Neighbors

After 30 years, Seaford class of 1986 reunites

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Tracy Welsch Padavan, 48, is a lifelong Seaford resident. Her daughter, Jillian, now walks the same high school halls that she did before her graduation 30 years ago. 

“A lot of people do not leave Seaford,” she explained. “I do have many classmates who live in Seaford and the surrounding area because we really appreciate all that our little town has to offer.”

But other members of the Seaford High School class of 1986 did move away to states like Florida, Connecticut, North Carolina and Nevada. To bring everyone together and back home, Padavan and Carolyn Hefferen Williams organized a Seaford-themed reunion. 

Padavan and Williams, the class president, organized the reunion through social media. The two-day event included a local history lesson, a look at the current state of Seaford High and plenty of promises to stay in touch in the future. 

The festivities began with an informal dinner at Runyon’s, on Merrick Road, on Oct. 1. The next day, about 50 people met at the Seaford Historical Museum to check out the recently renovated building and listen to Judy and Stephen Bongiovi speak about the area’s history. 

“Mr. Bongiovi was one of our favorite teachers,” Padavan said of Stephen, a retired member of the Seaford High faculty, “and [the museum] is the heart of our town and its history. We all believe how fortunate we were to grow up in a town like Seaford.”

After visiting the museum, the class of 1986 stepped into the future on a tour of Seaford High. Thomas Fioriglio — a member of the class who is now known as Mr. Figs, a social studies teacher at the school — and Padavan’s daughter, Jillian, gave the group a tour of the building and its newer amenities, including the music wing, the athletes’ and coaches’ hall of fame and the 9/11 memorial. 

Later that evening, about 100 people gathered at the Seaford American Legion for a reunion party. Padavan noted that they had the chance to dance and listen to music, pay their respects to nine deceased classmates at a memorial the organizers constructed, peruse the yearbook, watch a slideshow composed of old photographs and simply catch up with their fellow Vikings.  

“We were always a very tight-knit group, but we reconnected in a new, closer way,” she said. “Time was not really an issue. We made beautiful memories that will be cherished until our next reunion.”