Banquet honors alumni from 1932 to 2012

The 76th Odessa High School alumni banquet held last Saturday evening boasted one person celebrating her 80th high school reunion, while the class of 2012 also had one representative attending his first reunion. OHS graduate Austin Schmierer (2012) was on hand to accept his Alumni Association scholarship and Helen (Hopp) Wolf (class of 1932) was also present, bringing her 1932 high school yearbook with her. Therefore, for the first time in many years, someone other than Ed Kern (class of 1935) won the prize for oldest alum at the banquet.

Prize winners

Donated prizes went also to the farthest traveled alum (Marianne Knoell Saltz of Alaska), the longest married OHS alums (Marvin and Marilyn Fink, 60 years) and the alum with the most grandchildren (Lois Ott Iksic with 18).

The classes of 1952 and 1962 had the largest groups of returning alumni at the banquet. All the groups certainly appeared to be enjoying their time together.

Dinner

The dinner was catered by the OHS chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), with parents and other volunteers doing the cooking and chapter members handling the serving duties. A meal of roast pork loin, garlic mashed potatoes, carrots, strawberry-spinach salad and dessert was served.

Business meeting

The members of the class of 2002, celebrating their 10-year reunion, were in charge of the Alumni Association’s banquet planning efforts. After dinner, they also conducted the annual business meeting of the association, led by Matthew Kagele, president, Tyler Smith, vice president and Kelsey Buscher, secretary. Kagele was emcee for the event, and another Odessa grad, Justin Parr, operated the sound booth.

Honored classes

The honored classes now total six, since motions were made last year to include the 60-year and 40-year alumni. The groups gathered both before and after the banquet to get caught up with each other’s lives.

Tiger memorabilia

Several sets of old Tiger sports uniforms and warm-up gear were on display and could be purchased for a donation to the Associated Student Body at Odessa High School. Some alums remembered their numbers from the various sports teams and tried to find a uniform with “their” number. Others had to look up the numbers in issues of the annual yearbook that several attendees had brought along to the banquet.

Alumni Assoc. Scholarships

Besides Austin Schmierer, the other two winners of scholarships were graduating senior Kolby Crossley and Hailey Williams.