Diamond Valley has last reunion

Alumni of Diamond Valley High School in Burdick had their final reunion Sept. 3 at Hebron Lutheran Church northwest of Burdick.

The first class to graduate was in 1923. The school closed 34 years later in 1957, when Burdick consolidated with other schools in the area to form the Centre school district.

Diamond Valley Joint District 11 and Centre graduates from the Burdick area gathered for a catered meal at the final reunion.

The oldest graduate in attendance was Helen Sturgis Anderson, 95, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, a member of the class of 1946.

She shared memories, pictures, and memorabilia.

Royal Smith, Marion, class of 1953; Dean Gutsch, Burdick, class of 1954; Ila Schild Bryant, Wichita, 1956; and Neva Joyce Gutsch Fisher, Wichita, and Willard Olson, Burdick, class of 1957, shared memories of attending the school.

Mary Louise Hodson Pritchard, Emporia, and Bruce Hedstrom Burdick, both from the class of 1958, were in attendance. They attended three years at Diamond Valley before they graduated from Joint District 11 at Lost Springs.

Alumni president Willard Olson conducted a short business meeting, and alumni voted to ask Morris County Historical Society whether it wanted the secretarial book with minutes and roll calls beginning with the first alumni reunion.

Alumni conducted a memorial to class members who died since the last meeting.

Secretary and treasurer Carol Miller Riffel, a 1961 Centre graduate, read the poem, “I’m Free.”

Gloria Peterson Martin, vice president and 1966 Centre graduate, read the names of the deceased while Ila Bryant played a piano solo.