The O.H.S. Re-Union

excerpt from The Onion, 1931-32

n December, a herald, upon whose banner were the letters O.H.S., trumpeted the news of a high school re-union to many of our ex-pupils.

As you entered the Oakwood Club on the eventful night, January 22, 1932, and saw the crowd, you had rather a lost feeling and wondered “Will I ever find anyone I know?”

“Next year we will bring more of the old crowd. I know several who would have come tonight if they had known a re-union would be like this.”

Then you were in the midst of things and found familiar faces on every side. Someone would call you by name and you would rack your brain for some idea of the name to use in return. As you found more and more of your old classmates and schoolmates, the feeling of an O.H.S. gathering became more pronounced. You discovered that many who were 4th or 5th Formers, when you were in 1st, and therefore very awe-inspiring, did not seem nearly so much older than you now, and you also wondered why you had ever held them in awe.

In one room Miss Winnifred Bennett was a charming hostess to the earlier graduates who were chiefly interested in bridge and in “remembering.” To these it was indeed a RE-UNION, for ex-pupils and ex-teachers who had not seen one another for thirty years or more were drawn together by that bond of which we hear so frequently, but find difficult to define, namely “school spirit.”

In another room, decorated with red and blue streamers, the more recent graduates and non-graduates danced – and talked. Scattered through the usual programme of waltzes and fox trots were novelties, and barn dances (which no one knew but everyone danced), and a rye waltz, and much to our surprise we did not find Mr. Hackett on the floor for this. A “Red and Blue” yell, led by Ted Dewar and heartily supported by some of the most recent graduates and pupils, rather startled some of those who had left before school yells were in vogue.

At lunch those who had been chums at school formed groups just as they had while at O.H.S., and you could almost picture the 1942 re-union with Ruth Clark, Mary Rutledge, Dorothy McMillan, Sally Doris, Marg Jessop and their escorts; Pete and Helen, Jack and ? ?; Bill and Mary; Bernard and ? ?; George H. and Ruth, in similar groups.

As the party drew to a close, one could hear “Where is Mr. Hackett? I do want to see him.” “Did you say Miss Strang was here? I want to speak to her.” “Do you remember the day in Third Form when…etc., etc.,” and then – “Next year we will bring more of the old crowd. I know several who would have come to-night if they had known a re-union would be like this.”

M.M.