On Saturday, August 5, the Class of 1963 celebrated the 60 years since our graduation from SUHS. That doesn’t mean we acted our age or that we didn’t have hiccups in our plans.
We kicked off the day by attempting a ’63 Fox tradition, restoring the senior bench to its “rightful” orange and black. Upon arrival, we discovered a seat full of water, courtesy of nearby lawn sprinklers. Not to be deterred, we sopped up the water with a towel from someone’s trunk and proceeded to paint the vertical surfaces SUHS orange. On Sunday a small crew returned to finish the job and found another seatful of water. After another sopping and a few hours for drying, we were able to finish the orange and write “63 Foxes” in black for all to see.
Next, our caravan of vintage and personal vehicles filled with ‘63 Foxes, friends and family honked and waved through the streets of Silverton in the Homer Davenport parade. Somehow one of our vintage drivers missed his place at the front of our procession. We have photos of him driving in the parade, just not with us. Who says we’re not mavericks?
After the parade, we normally take our official class photo on the steps of SUHS. We knew in advance some people would be present only during the day while a greater number planned to attend only the evening activities. Since our daytime crowd was so sparse, we postponed our “Gone But Not Forgotten” ceremony to the evening.
Then we took a break from planned activities to allow for lunch, checking out the Homer Davenport festivities, and possibly taking a nap. A classmate who serves on the Oregon Garden Foundation board also arranged for ’63 Foxes to tour the Garden at a greatly reduced rate that afternoon.
Next came happy hour at a classmate’s vineyard estate-like setting out in the country. The weather couldn’t have been more conducive to chatting, sipping and snacking.
Just prior to dinner, we took our evening class photo. Due to the comparative size of the turnout, we’re thinking we’ve officially entered our “sit around and talk” era.
After our catered picnic-style dinner, we carried out our greatly modified, but much more meaningful Gone But Not Forgotten ceremony. After the reading of a remembrance poem, a tall ’63 Fox with a booming voice and commanding presence held up a poster with the blown-up yearbook photo of each of the 51 classmates who have passed on. Another rang a bell as each name was read. Anyone with a memory to share about the named classmate did so, precipitating far more laughter and astonishment than sadness.
Finally, we shared our annual birthday cake before slowly drifting off into the warm evening. See you next year for our annual happy hour and picnic-style dinner with cake.
Not a ’63 Fox? You are welcome to join us anyway. Our parties are always the Saturday evening of the Homer Davenport festival. Watch the SHSAA newsletter for time and location.
