The person who led the organization of the SCHS All Class Reunion over the weekend is pleased with how the event turned out and is ready to help with the next reunion in 2030.
Debbie Woodruff admits it was harder this year to line up the acts in the Saturday afternoon variety show and it wasn’t until the final days everything fell together.
“It’s a tremendous amount of work,” Woodruff said, “but the reality is, when you look around and you see these people who come back and how much it means to them to be here with one another and spend time together, then you think, ‘Okay, give me a few years and maybe I can try to and do it again.’”
Over 500 purchased tickets for the entire event, while others attended individual activities including the opening night mixer, SCHS Academic Hall of Fame induction ceremony, the variety show, and the Saturday night dinner dance that packed the entire first floor and parts of the second floor.
Woodruff says there is a challenge getting the more recent classes to attend because they feel they are able to stay in communication through social media, but she feels that changes when you get older and more nostalgic.
“Our biggest group of people come from the graduating classes from the mid-60s through the 70s, and each year as it goes on we pick up some more. This year we had a large group starting late 70s into the 80s. Hopefully that tradition continues. We will try to do some things in the future to try to get those younger people involved. One of those things would be trying to recruit some of those people to be a small part of this committee and this work effort, so that they can reach out and make their connections.”
Woodruff says a large number of the attendees traveled back to Salem from out of state. That includes retired band director and the creator of the One Way Singers Doyle Combs who helped direct the band after he thought he had earlier made his last trip to Salem due to his age.
