Class of 1952 celebrates 70th reunion

Members of Irene S. Reed High School's Class of 1952 celebrated their 70th high school reunion with lunch at Railroad Tap Station in Shelton.

The Class of 1952 featured 129 graduates - 71 men and 58 women. Twenty-six men and 30 women are alive, and 13 graduates, two spouses and one daughter attended the June reunion. Dorene Stevens Rae organizes the reunions for the Class of 1952, being voted in by her classmates.

"I just like to keep people up front, so they know what's going on and they love it," Rae said.

For the 63rd reunion in 2015, the class rode on a big red Manke truck in the Mason County Forest Festival Paul Bunyan parade.

Rae, 87, was born in Shelton and she said she loves the town and Mason County. She worked 38 years for Mason County, retiring in 2000.

She said Shelton has changed a lot since she graduated from high school. Rae and her twin sister, Darlene, remember when the two of them modeled clothing in a shop that is above what is now the Railroad Tap Station. Dorene and Darlene, a soprano and an alto respectively, sang together in school. They once sang "Silver Bells" at the state Capitol.

"It's (Shelton) getting better. They're cleaning it up and doing things and opening more things, so good things," Rae said. "I'm glad I'm in a small town instead of a large one."

All the schools she attended are gone, including Irene S. Reed High School, now the Shelton-Timberland Library.

Growing up, Rae said she had a group of six friends in high school, but only Rae and Shirley "Bender" Sawyer are alive.

"It just seems so strange that it's been that long," Sawyer said. "I don't know where the time has gone. I don't know what to say, it's just a strange feeling."

Sawyer said she remembers high school graduation day.

"A lot of us were close. We had our group, six of us, who were very good friends," she said. "I guess we didn't realize it was kind of the last of a really good time. We were all going to be married and raising families for quite a few years and busy with that, but then we started getting together, just the six of us, for lunches once in a while and we just had the best times."

Rae said it's wonderful to have a friend like Sawyer since sixth grade.

Sawyer lives on Olympia's west side, but she returns to Shelton, where she attends church.

It is weird to see the high school she went to be a library now, she said.

"Even when I just drive up the hill, I think how we used to walk through the tunnel from junior high," Sawyer said. "I still think that comes back to me."

Sawyer said she's been to each class reunion and said her classmates are all now good friends.

"We all live in different areas but pretty much we try to keep up with what the others are doing," Sawyer said. "It's just nice to see the faces that are here today. It's a Shelton family because we graduated, and Dorene is still here. I guess it's my Shelton family."

Members of the Class of 1952 are spread across the state, including Federal Way and Everett.

"All these people are wonderful. They're always excited to come and want to plan something," Rae said. "Not the big things now, but just the small things."

The Class of 1952 always likes to get together and Rae said there was never a reunion they didn't have fun at.

"I said to Dorothy the other day, I talked to her on the phone. I said I hope they like the place and she said, 'Dorene, no matter what you do, they'll like it,' " Rae said. "And that's how they are, a lot of good people."

Rae said they will continue to get together for as long as they can.

"I'll do it until I can't," Rae said.

Author Bio

Matt Baide, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
Email: [email protected]

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