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Thursday, October 5, 2006
In These Otsego Hills
By CATHE ELLSWORTH
Over the years we have had a number of Cooperstown Central School classes ask us to mention an upcoming class reunion or make note of a reunion after it has been held. However, we do not recall a class ever asking us to mention in this column something about their senior class trip to Washington, until now.
In their senior year, the CCS Class of 1960 was not permitted to go on a senior class trip to Washington due to some difficulty with a previous class trip. In fact, if we remember correctly, there were several classes which did not take senior class trips to Washington. However, the Class of 1960 decided to rectify this missing part of their youth and finally took its class trip to Washington, D.C. this past September. We are happy to say that all reports indicate a good time was had by all.
Classmates on the trip included Sandy Heller Thorne, joined by her husband Marshall, Gale Barkman Lindroth, David St. John, joined by his wife Delaine, Mary Anne DeGillio Phillips, joined by her husband David, Barbara Green, Fran Butler Hazelton, Colleen Johns Mistretta, Ken Wick, Frank Kukenberger, joined by his wife Ruth, Carl Gus, joined by his wife Marty, Lois Staffin Kellas, Kathi Yule, Rosemary Washburn Rogers, joined by her husband Don, Reg Higgins, joined by his wife Dawn, as well as friends of the class Bernice Daley, Jean Ballard and Lynne Miller. The class notes that kudos should go to Barbara Green for all of her hard work in coordinating the trip.
Halroy Slover, who lives in Fairfax, Va., joined the class for dinner one night at Phillips Flagship Restaurant on the Potomac in Washington, D.C. And while most of the trip participants traveled to Washington by bus from Albany, three class members, Ken Wick (Arizona), Kathi Yule (Florida) and MaryAnne and David Phillips (New York City) joined the group in Washington, D.C. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed seeing the other members of the class.
As is the case with all senior trips, there was a lot of sightseeing including Ford's Theatre, the FBI Building, the Capitol Building, Pentagon City, the Vice President's residence, the National Cathedral, the Kennedy Center, the Watergate Complex, Georgetown, Chinatown, Old Alexandria, Va., Mt. Vernon, the FDR, WW II, Vietnam, Korean, and Lincoln Memorials, the White House, Arlington Cemetery and the Smithsonian, as well as an Illumination Tour of Washington. The class even stopped on the way home to take in the Baltimore waterfront which we do believe still is, or at least was, a stop on a number of Cooperstown senior class trips.
It was reported that the weather was wonderful and the class was in awe of all the sights, particularly the familiar ones that are so often seen in the newspapers and on television. In some ways, we were told, class members thought they got much more out of the trip now than they might have when they were high school seniors. And, of course, we hasten to note that some of the things which they saw would not have been in Washington when they actually were seniors in high school. And, evidently, given the hectic pace of the sightseeing, there was no problem in getting the class to turn in each night at a reasonable hour. In fact, we understand that the each evening class members were exhausted and couldn't wait to get to their rooms in order to rest up for the rigors of the next day.
While talking about the trip, special note was made of the fact that while visiting the National Air and Space Museum, class members saw the Mackay Trophy, which is awarded each year for "the most meritorious flight of the year" by an Air Force person, persons or organization. In 1976, this award was given to Jim Yule, younger brother of Kathi Yule, "For gallantry and unusual presence of mind while participating in a flight as an instructor pilot of a B-52D aircraft." Jim graduated from CCS in 1964. After his graduation from Oswego State in 1968, he joined the Air Force, serving three tours of duty in Vietnam. Class members were pleased that they had the opportunity to see the trophy since it had been awarded in 1976 to a fellow Cooperstown alum.
In closing, we would like to thank the Class of 1960 for sharing the news of their senior class trip with us. We are glad that they were finally able to journey to Washington, D.C. to take in that which they missed some 46 years ago.
We remain,
In these Otsego hills,
The Ellsworths
The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.
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