The Class of 1971 and sponsors (pictured above, left to right) are: front row – Linda (Kirk) Ash, Barbara (Smith) Lee, Linda (Thomas) Erickson, Vickie (Hendrickson) Sjulin, Diane “Dink” (Kirk) Hargrave, and Candy (Horton) Taylor; second row – Pat Casey, Ann Heyen, Sue (Jacobson) Whitney, Cathy (Alloway) Herron, Rita (Rosenbohm) Kestner, and Fran Cox; third row (starts behind Cathy Herron) – Coach Dennis Gates, Marcia (Lister) Voss, Barbara (Coit) Schooler (dark hair behind Fran Cox’s hair), Larry Chapple, Mrs. Jackie Henningsen, Coach Carl Henningsen, and Rick Leesley; fourth row – Darrell Shelton, David Meyerkorth, Jeff Copeland, Bryan Cox, Jay McCoy, Dennis Salfrank, R.D. Steele, Mark Randall, Ivol Shipley, and Mark Struthers. Not pictured is Judy (Miller) Esser, who snuck out early before pictures.

Submitted by Linda (Thomas) Erickson

The Class of 1971 has always held a reunion every five years, but we decided to forgo our 45th year reunion and wait until our 47th year when we all turned 65 and make it our “Medicare” Reunion!
We all got together Saturday, July 21, in Hamburg Iowa, at the Blue Moon. We enjoyed a BBQ beef and pork buffet with a lot of delicious food. Vickie (Hendrickson) Sjulin, classmate and owner of the Blue Moon, was our gracious hostess. She arranged for the place and food for our grand evening. The evening’s main planners were Vickie and Dennis Salfrank. From your classmates . . . thank you for your hard work.
There were 27 classmates and two sponsors who attended the fun night. We enjoyed catching up with everyone and their lives while music of the late 60’s and early 70’s was furnished by DJ John Powers.
The sponsors, Coach Dennis Gates and his wife, Sharon, and Coach Carl Henningsen and his wife, Jackie, were in attendance. They enjoyed catching up with their students and what has been going on in the past years. Jackie Henningsen was our drama/speech teacher and director of both our plays!
Twenty-seven classmates and some of their significant others spent the evening moving from table to table to visit and take pictures of their somewhat older friends. Twenty-seven is over half of the 1971’s class that is still on God’s green earth and we were glad so many could attend. There were some who had health problems and could not make it, but we will see them in three years at our 50th. We are going to try to arrange it for Alumni Banquet weekend. Six of our classmates have been called home and will be forever missed.
All in all it was a fun evening of eating, a little drinking, visiting, smiling for all the cameras, and catching up with “old” friends. We hope to see everyone in three years.