Warsaw class of '49 remembers good times

Sixty years have gone by since they received their diplomas, but the memories are still fresh.

Twenty-three members of the Warsaw High School Class of 1949 gathered Saturday at Winkler’s Main Street Restaurant in Lincoln to remember their classmates and good times.

Classmates and their guests traded photos of grandchildren, caught up on each others’ lives and posed for a class picture at the 60th reunion.

The group also held a moment of silence for the 20 classmates they’ve lost over the years.

“Most people celebrate their 50th anniversary and we realized this was our 60th,” said Jenna Lee Ficken, 78, who helped organize the event. “We couldn’t let that go by unnoticed.”

The class helped start or re-start many traditions at the school, Ficken said. She recalled the class starting the yearbook back up and starting a school newspaper.

When the group began high school, the school carnival had been canceled because of World War II.

Classmate and fellow organizer Rosemary Walthall, who sported saddle shoes and a poodle skirt for the occasion, was carnival queen her senior year. Walthall, who worked for decades at the Benton County Courthouse, said that being chosen queen by her classmates — and senior skip day — were among her favorite memories.

Classmates Byrl Proctor and Don Bistline had fond memories of Proctor’s car.

“I had a 1929 model A roadster that we used to tool around in,” said Proctor, 77, who served four years in the Navy and 21 with the Air Force as a helicopter technician and a flight engineer. He now lives in Boyd, Texas.

Classmates teased and joked with each other like the old friends they are.

“I don’t know any of these old people. I didn’t get old; how could they?” said Proctor.

Ethel Smallwood Kirby, 79, of Archie, Mo., said she attended because she wanted to see her old friends and classmates.

“I’m glad to see them. They all look as old as I am,” she said.

The room was decorated in the Wildcats’ green and black, and books of old photos, dance programs and other memorabilia were part of the occasion.

The classmates had lunch and caught up, learning what projects people were working on, hearing about families and sharing memories.
Ficken won the award for the most children, six, and most grandchildren, 14.

“Most everybody looks terrific, but we’ve got some people with gray hair,” said Ficken. “Some people I think just look the same as they did 60 years ago.”