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The 69th annual Morocco High School banquet was held in
the Morocco
School gymnasium Saturday May 27th, 2017.
The Morocco Alumni Association held their
annual Banquet at the Morocco Gymnasium.
There were approximately 150 alumni and guests attending the banquet
served by Country Table of Kankakee, IL.
We had a very good turnout for our “Old Gold & Black” social hour
preceding the banquet. Everyone was visiting
and catching up with former classmates and having a great time.
President Roger LaCosse ’67 welcomed
everyone back to the gym where we graduated so many years ago. Roger also thanked Charis Vander Plaats for
providing music for us during our social hour and banquet. She did a
wonderful job.
President Roger LaCosse ’67 had all the
men and women who had served in the U.S. Armed Forces stand up and they were
honored with a round of applause.
Roger then led all of us in the “Pledge of Allegiance” and Sarah Snell
gave the invocation preceding the banquet.
The honored classes got to go first, then all the other tables went to
enjoy our wonderful meal.
Last year’s minutes and Treasurer’s
report can be read on the Morocco High School Website. David DeKoker, Webmaster got up and spoke
about the web site. Our hits are
staying about the same this year and we have about 212 names on our list. We have around 396 Veterans on our list
and if your name is not on our list, please let us know or fill out a form
with all your information on it so we can add them to our list. Judy Cupp Schultz ’58, our Historian does
a great job keeping us informed with all the history that comes with
MHS. Please go to our web-site and
see it for yourself. Very
interesting!
John Kessler got up and gave us some new
information on a project that he is working on. Coach Jim Lods was a basketball coach here in Morocco from 1953
to 1958. He was a very good coach and
we hated to see him go. Just recently
Coach Lods passed away and we would like to do something in his memory. We have decided to re-vamp the basketball
court that is located behind the Morocco Swimming Pool. So far we have donations from the Beaver
Township Trustee, McClellan Township Trustee, Lions Club, DeMotte State Bank
and ex-players from the Alumni. We
have collected $6800 dollars, but we do need a little more to make this
happen. If you are interested in
donating to this project, you can go or call the DeMotte State Bank (Morocco
Branch) at 219-285-2255. They have an
account there for “Jim Lods Court”.
Thank you so much.
President Roger LaCosse ’67 handed the
microphone over to Dan Blaney who talked to us about the Ruth Corbin
Scholarship now known and maintained by the Newton Community Foundation. To keep our scholarship fund going, he had
baskets passed around for the free will donation. With the money that Connie Ackors Sell ’63, treasurer, had
already received in the mail, which was $970.00, and what we collected at the
alumni, which was $679.00, the total
was $1,649.00 which will be turned over to the Foundation. We want to thank everyone for their
generous donations! This year’s 2017
Scholarship Award went to Skylar Belt, the parents of Doug & Jennifer
Belt and great, granddaughter of Alumnus Laverne “Tuffy” Merriman. She will be attending the International
School of Business, Vet Tech Institute this fall.
Before President Roger LaCosse ’67
presented the elected officers for next year, he talked to the alumni about
how hard it was to fill these officer’s positions. He asked everyone to please step up and volunteer to fill some
of these positions, especially the vice-president and president positions
that change every year. It is not
that hard to do especially when they have it all mapped out for you to
do. It does take a little bit of
time, but not hard. Roger then
presented the new officers:
President, Carol Potts Warring ‘63;
Vice-President Mike Shireley ’68; Secretary/Treasurer, Connie Ackors
Sell ’63; Recording Secretary, JoAlice Warne Belt ’65; and Historian, Judy
Cupp Schultz ’58. The alumni members
voted and accepted the nominations for officers for 2018.
President Roger LaCosse ’67 introduced
Hettie Bailey Abbitt, class of 1938 who was the oldest member in
attendance. She received flowers and
a great applauce.
Some of the other honored classes were:
1937 and 1942.
President Roger LaCosse ’67 introduced
Marjorie Carlson Garrard who spoke for the class of 1947. She introduced her 3 classmates that were
here to celebrate their 70 years from MHS, Doris Merchant Miller, Delbert
Purdy, and herself of course. She
talked about her memories from her 1st to 12th grades and had a
lot of stories to tell along on her journey.
She also talked about how kind and great some of her teachers were and
of course she had her favorites. She
made a lot of friends here at good old MHS.
Verille Sypult spoke for the class of
1952 and there were 5 classmates present.
He spoke about all the memories, class color, class motto, and stories
along the way. He read all the names
of his classmates that had passed away and said maybe we would remember some
of them. He said there were 19 girls
and 19 boys in their class.
Linda Mashino Gibson spoke for the class
of 1957. Linda said they had 37 in
their class and 24 of them are still living.
There are 10 of them here tonight to celebrate our 60 years from MHS. She said she was so blessed to live in
this wonderful little town with lots
of love at that time and she thanked all the officers for keeping the alumni
going so we could gather with our classmates and visit with other friends
that came as well. It is very much
appreciated.
Dennis Deardurff spoke for the class of
1962. He wanted to thank the alumni for
giving us this 55 years here. There
was 49 that graduated in our class and 7 are here tonight to celebrate. We have enjoyed the weekend, visiting and
having fun seeing some of our classmates again. Thanks again.
Tom Kocochis spoke for the class of 1967. There was 61 that graduated from our class
and we have lost 10 classmates along the way. Tom then read all 10 names that had passed. The class had met at the American Legion
for their get-together at 3:00 pm before the alumni. They had a wonderful time visiting with
each other again and catching up.
There were 27 classmates present and 13 guests.
President Roger LaCosse ’67 asked all
former cheerleaders to step forward and lead us in the school song. Cheerleaders were: Nancy Shuey Coon
’57, Linda Mashino Gibson ’57, Carol Potts Warring ’63, JoAlice Warne Belt
’65, Carolyn Holley Geller ’67, Jill Anderson Hammel ’67, and Jena Anderson
Rensinger ’68.
Motion was made to adjourn and
seconded. Passed.
The day before the Alumni is when the preparations
begin for our Saturday banquet. On
Friday in the afternoon, some of the students from the sophomore class from
North Newton High School and their sponsor Lisa Kazmerski, transported tables
to us from NN. A big thank you to
these young people, their sponsor and the NN School Corporation. At this time, the tables are moved around
where we want them, and the coverings and decorations are added. Many hands make this an easy task. This year those who arrived and worked to
get this all done were: Tim &
Carolyn Geller, Pat James, Cheryl Hatten Hale, Denny & Shirley Deardurff,
Mike & Karen McClatchey, John & Carol Warring, Roger & Linda
LaCosse, JoAlice Belt, Frank Moody and Dave & Connie Sell.
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 everyone who helped to
get this accomplished. It is a lot of
heavy work taking down tables and folding all the chairs, then putting them
away.
Again, a “thank you” to all who helped us
make our 2017 MHS Alumni a success.
JB,
MHS Recording/Secretary
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