Florence alumni gather to remember
Staff writer
Saturday was a time for renewing old friendships and catching up on what life has brought at the old Florence High School gymnasium.
An all-school alumni gathering drew 120 former students from as far away as Texas, Florida, South Carolina, and North Dakota.
This year’s gathering was the 128th alumni reunion. It also fell on the same date as the first one — May 25.
Former classmates gathered in clusters around the gymnasium floor to hug and chat.
Others looked with uncertainty and asked others their names. Time has taken away the bloom of youth from most of those who attended.
Many people asked Edna Malmgren about Class of 1958 alum Dean Robinson as they picked up their nametags.
One couple who came to the check-in table while Malmgren was away talking to someone looked through nametags, found the ones for his wife and him, and said: “I’ll take these. I hope they don’t show up.”
After a business meeting, then more chatting, the old schoolmates went through a buffet line to get macaroni salad, green beans, hash brown casserole, roast beef, rolls, and Heath Bar cake.
Florence High school operated from 1884 to 1971, when school consolidation took Florence students to Marion.