Linda Walker provided the following report on the 63 year and 64 year combined reunion of the MHS classes of 1959 and 1960:

The reunion was held on August 26, 2023 at the Ranch Hand Restaurant in Montpelier Forty nine guests were present, including spouses or other guests. We gathered at 11:00 AM for social hour, followed by a delicious buffet luncheon.  

Luke Kelsey, principal of the Bear Lake High School, was the keynote speaker and told of some of the achievements of the school. He talked about three areas:

Facility. They planted trees with the help of the students and laid sod in the back of the school. They made it a tradition at the end of the year to continue doing this kind of work.  They also worked on homes in the community.  They hauled a ton of dirt to fix up the football field and painted it using a robot, which also painted the numbers and letters.

Students and Academic. When Principal Kelsey first moved here 8 years ago, the high school had 290 students; now they have 365. Five years ago, they had $200,000 in scholarships; last year they had over $2 million. All curriculum is now on a computer; there are no textbooks. They submit reports to a teacher on the computer and get feedback on a computer. The kids work hard to get ready for the next step to go to college. 

Mr. Kelsey said that education is in good hands; they have excellent teachers.  They won the School of Excellence Award for the third time this year.  The state had a rule that all seniors must do a service project before they graduate.  They had to write a proposal, keep track of their hours, work with a mentor, and submit it to a panel.  The seniors complained about it but in the end, they were grateful they had a chance to serve this community.

The Student Council works hard, they do an extremely good job, and earned the Student Council Award in 22 out of 23 years.  They run the Toys for Tots project, raise money for kids, provide Thanksgiving dinners for families in the community, among other things. 

Athletics.  The high school athletics and academic departments have done a great job and have won multiple district and state championships in both areas.  Mr. Kelsey is especially proud of the good sportsmanship in all events. He said this year the football team won the first-ever state championship and mentioned Ryan Messerly as coach and that Ryan's father had played football during our time as students.

After Principal Kelsey’s presentation, we moved to a second room to continue the program, conducted by Nolan Phillips:

Slide Show.  Ross and Linda Stephens Walker presented a slide show “Over the Years” to show photos of the Bear Lake Valley and classmates through the years.  Linda explained that this was a show presented once before but has since been updated.  Most of it involved the class of ’59 because it was made before we started combining our reunions.

The last combined reunion with class of ’60 members is included in the update.

 A few people have asked if we could put this show on YouTube.  After some research, we found that we cannot because of copyright requirements.  YouTube has a rule that photos in the show must be taken by the person submitting them.  The historical pictures were taken from postcards or by photographers long ago.  If this rule is violated, we would be banned from submitting shows to YouTube.

Tribute to Teachers. Nolan distributed a list of our teachers and asked us to tell who was their favorite and why.  Those mentioned were Mrs. Staudacher, Mr. Abbott (twice), Mr. Munk (several times), Mr. Baker (twice), Coach Grant (three times), and Darwin Hayes.  In each case, classmates said how much these teachers meant to them and what a difference they made in our lives.

Legacy Project. Nolan thanked those who submitted write-ups about lessons learned since high school.  These were given to Mr. Kelsey the next day and are to be used in social science classes. He expressed appreciation and was anxious to read and study it.

New Chairpersons. The chairpersons for the 2025 class reunions are:  Class of ’59, Ross Peterson, with Carole Feinauer and Gail Dayton assisting.  Class of ’60, Rodney and Patti Wood. Thanks to the 2023 co-chairpersons, Nolan Philips (class of ’60) and his committee of Marden Phelps and Glay Homer, plus Linda Walker (class of ’59) and Carole Feinauer for putting this reunion together.

Class pictures were taken by Ross Walker. 

