Jamesburg alumni celebrate good times.
By: Leon Tovey
JAMESBURG They came from clear across the country, and when they arrived, two former Jamesburg High School students weren’t disappointed.
The 50th Reunion of the Jamesburg High School Class of 1954 brought former classmates from as far away as Arizona and California back to their old stomping grounds.
According to Estel Erb, who helped organize the event, 44 of the 78 surviving members of the Class of ’54 made it to the two-day reunion, which culminated in a six-hour party Oct. 16 at Pierre’s Restaurant in Dayton.
Many of those who attended were old friends who had stuck together through all 12 years of school, but hadn’t seen each other since graduation. Not surprisingly, many of them found two days too short a time to catch up.
"We were so busy talking and catching up we forgot to play the music," Ms. Erb, whose maiden name is Siemons, said with a chuckle of the party at Pierre’s. "But nobody minded, though."
Ralph Kolbush, who flew in from his home in Graden Grove, Calif., just for the reunion, said it was well worth the long, cross-country flight.
Mr. Kolbush, who moved to California with his wife of 45 years, Ann, in 1959, said he was surprised to be able to recognize so many people he hadn’t seen in so many years.
"There were a few I walked up to and I knew right away who they were," Mr. Kolbush said afterward in a telephone interview. "Some of them remembered me and some didn’t.
"The thing that surprised me most was that there was only one person there who’d been divorced," Mr. Kolbush said. "Most people had been married for 40, 45, even 50 years. Pretty amazing."
After Mr. Kolbush, the member of the class who traveled farthest was Kay Landis, who came all the way from Oro Valley, Ariz., Ms. Erb said.
Ms. Landis, whose maiden name also is Landis, didn’t actually graduate from Jamesburg High School, but Ms. Erb said there was no question she would be invited to the reunion.
In 1950, Ms. Landis’ father took a job in Saudi Arabia and her family relocated. She attended college at Ohio State University, where she met her husband, Dean, and the two moved to Arizona in 1970.
Ms. Landis said she was surprised to hear from her old classmates about a year ago, and that she’d been looking forward to the reunion ever since. It was her first trip back to Jamesburg since she left 54 years ago, she said, and her old friends Ms. Erb and May Baker met her at the airport.
"They made me feel like I had just left yesterday," Ms. Landis said via telephone from her home in Arizona. "It was amazing to see people again and find out that I could recognize them."
Ms. Landis also said she didn’t have any trouble recognizing her old hometown as she and her classmates made the requisite stops at the old high school (which closed in 1979) and Buckelew House at Lakeview, where the Historical Society has a room dedicated to JHS memorabilia.
"There were parts of the town where it’s more built up now," Ms. Landis said of Jamesburg. "But most of the rest of the town looks just the same as I remember it: wonderful."