A Trip Down Memory Lane…Norway High Part 2

My post last week about my “trip down memory lane,” with an impromptu visit through the hallway of my high school, has really got my memories from that special place kicked into gear.

I grabbed my yearbooks of my four years in high school and have relived some precious memories through the black and white pictures in them…

Our friendly lunch ladies who served us lunch in the multi-purpose room each day…Barb, Harriet, Shirley and Alvina. And my favorites for lunch…tuna buns, chef salads, and the cinnamon rolls that were always served when we had chili!

I still think of Rosemary Krutzfeldt each time I wipe dry our sink…either at home or at the Mission. That was always a must in her class.

What about our janitors, Francis and Dave? Gosh, I imagine they had their work cut out for them. Were both of them bus drivers too? I remember Francis was one. (I think Pony was our janitor during my junior high years?)

In 1984 we got new track sweats…bright gold with purple letters. How we thought we were cool stuff in our new threads! We were great competition and received lots of medals and awards, despite the fact that our track consisted of running around the outside of baseball field fence! What would we have been like if we really had a track??!!

It also amazes me how great our band program was…especially marching band. The pictures I saw of us marching warmed my heart. We marched in parades, not on football fields. Bob Manson started something pretty special with forming routines for us for the streets, and Mike Wheat carried on the tradition. What some bands did on football fields, our small but mighty band did on the streets! I wonder where all those trophies are that we earned? I also remember how terrifying it was to me in my younger years to march in the Iowa Homecoming Parade each year, as many of the college students standing on the sidelines as we marched by would get a little crazy! Thank goodness for our parents who walked the route with us…my mom being one of them!

We received our new marching band uniforms my Senior year (pictured above). (The previous ones had those tall fuzzy yellow hats. Good pictures of those too!) We also got new concert band uniforms that year… purple tuxedo-type uniforms. I remember selling lots of candy bars for either those uniforms or our band trip to Florida that year (I can’t quite remember what those sales were for)!

And speaking of that, our band trip to Florida was a trip of a lifetime! I’m sure my parents had to scrape up the money for both my brother Pat and I to go. (I sure wish I could ask them about that today.) But that trip was so fun…a vacation with all my friends! I sure would love to hear other people’s memories of that great trip!

Pictures of high school sweethearts who are still sweethearts today…Tom and Janelle, Rhonda and Leon, Nick and Jany. I’m sure I missed some others.

Our class was the first one to never have classes at the “old high school.” We never got to experience what the classes before us got to experience in that old building. (I will admit though, that I was on the roof of that building many times, as we thought it was cool to climb onto the top of it at night…another not-so-good choice of my youth.)

Could someone tell me why Chris is looking like this…with makeup and his hair? I can’t remember, but my friends’ reactions in this picture are priceless!

Homecoming happened during basketball season since we didn’t have football in our conference–nor at our school. Homecoming week was always fun. Our small gym at the “old high school,” certainly felt like home with the wooden floor, and purple and gold on the white walls. The cheerleaders always made Homecoming week fun. I found a picture of my friend Patty and I walking down the hallway, each with a stuffed animal in hand, dressed for what must have been “Pajama Day.” Below is a picture of some of our Senior class during the Homecoming Pep Rally.

And I also found in the 1986 yearbook pictures of basketball! We played 6-on-6 in girls’ basketball…guards on one half of the court, forwards on the other and you could only dribble twice. Top picture is of my BFFL, Tina, and Angela in the background, both guards. Bottom picture is of my friend Patty and I, both forwards…priceless.

Our wonderful teachers were featured in each yearbook. I find it pretty amazing that I’m friends with many of them still today, two decades later!

I was taken back by the pictures of those who are no longer with us. Their faces so full of life, passion and a hope for their futures. Life for them on this earth was cut way too short, and those of us left behind feel the sting of their loss yet today. Marge wrote in my 1984 yearbook,

“Dear Julie, What can I say? I can hardly believe that I am going to be a member of the graduating class this year. I can tell I rate up there at the top of your list because I get to be the first person to write in your yearbook. I can never express the way I feel about you. You have been the best friend to me. You have helped me over the rough spots and helped me through very hard times. You have always been there to share in my happiness and tell me, ‘Oh, Biz, I am so happy for you!’ I can only say one thing, ‘Thank you!’ for being the best friend I’ve ever had. I am going to miss you so much next year. Don’t ever forget where I live. Write or call anytime! Good luck with the rest of your high school years. I know you will succeed in life with that great personality of yours. God Bless. Love, Marge (Biz) ’85”

I’m sad to say our lives drifted apart after high school. We would see each other every now and then, but we were never as close again as we were during our school years. She was in a car accident that claimed her life this past summer while we were on our family vacation. She was one amazing woman.

Our lives cross paths with so many others. Each one has an impact on us…either positive or negative. Some come fleeting through and others stay for a lifetime. As I look back at my years at Norway, that school had such a positive effect on my life and really helped me shape who I am today. Maybe some didn’t have as great of an experience as I did there, but as I said to my husband recently, it was a pretty special school.

And one other thing I noticed in all those pictures, not one cell phone or laptop was in any of them! And we survived just fine. Times have certainly changed, and I guess that’s a good thing. But I will always appreciate my roots at Norway High!

(If you have any memories you’d be willing to share of Norway, please comment! I’d love to read them!)