Alumni
On Saturday, September 20, 2008, the class of 1963 met for a reunion at Green Grove Gardens in Greencastle, PA. This was a celebration of our 45th year since graduation. The setting was lovely as we met together to sing and reminisce. Our group totaled 74, including 45 classmates—45 classmates born in 1945, meeting for our 45th class reunion. If you do the math, we, the class of ‘63, are 63 this year.
The weekend began with a Friday evening concert featuring our classmate, Willie Longenecker, and a southern gospel male quartet. Willie and his wife, Rodi, sang both familiar hymns as well as some of their own compositions. The male quartet gave an energetic program of typical southern gospel music. Afterward there was time to meet some of our classmates who came for the concert.
On Saturday morning, we gathered again and spent time talking to classmates, in many cases trying to identify faces some whom we hadn’t seen in 45 years. After a light lunch, we had a program of shared stories and singing. We were treated to two numbers from the senior quartet; Stan Benner, George Stoltzfus, John Stoltzfus and Jim Clymer (see photo). The senior octet also sang two numbers. There was also a women’s trio with Elsie Ann Hess Stoltzfus, Anna Ranck Petersheim, and Lois Lefever. The entire group sang several hymns and our 4-part a cappella voices filled the room with joyful praise. For a glorious finale we sang 606/118, “Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow.”
After the program we were served a delicious catered dinner with beef, chicken and shrimp and all the fixin’s. Then it was time to say our good-byes. We left, looking forward to meeting again in five years for our 50th class reunion.
Green Grove Gardens (see photos) is an event center owned and operated by one of our classmates, Jerry Martin. For our gathering the setting was a glorious array of flowers, fountains and artistic arrangements of mums. We met in the building that used to be the dairy barn when Jerry was a dairy farmer. He converted the barn into a large event center – it can accommodate up to 900 people -- that is available for rentals. Jerry reported that it is most often rented for weddings and concerts. If you are interested in using his facility for a large group activity, you can contact him at (717) 587-8360. The facility is located only 1 ½ hours from Lancaster.