PHS Class of '72 prepares for 50th reunion
Jun. 20—The Pisgah High School Class of 1972 prides itself on being one of the "tightest knit groups" ever to graduate in the school's history.
That's not only the view of the loyal group that gathers every five years to plan a reunion, but a former high school principal, said Mike Wood, who has been helping plan reunions for years.
"Bill Upton was the assistant principal when our graduating class came through," Wood said. "He called our graduating class the tightest group he ever saw come through. There were no little cliques and we always have each other's backs. It didn't matter whether you were a jock, a band member or a brainy student, everybody just came together."
The class will be celebrating its 50th reunion on Aug. 27, at Reflections on the Pond in Canton.
"We feel like that's going to be the best location we've ever had," Wood said. "There's plenty of room, good parking and catering will be done buy Down South To Go Catering with Sid and Paige Truesdale, who are both Pisgah graduates."
At the last reunion in 2017, there were 135 attendees, but for the 50th reunion a larger group is expected.
"As far as we know, ours was the biggest class ever to graduate from Pisgah," Wood said of the PHS Class of '72 with 315 graduates.
"There was a Bethel group, a Canton group and a Cruso group, but we all got along," added Dale Treadway, who is helping on the committee.
Treadway said about 20% of the class has passed on. For years, the reunion committees have had a special tribute table to honor the memories of those who have died.
Janice Parham clips the obituaries of all classmates and organizes the tribute table, complete with photos.
"The reunions are every five years, but we work for five years from the time one is finished until we have another one," Parham said. "They are worth attending to see all you haven't seen."
Ironically, it's the graduates who still live in the community who most often don't show up, the reunion committee members agreed.
"We had several people show up at our 45th who had never been before," Wood said. "Their comments were 'wow, we didn't know what we've been missing."
"People have made new friends at the reunions," said committee member Jackie Edwards, noting reunions are more than just sharing old memories.
Helping spark the old memories at the 50th reunion will be name tags that include a school yearbook photo, music from the early '70s, a large porch complete with rocking chairs and a nearby fire pit for mingling.
More information can be found on the class website at www.pisgah72.com. It includes reunion details and how to register, a list of classmates still being sought, a list of deceased classmates and information about this year's community project, something the class had done at each reunion.
This year's focus will be to help the 250 homeless children in the county and the 200-plus children who need regular assistance with food.
In the past couple of years, class member Pat Smathers has donated reunion space, but that isn't available this year. Renting a venue will raise the cost to $50 a person, a price committee members say will definitely be worth it.
The reunion committee has always worked diligently to provide the very best reunion experience as inexpensively as possible, Wood said, but with renting a venue this year, the price had to go up.
"This includes a beautiful location, great friends, delicious food, nostalgic music and wonderful memories of our past times together and hopefully making new memories," Wood said. "We believe this will be our best and most well-attended reunion ever."
