There are many milestones one passes in life. Among the most poignant yet simultaneously joyful is the 50th Reunion from high school.
It is a joy to spend a few hours with those who shared those formative years from adolescent to adult (even if the adult stage was more a very early beginning of the true metamorphosis to independence.)
Rehashing, and likely revising, the memories of teachers, classes, games, and parties offered a refreshing reprieve from the realities of time.
Sharing one’s life experiences since graduation completed the story of what transpired since we left those days behind us.
It says much about people willing to take time and revisit a long gone past. Reliving those moments with those who were there, and remembering those of us who have no more tomorrows, brings it all back to life.
Not to introduce sadness into what is now another happy memory of the Cumberland High School Class of 1974, but life will not offer many more such opportunities.
It was a joy to speak to those who experienced that time.
Consider that our class was born into a much different world in 1956. We had no cell phones, three TV channels that went off at midnight, and a world on the precipice of nuclear holocaust.
We were there at the dawn of Rock n’ Roll and invented the concept of the truly great bands.
Ours was a black and white world poised, like Dorothy when she opened the door from her tornado relocated house, to experience an explosion of color never before seen.
We all will now go back to our daily lives, richer for taking the time to join with friends from those days, and add another memorable experience to the plethora of experiences lived within and around Cumberland High School.
I for one am glad I had the opportunity and will hold fast to the memory.
Here’s to living a life full of such moments.
The Writing of Joe Broadmeadow 
Ahhhh, yes, Joe.
John
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I attended our 50th reunion from St. Xaviers in Providence in 2010. As you know, it is an all-girls school. We had so much fun reminiscing. Since then, we have met once a month for lunch at local restaurants, Twin Oaks too many times for my liking, or some of the members’ homes, and we always have had a Christmas gathering. It was such fun to retell our encounters with different Nuns. We started as a group of 18, and we are down to 7-8 now, illness and death have shrunk us but we will try to keep it up as long as feasible. Memories are the best thing.
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Joe, as you say so well, our 50th reunion was both poignant and joyful. So good to see you and Susan and so many others! Truly those were formative years that helped set the course for a lifetime. Part of the poignancy was our deep awareness of classmates no longer living, yet who live on in our hearts. Joe, I know you and I (and many others) thought of our great friend Ralph Ezovski who died earlier this year. We thought too of Larry Mills gone now 11 years. With Ralph and Larry we shared many a laugh and always the gift of friendship. It is said ‘that a kindness offered when we are young is never forgotten’. Those kindness’ stay with us, an indelible impression on our heart and soul. So it was that the Class of 1974 Cumberland High School gathered to remember what was and gift thanks for what is. It was a very good night.
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Thanks Kent. Always a pleasure
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Seeing our classmates at the reunion was a joy. We are so lucky to have been part of such a great class. We knew it then, and we know it now. Our bonds are lifelong.
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