned a weekend of events including a golf game, happy hour, tour of the newer high school (the old AC Davis High was torn down in the late 1970s), and a dinner at the local Red Lion. We just went to the dinner.  Both the food and the people were great. I didn’t know a soul and had a nice time.  And Jim -- whose idea of a major social activity is taking a hike with his dog and meeting someone on the trail -- was a social butterfly. 

We heard about long marriages, some shorter marriages, family, travel, kids and grand kids, people working as teachers, nurses (and many other jobs); military service, sports activities, health problems, and happy lives with some sad in there, too.

Reunion attendees got into groups according to elementary school for photos. Above are those who went to McKinley Elementary School.  That's Jim in the front second from left. Jim is talking to Patty, a neighbor who lived across the street. Patty's Mom is 99 and still lives in the same house. The woman in teal green Evelyn, Jim's next door neighbor back then.  Evelyn's father was the principal of McKinley grade school.  

Jim's name tag.  His legal name is Lance but no one who knows him calls him that, nor would most of his fellow graduates have remembered his legal name. So we made an edit.  Jim graduated with about 400 kids.  Former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas was also an AC Davis graduate. From a previous class, of course.