Warsaw Alumni Association holds banquet
WARSAW – Once upon a time Warsaw was the home of the pirates and teenagers there proudly wore orange and black.
Alumni of the former Warsaw High School gathered together May 21 to remember the good old days at the 106th annual Warsaw Alumni Association Anniversary Banquet, which was held at their school that now serves as an elementary.
“I like coming to see old friends and I grew up around here,” said Vivienne Darst Spicer.
She graduated from Warsaw High School in 1951 and her class was one of several honored at the banquet.
“I have a pictured of our 40th reunion in 1991 and everyone had skirts on,” Spicer said. “By our 60th everyone had slacks on. It’s a different world now.”
There were 24 people in the class of 1951 and Spicer believes 11 of them are still alive.
The other honor classes were: 1936, 1941, 1946, 1956, 1961 and the River View High School class of 1966.
Class of 1956 member John Siegel attended the banquet with his wife Marilyn Jane Siegel.
“We still live in the area, but haven’t been here for a while,” he said.
John gave his classmate Jim Childress credit for getting their classmates organized.
“We had 37 in our class and there are 13 deceased now,” Childress said. “It’s scary when you get to be 76 and 77 years old. You want to make every effort you can to see each other.”
The class of 1966 only had about 60 to 80 members when it was at Warsaw High School. Those who attended the banquet at Warsaw believe they finished their high school years with a class of 194 when several schools consolidated to form RVHS.
“We broke it (RVHS) in,” said Jim Walker.
He attended college for a while after high school and then entered the Air Force before returning to school and graduating from The Ohio State University.
“I like coming to the banquet to see people I haven’t seen in a long time and remembering,” Walker said. “There are a lot of memories in these halls.”
His classmates Franklin Dilly, William Sampsel and Steve Kempf also spent time in the service after high school and agreed that it’s the people that bring them back to the banquet.
“It’s hard to recognize some people though,” Dilly said. “People you were close friends with it’s a little easier to recognize.”
When it came time for them to move to the new high school Sampsel said no one knew what to expect, but now they can always say they were the first class to graduate from RVHS.
“I didn’t think about it then, but now it is something no one can ever take away from us,” Kempf said.
The banquet, however, isn’t just a time to remember the past. It also is a time to celebrate the future.
Every year the Warsaw Alumni Association also presents scholarships to RVHS graduates. This year they went to: Bryar A. Cox and Whitney L. Fender – 2016 Warsaw Alumni Scholarships; Grace C. Wherley – Clodaugh Brenneman Cline Scholarship; Jonathan I. Helmick – Davis Family Educational Grant; Cassidy P. Whiteus, Abigail S. Warschauer and Morgan E. Anglin – Class of 1965 Scholarships; Jonathan I. Helmick – Alton and Mozell Kirch Agricultural Scholarship; Kayla Ann V. Metz – Richard & Mary Daugherty Lawrence Memorial Scholarship; Emily C. Barnett – Buxton Memorial Scholarship; and Nichole L. Hepner – Dr. James M. & Norella Giffen Walker Memorial.
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