1970

Our class article for the 2011 Newsletter :

CLASS OF 1970 40th REUNION
       In 2009 Denise Mozden Liveston and Trudee Bacon Rice had the insight to rent the Senior Center on Acer Heights for our 40th class reunion.
       That is when the journey began and for the ensuing few months, good ideas and advice began to flow in from other classmates for the construction of a float and reunion party.
       We had a couple of meetings at Trudee’s home, there we voted to do “ Rowan & Martin’s Laugh- In” for the float theme, as the parade theme was about TV sitcoms. Trudee, Denise, David Streeter, Gary Bedard, John Caffrey and Annette Mayhew Vadney made up the core for the first meetings.
       In February of 2010 the committee meetings were moved to the guidance office at the high school. David Belisle began to attend and the discussions were centered on materials, colors, and designs for the float. We also discussed if there was going to be a caterer for the party or if it was going to be a pot luck, who was going to provide the music and the BIG one how were we going to pay for it all? Discussions about colors and designs for t-shirts, the cost for registering for the party, how many might attend, how much food to order and how we were going to pay for it all kept conversation alive and well.
       As the meetings progressed Debbie Perrault Monroe joined in the fun. The truck for our float was again donated by David Streeter, I believe this was his 35th year of donating his vehicle for our float, (Thank You David!).
       Santos Lampiasi, from the Culinary program at the Sugar River Valley Technical Center was selected to cater the party and provided a wonderful top notch selection of hors d’ oeuvres and goodies, I know I went back for more, (Thank You Santos!).
       In May the truck was brought up to David Belisle’s home, (David also donated plywood, building materials and tools),(Thank You David!), so we could begin construction of the float. Ideas and thoughts began to flow, the materials and tools came to life and the float started to take shape. Meetings were now being held at David’s garage. As plywood, 2x4’s and strapping were being cut, Denise and Trudee took a trip to Home Depot to purchase paint brushes and the base paint. We thought they got lost as they were gone quite a while. Upon returning they had bought “Dazzling Daffodil” yellow, and as panels were cut and assembled, paint brushes appeared, to begin applying the base coat.
       As work progressed small doors were cut into the plywood panels as in the “Laugh-In” wall on TV and “Psychedelic” colors were painted on the “Dazzling Daffodil”.
       Rick Bergeron joined the crew and progress escalated. Ideas were flowing and the construction of the float was coming to reality. Flowers and trim around the doors were being painted on, “ Sock it to me”, “Here comes the judge”, “Fickle finger of fate”, “Funk and Wagnall’s”, “You bet your sweet bippy”, and “It’s a mad mad world” were painted on the skirting. The final piece, the “Fickle Finger of Fate”, made by the Drama Department at Stevens High School was acquired for the float.
       During the last week Terry Wilson came in from South Carolina and all hands assembled the pieces on the truck and a masterpiece developed. The Wednesday before the parade the float was moved to the Golden Cross Ambulance garage (Thank You Dale Girard!), the finishing touches were applied on Thursday and Friday. Everyone did a spectacular job putting the float together and deserve a huge Thank You!
       On Friday evening classmates met at Golden Cross to see the float and re-acquaint with each other. The gathering then moved to the Senior Center for some socializing.
       The day of the parade was a little damp, although classmates spirits remained bright and cheery. Many hadn’t seen each other in forty years, a real nice experience. The float was filled to the brim with riders and a few classmates walked the parade route handing out candy to the spectators and eagerly awaiting children.
       Our float won “The Frederick Carr” trophy for exhibiting excellent school spirit. Along with the trophy a check was presented to the class for two hundred dollars from Robert and Elaine Stringer (Thank You Bob and Elaine!).
       The gathering in the evening was a wonderful event with David Streeter setting up a screen and slide projector displaying pictures from our yearbook and float construction. The music was handled by Cheryl “Cher” Mitchell who did a superb job and also supplied the evening with karaoke (Thank You Cheryl!). There were approximately fifty to sixty attendees with lots of reminiscing and catching up to do.
       The “Fickle Finger of Fate” was awarded to the person who traveled the furthest to attend the reunion and that was Ann Robitille who came all the way from Seattle, Washington. Congratulations Ann!!
       On Sunday morning, a crew (Dave & Marilyn Streeter, Dave & Debbie Bedard, Trudee & Chris Rice and Denise & Tom Liveston) arrived at the Senior Center to dismantle the float and clean up the Center. Don’t worry, two doors from the float were saved to be displayed at our 45th .
        The classmates who sent monetary contributions to help with financial obligations but weren’t able to attend a very resounding THANK YOU!!!
       Again a very special Thank You to: Denise, Trudee, David S., Gary, David B., John, Debbie, Rick, Terry and all who helped make this 40th reunion celebration a wonderfully huge success.
“Say Goodnight Dick”
John Caffrey
Denise Mozden Liveston
Gary Bedard
Class of 1970

June 2010 photos: