The final 50th

The memories kept bubbling out.
“Has he ever come to a reunion?”
“I can’t believe we won a game!”
“I didn’t know we had cross country and track.”
And then there were those class jackets.
Members of the last graduating class of Gov. I. P. Gray School gathered Saturday to look through memorabilia at the Jay County Historical Society’s museum, sort through memories and reflect on their years together.
And the class jackets? They were pretty ugly.
The graduating class of 1965 numbered just 15, and only three of them were girls. So the boys’ taste dominated, and it’s still a point for teasing after 50 years.
“You’ve heard of the book ‘Fifty Shades of Gray’? We’re 50 years after Gray,” said John Todd of the class of ’65.
Historical society volunteer Dave Frasher had made a special effort to gather up items related to the school’s 53 years for the class celebrating what was the final 50th reunion in Gray’s history.
On Saturday, alumni browsed through countless yearbooks, old photos, cheerleader outfits, school histories and newspaper clippings.
Outside, a 1953 Ford sedan from the collection of Ron Stauffer (Gray 1958) was on display, with a Gray Redbirds license plate from Frasher’s collection affixed to the front.
Named after Indiana governor Isaac Pusey Gray, the first through 12th grade school at New Mount Pleasant in Jay County’s Jefferson Township went through a lot of teasing over the decades. How could it not with a name like I.P. Gray? The jokes were too obvious.
But they never seemed to bother the students who went there.
With consolidation in 1964, Gray’s student body began to diminish. Boundaries were changed, and some students — like Gerald Funk — found themselves suddenly attending Portland High School, separated from kids he’d gone to school with for nine years.
Funk finished his high school education at PHS, but he’s considered an honorary member of Gray’s class of ’65 and attended Saturday’s reunion with his classmates. (He’ll also attend his PHS 50th reunion this weekend.)
Also on hand Saturday were Randall Bush, Charles Clear, Earl Evans, Randy Heston, Linda (Krieg) Leonhard, Ingrid (Rathbun) Saxman, Bruce Rust, Vern Saxman, and John Todd. Three classmates — Leroy McGinnis, Tom Herman, and Richard White — were unable to attend. Three classmates of the original 15 are deceased: Carol Fisher, Charles Booth, and Karen Retter.