Emphasis on “Stranger!”  We were so full of ourselves then—so filled with hopes and dreams for what lay ahead of us.  And far less worried than what we were to become, because we knew less.  We had a whole lifetime ahead of us to understand how much we must rely on faith to live well.  Then, we simply did it.

Sara Carriker, our “Most Industrious” classmate, led the organization and planning of our Senior Ball based on the theme song “Stranger in Paradise”. Our other “Most Industrious,” Mark Briggs, had co-chaired the Junior Prom.  The ethereal atmosphere in the high school gym, a paradise created from billowing parachutes, pink lighting and wistful trees with pink leaves, honored our Junior Class.

It was Friday, April 7, 1961.  From a field of 22 princes and princesses, we crowned Ron Berg and Pam Brooking our King and Queen and proceeded to “dance the night away.”  I was privileged to escort Princess Joanna Cravey, along with Ron, voted our “Most Popular.”  Paradise was about to end as we knew it, and the real world awaited.

We were serenaded by musicians who included Michele Priebe (“Prettiest Smile”—Michele went on to raise a family of six children as a single mom in Utah before we lost her to liver cancer on June 2, 2002), and Darrel Smaw (“Best Vocalist”—Darryl, an ordained minister, and college dean at Swarthmore College, just outside of Philadelphia, will join us for our 50th Reunion, and has agreed to sing the theme song for us again as he did on that long ago evening).

Looking back on that night, I can still remember the sense of closing in rapidly on the end of a magical time in my life.  I could already feel the loss of something which I wanted to hold onto—graduation was coming too fast.  Those feelings are still with me, as real as they were then.  We’ve been fortunate to remain in touch with each other over the ensuing 50 years.  We’ve experienced life’s wonders and joys, and also its sorrows.  We’re older and wiser, more humble and grateful for having lived.

We’re all strangers in a universe about which we learn exponentially more every day.  How small we are.  And yet how significant, especially for having known each other and the memories we share.

I co-chaired our Senior Ball with Sara—moral support to her excellent leadership.  I remember thinking of Sara when told that I was to support her in this role “Now there’s someone you could spend your life with.”  But that’s another story.