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Essex County Agricultural School & Essex County Home Making School (now Essex Agricultural & Technical High School)
Class Reunion Report September 16, 2000
Class Reunion September 16, 2000 for classes 1937 thru 1961
Held at Grill 93 Continental Function Room, River Road, Andover, MA 12 noon - 5:00 pm PROGRAM
Tour of school 9:30 am - 11:30 am Gustave Olson, Director/Narrator 12 noon - 1:00 pm - Social hour at Grill 1:30 pm - Class Picture 2:30 pm - Prayer by Stan (Sarge) Litchfield Dinner 4:30 pm - Awards/Special Gifts
Earliest Classmates - Barbara (Clark) Townsend - 1937
Attended Reunion 2000 NAME: Adams, Athalie J. CURRENT: Waye NAME: Bockus, Walter A. NAME: Burgess, Barbara Jean CURRENT: Sanborn NAME: Burgess, Mary E. CURRENT: Horgan NAME: Buxton, Donald R. NAME: Clark, Barbara CURRENT: Townsend NAME: Cogger, Paul NAME: Coleman, Alice E. (Young) CURRENT: Henning NAME: Conery, Daniel A. NAME: Cyr, Donald F. NAME: Demers, Lillian Ida CURRENT: Seaborne NAME: Demers, Robert A. NAME: DiGrazia, Denis V. NAME: DiGrazia, Joan CURRENT: Noyes NAME: Doucette, Alfred R. NAME: Douphinette, Barbara F. CURRENT: Pettipost NAME: Gaudet, Robert C. NAME: Gillis, Lawrence NAME: Grant, Robert M. NAME: Gray, Shirley CURRENT: Miller NAME: Horgan, Philip J. Jr. NAME: Jones, George P. III NAME: King, Roberta Mary CURRENT: Ladebush NAME: Krajewski, Barbara CURRENT: Richiuts NAME: Krajewski, Thomas J. NAME: LaBonte, Clarence Joseph NAME: Lendall, Barbara H. CURRENT: Fedas NAME: Libbey, James P. NAME: Litchfield, Stan NAME: Lombari, Carolyn Diane CURRENT: Byam NAME: Machiros, Chrysanthe CURRENT: Machiros NAME: Main, Charles M. NAME: Marcoux, Marguerite C. CURRENT: Annis NAME: Martineau, John E. NAME: McCann, Anthony (Tony) NAME: Melin, Carl F., Jr. NAME: Mosher, James NAME: Mullins, Mary F. CURRENT: Melin NAME: Palmer, Carol A. CURRENT: Wentworth NAME: Palmer, James A., Jr. NAME: Pennock, Mary Jane CURRENT: Day NAME: Perkins, Frederick NAME: Pettipost, Edward W. NAME: Pickard, Donna CURRENT: Pickard NAME: Pierga, Kazimierz NAME: Pike, Lorraine NAME: Sanborn, Barbara CURRENT: Churchill NAME: Sanborn, Carol S. CURRENT: D'urso NAME: Smith, Edward C.. Jr. NAME: Stevenson, Robert G., Jr. NAME: Stewart, Evelyn J. CURRENT: Levesque NAME: Viles, Sandra E. CURRENT: Krajewski NAME: Williams, Richard A. AGGIE TOUR The weather forecast for Saturday, September 16, 2000 was rather dismal. Friday evening we had showers and the temperatures were on the cool side. Surely we were not about to see our weeks of work get washed down the drain! As I climbed into my car and headed down to our 9:30 AM rendezvous at the Aggie I was thankful that at least the showers had stopped and the temperature had moderated. Maybe, just maybe, the day would be a dry one. As I arrived at the Aggie the overcast began to break up and the sun broke through. Somebody up there liked us! Gathered in the parking lot were about thirty of the Alumni from a broad range of classes. There to meet and greet us was Gustave "Gus" Olson, current Superintendent of the Essex Agricultural Institute. Gus welcomed us to the campus and invited us into the Administration Building for coffee and pastries. Some of us took the opportunity to take a peek into the auditorium. Not much had changed there. Even the old spotlight unit was still in the balcony. I do remember thinking however that the room had shrunk, just a bit, from my memory of it. Back in the teacher's lounge, what had once been the office of the Aggie Principal, Gus took us on a verbal tour of the history of the Aggie. Did you know that the school started off as college program that has continued to this day? It was news to me and a few others as well! Coming up to more recent times it is clear that the school has had to fight to maintain its role in the spectrum of educational opportunities available to High School students in the region. It's a fight that continues today and is not likely to go away soon. The Essex County government structure is now gone and presently the school is governed more or less directly by the State Department of Education. With everything else that is on that already overflowing plate Gus has his hands full maintaining the Aggie's identity. Twenty minutes or so later we were off on a walking tour of the campus. Much has changed, but many things remain the same. As Gus put it, gone is the school of "sows and plows". Today the students are doing things like raising tank reared fish for retail marketing. We got a tour of the Aquaculture building that the school built itself and while small in size it was very impressive. Where once cultured blueberries grew stands the James F. Gallant academic building. We didn't get to see the inside but it is an important part of today's campus. Still in place and going strong is the greenhouse and attached buildings. I didn't recall that the upper floor of that building housed a dormitory, now used for office space. Standing where the tennis court once was is a very well equipped classroom, library and computer laboratory building. Several of the classrooms are outfitted with some of the most sophisticated audio visual teaching tools to be found in any classroom today. About half of the