Donna Ehlers believes it’s never too soon to reconnect with friends from past and present.
Ehlers, who graduated from Tahoma High School in 1975, has been involved with reuniting her class of approximately 196 people since the five-year reunion. Decades later, the task is becoming increasingly difficult.
Former classmates have come and gone as funerals begin to outnumber reunions for Ehlers and her friends. She believes it’s imperative that she organize a memorable 35-year class reunion for 2010. Ehlers is planning ahead with a get-together this Saturday at the home of Rick Stocks on Lake Sawyer to gather ideas for the reunion two years from now.
“I couldn’t see waiting another two years before we got together for the 35-year reunion, because we’ve already lost some of our class members,” Ehlers said. “We need to see each other now, not at funerals.
“Seeing old classmates is great. We’re all 50 now, so we’re all gray and we’ve all gained weight.”
Ehlers was ill prior to the 25-year and 30-year reunions, so she’s working overtime as the committee head in preparation for the next event. Tracking down grads and finalizing plans has been the biggest snag thus far in her first attempt at organizing a reunion herself.
“Getting a hold of people and getting people to RSVP has probably been the most frustrating part of all of this,” Ehlers said in August. “If you go to Classmates.com you can see that people have actually looked at the invitation and they’ll look every day, but they’re not RSVPing.”
A few weeks before the Aug. 29 RSVP deadline for the catered event this Saturday, 24 people were listed to attend.
Ehlers and her reunion committee, which includes Sam Kerley, Becky Coffin, Dawn Dugent, Jerry Pound, Kim Ticehurst and Stocks, hope their luck turns the corner following a disastrous 30-year reunion. It was celebrated with the help of a party-planning company that promised memory books and pictures from the event for each attendee. The experience turned sour when the company folded and all promises of photographs and visual recollections from the reunion died with the business’ demise, Ehlers said.
“I think a lot of people are disappointed that we missed out (on those items) from the last one,” Ehlers said. “That disappointment hangs on sometimes and makes people a little leery.”
This time around, Ehlers wants to make up for the disappointment three years ago and construct a three-day extravaganza comprised of a formal dinner, family party and cocktail get-together.
“I think it’s going to take some planning and the more planning we put into it, the more successful it will be,” Ehlers said.
Mike Baldwin is a news intern.
