Bristow High School's Class of 1953 recently celebrated their 70th reunion at Pizza Hut, in Bristow. It was their first reunion in 15 years. It was certainly a joyous occasion. Classmates enjoyed dinner and sharing old stories of their high school days. It evoked emotions of happiness at seeing old friends, reminiscing about high school days and amazement about changes over the years.
The graduating class of 1953 had 80 graduates and the reunion consisted of 11 of those classmates. Alice Roberts-Strein, of Bristow, Gail Kilgore of Galveston, Texas, Kenneth Winn, of Richarson, Texas, Joe Stiner, of Bristow, Bob Lyons, of Sand Springs, Marland Armitage, of Bristow, Charlene Lyons, of Broken Arrow, Paul Hockett and his classmate and high school sweetheart, and now wife of 68 years, Shirley Demoss-Hockett. Also a latecomer Johnnie Baker with yet a latecomer classmate who gave up his graduation, for us all to enjoy ours, Carl Cantrell who had joined the 45th Division of the armed forces. During this time, ready or not, maturity came swiftly. As WWII quickly turned boys to men and girls to women.
There were a lot of memories buzzing through out the room. Memories like Bobby Lyons wrestling and how his whole high school wrestling career he never lost a match and Gail Kilgore who although a drum major in '52 he spent '53 his senior year playing football. With teams much smaller then, he played both offense and defense but was best known as the teams kicker. His longest kick was 73 yards and everyone still remembered that kick. Paul Hockett was the drum major in '53 and he had fallen for the band queen Shirley Demoss, now Shirley Demoss-Hockett. Although 68 years is a good run for high school sweethearts, watching these two together is like watching two newlyweds on their honeymoon. Johnny Baker shared memories of his quarter horses. With every one of the horses names he mentioned you could see his eyes light up.
Just walking into this room filled with these classmates made a person drift into their joyful memories. The laughter and smiles while reminiscing was a sight to behold. And let me not fail to mention that the classmates had a couple of their furry friends join the fun. The canines Bell and Rocko traveling all the way from Texas to take part in the activities of their humans. They sat wide eyed, quietly in the corner taking in every moment of fun as they got a snack or two of their own from the group.
Vicki Grisham photo