This past summer I attended the 45th year reunion of my graduation from Jamestown High School. It was a great two night event where we met and saw old schoolmates, and talked about teachers, lunch periods, school plays, and enjoyed some good food, good drink and lots of merriment.

One of the normal activities of reunions is picture taking. Usually, at the main event of the weekend walk down memory lane, a picture of the classmate and his or her spouse is taken and sent, now via e mail, or posted on Facebook at some time, and throughout the evening individual friends and groups find a corner where they for can pose for the “now” pictures with old friends from school. I was honored to have been in a few of those pictures, but one in particular brought back a lot more memories and smiles of not just the three years we spent in high school (when I was in school, Jamestown High School was a grades 10 through 12 school, as Jamestown did not have Middle Schools back then, but Junior High (Grades 7, 8, 9) Schools. Anyway, the picture which brought back so many of the memories for me was the one involving some of the many of my classmates who were my family and friends when we all went to school at Walgreens on Prospect Street in Jamestown.

You see, I spent my Kindergarten through ninth grade years as a member of the “family” at St. James School on Prospect Street, the site which now is the home of Walgreens Pharmacy. I call it a family because that’s what we all, grades K through nine, were … a family.

Recently, more than 200 people came from all over and packed the Hall at St. James Church, (most former students, some spouses) to relive some of the million memories we, who went to St. James School have, and will always have, in our minds and hearts. But this wasn’t your average class reunion. You see, at your average high school class reunion, most everyone there is the same age, but at our St. James School, this one being our second one in the past six years, we saw people who were not just classmates, but were schoolmates too. Let me explain.

I went through my years at St. James in class after class, year after year, pretty much with the same group of kids, give or take a move-in classmate here, and/or a move-out classmate there. But we also shared the school with our real older and younger brothers and sisters and their classmates too. When I was in Kindergarten those kids in the upper grades that weren’t my actual brothers and sisters, were my honorary brothers and sisters, so seeing them at a school reunion conjured up memories of sharing time in the cafeteria, the parking lot after lunch, of Fenton Park, of Hickory nuts from the trees around the school and park, with St. James Little Jimmie, Green Hornet, and Big Jimmie football (remember the Tyro League and the Milk Bowl? How about oranges at halftime?), of the Passion Play, of the Knights of the Altar, and remembering The Sisters of Mercy, and (from my days) Monsignor Cologioia and Fathers Welker, Nicastro, Rosello, and Federico. And there were the lay teachers, (again from my years) some of them Mrs. O’Hagan, Miss D’Angelo, Mrs. Palmer, Mrs. Leising, Mrs. Cusimano, Mrs. Muzza, Mr. Miliotto and Mr. Crucilla, our custodians, Mr. Trippy, Mr. Rizzuto, Mr. Cirincione, and the cafeteria ladies, Mrs. Rix, Mrs. Cusimano (not the same as the teacher Mrs. Cusimano), Mrs. Foti, and Mrs. Alette. (Remember Tuesday being Pasta and Meatball for lunch day, and lunches made fresh and served hot every day and only costing a quarter?)

Again, these people were there during my 10 years as a St. James student. There were many others there before the ones I mentioned here served, and there were many more who came after my class’s graduation from St. James School. But what the constant of St. James constant was, and always will be, those with whom we shared the school, our classmates and ALL of our “older and younger brothers and sisters,” who were a part of all the school, its faculty, staff, and all the extra-curricular activities.

At both of our recent reunions we made nametags available and most of us wore them, but none of us really needed them. They were helpful for our spouses, the ones who did not go to St. James School, but the rest of us knew most everyone who was there, most of us having changed some, maybe even a lot, but we still knew most everyone who walked in, and a lot of us sat facing the door as people entered rattling off names as our St. James family members walked through the door.

Throughout the festive night, people made their way from table to table, with handshakes, hugs, kisses, laughs, and even tears, remembering times of our youth at St. James. We posed for class pictures by years, we recognized those who were from the most senior class in attendance, and we recognized those who attended St. James in its final year of existence more than four decades ago when the doors closed for the last time as a school. Some people met at the video slide screen which showed pictures from the last reunion, pictures of the old school, pictures of St. James memorabilia, old class pictures, team pictures from football and basketball teams, even a picture of Chief Halftown, a frequent visitor to Jamestown Schools who shared his Native American heritage and his love and talent for bowling, giving free tickets to students and being at the bowling alley on certain days giving tips on bowling and being better boys and girls.

I was flattered many times throughout the evening when many of my classmates and “older brothers and sisters” came up to me telling me that they still read the “Voice from the Bullpen” each week, even though they were now living in Florida, or Tennessee, or Arizona, or Ohio, or Pennsylvania, or wherever they were now residing. Many of us were also contacted before this most recent soiree with wishes, comments, regrets, or just saying hello expressing that they were not going to be able to join us for the event, but to tell everyone there they would be there in their heart, and hoping there would be another one soon in the hopes they’d be able to make the next one. One even asked if someone could stream the event or parts of it on Social Media, which was a great suggestion, and was done, and we heard from many who could not make the reunion that they felt they were actually there.

Again, being at my 45th high school reunion this summer, we were all about 63 years old, but at the St. James Reunion, I wasn’t the oldest, and I wasn’t the youngest, but I was part of an amazing family, one who spans this entire country, and a family who still has vivid memories of a special time, in a special school, with some special religious and school personnel, and special classmates, and special older and/or younger brothers and sisters, be they our actual ones or our St. James ones.

Kudos and Thank You to those who put the evening together, to all who were able to get here for the event, to those who shared it with us on Social Media, and/or those who were there in heart and mind. You were and always will be a huge and special part of my life. See you at the next party!