A 50th-anniversary Homecoming in West Hempstead

West Hempstead High School’s band in 1965.

Courtsy Cheryl Benton

Yesh Ballon in a photo he took of himself while he was in high school. “I couldn’t even get the editors of the yearbook to put this self-portrait in,” he said.

Courtesy Yesh Ballon

Linda Olsen Roberts, who was a cheerleader at West Hempstead High, in 1965.

Courtesy Yesh Ballon

Randee Antzis, who became better known as the actress Randee Heller, with classmate Tommy Blair in 1965. Heller appeared “Karate Kid” and “Monster-In-Law,” and played Don Draper’s elderly secretary, Ida Blankenship, in “Mad Men.”

Courtesy Yesh Ballon

• 
• 
• 
• 

Five years ago, when the West Hempstead High School class of 1965 got together for a reunion, the majority of the attendees hadn’t seen one other in 45 years. But friendships rekindled so easily, and the evening passed so quickly, that the decades that had slipped away seemed like no time at all.

So, as the class’s 50th anniversary approached, taking part was a no-brainer for Yesh “Doug” Ballon, who was president of the school band in 1965. “If I was going to regret something, I was definitely going to regret missing that,” said Ballon, who lives in Palo Alto, Calif., but is looking forward to reuniting with the nearly 100 classmates who are expected to attend.

A designated planner of the event, Ballon started looking around the West Hempstead school district website, and much to his delight, discovered that the high school’s Homecoming was scheduled the same day as the reunion. “I called them and said, ‘We have a bunch of folks coming in for our 50th reunion. Can we come visit the school?’ They said, ‘Absolutely! Be in the parade! Come to the football game!’”

So, Ballon is helping to orchestrate a special alumni march in the Homecoming parade (and will don his band cap once more). Though plans were still in the works as of last week, thus far the alumni march will include musical instruments — look for the kazoos — and a dance routine performed by women who used to be members of the Ramettes, a school dance team. One member of the class will also be bringing a 1991 Jaguar convertible to the parade and escorting Ram, the school mascot.

After the Homecoming festivities, the class of ’65 will gather at the Allegria Hotel in Long Beach for its official reunion party. “It’s going to be so much fun — a lot of our class are staying at the Allegria,” said alum Cheryl Benton, a coordinator of the party. “We all spent our summers at Long Beach when we were in high school, and even had our senior prom in that area. It’s very nostalgic for us to do the reunion there.”

Several teachers will also be joining in the festivities, including Edda Perfetti, who was a class adviser, and Mr. Weishaus, who was a social studies teacher. “They were nearly finished with college when they began teaching at West Hempstead High School,” said Benton, “so they’re only a few years older than us.”

In addition to the parade and the party, one thing Ballon would like to do before returning to California, he said, is play a game of stickball at the Marion Delaney school. “We used to cut off our mothers’ broom handles and play stickball there,” he recalled. “Our moms weren’t too happy about that. But to play one more stickball game at Marian Delaney — now that would be something.”

Members of the class who are interested in taking part in the celebration can contact reunion organizers through their Facebook page, West Hempstead High School class of 1965.