Six decades ago a group of students from Mattapoisett were taking the journey of a lifetime. No longer would they be in that insular world created by the teachers and the school they loved so well. They were graduating from Center School. Now they would be thrust into life as high school students transported far away to Fairhaven.
On June 18, 1958, the graduating class of Center School gathered to pass through an invisible archway into their future. They were hopeful, trusting, excited, and a little bit scared. They would be leaving behind their beloved teachers who had supplied not only education but were also role models and leaders the students had come to depend on and to love.
Until 1962 when Old Rochester Regional School District was created, students matriculating out of ninth grade into high school were bussed to Fairhaven High School. Thanks to the philanthropy of Henry Huttleston Rogers, Mattapoisett’s students for decades had been granted admittance to Fairhaven High School, the school Rogers had funded. Thus, the class of 1958 prepared to gird their minds as they too made that giant leap towards adulthood.
Theirs had been like classes before them – a tightknit group bound together from first grade through ninth grade in a red brick school that was the cornerstone of their universe. Now everything would change.
In 1958, milk cost 80 cents per gallon; eggs 28 cents a dozen, and a stamp would set you back 4 cents. The United States was going through a post-war recession with rather high unemployment, but if you were working, your average annual salary was $4,600; your home cost about $12,000; and, you paid 25 cents a gallon to run your American-made automobile.
In living rooms around the nation people were watching Ed Sullivan and Jack Benny, and on Saturday afternoon teens tuned into American Bandstand. On the radio teenagers were rebelling against the still popular Frank Sinatra by tuning stations spinning hits by Elvis and Ricky Nelson. Kids still played outside until the streetlights came on, maybe playing with a Hula Hoop that debuted that year.
Yet, while everything seemed calm on the surface, major changes – not only in little Mattapoisett but also around the globe – were coming. Toyota began importing cars into the U.S. as the Packard ended production. The microchip was invented as was the first computer modems and remote controllers. Soon the kids in the house would no longer be the ones who had to get up and walk over to the T.V. to change the channel – Dad would have command of the remote. President Eisenhower announced the development of N.A.S.A. and in the same year the U.S. launched its first satellite. Undersea military surveillance was underway as deep beneath the polar ice cap the nuclear submarine Nautilus reached the North Pole.
For now, however, the class of 1958 was poised to join that larger population of students all moving forward into their tomorrows. Where would they go in life, what journeys would they have, what adventures would await them?
Sixty years later all those questions would be answered as the 60thclass reunion of Center School was held on September 15 at the home of Ruth Ann Heuberger Walega and her classmate-turned-sweetheart-turned-husband Wayne Walega.
Carole Sherman Clifford along with the Walegas and several other former classmates planned the reunion. Clifford said that her quest to find all the students had led to some dead ends and, of course, to the reality that some classmates had passed away.
Using the Internet to search for people, Clifford said that female alumni had been the hardest to find because they had taken their husbands’ names. But of those she could find, Clifford called or sent out emails and used Facebook and other social media platforms, reaching back through the veil of time to bring home long-lost friends.
Now they gathered at Walega’s home to remember, to laugh, to share highs, and comfort one another over lows. Yet the overarching sentiment expressed by the dozen or so former students was just how much Center School and its educators had meant to them throughout their lives.
“People have such great memories,” Clifford said. Memories fond, funny, and unforgettable were shared by all.
Wayne Walega shared a memory that nearly ended his romance with Ruth Ann. “My parents got a call from the principal. Apparently they didn’t like that I had a squirt gun in school. My parents thought I needed more discipline, so they sent me to Tabor Academy.”
As time would attest, that didn’t end his relationship with Ruth Ann who went on to Fairhaven High School. They have been married for 54 years. Love’s labors weren’t lost.
Linda Montgomery Tunstall remembered clearly when she learned there really wasn’t a Santa Claus. “We were in fourth grade; it was Christmas time. I raised my hand and said, ‘It’s two weeks before Christmas and we haven’t sent our letters to Santa!’ I looked back at all the other kids who were just staring at me and realized immediately that there wasn’t a Santa.”
Kathie Schragel Wilson said, “The whole nine years were wonderful.” Gesturing to an elderly gentleman seated nearby, she said, “Mr. Kobak remembers us after sixty years!”
Joseph Kobak, one of the alumni’s most beloved teachers, attended the reunion. Surrounded by his former students, he looked through stacks of black and white photographs clearly relishing the moment and the memories.
Of Kobak, one alumni wrote, “He was more than a teacher and a coach: he was a friend.”
Bill Blasdale shared, “If you were naughty your name went in the book. Three bad marks and you were punished.” He said he had gotten a bad mark for singing in class. He sang “Dungaree Doll” to Clifford, a 1956 hit sung by Eddie Fisher.
Bill Young joked that he came to the reunion to see his girlfriend, adding, “We were a bonded group – like family.”
As the alumni chatted there were thoughts about another reunion in the future. But for now, they were just enjoying the moment and the memories.
If you are a former classmate of the graduating class of 1958 and want to share your story or learn more about other alumni you may contact Carole Clifford at moosie999@comcast.net.
By Marilou Newell
