What began as a plan to celebrate the 60th reunion of the Wellington C. Mepham High School Class of 1966 has grown into something much bigger.
Class of 1966 alumni Bobbi Glenn and her husband, Bill Adams, have organized a combined high school reunion in Spring Hill, Florida, this October that is now open to graduates from every Mepham class. The RSVP deadline is Oct. 1.
The reunion will take place from Oct. 14 to 16, beginning with a meet-and-greet on Oct. 14. The following day, attendees will gather at Silverthorn Country Club for a formal event featuring a four-course meal, entertainment and a photo booth. The cost to attend this main event is $110. The reunion will conclude with a farewell breakfast at a nearby Cracker Barrel on Oct. 16. Hotel rooms have been blocked at the Holiday Inn Express in Spring Hill.
Glenn, who moved from Long Island to Florida in 1979, initially planned the event for her own graduating class after realizing no one in New York had stepped forward to organizing the milestone reunion.
She first reached out to members of the Class of 1966 before expanding the invitation to include the Classes of 1964, 1965 and 1967.
She decided to open the reunion to all Mepham alumni and the response continued to grow. Glenn said alumni from at least 12 different graduating classes expressed interest since she announced the combined reunion on Facebook.
For Glenn and Adams, however, the reunion is about more than planning an event.
Much of their time has been spent calling former classmates, some of whom they had not spoken with in decades. Those conversations have given them a chance to hear about the lives their former classmates built after leaving Mepham.
“When we call people, we get to hear their stories,” Glenn said.
She said the calls have introduced them to former classmates who became leaders in their respective fields.
“You just don’t know how people are going to end up,” Glenn said. “It’s been so rewarding hearing people’s stories.”
The calls have not all been easy. Adams said they have also learned that some former classmates have died or are unable to attend because of physical limitations.
Still, he said the conversations themselves have been meaningful.
“We spend hours in the afternoons and the evenings talking to the people we haven’t talked to in 30 to 40 years,” Adams said.
For Glenn, one of the most rewarding parts of organizing the reunion has been reconnecting with people who may otherwise have remained isolated. She recalled calling a former classmate who had lost her husband. The woman told Glenn that the phone call was the reason she decided to attend the reunion.
Glenn said stories like that have made the planning worthwhile.
“We love making people happy,” she said.
Barbara Marklin, a member of the Class of 1966 and the class representative for its Facebook group, had organized previous reunions but was unable to take on this year’s event. Marklin said she had been waiting for someone to step forward to organize the 60th reunion when Glenn and Adams decided to run it.
Previous reunions required extensive planning, often beginning at least a year in advance, Marklin said. Still, she said the opportunity to reconnect is worth the effort.
“It’s a close-knit community,” she said of Mepham alumni. “People have your back.”
For Marklin, who remembers participating in sports, cheerleading, kick line and choir during her time at Mepham, the most lasting part of high school was the camaraderie.
“I am going to enjoy every minute of it,” Marklin said of the reunion.
For Glenn, Mepham holds a special personal place in her life. She met Adams when they were in second grade, although they did not begin their relationship until after reconnecting at the 35th reunion.
“We connected and eventually moved down here, and we got married a few years later,” Glenn said. “We met in second grade, so it’s a little romance story.”
Now, decades after graduating, Glenn and Adams are hoping to give their former classmates another opportunity to reconnect while welcoming generations of Mepham graduates who never would have been part of the original celebration.
Adams said he is particularly interested in hearing from alumni who attended Mepham during different eras and learning how their experiences compared.
“It was just interesting to hear how the school has changed and the culture has changed and things like that,” he said. “It’s just kind of neat.”
That may be exactly what this combined reunion is about: not just remembering who the alumni were but discovering who they became. For more information about the reunion and to RSVP, contact Bobbi Glenn at (352) 346-3635.
