You may call it an open field on a lonely country road.

We called it . . .  the Ocean.

You might call it trespassing.

We called it . . . going to the Ocean.

You might call it "parking".

We called it . . . another great memory from the Ocean.

It was the summer of 76 when I was first introduced to "the ocean"!  We were cruisin town looking for something to do when it HIT....Party at the Ocean!!!!  Wow, where is this place I wondered and soon found out!  It was a huge field that held what seemed like a 100 people or more......people pulling out kegs from their trunks, guys trying to tune in music on thier radios or 8-track players loud enough to be heard a mile away.....folks smoking funny things and passing it around!  I thought it was THE BEST!!!!  It was a ritualistic place for parties, and I sure have many fond memories of that place!!!  I have often wondered WHO named it "the ocean".....but have since figured that it must have been named in the 60's when the hallucinogenics played an important role in the life of teens!!!  LOL  Either way, the ocean will always be legendary in my mind.....and I'll bet I'm not alone on that!!!

This was one of the most exciting and scariest time of our lives.  Here we all are GRADUATING!!  For 12 years or if you want to count kindergarten, 13 years we were in our safe little world in Imlay City. I didn't realize it at the time living in Imlay City my whole school life, but there was a big world out there and I was scared leaving our secured little world.

Our class was always having fun.  Pulling pranks like;  remember the V bug  in the center of the school.  How did that get there?  Remember when we tried to sell the school with over 100 For Sale signs on the front lawn. Remember Steve Hill, what a prankster, God Love Him putting a M80 firecracker in the boys bathroom toilet and flooding the halls.  What about our great Sit Down Strike and we held all the chalkboard erasers for ransom.  I can't even remember why we had that strike.  Can You?  My favorite was during the winter doing doughnuts in the parking lot.

So when my parents gave me a choice of having an " Open House" for Graduation or inviting the whole class to our farm for a "Graduation Party /Overniter".  It was not a tough choice.

So graduation day we were getting ready for the biggest change in our lives and also the biggest party in the county.  Everybody brought their tents and sleeping bags and coolers and got all set up at the farm.

My father and Chuck Gass's father were very good friends thru the years.  They promised me that they would stay in the house during the party only coming outside if needed.

Oh My Gosh.  That night was so exciting.  What I remember the most is all the people that came to the party.  My father and Chuck's father were directing traffic all night long.  There were people from Lapeer, Almont, Attica, Dryden, the whole county.  I remember the trampoline we had, we tried to see how many people we could get on at one time.  The line of girls at the "Out House".  It was easier doing like the guys always did.  But us girls just found a bumper to hang onto.  That night was amazing. 

The next morning it was like a turn in our lives, after the last tent was pack up and I looked out at the empty field that had been my back yard for my whole childhood I realized we now have to become adults.

My parents were really cool to let us have our last big bang at the farm.  I hope whoever reads this and was able to make the party had a great time too.

The reunion planning committee sent invitations for our reunion to all of our teachers.  As a result, you've probably noticed a number of questionnaires on this website that were posted by them.  We (specifically, Joellyn) received the following very sweet letter from Mrs. Wilson.  (Incidentally, we returned to her the $25 check she sent along with a promise to get her a class picture).

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Dear Joellyn Guthrie,

Thank you so much for your gracious invitation to the Imlay City 1979 Class Reunion!  You class graduation would have been 4 years before I retired after 15 years teaching English in Imlay City and 30 years which I began in Grand Blanc!  (I taught in Almont 5 years before I came to Imlay).  My sister Ada Van Dyke was a counselor in Imlay.

I'm sorry that my health situation will not permit me to join you at 92 years of age!  I'd love to see a picture of your group with names!  I hope the $25 enclosure might help provide a picture.

May God bless your reunion!

Sincerely,

Joy Wilson

As a part of this year's celebration of 30 years since our graduation, let's take time to remember our dear, departed classmates.

They will forever be a part of us, the Imlay City High School Class of 1979.

Pat Berg

Roxanne Gould

Jane Penzien

Richard Quintana

Eddie Ramirez

Don Rathjen

Cindy Rohmer

John Walker

Randy Weyer

So many memories - short but sweet!  Feel free to add to these!

*  Linda Yonkman kissed a lightbulb in the barn loft while playing "Truth or Dare", and burned her lips....

*  Joellyn McLean's cantankerous pony stopped dead in her tracks, and I flew over her head into a big mucky puddle...  Oh, and Joellyn named a cow "OCTAVIA". 

*  Lisa Grosskopf washed her hair in a bidet in Austria.

*  Beth Harris (and I) stood on the balcony and threw little unidentified things that were in Austrian ice cream at people.  Those things were currants, I think.  Gross then, gross now.

*  Remember all the real estate For Sale signs that were placed in the front of the high school?  The guilty parties know who they were....

*  Sarah Brooks got busted passing notes to me in the library in Ma Bendle's class - using the Greek alphabet!  Boy, did we get in trouble...  And Mr. Swayze confiscated one of the notes and took it to the front of the class to read it aloud.  Boy was he surprised when it was all Greek to him!

*  David Mentor hid stolen road signs in his locker at school.  GASP!!!

*  I fell out of an apple tree at John Dockham's house and landed in a cow pie - before school.  The trauma lasts, even though this was when we were in kindergarten or thereabouts.

*  Char Dotson put a dirty diaper in someone's mailbox once...

*  Jim Brousseau can burp the alphabet!

*  Anne Mason is probably still a closet Trekkie - I know I am!

*  I will never forget that John Dickinson wrote the Articles of Confederation - because it was a quiz question that I didn't know, and Sarah Brooks stage whispered the answer to me in Tibor's class.  Yes, of course, everyone in the whole room knew that answer...

*  Al Gebra???  Does anyone know where Al is?  Last seen hanging out with Tim Smith...