50^th Reunion Activities for HFHS Class of '57 By: Gerry Ward, Palma Ciarocchi Freestone, Barbara Barrett
T	his year the HFHS Class of 1957 celebrated its 50th anniversary with not one, but four different events! The first was the 50th Class Reunion held in April. Remarkably, through the determined efforts of Eleanor Martinez Baker, Barbara Barrett, and our class coordinator, Gerry Ward, all but one of our classmates were located!
The Reunion festivities began with a "Casual Friday Night Party" held at the Golden Key Hotel in Glendale.  Judy Mack cooked a great Italian dinner for all of us.  Gerry Ward and Charlene Guy created an entertaining and very funny skit that revealed all of the "scandalous" secrets of the Class of '57.  Time stood still and then reversed itself. It was as though we had just graduated!  The next day, Saturday, 42 members of our class attended a luncheon at the Tam O"Shanter restaurant.  Many thanks to Palma Ciarocchi Freestone, who chaired the lunch and the agenda; to Eleanor Martinez Baker who arranged for individual video taped interviews for each person; to Mary Martin Suarez for the flowers given to each attendee, and to the many classmates who contributed their talents to make it so enjoyable. Even more special were the CD pictures and videos Eleanor later mailed to every attendee! When we went our individual ways in April, we made plans to see one another again next year never suspecting that the opportunity would come much sooner. In June, about 15 of our classmates attended the HFHS 2007 graduation ceremonies. As we watch this new generation of young women walk up the church aisle to receive a diploma, so many memories came flooding back, reminding us of the day we also stepped forth into the world. All the attendees were honored with a Golden Diploma and a lovely brunch.  Our class had such fun talking that we barely noticed everyone else had left and they were folding the table and chairs around us. We gathered up our Golden Diploma mementos and spent the rest of the afternoon laughing and exchanging wonderful memories at Marie Calender's Restaurant. Then August presented another opportunity to get together. This time to support one of our classmates, Charlene Guy, who is an accomplished and well known artist.  For 20 years she has displayed her art at the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach.  Being the fun class that we are, we met Charlene at the Festival. The attendees from Glendale awesomely arrived in a stretch limo!  About 18 of us then rode the Laguna Beach Tram and walked to Main Street Beach where we lunched at Clae's Restaurant overlooking the ocean. Each of these events was a memorable experience and through them we rediscovered that we are a class of spirit, and talent, but most of all, we rediscovered and deepened our appreciation for each other.  We are truly grateful to the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary for helping us to move forward toward become loving and caring women. One of our classmates, Betsy Stopper, was not able to attend the Class Reunion in April, so, of course, we held a mini reunion for her when she came to town in September.  It was back to the Tam O"Shanter for about 20 of us where we spent another afternoon visiting and exchanging stories.