Local History by Dede Terns-Thorpe - Hunter-Tannersville Alumni Association Dinner

This is a great piece of history from a June 9, 1983, Windham Journal, some 40+ years ago.

”The first Hunter-Tannersville Alumni Association dinner dance last Saturday at Hunter Mountain Ski Bowl was a huge success from every point of view. Seating was limited to 400 people, but after dinner was over, at 9:30 pm, the door opened to a number of graduates who came to socialize, meet classmates they had not seen for years, and catch up on events.”

The newly elected officers were President Paul Van Valkenburgh, First Vice President John Glennon, Second Vice President Agnes Farrell, Third Vice President Elaine Johnson, Recording Secretary Stella Cross, Corresponding Secretary Barbara Mead, and Treasurer Elizabeth Williams Hapeman. Historians elected were Florence Haines Howard (class of 1945), Doris O’Brien (1938), and Ella Mae Gillespie (1939).

Lyle and Margaret (Peg) Sokoll were the honored guests. Peg had given much-needed help in developing the H.T.C. Alumni reunion. She shared her experiences when forming the Windham-Ashland-Jewett Alumni Association back in 1971.

A delicious dinner was said to be enjoyed by all. The evening began with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mr. John Glennon, the Alma Mater led by Linda Sciarrillo Nicholls (today’s director of the excellent Mountain Top Song Birds), and the invocation by R. J. Filson Reid, with Loraine Miles Banks reading a poem and sharing the names of deceased alumni members. A symbolic candle was lit in their memory.

Dorothy Peck Becker, class of 1918, represented the earliest class (dues-paying member). Stella Young Osborn, class of 1933, celebrated her 50th. Jean Francis Simmons traveled from Hawaii.  

President Van Valkenburgh expressed thanks to Orville and Ethel Slutzky and staff for “making this evening, our first dinner dance, one to be remembered.”

The article said dancing and socializing went on between people who had not seen each other for many years. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”

Much thanks go out to the alumni who have worked hard to keep the alumni dinners as special as the one in 1983.

Thanks for reading. Take care of yourself, and stay safe.

Dede Terns-Thorpe-Town of Hunter Historian.