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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Class of 1960 63rd Year Reunion, 2023

Back Row: Ron Glenn, Nolan Philips, Glay Homer, Richard Anthony, Marden Phelps, Orrin George, Terrell Skinner

Front Row: Layne Wilcox, Gloria Allred Miller, Diane Dalrymple Guinn, Colleen Long Jensen, Gladys Clark Farmer, Rodney Wood

Class of 1960 61st Year Reunion, 2021

Back Row: Steven Pugmire, Marden Phelps, Richard Anthony, Nolan Philips, Glay Homer, Rodney Wood

Front Row: Kay Teuscher Crandall, Colleen Long Jensen, Sandra Erhart Trent, Judy Nicholiasen Himi, Roberta Bagley Fertig

Class of 1960 55th Year Reunion, 2015

Back Row: Jim Aland, Glay Homer, Grant Widmer, Marden Phelps, Nolan Phillips, Rodney Wood, Carlos Smith, Orrin George, Steve Pugmire, Allen Bagley, James McCammon, Richard Anthony

Middle Row: Sandra Stoddard Solum, Carrie Kunz Anthony, Judy Rasmussen Grunig, Barbara Aland Neeley, Carol Ann Stoddard Alleman, Rosselin Ritter LaPlant, Carol Leigh Whitman Hammett

Front Row: Kay Teuscher Crandall, Paulette Smith Alleman, Karma Lee Loertscher, Colleen Jensen Long, Linda Bartlome Aland, Diane Dalrymple Guinn, Barbara Grunig Arnell, Frankie Sorenson Bagley, Gloria Allred Miller