July 23, 2010
Class of 1985
Facebook connections bring about elementary school reunion
Heather (Rutter) Walters, Amy (Rainey) Pritchett, Tara (Gruelich) Mikolon, Loan (Bui) Gordan, Valerie (Langen) Cissna and Michelle (Phillips) Poplick are members of the 1985 class at Holy Redeemer School in Evansville. They attended a class reunion that was organized on Facebook. Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Years ago, when Phyllis Bussing was teaching kindergarten at Holy Redeemer School in Evansville, she always sat behind her students during Mass.
A few weeks ago, she got to do something most teachers never do — relive that tender experience. This time it was different though because those kindergarteners are now adults with children of their own.
The reunion of the Class of 1985 came about thanks to connections made on Facebook. One of her students found her on that social internet site, “and once she found me, the others from that class became my friends on Facebook,” Bussing said.
The students and teacher began chatting and sending messages back and forth, and soon there was a discussion about having a class reunion. They recently gathered for Mass and dinner at Holy Redeemer. “Father Chris Forler introduced the class before Mass, and at the end of the Mass he said a special blessing for them,” Bussing said.
Maryann Webster, the principal at Holy Redeemer, gave the former students a tour of the school facilities, and then the group had dinner together. Bussing, along with their teachers Lynn Scheessele, Carol Will and Karen Seiler also attended the reunion as did Susie Bradley, the school secretary.
Classmate Heather Walters said her class had a “very strong bond together. We were with these kids for nine years.”
Many of the former students hadn’t been in their grade school since they graduated, Walters said. “It was as if we were in a time warp.” At one point during the reunion she said she “separated myself” from the activities and “went to the playground. I just went swinging on the swings. I can’t describe to you the feeling. It really was a reconnection” with childhood.
She discovered that “the way people were as children is the way they are as adults. The go-getters are still go-getters, and the shy, quiet ones are still shy and quiet. It was refreshing.”
The whole experience was “like a time warp. It was nice. It was really nice.”
Matt Raven said, “I wanted to get this reunion together a year or so ago, and finally when I moved back to Evansville from Hilton Head, I simply decided it was time to do it. And so the planning began. It was kind of a coincidence that it happens to be our twenty-fifth year since graduating.
“Facebook was a tremendous help in getting in touch with friends and finding several who I hadn’t seen in a long time. Facebook is a great way of networking, finding old friends, and keeping in touch with current ones. I was very pleased with the turnout.”
He said that “several classmates still live in the Evansville area, however we had people come from California, Arizona, Florida and Michigan to attend the reunion. A few of us have stayed in touch over the years, however some have not seen each other since our graduation 25 years ago.”
Beginning with Mass was a “great start for the reunion. It brought back great memories of attending Mass in the old Holy Redeemer church.”
After Mass, “we visited old classrooms, reminisced, and told stories from long ago as we walked the halls. So many great memories were immediately brought back to us as we walked past the cafeteria, the playground, the principal’s office, the church and all the classrooms. The desks, the lockers, everything seemed much smaller.”
The group — “15 classmates, four teachers and our longtime school secretary — then enjoyed a meal together. We even recognized the school janitor as he was there to lock things up. He was the same guy who was there over 25 years ago.”
Raven said, “Many friendships were rekindled and phone numbers exchanged. I am confident the next get-together for the Holy Redeemer class of 1985 will come much sooner than another 25 years. We are already planning the next one.”
Bussing said it was wonderful to see her kindergarten students again. “They were five years old” when she taught them. “Some had a certain look, and I recognized them right away. Others, I had to ask. They were little bitty five-year-olds, and now they were six foot four.
“It was fun to listen to them say, ‘I remember back in kindergarten this happened . . . ‘ Insignificant things to me, but significant things to them.”
When she was their teacher, she always sat behind them in church. During the reunion Mass, she found herself in the same spot — sitting behind them, looking at the back of their heads. “I had to fight back the tears in church,” she said. “It brought back so many memories of me with my students. I thought of how many times I looked at the backs of their heads.
“Now it’s 34 years later. I never thought I would be with them in church, and pray with them again. As a kindergarten teacher, they came to me as five-year-olds, and I had an impact on them about the Church, about how to go to church and pray.”
She said many students have contacted her on Facebook. “They can send me private messages on Facebook, and so many have thanked me. They will never know how much that means to me. It’s so touching.”
Of the reunion, she said, “Now most of them are taller than me. I tied their shoes, and I wiped their noses, and I held their hands at recess. You really do love your students.
“When they would leave at the end of the school year, I was so sad. This was so wonderful to see them.”
And of Facebook she says, “It opens so many doors.”