By MATTHEW MEYER | Reporter
More than 100 members of Palisades Charter High School’s Class of 1967 gathered last weekend to reconnect and swap memories some 50 years after they crossed the graduation stage and stepped into the real world.
In five decades they’ve strayed both near and far. Some reunion-goers traveled all the way from India or the Netherlands, while others, like former class president Rand Marlis, stayed right here on the Westside.
Now a Brentwood resident, Marlis has organized a reunion for the Class of ’67 every 10 years since graduation.
“Class president turned out to be a lifetime job,” he told the Palisadian-Post with a laugh.
The half-centennial celebration took more than a year to organize, with a committee of about a dozen former students splitting up a list of 700 classmates to extend invites.
It was a “virtual committee” made up of both California residents and out-of-state classmates—“a testament to the virtual world we live in,” Marlis said.
One of the out-of-state organizers was Mary Lee Gowland, who now lives in Texas.
She was excited to reconnect with old friends, especially
members of the “Duprees,” a
YWCA-sponsored service club where she was active as a teen.
She also sought answers to a burning question: “I want to know if the guys have hair,” she told
the Post.
The 50-year celebration was held at Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica, the sight of the former Sand and Sea Club where Gowland worked between 1977 and 1990.
The reunion featured music, catered food, a memorabilia area and a display in memory of classmates who have passed away.
Beyond that, there was little needed in the way of organized activities.
“We really just want to allow people to get together and catch up,” Marlis explained.
And that appeared to be the right call: After 50 years apart, these Pali High grads were chatting deep into the night.
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