 

Social Hour

Banquet

 

 

 

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64 Year Reunion, 2023

64 Year Reunion, 2023
Back Row: Kent Perkins, Lonnie Wood, Bentsen Moss, Willy Jenkinson, Ross Peterson, Jerry Williams, Lee Roderick
Front Row: Carole Bradley Feinauer, Gail Gardner Dayton, Marilyn Wilcox Shayegi, Linda Stephens Walker, Elaine Spencer Daines

 

62 Year Reunion, 2021
Back Row: Bill Parslow, Richard Dunn, Bentsen Moss, Willy Jenkinson, Lee Roderick, Mike Teuscher, Lonnie Wood, Mike Nelson
Front Row: Ross Peterson, Marilyn Wilcox Shayegi, Carole Bradley Feinauer, Linda Stephens Walker, Elaine Spencer Daines, Gail Gardner Dayton, Jerry Williams

 

60 Year Reunion, 2019
Back Row: Lee Roderick, Kent Perkins, Lonnie Wood, Willy Jenkinson, Bill Parslow, Mike Teuscher, Carolyn Nield Spatig, Linda Stephens Walker, Ross Peterson, Bentsen Moss
Front Row: Jerry Williams, J Muir, Marilyn Wilcox Shayegi, Kristin Payne Jackson, Rosanna Combs Anderson, Margo Kunz Nate, Elaine Spencer Daines, LaNeta Alleman Quintero, Carole Bradley Feinauer, Gail Gardner Dayton
Jerry Hunzeker attended but was absent for this photo

 

57 Year Reunion, 2016
Back Row: Lee Roderick, Ronald Devenish, Bentsen Moss, Bill Parslow, Mike Teuscher, Willy Jenkinson, Ross Peterson, Richard Dunn, Lou Hillier, Jerry Williams
Front Row: Carolyn Nield Spatig, Karen Arnell Welch, LaNeta Alleman Quintero, Judy Hayes Matthews, Linda Stephens Walker, Elaine Spencer Daines, JoAnn Alleman Kempton, Judy Davis Peterson, Carole Bradley Feinauer

 

55 Year Reunion, 2014
Back Row: Willy Jenkinson, Lee Roderick, Ross Peterson, Bill Parslow, Ronald Devonish, Linda Stephens Walker, Carole Bradley Feinauer
Row 2: Kent Perkins, Mike Nelson, Mike Teuscher, Elaine Spencer Daines, LaNeta Alleman Quintero, Margo Kunz Nate
Front Row: Karen Arnell Welch, A.M. Rich (teacher), J. Muir, Coach "Tiny" Grant (teacher)

 

50 Year Reunion, 2009
Back Row: Jerry Williams, Keith Price, Kent Perkins, Steve Stelovich, Ross Peterson, Lou Hillier, Dean Swensen, Richard Dunn, Lee Roderick
Row 3: J Muir, Bill Parslow, Val Watkins, Bentsen Moss, Coach “Tiny” Grant, Glade Quinney, Mike Brown, Will Jenkinson
Row 2: Bonnie Nate Zanazzo, GayeLene Booth Parson, Elaine Spencer Daines, Margo Kunz Nate, Judy Davis Peterson, Monte Sparks Tarbet, LaNeta Alleman Quintero, Rosanna Combs Andersen, Judy Hayes Matthews, Jerry Bissegger
Front Row: Karen Arnell Welch, Ann Crane Tate, Doris Passey Rogers, Linda Stephens Walker, Carolyn Nield Spatig, Gail Gardner Dayton, Carole Bradley Feinauer, Marilyn Wilcox Shayegi
Nine others attended the reunion, but were not present for the picture: Richard Pool, Kristin Payne Jackson, Annetta Kunz Bills, Ron Devenish, Michael Teuscher, Dennis Passey, Richard Bunderson, JoAnn Alleman Kempton, and Bruce Walton

Click on this link to visit a website containing additonal photos of the 50 Year Reunion

 

45 Year Reunion, 2004

 

40 Year Reunion, 1999

25 Year Reunion, 1984
Back Row: Lynn Hansen, Ralph Busco, Bill Parslow, Keith Price, Mike Brown
Row 3: Mike Teuscher, Carolyn Nield Spatig, Linda Stephens Walker, Val Watkins, Ron Devenish, Bentsen Moss, Grant Messerly, Willie Jenkinson
Row 2: Ross Peterson, Jerry Williams, Lou Hillier, Lonnie Woods, Karen Arnell Welch, Linda McMurray Nelson, Val Watkins, Diana Mumford Johnson, Judy Davis Peterson, Lee Roderick, J Muir. Ann Crane Tate, Bill Hymas
Front Row: Julie Hayes Hewlett, Kristin Payne Jackson, Judy Hayes Matthews, Monte Sparks Tarbet, LaNeta Alleman Quintero, Elaine Spencer Daines