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The
66th annual Morocco High School banquet was held in the Morocco
School
gymnasium Saturday May 24th, 2014.
The Morocco Alumni
Association held their Annual Banquet at the Morocco Gymnasium. There were 155 alumni and guests attending
the banquet served by Devon’s Catering of Rensselaer. Since the Morocco gym is now
air-conditioned, we were all very comfortable to visit with former classmates
and friends at the “Old Gold & Black” social hour preceding the banquet.
President John
Hess ’64 welcomed everyone back to the gym where we graduated so many years
ago. He said, “When you move away and
don’t see people very often, you still refer to the women using their maiden
names, so please forgive me if I do that while I am talking.” He also read a
cute poem “And Then It Is Winter” which was about how time has a way of
moving so quickly and we don’t always do the things we would have liked to do
and get accomplished in our lifetime, just don’t put them off too long!
President John
Hess ’64 had all of the men and women who had served in the U.S. Armed Forces
stand and they were honored with a round of applause. He asked Gary Plaster ’64 to lead all of
us in the “Pledge of Allegiance” and Connie Ackors Sell ’63 gave the
invocation preceding the banquet.
This year we had 3 young ladies come to give assistance to anyone that
might need some extra help. They
were: Jenna & Kendra McCann and Emma Gagnon which is the granddaughters
of our alumni members of the class of ’64.
They were very much appreciated and we thank them all for coming.
The MHS Alumni
Association business meeting for 2014 was called to order by President John
Hess ’64. He thanked all of the
officers, Secretary/Treasurer, Connie Ackors Sell ’63; Recording/Secretary,
JoAlice Warne Belt ’65; and Vice-President, Woody Hammel ’65 for all the hard
work they have done for the alumni by giving them all a gift of his
appreciation.
The
Secretary/Treasurer Connie Ackors Sell ’63 reported that she had been
notified of additional MHS alumni who had passed away recently and they
were: Sondra Brunton Stanley ’57; Chester
Lock ’57; Richie Moore ’64; Carolyn Hammel Flessly ’36; and Hagnus Swartz
Hernault ’44. Connie also read her
treasurer’s report and was approved by the alumni as read.
President John
Hess ’64 reported that the 2014 minutes, written by Recording Secretary,
JoAlice Warne Belt ’65 were posted on the alumni web-site. Please feel free to read them and if there
are any additions or corrections, please make that known by e-mail.
The web-site
report was given by President Hess ’64 and he stated that our site has been
doing very well. We have increased in
our hits a day which is very exciting!
We encourage everyone to access the web-site and also to notify Connie
Ackors Sell ’63 or the web-master David Kekoker, if someone has passed
away. Connie does not know if the
address is incorrect or if the person is deceased when she gets an invitation
back in the mail.
President John
Hess ’64 talked to us about the Ruth Corbin Scholarship Fund. To keep our scholarship fund going which
is maintained by the Newton Community Foundation, he had baskets passed
around for the free will donation.
With the money Connie Ackors Sell ’63, Treasurer, had already received and what we collected
at the alumni, the total was $585.00 which will be turned over to the Foundation. We want to thank everyone for their
donations.
The slate of
officers for the 2015 MHS Alumni Association was presented by President John
Hess ’64: President, Woody Hammel
’65; Vice-President, Tim Geller ’66; Secretary/Treasurer, Connie Ackors Sell ’63;
Recording/Secretary, JoAlice Warne Belt ’65; and Historian, Judy Cupp Schultz
’58. The alumni members voted and
excepted the nominations for officers for 2015.
President John
Hess ’64 introduced the two alumni who were honored as the oldest members in
attendance. They were: Betty Hagen Kessler ’35 and Florence
Mashino Storey ’35. They both
received flowers and a great applause!
Others that were honored for classes graduating in the 30’s and also
received flowers were: Ruth Blann Warrick ’38; and Ed Camblin ’39. They also
received a round of applause.
Vice-President,
Woody Hammel ’65 introduced Warren Johnson who spoke for the class of
1944. They had a very good time
visiting with their classmates and catching up. Our class just gets smaller all the time but we are all glad to
be here. There were 5 of us here
tonight: Eldon Purdy, Richard
Gilbertson, Phyllis Hammel, Bernice Lane Fontaine.
Dick Deardurff
spoke for the class of 1949. There
were 34 in our class and tonight we had 6 of us here. We had a wonderful party and had a great
time visiting with one another and talking about old times. The classmates who were here were: Charles
Kay, James Dawson, Helen Madison Kemp-Miller, Denzil Borem, Patricia Thurston
McKee.
Gerald Born spoke
for the class of 1954. I have been here in Morocco since 2000 to help take
care of my mother and have enjoyed being here ever since. We are all so glad
to be here tonight and have the opportunity to visit with each other. We have
had a lot of fun reminiscing about old times. There were 5 of us here
tonight: Eugene Berry, Judy Lock
Dodd, Bernard Schultz, Dave Borem.
Leta Sapp Speer
spoke for the class of 1959. She
brought up stories that happened through their time at MHS, Senior Trip which
they had a lot of fun, she compared what they paid for a house and groceries
back then to now. She mentioned all
the different states their classmates were now living in and best of all they
are now retired! She introduced the 8
classmates who were there at the alumni: Dennis Vanderwall, Harold Krueger, Tom
Shuey, Keith Wiltfang, Richard Brunton, Cecile Kwiatkowski Christenson, and
Donna Elgas Rush.
President John
Hess spoke for his class of 1964. Our
class started with approximately 70 students and 41 of us graduated from MHS.
We have 14 who are deceased and 27 of us are still living with 2 of our
classmates in assisted living facilities.
We held our class reunion this afternoon and had 17 of our classmates
there. We had the reputation of being
the worst class to go to MHS and I believe we kept it all the way
through. John then told several
stories about some of the things that they did along the way through their 4
years at MHS which was very interesting! I won’t mention all of the
classmates that are here tonight because there is too many of us, we’ll just
have to look it up on our Morocco High School web-site for our picture and
names.
Sandy Kros Riley
and Carol Schultz Loveall was here for the class of 1969. They attended the alumni as one of the
honored classes, but actually graduated from North Newton High School.
The Vice-President
Wood Hammel then asked all former cheerleaders to step forward and lead us in
the school song. Cheerleaders were:
Judy Warne Armstrong ’58; JoAlice Warne Belt ’65; Rosemary Triplett Kroll
’64; Janet Warne Allen ’64; Jill Anderson Hammel ’68; Betty Hagen Kessler
’35; and Carolyn Holley Geller ’67.
Motion was made to
adjourn and seconded. Passed.
The day before the
Alumni is when the preparations begin for our Saturday banquet. Soon after school on Friday, the 2 North
Newton students and their sponsor transported tables from NN. They set-up the tables and chairs
patiently moved them as we kept changing how we wanted the tables to be
arranged. A big thank you to these
young people, their sponsor and the NN School Corporation. At this time, the table coverings are
placed and decorations are added.
Many hands make this an easy task.
This year those who arrived and worked diligently were: Connie sell,
Mike and Karen McClatchey, John Hess, JoAlice Belt, Jill and Woody Hammel,
Gary Plaster and his friend, and Tim and Carolyn Geller.
After the banquet
and the guests have left, is when the gym has to be cleared and ready for
school on Monday. A big thank you to the
young people who came in, folded up all the tables and chairs, and carried
grade school tables and chairs to the storage area. The tables from the high school are picked up early Monday
morning and returned to the high school by the students.
Again, a “thank
you” to all who helped with the 2014 MHS Alumni.
-- JoAlice Belt, MHS Recording/Secretary
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