Alumni share memories, updates on life
Staff writer
Members of Hillsboro High School’s class of 1984 gathered Saturday at the Hillsboro Municipal Golf Course clubhouse to reminisce and catch up on where life has taken them in the 40 years since they took their sheepskins and set out on their life journeys.
Cindy Deutscher, who organized Saturday’s reunion, said three or four class members remained in the Hillsboro area, and the rest had scattered to the wind.
Classmates came from as far as Wyoming.
Mementos and party favors were on tables, and a banner of events of 1984 was displayed on the wall.
At a table on the deck, Bret and Carol Preheim visited with Kay Schroeder and Ryan Funk.
Funk said the last reunion the class had was its 25th in 2009.
Classmates talked about where they now live and what they do, and reminisced about their favorite (and least favorite) teachers.
History teacher Chris Cummings was especially memorable.
He did his own thing instead of teaching from a textbook, though students weren’t always sure that what he taught them was correct.
Rick Herbel, Corey Jost, and Stuart Schale pored over a 1984 yearbook, pointing at photos and remembering their senior year.
Later, most of them attended an all-alumni banquet at Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church.
The banquet brought 96 former students and spouses to enjoy each other and have a catered meal. Honored classes were 1954, 1964, 1974, 1984, and 1994.
Master of ceremonies Brad Penner went from table to table to have one person tell a high school story about a classmate.
USD 410 Superintendent Clint Cory introduced Hillsboro Community Foundation director Chad Hughbanks. Hughbanks talked about the work of the foundation and his vision for its future.
Penner told alumni that three members of the all-school reunion committee would step down after this year. If alumni want annual reunions to continue, others need to step up to fill their duties, he said.