Napoleon High School Class of 1986
25-year Reunion
Friday Night Meet and Greet
7 p.m., Friday, July 22, 2011
Azul Tequila, Napoleon, Ohio
Well, in true fashion, the class of '86 closed down Azul's and moved on to Rick's to catch up more and for some dancing.
The DJ helped everyone get into the spirit by playing a long set of 80's tunes, from hair bands to Michael Jackson! Bing strutted her stuff by showing off her "running man," and the ladies all got down to "Baby Got Back!" Connie Huddle Hilliard and Gretchen Veigel Meienburg topped off the evening's entertainment with a hysterical (and memorable!!) dance routine to MJ's "Thriller," proving they not only still have it, but they're also just as crazy and fun as ever!!
High School Tour and Family Picnic
10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m., Saturday, July 23, 2011
Glenwood Park, Napoleon, Ohio
A small, but intrepid gang braved the heat for the Saturday family event. We started with a tour of NHS and wrapped it up with a family picnic at Glenwood Park. The high school tour was a lot of fun, full of many great memories. Eric Schlade's cousin, Jeff Schlade, is now the principal at NHS and he graciously took time out of his Saturday morning to show us around the school. Jeff kept the group entertained with lots of interesting facts and stories about the school and its alumni, as well as pointing out all of the changes that have been made at the school since we left our alma mater in 1986. If you haven't seen the school lately and you have a chance, you really should stop by and see what a different place it is now. The carpet upstairs is gone and the library has been completely walled in! Quite a change from when we were in school! Jeff surprised us by bringing along a pack of chalk so we could leave "notes" to our favorite NHS teachers! Yes, some of them are STILL there! :-) We left messages for Mrs. Nelson, Mr. Milius and Mr. Schroeder. It will be fun to hear from Jeff when they get their little "notes!"
One of the things we noted during our tour was that some of the classrooms have the new white boards (or SmartBoards) and some of them don't. Jeff explained that it's very expensive to buy them - about $2,000 each - so when they have some extra funds available, they buy them and "raffle" them off to the teachers. Therefore, one of the ideas we have for our class is to perhaps take up a collection and give it to NHS as a class gift that they can use toward the purchase of another white board (or more). More details on this will be shared soon.
Another big change for Napoleon City Schools is the impending consolidation of the schools, culminating in the closing of the elementary schools we all attended as children. One plan being considered is to build a new facility near the high school to house K-6, and to consolidate grades 7-12 in the high school facility. C.D. Brillhart, Central and West Elementary schools would be closed and likely torn down as a result. It has been intimated that officials are trying to figure out a way to save the auditorium at Central School, so let's cross our fingers that this unique school facility can in some way be saved. We are witnessing the end of an era, to be sure. The struggling economy has been difficult for schools nationwide, and Napoleon City Schools are definitely no exception.
After the high school tour, our merry little group convened for a family picnic at Glenwood Park. The brutal heat kept the gathering short, as most of us ate pretty quickly and then ran to the nearest air conditioned building we could find! However, it was fun having a chance to catch up with folks, and Kathy's kids had a great time in the park. Special thanks to Natalie for donating cupcakes from CakeWalk to our picnic, and to everyone who brought coolers and water!
Hog Roast
6pm - midnight, Saturday, July 23, 2011
American Legion Annex, Napoleon, Ohio
The reunion committee gathered at the Annex about an hour before the festivities began to put on the final touches, get the drinks/coolers ready and for Tony to get the DJ equipment set up. Having spent a couple of hours setting up and decorating on Friday, the gang had a chance to relax and regroup before everyone started showing up. I wish I could say I remember who was the first person in the door, but I don't! Sorry! Regardless, from the moment the first person walked in, we had a constant influx of classmates.
Natalie manned the table at the door, greeting everyone and making sure we all had a copy of the class quiz and name tags. Thanks, Nat! There was a lot of screaming as people reconnected after so long, with some people seeing each other for the first time in 25 years! Of course, it's been nice catching up on Facebook and the class website, but there is nothing like seeing everyone in person. I think there might even have been a few tears of joy!
