6/16/2010 Manchesters Class of 1945 still going s

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Manchesters Class of 1945 still going strong Special Sections
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Crime Watch By Laura Peters CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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Opinions People usually stress over their 10- and 20-year high
Calendar school reunions, worried if their accomplishments
Sports (and waistlines) will measure up to their peers. But
Legal Notices the alumni from Manchester High Schools Class of House & Home 2010
Real Estate 1945 have long since let go of those concerns. Now
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in their early 80s, theyre just thrilled to see each
Real Estate
Classifieds
other every five or 10 years and swap tales about the
Classifieds good old days.
Reader
Resources Members of the Manchester High School About 14 alumni gathered together at the Holiday Inn
SPECIAL Class of 1945 recently held their 65th reunion Koger Center earlier this month for their 65th reunion.
at the Holiday Inn Koger Center. Fourteen
Demographics
members of the class turned out for the
Most still recognize each other by name. I
2009 SOL celebration. recognized everybody when they walked in the door,
Scores Page Dowdy/Chesterfield Ob server except for the one in the plaid shirt; thats Bill Bryan, Golf Guide 2010
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Laura Near Cavin said.
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Flipping through an old yearbook only 44 pages long, the black and white photos came to life
About us as alumni saw the remnants of their past lives. Although their hair is now grey and their faces
Our Advertisers lined, there are still resemblances between their senior photos and present day.
Shopping
Advertiser Index I remember things like honesty, integrity and friendliness. Probably the most mischievous
Customer thing anybody did in our class was chew gum in class, recalled Frank Lowman, president of Spring-Summer Guide 2010
Service the Class of 1945.
Place a
Classified As he looked at the old pictures, Lowman said, with a slight chuckle, that the people in the
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photos havent really changed that much. Alumni members remembered every Class of 1945
Place a
Legal Notice graduate, pointing out different people who have now passed.
Pick-up
Locations The old Manchester High building where the Class of 1945 went to school still stands on Hull
Subscribe Street, east of its intersection with Chippenham Parkway. The building is now in Richmond,
Contact Us having been annexed during the 1970s. In later years, Manchester high students attended
Copyright classes in the current Manchester Middle School before moving to the current building on Summer Camp Guide
2005-2009 Bailey Bridge Road.
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Before the days of Facebook and Twitter, it was easy to lose touch with high school friends
Reserved
after graduation. The Class of 1945 believes they are different.

Our class is one of the few classes that are still real tight. Ive talked to dozens of people,
and theyve said theyve never even had a reunion, Cavin said. I tell them weve had one
now every five years. Now, I call that a tight-knit high school class. Health Matters
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We were a very, very close-knit class. Everybody was your friend. Its so different from today. Special Sections
software and In fact, the class that followed us, I dont think theyve ever had a reunion, Frances Yates Hay
services said. And the class behind us probably tried to have one. They just werent as close as our
class. These people are like my brothers and sisters.

Most all of the remaining class still lives in the Richmond metro.

Many described the comradeship of their high school experience. It was a different era, Holiday Celebrations
according to Lowman.

We didnt have all this bickering in the class. Some of us played sports, and when we did,
the others rooted for us. There wasnt all this jealously that there is today and picking on
people and gossiping against people, Hay said. We were very unusual, but Im so glad I

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6/16/2010 Manchesters Class of 1945 still going s
was with that group.

Gloria Garber Jones says that camaraderie is the reason theyve stayed together so long. Fall & Winter 2009-2010
Jones, who now lives in upstate New York and Florida, experienced her own piece of history
last week when her youngest granddaughter graduated from Midlothian High School.

We all got together for [sports], and the teachers had such companionship with us the
friendship and the camaraderie that we had together as a groupThats why weve stayed
together so long. So many of us had scattered throughout the country, Jones said.

I love all these people, I do. Some of them I dont see in a while, but some of them I keep in Transitions for Active Living
touch with, Bill Hodson said.

Going to school during World War II, the Class of 1945 had to make sacrifices. There was no
traveling and no buses; everyone had to walk everywhere or find their own rides to sporting
events.

We didnt have all these luxuries that people have these days, Samuel Wilds said. Playing
sportsyou had to get your own way to the ballgame, and if you had to stay after school, you Business Profiles 2009
had to walk home. There were no buses, that kind of stuff.

In sporting programs, the seniors played the juniors, the juniors played the sophomores, the
sophomores played the freshmen, Lowman said. We didnt travel, because you couldnt
travel because of gas prices.

Remembering the high school they all attended so long ago, their meeting was filled with
laughter, smiles and the comfort of knowing that they still had each other. Spring/Summer Guide 2009
Old Manchester High School was a beauty of a place, Jones said.

Golf Guide 2009

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