PHS 50th reunion draws large crowd

Members of the class have scattered far and wide since graduation, but former classmates from all over the nation came together Saturday afternoon for the secondary part of their 50th reunion.

Five years ago, a new tripartite reunion weekend drew rave responses from the 1959 graduating class of Porterville Union High School.

“We had such a good response,” reunion committee member Carol Whistance Atkinson said about the change from one formal reunion dinner to a three day celebration.

Now, former classmates can pick and choose among three total events: an informal Friday meet and greet, a Saturday sit-down dinner and a Sunday farewell breakfast.

Atkinson, who has helped plan every class reunion, said a greater number of her former classmates RSVP’d for this reunion than in previous years.

“We have more this year because it’s the 50th and that’s a big milestone,” she said.
Atkinson said classmates are attending from states including Florida, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Arkansas — “all over the United States.”

Unique to this reunion was a series of sepia photographs reflecting the elementary school years of many of the 1959 graduates.

Don Fink, now a Bakersfield resident, spearheaded the effort to copy a series of class pictures from Porterville elementary schools donated by classmates.

At the reunion dinner, the photos were scattered across a long, low table, allowing those in the photos to take a gander at themselves as young students.

All but one of the elementary schools featured are still in existence today, Fink said.

One, Vincent School, had a short-lived run in a Woodville labor camp during the Dust Bowl, Fink was told.

“I had never heard of it,” he said.

Clusters of friends stood around the pieces of history, gawking at images of their classmates from more than 50 years ago.

“To see them is just unbelievable,” Atkinson said.

Fink said the class of 1959 reunions have always been well attended because his former classmates are a “really great group.”

He said he was able to recognize nearly everyone in the elementary school photos because they have stayed so close throughout the years.

“Everybody knows everybody here,” he said at the dinner party on Saturday.

Nearly 100 people attended the meet and greet Friday night, which took place at Cherry Tree Catering.

Hors d’vours were served while guests mingled until past the scheduled 8 p.m end time.

“They had to basically kick us out at 8:15,” attendee Gwen Brown said.

The Saturday night dinner featured local band Sierra Storm, as well as some favorites from decades past including Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman.”

A total of 87 guests attended the catered Sunday farewell breakfast at the home of Myrna Edwards Peterson, located southeast of Terra Bella.

-- Contact Sarah de Crescenzo at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or sdecrescenzo@portervillerecorder.com.