Once the food was ready, Tony got the crowd settled and we sat down to some fantastic BBQ. As you know, Greg Veigel was our chef extraordinaire, and what an awesome job he did! What many of you may not know is what went into the BBQ. Greg was at the Annex sometime before the picnic started, so it was before 11:30 a.m. We gave him the key to the Annex, but he spent almost his entire day out in the scorching heat, tending to his roasters (maybe not the right term, but you know what I mean!). Greg clearly is passionate about his BBQ and we are all so glad for it! This writer admits to kissing the cook at one point! ;-)
As dinner was wrapping up, it was time to get down to reunion business and Carl Dettmer showed up from his previous engagement just in time to get things rolling. Carl did an excellent job as emcee, keeping us all laughing throughout. Special thanks to Carl for requesting a moment of silence to remember our classmates who have passed away. They were an important part of our childhoods and high school and will be missed.
Gina's quiz was next on the agenda and it was fun to see how many of us have forgotten so much since high school! Congratulations to Kim Sonnenberg Stouffer and Mark Bostelman for getting the most answers correct! Enjoy your gift cards! As an aside, if you didn't know this already, Gina Lenhart Carey generously allowed us to display her personal high school mementos for everyone to enjoy. Everything you saw at the front table belonged to Gina and we are so grateful to her for sharing them with us. Unfortunately, her final issue of the Wildcat's Roar from our senior year turned up missing at the end of the night, but Gina handled the loss admirably. Thanks again, Gina!
It's always great when so many people attend a reunion after so many years apart, especially with our busy schedules. But it was really impressive that so many people came from great distances to joing the festivities! Marc Eis flew in from California, Laura Kananen and her family drove all the way up from South Carolina, and Matt Fahy and his wife came from Richmond, Va. I'm sure I'm missing others who came a long way to help us celebrate...oh, yeah! Kylie Ralston Argirov came all the way from Australia for our humble event, surprising everyone! To commemorate her trip and to thank her for coming such a long way, Kylie was presented with a few small mementos from Napoleon, Ohio. Thanks again to everyone, near and far, who turned up to make the reunion so much fun.
After our short program, the meanies on the reunion committee made everyone sit still for what seemed like endless photos before allowing everyone to get down to the business of catching up, having seconds of BBQ and even dancing. Special thanks again go out to Natalie for providing the cake for the evening! Kathy thanks the C.D. Brillhart gang for humoring her with a group photo, too, even though Myles didn't make it in time for the picture. We'll get you next time, Myles! ;-)
The evening wrapped up around midnight with several people generously pitching in to help clean up. The reunion committee is so grateful for that help since it allowed us to get home a little earlier (man, are we old!!). We apologize for cleaning up right under people's noses, but I'm sure everyone understood! We ended up having very little leftover food, surprisingly, although we completely overestimated the amount of beverages we needed! We honestly thought that a lot of our classmates wouldn't want to drink alcohol! How silly of us! We ARE the class of '86 afterall!! LOL! However, Natalie was able to return a lot of the unused stuff and we know now what to plan for the 30-year reunion.
In all, it was an awesome reunion with a great turnout! Thank you to the reunion committee for their dedication to making this happen, and for the many personal donations they made to make it special. Thanks also to Matt Fahy for starting this whole thing by creating our class Facebook page, Gina for the quiz and memorabilia, Lori Parsons Adams for the table decorations, Carl Dettmer for being our emcee, Tony's friend (whose name I can't remember - sorry) for being our DJ, and to Mark and Mary Bostelman for their generous contribution to our reunion fund.
And I would be remiss if I didn't thank all of the spouses. Several of the committee spouses were involved with the planning and execution of this reunion, not to mention putting up with the committee's planning sessions and taking care of kids so we could have our planning calls. Thank you. And thank you, too, to the spouses of all of our classmates in attendance. It meant a lot to us that you would come and spend your Saturday night with our crazy gang! It's not easy to attend a spouse's reunion - many of you didn't know anyone there! But you not only joined us, but you put up with being ditched on occassion and you served as our photographers as well. You were all great sports and your contribution to our reunion is appreciated!
I'm sure I'm forgetting someone, for which I beg forgiveness. If you think of someone who I didn't thank, please let me know and I'll update this page right away!
