Taking place once again in the gymnasium at Stanley-Boyd High School, the Stanley-Boyd All School Reunion kicked off Saturday Oct. 7 after 10 a.m., a lengthy meet and greet period proceeding the call to find seats and start of the business meeting.

With present students present to help with the event as well, alumna Jennifer Sallis took attendee’s pictures. Student workers were also on hand to help out, including Addison Mahr, Bella Goettl, Chase Sturm, Lucas Walker, Lukas Milas, and Britain Close.

Following the meet and greet in the high school entryway Ken Seufzer opening the gathering in the gymnasium, where it was straight into business.

Starting out with the Pledge of Allegiance, the 2023 All School Reunion was hosted by the Class of 1963, Roman Jessick giving the welcome.“I only spent one year in the new building,” he shared, saying that before this school had been in the old building. Among the changes from then to now were more cars in the parking lot, as before students had to take buses. “I’ve been in Stanley all my life and plan to stay here,” Jessick said. “It’s a good town.”

With Jessick turning things over to Eileen Samplawski, it was shared that four people at the All School Reunion had graduated a full 74 years prior: Robert Anderson, Lyle Brandt, Jervis Cooney, and Mavourneen Wieman.

“Make sure to greet them if you see them,” Samplawski said of the Class of 1949 graduates in attendance.

With a Finance report from Jean Rygiel following with the nominating committee, it was made known that, “internet is the big thing,” for skills sought after in the group. Denise Swartz then took the podium, sharing that since 2014 the society has extended scholarships and also given $13,500 to schools.

“I’m the point person for technology,” she shared, with her and husband Lyle both graduates from the 80s who had then raised their children in the Stanley-Boyd school system.

Next up was a board election, with terms to begin in January of 2024. Motion was made to dismiss a bylaw rule that limited any one member to consecutive terms of three years, as Kim Nelson had exceeded this. The motion made and adopted, members elected to serve included Barbara Endvick, Jean Rygiel, and Ken Seufzer.

Moving from elections to awards, those honored at the Oct. 7 All School Reunion included Eileen Samplawski with a recognition award, Wendy Stelter with an honorary membership for community achievement, and Lloyd Larson, the latter who called up Janice Wagner to acknowledge her role in getting the SBAA started. Larson also shared that the streets in the early 50s were clay and gravel with no blacktop, resulting in two extra vacations: deer hunting season and “spring mud,” as the district only had one bus at the time and getting it unstuck could be a time consuming activity.

Calling for and receiving a voice vote to continue the organization another 10 years, attention then shifted to lunch.

With food delivered to the gymnasium by Steve Pilgrim of the Village Haus at Boyd, Class of 1960 graduates Diane Herrick Meyer and Alvina Hera Depa did the candle memorials on the tables.

Just prior to lunch Stanley-Boyd, district superintendent Jeff Koenig shared an update on how things were going at present.

“We’re fully staffed,” he said, this being an accomplishment in comparison with other districts. Also noting the security doors, Koenig said it was “unfortunate” that such measures were necessary but that they could be shut at a moment’s notice in the event of emergency to keep students safe.

With dinner and silent auction following, the Stanley-Boyd All School Reunion went well. More can be found with regard to the Stanley-Boyd Alumni Association on Facebook at https://fb.me/StanleyBoydAlumni.