Crawfordsville alum group holds 100th, and final, meeting

WASHINGTON — A modest crowd gathered at the Washington Pizza Ranch Saturday afternoon, for the bittersweet 100th and final annual reunion of former Crawfordsville High School students, all of whom attended the small institution before its closure in 1961 and subsequent consolidation into WACO schools.

After a brief meeting where attendees reviewed last year’s minutes, discussed the club’s modest financials, commemorated a handful of deceased classmates, and sang the high school’s cheer chant, the assembled alums enjoyed the offerings of Pizza Ranch’s buffet.

The sizable crowd and group meal were a welcome return to tradition for the former students, after the alumni association held smaller gatherings in the last several years due to low attendance.

“I didn’t have perfect attendance, but I’ve been to many of them, I was on the committee for several years,” said Ruth (Davis) Erwin, a graduate of Crawfordsville’s Class of 1950. “It’s so good to see a good crowd here today, and see so much interest … We used to do a banquet, a meal, you see, but we hadn’t done it for years.”

Members said the association’s remaining funds — about $2,225 before paying for Saturday’s meal — would be donated to WACO elementary in Crawfordsville. The group’s collection of memorabilia — including yearbooks and old photos of the buildings — will be preserved at the Crawfordsville Fire Station, according to committee members, who said the Washington County Historical Society turned down an offer for the items.

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“I think it should be left with the school, because that’s who we’re representing,” said Alumni Committee Chair Gerri Farrier.

While hard to say goodbye to the annual get-togethers, Farrier said the club faced declining participation, and increasingly difficult efforts to organize events.

“Our little committee has decided that this is time,” she said. “We’re all getting older, people are passing away, and nobody really wants to carry on with it, so we have decided this will be our last banquet, sad as it may be.”

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Some attendees to Saturday’s banquet came largely because it was the last one, including Kenny Thomas, a former student at the school who attended Olds for his senior year, after Crawfordsville’s doors closed.

And despite the decades since then, he and other alumni in the same boat said they remained agitated about the decision to consolidate with other districts. The move was quite contentious at the time.

“What bothers me is the fact that they closed Crawfordsvile,” Thomas said. “That still haunts me! … we started at Crawfordsville, and spent as much time there as anybody else, because we were the first Kindergarten class.”

Others have been regulars at the annual reunions for years, and said they’d miss the tradition dearly.

“It just doesn’t seem like it’s been 68 years,” said Pauline Grosscup-Brown, a member of the Crawfordsville Class of ‘57. “I guess I just don’t feel as old as I am. There’s a lot that changes.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com