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Journal-News.com
HAMILTON — Why wait five years for a class reunion when you can get together every month?
For the last six months, a group of Hamilton alumni who graduated in the 1960s have been meeting on the first Tuesday at Ryan’s Tavern for dinner, drinks and reminiscing.
According to Gary Kraft, Taft High School Class of ’67, the gathering started a few years ago when a group of “10 or 12 couples” who had been in the local Jaycees together in the 1970s started getting together again.
They called themselves “the boat people” because they would all go on weekend vacations together in Cumberland, Tenn.
“I realized that there were a lot of classmates I hadn’t seen in a while,” Kraft said.
“That’s how it started,” said Dan Harrison, Taft class of ’64, “until that guy,” pointing to Kraft, “learned how to work the Internet.”
Kraft created a Facebook page, search “Hamilton Ohio High School Alumni” to find it, where he started inviting people. Terry David, also class of ’67, had the database she used in organizing their last reunion and started inviting people from there and from her sister’s database of the class of ’69.
“We’ve had as many as 35 people show up,” David said.
Most of the regulars are graduates of the former Taft High School, but anyone who graduated from Garfield High School, Hamilton Catholic or Badin high schools also are welcome to come.
“We’re saying that it’s for all the high school graduating classes in the 1960s, but we’re not going to card anyone who wants to join us,” David said.
In addition to “the regulars,” David said that a lot of people who have come back to Hamilton for other reasons have shown up and have even scheduled their trips home so they can meet up.
David said she would like to make contact with people who have databases of other years so they can spread the net even wider.
“One of the neatest things about the monthly reunions is the lack of ‘class distinction,’ ” David said. “No matter whether you were a bandie, jock, nerd, cheerleader, etc., everyone treated everyone equally.
“We may be older, we may be heavier, but time seems to have been the great equalizer, and that is a good feeling,” she said.
“We’re all in our 60s now and some of us are single again or have lost spouses and want to re-connect with people we grew up with,” David said.
In addition to the expected reminiscences about what happened in the 1960s, topics of conversation include how people “turned out,” and “by the end of the night, you’ll get the latest on who’s had a hip replacement or knee surgery,” David said, “unfortunately.”
The reunions take place 6 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month. Ryan’s Tavern is located at 242 High St. in Hamilton.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.
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