Homemaking School buildings have been replaced with newer structures and all receive intensive usage for a variety of career paths. Happily most of the Maple trees still line the wall along the highway. Unhappily, traffic volume has reached such volume that two traffic lights are needed to make crossing the road something less than a suicide mission. The old farm stand is all closed up and unused at the present time, but it is still there. In the barn, where cows once stood, there are instead rabbit hutches and other small animal cages. Part of the veterinary assistant program. Likewise in the old milk testing laboratory. Here we found an interesting collection of iguana's, snakes, turtles and lizards. All part of the pet care and veterinary assistant programs. In the old metal shop Mr. Chase's forges are long gone replaced by building projects such as wood strip and canvas canoe building. The resulting crafts to be used in the Wildlife Management programs. Out where plows once toiled and carrots were grown is a very large paddock which houses an eclectic collection of riding and show horses. Not a draft animal to be found anywhere. Up where chickens once were housed we found instead an impressive collection of trees, shrubs and other ornamental plants, underscoring still further the changed face of Agriculture in Massachusetts today. Too soon our tour was over and it was off to Grill 93 in Andover to join up with the rest of the Alum. I would encourage those of you who didn't make the tour or who did not get to the reunion to take an hour or so to stop by at the school. Get out of your car and walk about. If you are like me you will probably like what you see. Yes it has changed. It had to to survive. But much of what we knew and loved remains. I'm betting that it will continue to survive because the programs that it offers to the kids today are unique to the Aggie. What a beautiful day it was! Prolog: Two weeks after the reunion it was my pleasure to deliver our greeting card, signed by all who attended the reunion, to Mr. James Francis Gallant at his residence at the Hunt Home. The home is located on the grounds of Hunt Memorial Hospital in Danvers just a short distance from the Aggie. Mr. Gallant moved there only within the last eighteen months or so because he has begun to have some problems with his balance and resulting falls from time to time. Considering that he celebrated his 96th birthday in December he is in remarkably good condition. I was amazed that he could recall so much detail about me and others in the class of 1958, despite the fact that he hasn't seen me nor heard from me in forty-two years. He was very touched that we had remembered him with our card and pleased to have received a lengthy letter from another of our classmates, Joe LaBonte. I would encourage any of you who are in the area to stop in and visit with Mr. Gallant. He would love to see you. My three-hour visit went by in a flash and I'm looking forward to a repeat visit in the near future. In similar fashion I would encourage any of Mrs. Maud's former students to stop in or write to her. I had a delightful conversation with her just prior to the reunion. She is ninety as I recall and as bright as a new button. George P. Jones, III DIRECTOR'S Addresses Mrs. Constance Maude Mr. James Gallant DEPARTED CLASSMATES Class - Name Some Thoughts from Alice Henning Once again, we had a wonderful day - the air cool & sunny, and so many classmates gathering for our combined Reunion 2000. Classes were represented from 1937 - 1961. Mr. Olson, Director of Essex Agricultural & Technical High School, gave a talk on the many changes the Aggie has gone through over the years. His assistants, Ted Novakowski & Glen Dagley, put out a display of "Aggie Memorabilia" dating back to 1914 when the school first opened. Very impressive and informative. So good to see so many familiar faces & have time to visit & reminisce over the past and catch up with each other's lives for a few brief hours. We became those teens of the 50's. We missed all who did not attend and hope to see you at our next reunion in 2003. Joe LaBonte "58" & Bob Stevenson "57" traveled the furthest from California (300+ miles both) accompanied by wives, Donna & Janet. Our couple married the longest - 50 years for Barbara (Dauphinette) & Edward Pettipost (both class of 1950). We had two ladies from the classes of 1937 & 1939 - Barbara (Clark) Townsend & Athalie (Adams) Waye. Our only 2 yr. p.g. student (class of 56) was Stan (Sarge) Litchfield & his wife Barbara. Stan is now a minister in Hollis, NH. With regret we add the name of John McCarthy (class of 1956) to our deceased list. Best wishes were sent out to Marge (Maynard) Miller (class of 56) for a complete recovery. Marge now lives in Spring Hill, Florida with husband, Dick. Mrs. Maud & Mr. Gallant were missed by all. Sorry they didn't feel up to attending. Our group class picture came out well and I have been able to identify all but 4 out of 53, that's not bad. Thanks again to all that attended, to those that worked so hard to make this day a success. Let's make the year 2003 even bigger & better. See you all then.
Alice Coleman Young Henning
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