Norwood High School’s Last Hurrah-This Day in Norwood History-June 11, 2011

Over 2,000 alumni return for Norwood’s Last Hurrah

More than 2,000 alumni gathered at Norwood High School for what felt like a large class reunion.

The students came from near and far on Saturday, June 11, to say goodbye to the 85-year-old school as it prepares to close its doors for good.

“This was Paula’s idea and we just kind of ran with it,” said Jerry Miller, president of the Norwood High School Alumni Association, of his wife Paula Pelaggi. Both are Norwood High graduates. “We’ve had so many people say it’s too bad we have to close down the school for us to get together like this.

“This has been a dream of mine for almost two years,” said Pelaggi, as the evening event got underway. “We have 2,000 people here tonight. I knew people could do it; I knew everybody could come together.”

“It’s a wonderful idea,” said John Lebitsky, Class of 1979, who had not been in the school since his then-girlfriend and now-wife Carol (whom he met in Senior Hall) graduated in 1981. “I never thought I’d have the opportunity to walk through it again.”

Thousands of Mustangs roamed the halls (without a pass) and enjoyed reconnecting with former classmates, watching a slideshow in the auditorium featuring snapshots from 85 years of yearbooks, dancing in the gymnasium; and looking through the cafeteria filled with memorabilia like yearbooks, letter jackets, and prom dresses.

Dolly (DeRose) Parker Class of 1950 helped gather and organize the collection that ranged from the school’s first graduating class in 1926 to the final class of 2011.

“This is a mixture of the ’20s and the ’30s; a woman found it in her mother’s attic, said Parker, as she showed the “Arguenot” which appeared to be a quarterly magazine publication that culminated with the June yearbook addition. Today’s yearbook is the “Tiot.”

Parker is one of four generations in her family to graduate from Norwood High.

“My mother graduated in 1928, I graduated in 1950, my daughter graduated in 1978, and one of my granddaughters graduated in 2008 and the other in 2010, said Parker. Her son also graduated in 1972, and her husband Charlie was a Norwood High guidance counselor known for his crazy socks.

Rena Chappell and Larry Rubin both graduated in 1959. The couple was reunited at their 50th class reunion in 2009. It’s a nice little love story,” said Rubin.

“He had lost his wife, and I had lost my husband,” said Chappell. “And I had lost my Collie and I told my friends that, if I didn’t find a hairy man by the end of October, then I would get another dog. I went to the reunion on October 17, 2009 and there he was. He (Larry) is my ‘hairy dog.

Chappell had with her a keychain that her mother, Rena Frueh of the Class of 1936, received at a class reunion. She said she brought her mother to several class reunions before she passed away.

John Allen was the vice president of the Class of 1942 and has been planning reunions every five years since the class graduated.

“Today’s program was terrific,” said Allen who attended the evening event with his daughter Susan Allen ’74 and his son and neighborhood fixture, Dennis, who has cerebral palsy. “I met an awful lot of friends who traveled a long distance to get here.”

Allen, 88, recalled when he was a Norwood High student during World War II. The boys used to take shifts in the clock tower to watch for German planes. The problem, he said, was that a lot of boys would smoke up there and the smoke was thick. “They wouldn’t have seen a German plane if it was right in front of them.”

Allen lives across the street from the school and has watched the construction of the new Norwood High School.

“Every day I go up and watch them building the new school; it’s very fascinating the way they did it,” said Allen, noting the building is “green” construction and looks amazingly similar to the 1926 original.

“It’s still going to be Norwood High with the columns and the granite steps; it’s still going to look fabulous.”

The money raised during the Last Hurrah will go toward the building of a new concession and storage facility at the new high school’s athletic field.

Theresa Knapp/Wicked Local TRANSCRIPT BULLETIN

📚 Though the building is gone, the memories remain. Like, comment, and share this post on Facebook, in Norwood alumni groups, or with someone who still remembers the bell, the bricks, and the spirit.