Partly Nonsense

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN JOEL KLAASSEN
I caught a little of the KSU-Texas game on the tube Saturday night. A couple of Kansas State students were very creative with their “Bevo. It’s What’s for Dinner” sign. It cracked me up, but maybe it jinxed the Wildcats and the outcome.

I think I previously mentioned in this column that we need to be thinking of things to keep Hillsboro growing.

The more I think about it, the more I feel we need to develop an all-school reunion not every third or fifth year, but every year.

Here are my reasons why, and some of my thoughts:

(1) Every year classes have a 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th and 60th anniversary of their graduation from dear old Hillsboro High. Some classes take initiative to organize and put a reunion together, but some have never had a reunion.

(2) The Hillsboro Convention and Visitors Bureau, which organized the first all-class reunion in 2002, has compiled a mailing list with as many classes as possible, thanks to the hard work of John O. Dalke. The first gathering was well attended and everyone had a great time as far as I could tell.

These lists grow old very quickly and it would be much easier to keep them current if they are updated each year. With e-mail it would be possible to keep in contact quickly and economically.

(3) The people most likely to come back and set up a business or retire here would be Hillsboro High School graduates. They already know what it is like to live here and already have friends and former classmates in the area. I know if they haven’t been here for a while they would like what they see.

We moved back to Hillsboro 25 years ago this year after vowing right out of school that we would never live here again.

It’s amazing how your outlook changes when you have children starting school and you want the best for them. Making the choice between waiting for the bus on the city street each day or living somewhere where the kids can ride their bikes to school each day wasn’t hard to make.

(4) With fast Internet, many businesses that exist now could locate anywhere-including Hillsboro. I am sure many other opportunities exist here that those of us who live here might not see. The outside perspective from someone with a Hillsboro background would have potential for something grand.

(5) I would suggest scheduling the event on Memorial Day weekend to coincide with the ever-growing Hillsboro Family Festival to make it even more successful and guarantee a crowd.

The all-school reunion would be a great project for the CVB. If anyone out there agrees with me, I would like to know. The details can come later.

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