14 classmates celebrate 70th birthday!

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With Barbara (Sheppard) Lang and husband, Art, serving as hosts, fourteen Valley City High School Class of 1961 alumni celebrated their respective 70th birthdays in Cortez, Colorado, October 6-9, 2013. First reports are that a grand time was had by all! A number of spouses and guests also attended. Pictured above are the 14 classmates: L-R, back row: Roger Taylor, Doug Peterson, Dave Johnson, Ron Morsch and Warren Olson. Middle row: Janna Zaun, Dorothy (James) Iwan, and Sandy (Vorhees) Toring. Front row: Beth (Carlisle) Anderson, Georgia (Stephenson) Flannigan, Mary Koch, Barbara (Sheppard) Lang, Margaret (Peterson) Anderson and LouVay (Ruemler) White. Meg Johnson (not pictured) brought along several copies of the Valley City Times-Record in hopes that this would encourage the T-R to publish this photo.

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YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!

An essay by Barbara (Sheppard) Lang

Our 70th Birthday Reunion in Cortez, Colorado was celebrated in fine fashion!  We had 25 people in the group – Doug and Judy Peterson, Beth (Carlisle) and Dick Anderson, Roger and Bev Taylor, Ron Morsch and his wife Marty Trexler, Margaret (Peterson) and Glenn Anderson, LouVay (Ruemler) and Jim White, Georgia (Stephenson) and Steve Flannigan, Sandy (Voorhees) and Hank Toring, Dave and Meg Johnson, Dorothy (James) Iwan and her husband Jim, Barb (Sheppard) Lang and her husband Art Todd, Mary Koch, Janna Zaun and Warren Olson.

We gathered on Sunday evening at the Baymont Hotel for cocktails on the back deck, then dinner in the dining room.  We had a barbeque type meal, with smoked brisket, smoked turkey and sausage meatballs, potato salad, coleslaw, beans, and a big chocolate birthday cake/brownie!  After the meal, Mark Varien, senior archaeologist at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center gave us an overview of the pueblo peoples in the Four Corners area from 500 AD – to about 1284 AD, when they left the area and migrated south.

It was wonderful to see everyone, and the conversations were non-stop!  Of course, none of us had aged a bit during the many years that some of us had been separated!

Monday, because the Mesa Verde National Park trip was cancelled due to the government shut-down, we rode off anyway in “Big Red”, the bouncy old school bus that we rented from Crow Canyon.  Our tour for the day was led by Mark Varien and Becky Hammond, both from Crow Canyon Archaeological Center just outside of Cortez.  We visited several pueblo ruins, two of which Crow Canyon had excavated small portions of during the past couple of decades.  We had  box lunches tucked into the back of the bus (along with lots of snacks) so we drug those out and onto picnic tables at Lowry Pueblo, a large complex that has been partially reconstructed during the WPA programs many years ago.  Even though the Lowry Pueblo was part of Canyon of the Ancients (a national monument area) the pueblo was not gated shut, and the bathrooms were UNLOCKED, which was very much appreciated by the entire group.  Smile  After lunch and a tour of the pueblo, we drove on for a quick stop at Castle Rock ruins, then back to town and the hotels around 4:00 p.m.

At 6:00 p.m., the gang gathered at Barb and Art’s house for dinner, poppyseed cake/ice cream, and a gift exchange, which was lots of fun.  Each classmate brought a gift that represented something about their current state of residency, and the receiver of the gift had to endure a “show and tell” which prompted lots of laughter.  Although I’m not positive about the time, the whole group departed, perhaps about 9:30 p.m. to get some much needed rest.

Tuesday, we spent the morning at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center’s campus, about 4 miles out of Cortez.  We learned about the history of the organization, the scope of work that they are doing, we visited the lab where artifacts are processed from their digs, then spent some time in the so-called “store room” where many artifacts are kept during the study/research process.  Following that, we walked over to an open area where we all learned how to throw an atlatl (a throwing spear) at a metal turkey target.  Some of us were better at it than others, but it was a whole lot of fun to encourage each other to try our hand (arm) at throwing that spear!  We were told that there was going to be no lunch for us unless someone hit the turkey, and I did notice that we started moving ever closer to that turkey before we tried to throw the spears towards that poor turkey.  Finally, someone was successful and we all trooped to the lodge on campus for a nice lunch.  After lunch, we posed for group pictures, and our very persuasive guide, Mark Varien, talked Sandy Voorhees into stepping out of the group to lead a cheerleading “yell”.  She did the choo choo train yell, and after only a couple of seconds, we all remembered it and joined in – our voices rang out all across campus and I was very impressed with the school spirit that we were still able to muster!!

We carpooled the short distance to a dig that has been ongoing for the past couple of years – it is called the Dillard Site, named after the lady on whose property the ruins are located.  We were able to watch both professionals and volunteers working in the dig – and we learned about the discoveries that have been made there.

After lots of questions and discussions, our group dispersed, for important things like SHOPPING, or for some much needed rest.  Later in the evening, many of the group, who still had some energy left, gathered for supper at a local Italian restaurant, where the noise level rose ever higher as the evening wore on.  (don’t know why that might have been!)

Wednesday was the day for optional tours – Doug and Judy headed south/west towards Flagstaff, Dave and Meg headed north towards Wyoming and ND, Janna had an early, but delayed flight out of Cortez back to Jamestown, so Sandy and Hank stayed with Janna until she had flown away, then they headed back to California.  The rest of us carpooled over into Utah, for a visit to Cedar Mesa, and we made the awesome drive up the Moki Dugway (a narrow windy climb up the side of the mesa) to a grand overlook, which gave amazing if windy, views into Monument Valley.  We also visited the petroglyphs/rock art at Sand Island, just out of Bluff, UT.  Lunch followed at the Twin Rocks Trading Post Café, and many of us did some shopping around the small town of Bluff, a Morman settlement dating from the late 1800’s.

 LouVay and Jim took off from there and headed north, Mary Koch headed southwest towards New Mexico, and Margaret/Glenn left the group immediately upon our return to Cortez, heading east towards home.  The remainder of the classmates/spouses gathered for a closing supper at the Main Street Brewery, and though our numbers were smaller – I think there might have been a dozen of us, we had a wonderful time just visiting and enjoying a meal together.

The weather was glorious during the entire reunion, very cool/crisp but sunny in the mornings, then pleasant in the afternoons.  Thursday morning, as the last of the group departed, the weather turned downright chilly, and it was snowing in the mountains.  This complicated things for many, and we have heard some tales of frustration about delays getting over the various mountain passes to get out of the Four Corners area (except for Warren Olson, who left Cortez about 5:00 a.m. and scooted through before the snow became a problem).  Dorothy and Jim managed to leave relatively early as well, since they were heading to Denver to visit Dorothy’s son, so they got over Wolf Creek Pass before the snowfall.

There you have it!  I’m sure that some of the classmates who were there may have information to add or corrections to make, but at least, those of you who couldn’t be with us now have an idea about what happened during the big birthday reunion!  NEXT TIME, we are hoping that more of our classmates will be able to attend, wherever it is that we might gather together!  -  BSL

NOTE: If you were in Cortez for this unique event, we'd love to hear about your impressions and/or experiences. Send us your thoughts, in 300 words or less and, if you have them, a maximum of two photos to Diane (Sauer) Hughes at dhughes45@cox.net. Diane will pull together your comments and photos, along with those of other attendees, and we'll post them on the 70th party photos and comments page. Click to that page at the top of this blog. Thanks!