SEQUIM — Sequim High School pulled out all the stops Thursday to raucously celebrate its first 100 years.
The centennial assembly drew hundreds of alumni and current students to the school to take part in a party-like atmosphere filled with songs and speeches, honoring those among the graduating classes of long ago.
It was a celebration of the first year, 100 years ago, that Sequim had a ninth-grade class — and every year since.
Naturally, it was a time to reflect on the past and look to the future.
“This is how we did mathematical equations before there was the advent of the calculator,” said Dave Blake, class of 1966, holding up a slide rule while wearing his old, “tighter” letterman’s sweater.
Blake, who came back to Sequim after college to go into business, said some things haven’t changed.
“Homework is still a pain in the butt,” he said, drawing laughs.
He said when he conducted research in high school, it was using an encyclopedia, not a computer.
“I am unsure if they even exist anymore,” he said of volumes of reference books.
He recalled the 1960s, when gas was 25 cents a gallon, young people worked on farms for $10 to $12 a day, and anyone who wanted to call home found a phone booth instead of grabbing a cell phone.
It was a day that honored the school’s alumni, including 89-year-old Cliff Vining, a member of the class of 1939, who received the longevity award as the oldest graduate.
Also honored was Dick Bekkevar, class of 1941, as the school’s oldest member of Future Farmers of America.
His granddaughter, Megan, who is carrying on the farm family’s FFA tradition, tearfully presented the award to her grandfather, who returned the emotion with a loving smile and a warm embrace.
Also honored was English teacher Linda Crowley, who has taught at the high school for 36 years. She was thanked for her dedication.
“Fan of the Century” went to Myron Tetenrud, class of 1960, who has rooted for the Wolves sine 1950, he said.
Amanda Bacon, class of 1998, belted out a song, “One Moment in Time,” to huge cheers from the stands.
Also entertaining was the high school Percussion Trash Can Band, playing “Lids” and seriously beating aluminum garbage cans like there was no tomorrow.
Longtime teacher Larry Hill joked that he recalled a time when “twitter and tweet was how the birds communicated.”
Sequim senior and student body officer Audrey Lichten, who organized the event, said she was happy with it.
Thursday’s events, which included a high school library reception with historic exhibits for alumni to peruse and remember, ended with a dinner put on by the FFA and boys and girls basketball games against Port Angeles.
The boys team members demonstrated their best shots, hitting the gym floor for a brief time.
A large exhibition of historic photos, many of them alumni-donated and others provided through the Museum & Arts Center of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley, were on display.
A video was also presented, produced by Sequim seniors David Richards and Harrison Mitchell in Charles Kleinberg’s multimedia class, in which several alumni dating back to before the 1940s were interviewed.
They talked about “freshmen initiations” in which boys were made to dress like girls, even being swatted by seniors.
The Stuart Marcy band, with the computer science teacher backed up by other teachers and wearing a wig and strutting like Mick Jagger, put on a final garage band performance of “Eye of the Tiger.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
