Ginter Park Elementary class of ‘49 holds reunion

RICHMOND, VA -- They leafed through yellowed photographs of smiling children with retro hairstyles and read over decades-old cotillion invitations.

Chatter drifted from the importance of penmanship tests -- and how little boys used to dip the ponytails of little girls sitting in front of them into their ink wells -- to the classroom competitions held to collect newspapers and magazines for wartime efforts.

The sixth-grade Class of'49 from Richmond's Ginter Park Elementary recalled these things yesterday as a group of its members gathered at the Hill City Chop House restaurant in northern Henrico County.

They started organizing two years ago, said classmate Lynn Sims, and get together on a regular basis.

While reunions are typically planned for high school graduating classes, the sixth grade at Ginter Park was special, Sims said. It was the last year this group was together before splintering off to Chandler or some other middle school, and then onto John Marshall or Thomas Jefferson high schools.

With about 30 people in the class that year, "it was a tighter group," Sims said.

In those days, students graduated in two classes, one in February and another in June. Most of the students that get together are part of the February class, though a few from the summer group also keep in touch.

Pat Parrish Daniels was part of the February class and said some former classmates were a little unsure about getting back together.

"At first some of the reactions were, 'I haven't seen you in 60 years, what do we have in common?'" she said. "But then we got back together [and] we started talking about this teacher or that teacher."

"It just brought back so many pleasant memories," Daniels said.

June graduate Warren Malone opened a scrapbook that contained pictures of their administrators, his homeroom cards, paper book jackets for his textbooks, American Junior Red Cross pamphlets, information about yo-yo competitions, and even an unused wooden ink pen -- the kind with the silver point that requires an ink well.

Back in those days, he said, everyone grew up together, knew each other's parents and attended neighborhood parties and cotillions.

Unlike some of today's youth, he said, students took care of each other like family.

"Nobody worried about anything," he said. "It was peaceful."

Roberta Tyler Rock was a member of the February class. She remembered a secret girl's club with her friends from the neighborhood and playing tackle football with neighborhood boys. It was the only time girls could wear jeans, because skirts and dresses were required for school.

Rock also remembered hanging out at a local drug store after school, drinking sodas and socializing.

"We were a very, very close class," she said.

"We came up right after World War II. We loved our country, and a lot of the guys went into the service and served and that had a big effect on us," she said. "I'm glad we've gotten back together. It's amazing how we can be apart for . . . 60 years and get together and be friends again."

Contact Holly Prestidge at (804) 649-6945 or .