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By Ayanna Eckblad

In the year 1949, Harry S. Truman was president of the United States, George Orwell’s “1984” was published and the most popular song was “Riders in the Sky” by Vaughn Monroe.

In Albert Lea, the year’s graduating seniors received their high school diplomas and began experiencing adulthood for the first time.

On Friday, a small group of the former high schoolers met again for a special class of 1949 reunion. This 75-year milestone is an impressive accomplishment, and the attendees were all around age 93.

In addition to the alumni, spouses and even a few adult children were present to celebrate the big day. The event was organized by Arnt Pederson.

The reunion was held at Wedgewood Cove Golf Course and Restaurant. After a cocktail hour in which guests could socialize and catch up, they gathered in Wedgewood’s Chardonnay Room for a special dinner together.

A lot happened over the last 75 years, as any of the alumni that night would tell you. For example, ALHS alum Faith Nelson Kirsch had 11 children, raising them in a remodeled schoolhouse outside of Albert Lea.

Rollie Johnson, who at one point worked delivering papers for the Albert Lea Tribune, became a consulting manager after high school. Phillis “Phiz” Olson worked as a Realtor for almost 50 years.

Some stayed in the area, like Paul Westland, who joined the military, spent two years in Japan, returned to Minnesota and worked at the Hayward Cooperative before helping his son farm.

Others settled down in different parts of the state. Addie Sarther Muri currently lives in Rochester, and she was a nurse for 40 years. Several of the other attendees live in the Twin Cities.

Although there have been previous class reunions, many of the former classmates had not kept in touch and were seeing their old friends for the first time in a while. They enjoyed reminiscing about when they were students, talking about things that have changed and other things that have stayed the same.

Westland said he was surprised to hear high school seniors this year will be allowed to have lunch outside of campus this year. He said the school had the same policy when he was in high school, and was interested in seeing it come back.

Joanna Helleksen Golde remembered her years as one of the high school’s big achievers, participating in numerous extracurricular activities and being crowned homecoming queen.

“We had a lot of good times,” Golde said. “I was in every club that there was.”

Following high school, she worked as a first grade teacher for 33 years.

As the evening continued, laughter, heartfelt words and stories about children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren abounded.