Faces are aged and walks have slowed, but school spirit and pride remain the same.
At least 1,500 South High School graduates gathered Friday at their old alma mater for an all-classes reunion that continues today. Some leaned on walkers. Others held the hand of a spouse, their hair now gray and hands wrinkled.
Fifty-six years and more than 30,000 students were represented by these alums. They were members of 56 graduating classes, spanning an era from 1932 until 1988, when the Salt Lake City School District closed South, 1575 S. State, and dispersed students to other high schools.
Frank Michels, Tom Peirce and Louis Owen were graduates with the Class of 1942. The three were standing near the registration line, reminiscing about high school days and the war that took them from their senior year. Two were in the Army during World War II, one in the Air Force.
Peirce and Owen said they were longtime friends. In high school, they were active in assemblies, dressing up as Dagwood and Baby Dumpling from the Blondie comic strip.
"Blondie was a real big strip at that time," said Owen, his hair dark and wit still sharp. When asked what else he did in high school, Owen responded: "We got called into Ms. Dyer's class."
"She sure cracked the whip," added Michels, referring to the former assistant principal.
Almost 64 years after graduation, the three are retired from lifelong careers. Peirce was a costume-designer for the Walt Disney Co. Owen worked for the Veteran's Administration for 42 years. Michels was a manager for Kelly Tires. He owns an auto parts shop and still works two days a week.
School pride is still strong, said Peirce. "I wouldn't miss it," he said of the event. "I've been trying to get back here for a long time."
Debbie Bagley Miller was from the Class of 1983. She was one of the younger attendees, coming with her son.
"So far I haven't seen very many from the classes near the time (South) closed," Miller said.
The school's alumni association is trying to help graduates reacquaint and remember their past, said Susan Hansen, liaison for the Salt Lake Community College/South High Alumni Association. "South High has been closed for 17 years but definitely not forgotten," she said in a media statement.
During the two-day reunion, graduates are able to talk, mingle, look at pictures and explore their old school, now home to the SLCC South City Campus. Friday, the school's gym was crowded with pictures and mementos from each decade of classes that attended the school. Walking through the crowd was a challenge.
"You can see the wonderful response," said Miriam Millard Winegar, Class of 1955.
Gerloan Judd Tingey (1936) and Lavon Morgan Rohlfing (1935) were two of the oldest alumni at the reunion. "I think it's tremendous," said Tingey of the reunion. "I never thought we'd see so many people."
Added Rohlfing: "We wanted to see if there were any of our friends. We hope they're still around."
Wendy Straup Christensen (1988) came with her mother, Helen Green Straup, a graduate of 1948. All of Straup's children went to South. When the school district announced the closure, it "made me sick," she said.
"I was sick and so was she," said Straup, gesturing to her daughter. "It could have been East. It was the oldest (of the four schools in Salt Lake). They couldn't bus the kids."
Christensen remembers a rumored closure the year before she was a senior. It was sad when it closed a year later, Christensen said, but she's proud to be a member of the school's last graduating class.
"South High is still alive in our hearts, our thoughts," said Christensen, wearing a South High alumni T-shirt.
"Once a Cubbie," said her mother, "always a Cubbie."
E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com