By By JAMES COLLINS / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- With the recent graduation of Niles High School's Class of 2004, another class of Niles graduates is busy planning a celebration to remember their high school days of 70 years ago.
Niles High School's Class of 1934 will be holding its 70th class reunion on June 26 at 11 a.m. at the Niles Elks Lodge, 1322 Canal St.
It is not too often that a class gets together for a 70 year graduation anniversary, but thanks to the three remaining members of the class' planning committee, Virginia Strayer, Mary Powell and Don Harger, the memory of their high school days will live on with at least one more reunion.
The three-member committee, all of which have a hand in planning each of the class' eight reunions, is down from its nine original members.
She enjoys having reunions with her old classmates and if the committee did not take action, nobody would.
Strayer enjoys seeing all of the old faces and hearing the stories that each person has to share.
So far, the committee has confirmations from 25 people, 12 of which were graduates in 1934 and the others being their guests.
This number is down from the class' 65th reunion in 1999 when they had a total 54 people in attendance, 20 of which were 1934 graduates.
The reunion is also open to any Niles High School graduates from the 1930s and before.
After 70 years, it can become a task to locate all of their peers. Some have died, some have moved across the country and others have moved into nursing homes.
Strayer said it does get discouraging to arrange such a celebration when so many of your old friends have passed away.
Of the 150 graduates in their class, 98 have now passed away that the committee is aware of.
The reunion will include a social hour, lunch, a photograph session and a program featuring words from each graduate, letters from classmates who could not make the trip and an in memoriam to honor those who have recently passed away.
And as the class gets older, they are not able to stay out as late as their first few reunions. With a scheduled start time of 11 a.m., the committee expects the gathering to be over before dinner.
The committee is asking for help in determining the status and/or locations of a handful of their old classmates.
They have not been able to contact the following Niles graduates for years: Carl Bartlett, Bernice Brown, Donald Burt, Ruth Graham, Janet Miner, Robert Renkes and Philip Simonds.
The following class members have moved since the 1999 reunion and were also unable to be contacted: Edward Bidwell, Lyda Carr, Virgil Everett, Andrew Gregor, David Q. Jones, Dollie Shook, Joyce Womble and Hazel Wood.
Anyone with information regarding these former Niles graduates or to make reservations for the reunion call Virginia Strayer at (269) 683-9587 or Mary Powell at (269) 683-6542.