by John Meeker
“I am he … as you are he … as you are me … and we are all together” … koo koo k’choo!
John Lennon wrote those nonsense words to begin “The Walrus” after he learned that his former headmaster, and other teachers, had instructed students to find hidden meanings in Beatles’ songs, leading to crazy rumors like “Paul is dead”. We were still trying to figure out “I Saw Her Standing There”, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, and “Love Me Do”. You remember … She was just seventeen, ya know what I mean? Some of you already had that all figured out.
I’ve started with a musical reference because our class was born into a decade of change that was captured in the music of the day. Beach Boys, Beatles, the Fabulous Wailers and Johnny B. Goode. Life was good. In September 1962 Seattle “invented the future” with the Century 21 World’s Fair. Then Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain Gonna Fall” accompanied the Cuban Missile Crisis. JFK, the earthquake, the Selma Freedom March, the Watts riots. Uh-oh. The Sixties exploded around us and we scattered into the winds of change. We left Mom and Apple Pie and attempted to decipher “American Pie”. Of course the meaning of that song is that Don McLean never has to work again. We dealt with war, racial and political issues and everything changed. Our world transformed more quickly than any preceding generation and we went with it.
We gathered for our ten-year reunion and then again for our twentieth where we met some guy we didn’t recognize. Some of you thought he had played football with you. He was a big guy, six feet tall and 220 lbs with lots of hair and a beard. But the Tom Cole we remembered was maybe 5’6” and maybe 130 lbs. When he returned home after two years in the army, his father met him at the airport and said, “What did you do with my son?” By that twentieth reunion the school had already closed and afterwards we once again scattered into the winds.
Then, in early 2000, my dad called me to say that a classified in the Highline Times announced another reunion for Glacier High School class of 1965. Send email or call. I sent a quick email and then called the number. Tom Cole answered. After a quick chat, he said the email was Jules’. He gave me another phone number and said, “Call Jules, he’s trying to organize some email addresses.” So I dialed the number.
Jules answered with his typical unenthusiastic, unemotional drone, “John! The computer guy! Thank god!”
He told me that he struggled to organize nearly two dozen email addresses but that it drove him crazy. I told him that would be a short drive but I suggested that he start an “e-group”.
“That’s a great idea!” he said. “How do you do it?” And then, “You do it!”
So it began. On July 3rd, 2000, I created GHS1965 at egroups.com and added his list of email addresses. The activity exploded. In fact, when Mike Myers returned from his vacation later that month, he posted, “I have 600 emails in my in-box!” Gradually other email addresses joined and the frenetic pace of email continued right through our 35th reunion on July 22. It gradually slowed.
Tom decided that, since we had a few classmates from other classes on our site, I should create e-groups for the other classes. So I did. Then I took that idea one step further by copying all the names from all the annuals to build a database of all Glacier students grouped by class year. 7,590 names. Yes, Jules had some competition in the arena of “crazy”. But I learned a lot in the process. Glacier opened in 1960 and closed in 1980 with a total of 22 classes but only 18 classes had completed all three years. One class, 1979, spent four years at Glacier because Sunset closed in 1975 and sent us what would have been its new ninth graders. This database has been through many updates since its creation. The section with our class served as a starting point for this reunion.
Tom and I became good friends and had breakfast at the Pancake Chef each time I visited “home” in Seattle. He was always fired up about the Glacier alumni and had souvenir hats and jackets and pins made. He wanted to refurbish the cafeteria so that we would have a regular place to meet but Highline School District was not so enthusiastic. They wanted to charge us $1,200 per month. Too much. In May 2005, I began monthly trips to care for my parents and eventually moved back to Seattle in 2008. Tom began talking about our 50th reunion.
Then, sometime in 2011, Tom had an elevated PSA, indicating prostate cancer. He had it treated and everything seemed to return to normal but 18 months later it returned. He faded quickly. I received a call in May 2013 while I volunteered with a restoration project for the USS Slater, a WWII Destroyer Escort in Albany, New York. Joe goes with me. The call was from Tom, calling from the Veterans Hospital. He asked me to ensure that this 50th reunion be completed. I promised it would be. I intended to call him when I return home but it was too late. His daughter called the next morning to report that Tom had passed the previous evening. Farewell my friend.
So I began emailing and contacting as many classmates as possible to help with this project. Those at this head table volunteered. They volunteered their heads and their tails and their time and some money. We planned and searched and listened to advice from previous classes. A year ago some others began planning a cruise as a separate event from this reunion dinner, but we considered that other reunions had a picnic the next day so this time we would just have a cruise. We carried on, built the website, opened a bank account and the P.O. Box, did mailings, searched online and offline, called and pestered. Sometimes it was like pulling teeth. Even healthy teeth. We did name tags and bought souvenir pens, did decorations. We tossed the agenda around like a hacky sack to put it all together with no drops. Now it’s done. We hope you’ve enjoyed the show.