Medina’s Class of 1963 celebrates 60th reunion

Photo courtesy of Richard Meade: The Class of 1963 at Medina High School celebrated its 60th reunion Saturday night at the Walsh Hotel. Twenty-one members and their guests attended.

MEDINA – Medina High School’s Class of 1963 celebrated their 60th class reunion Saturday night at the Walsh Hotel.

Georgia Thomas of Medina was organizer of the event, attended by 21 class members and their guests.

Two classmates who came the farthest were Ian Clark of Florida and Emee Richelson of New York City.

The Class of 1963 graduated 103, in addition to two foreign exchange students. Class officers were Bob Winters, president, who attended with his wife and classmate Marsha Page Winters; Ray Kozloski, vice president; Janis Warren, treasurer; and Helen Slack, secretary. Only Winters attended the 60th reunion.

The Winters dated all throughout high school, Thomas said.

The evening was special for two graduates, Bob Sanderson and Bill Blount, who have been best friends since fourth grade.

“When I moved to Medina, Bob was the first kid I met and we’ve been friends ever since,” Blount said. “We attended college together, opened a restaurant together, double dated and had cottages at the lake together.”

Photos by Ginny Kropf: (Left) Dawn Meland wears her late husband Harry Flatt’s class T-shirt at the Class of 1963 reunion Saturday night. On the back are the names of all the classmates. Flatt died in July. (Right) Bill Blount, left, and Bob Sanderson have been best friends since fourth grade. They enjoy each other’s company here at their 60th class reunion.

One guest who “crashed” the reunion was Dawn Meland of Medina. Meland, who graduated in 1966, was married to 1960 class member Harry Flatt.

“Harry died July 22 and I thought I’d stop in to just say hello and have a drink,” Meland said. “They asked me to stay, so I did.”

Meland was wearing Flatt’s class T-shirt with the names of all the graduates printed on the back.

Emee Richelson, who brought her brother John of Fairport said she’s been to the 25th and the 50th reunions and thought she’d attend this one because it was 60 years.

Sandy Howell Meade and Carole Schrader Watson had a great time sharing old memories of growing up in Millville.

Thomas announced that classmate Donna Green Grabowski had suggested they nominate deceased classmate Warren Blount to Medina High School’s Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. She urged all the classmates to join her in the nomination to honor Blount, who had a distinguished career in the military and medical field.

Blount served in Vietnam and received a Purple Heart, Navy Cross, Bronze Star and Naval Commendation Medal. He received a degree as a physician assistant and became a vascular surgeon’s assistant, helping with 6,000 open heart and transplant surgeries. He was an emergency physician at the Capitol Region Medical Center. Thomas said Blount went to work on a scooter, as he had lost a leg due to his injuries in Vietnam. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Thomas also informed the class she had collected enough donations to have a tree planted in the village in honor of the class, and possibly two.

While the class never had a reunion until its 25th, and then two since, they decided because they are all aging, they wanted to get together again next year. Sanderson volunteered to organize a get-together next summer.

The class has lost 45 members that they know of. Thomas said there were some for whom she had no contact information.