The Last Class Reunion

It was difficult to squeeze through the main doors as the gym filled with former students. People paused for hugs and handshakes with friends that some had not seen in many years.

Some 275 graduates and supporters converged on the old Gurley High School this weekend to reminisce about their days in class. In 1979 the Gurley and Dalton schools were combined to form Leyton schools. Alumni from 1932 through 1978—the last class to graduate from Gurley High—returned to celebrate the school, as well as the town's centennial.

The reunion, hosted on June 21 at what is now the Leyton Middle School, served dinner and featured graduate Diane Ohman as guest speaker. Ohman grew up in Gurley, class of 1968. After graduation, she attended Casper College in Casper Wyoming, later earning her teaching degree at the University of Wyoming.

The oldest alumna, Clara Lessig (class of 1932) remembered, “We had one teacher that was so big they did not make her change floors. She stayed on the lower level and I found out that everyone was trying to be in her room because they didn’t have to change rooms.”

Ray Brauer with wife Linda found classmate David Larsen, class of 1973. The group sat telling stories of their school days.

“There were so many,” Brauer said. “The fights--I would start them.”

“And I would finish them,” Larsen interrupted.

Bob Kuehn, class of 1956, spent time speaking with neighbor Roger Sorge and his wife Phyllis.

“The first year I went to high school was in the old school,” Kuehn said. “We had one big room where all the classes sat for assembly and some one threw an eraser as the superintendent was coming out of his office and hit him right in the forehead—that’s what I remember. We caught a lot of heck.”

Jeanette Freudenberg Jackson, also class 1956, went on to become a teacher in Gurley.

“It was all a hoot I loved all of it,” she said.

Jackson even admitted a few fond memories of the school's extracurricular activities.

“I was of the least coordinated players on the volleyball team,” she explained. “I could reach higher flat footed than when I jumped. I loved band, band was wonderful I loved high school that is why I became a teacher.”

Tim Engelland lived on Huntsman Road, the dividing line between the Sidney and Gurley school districts back then. His mother, at 96 years old, still lives on the family farm.

Engelland reminisced with fellow class of 1966 alumnus Bob Hinrichs

“We started kindergarten and went all the way through together and the place is still standing,” Hinrichs said.

Burdette Schoen from Lincoln, class of 1969, noted, “I graduated from here went to college, got drafted then started looking for a job and ended up in Lincoln.”

Class of 1967's Jan Berry still lives on the family farm he owns Evergreen Services and leases the land out. He lettered in sports and many of his memories involve long ago rivalries.

“We were schuleded to play McGrew in the afternoon and Dalton had us scheduled to play that night,” he recalled. “They couldn’t change the contracts with the referees so we went up to McGrew played the game and won 34-0, came home changed clothes, went to Dalton, played them that night and lost 38-0.”

The date, he reported, was October 2, 1964.

Sharon Mosel Darper, Dianna Hinrichs Jefferies, Stewart Sorge, Connie Elsen Rollins, Gloria Engelland Rose and Tim Rowan gathered with their classmates from 1963. group standing with their classmates of 1963, talking about their lives, then and now.

The Gurley class reunion was, by all accounts, a memorable night.