As it appeared in Cleveland Daily Banner 8/14/1999
To the editor:
As I sit and reflect over the past 48 hours, the events of the Cleveland High School 30-year reunion, I think about the unique time a third of a century ago that shaped each of our lives. We all had the good fortune of growing up in Cleveland at a magical time. Each of us had a community, a school board, administration, a faculty, our parents and each other to thank for an educational experience that is unequaled even to this day.
The vision of the school board was to create a city high school that truly had it's foundation on academic excellence. The education that we each received rivals those found only in private institutions. The original faculty had energy and passion for their students and their role in developing a tradition of excellence, Academics, athletics, the arts, music and drama all had a significant role in shaping the school and each of our futures.
From the days at Arnold School, the march to Cleveland High School, and on to graduation, many of us spent at least six years in ... school together. This bond created friendships that will last a lifetime. A relationship that can best be described as a family.
Each of us had the opportunity to take part in many unique events that only a privileged few have experienced. The formation of an award-winning band, the writing of an alma mater - thank you Crill. The formation of academic teams that have always set the standard for excellence, a drama department that gave each of us the opportunity to become, but for the moment, a part of a theatrical production. And of course, the athletic excellence that never understood what it was to lose. A program that was founded on the premise that high state ranking, and state championships, were then norm in all areas of sports, where the team was more important than the individual but yet the individual would still flourish.
We grew up in a time where there was much unrest and racial strife in our country, yet we were able to live in a vacuum where most of these conditions simply did not exist. We did not see the differences nearly as much as we saw the similarities. That bond, like so many others, still exists today. Our common experiences make us family. Too bad the world can't be more like this group.
I want to thank my classmates who worked so hard to make this class reunion a smashing success. To those who had the insight to make this a multi-year reunion - thank you. We did all go through Cleveland High School together. In the early years were were an era, not a specific class. I would also like to thank everyone who contributed in various other ways to make this event a truly memorable weekend.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who had a role in my development and the development of this unique group of friends. From childhood to teenage years and on into the world, we all had a brief stay in Camelot in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Thank you for the memories.
Bill Emendorfer
Cleveland High School class of 1969
http://geocities.datacellar.net/peydirt18_16/chs691.htm
Reunion pictures