Twelve alumni attended the Nelson High School's Platinum Jubilee held at the Prestige Lakeside Resort on June 20.
There were 161 students in our list of graduates. For this year's reunion we decided to include any student that was with us but departed to attend school elsewhere.
After our 20th anniversary in 1974, reunions were organized every five years. We had silent auctions on three reunions to raise funds donated to L.V. Rodgers Secondary School for maintenance of its Memory Wall.
For this year's event, Neil Horswill gave our reunion co-ordinator Gordon Halsey of Victoria a scenic painting to be raffled. The person winning this valued painting was Bill Horswill. Carl Zanon contributed a copy of his book entitled Reflections – 85 years to COVID-19 Pandemic, published in 2022. It includes 27 personal stories written by classmates. Photographs show 1954 teachers, graduates and events.
Doris Karvonen and her husband Lee, with guitar, led the singing of six swing tunes from the 1950s. Neil Horswill, from Nova Scotia, sang ballads. Zanon introduced the Italian song Eh Cumpari, and after one practice run everyone joined in with great vigour.
The next morning our closing event was a picnic held at the Lakeside Park. In 2022 the class purchased a new bench replacing its 2005 bench. Individual photos were taken of alumni seated on their bench.