Members of my Northeast Hamilton Community High School Class of 1966 are making plans for a 60th class reunion.

Sixty years — can you believe it?

We have enjoyed class reunions every five years since 1971 when we all thought we were getting old. We stand corrected.

The distinction that sets apart the Class of ’66 is the fact we were the first freshman class of a newly reorganized school district. Beginning in the 1950s the state put pressure on Iowa’s smaller school districts to buddy up with neighboring districts.

Located in north central Iowa, the Blairsburg, Kamrar and Williams schools were small. Neighboring districts in the southern part of our county: Ellsworth, Jewell, Randall and Stanhope, had already reorganized into the South Hamilton district.

I don’t recall the exact date Northeast Hamilton officially became a school district, but in late August 1962 nearly 50 young teens who had just three months earlier completed eighth grade in their individual districts were now thrown together as a new freshman class.

Our Kamrar bus route had serious planning kinks that first day in 1962, and we arrived about a half hour late to a building built for smaller classes.

The Blairsburg study hall (which served as THE home room that first year) was packed so tightly, large guys like me had to walk sideways to reach our assigned desk.

At age 14, I took inventory of the crowded room and noted that the new student body included a number of good-looking girls. The observation was useless as it took a year before I had the courage to speak to many of them.

I became aware of the “board of education” early on when I witnessed an upperclassman shoot another kid with a pea-shooter. The crime was witnessed by the guidance counselor who ordered the perpetrator to join him outside the study hall doors. A few minutes later we heard three loud smacks as the perp was thrice whacked with a one-by-four piece of lumber drilled with holes to reduce wind resistance. I was a good boy that first year.

Life went on and the new student body became acquainted. I had attended four different schools by the time I reached high school and I relished the new friendships I made that first year. Soon enough the freshman year ended and we moved up a step in the high school hierarchy. Before we knew it, we were marching to Pomp and Circumstance. Along the way we enjoyed pep rallies, ball games, dating, school plays and musicals, proms and the shenanigans that created some great memories.

At our 50th class reunion in 2016 all 42 of our class’ graduates were still alive and kicking. Sadly, in the past decade we have lost seven of them.

Six decades have changed us. We are now in our late 70s and Father Time and Mother Nature have taken their toll. Some of us will be using canes and walkers. Several of us have lost mates. Some of us are living with health challenges.

That thick hair we guys used to comb so carefully in the boys’ room before classes won’t be as thick as it was 60 years ago — if there’s any hair left. It’s possible I will no longer be the only guy in the class carrying some extra weight.

There were only 16 girls in our class of 42 grads. Examining our composite class photo through 78-year-old eyes recently, I realized they were all good looking. No doubt they will show up at our reunion as classy silver foxes.

What I trust time has not changed is my classmates’ distinctive personalities that, collectively, made the first freshman class of Northeast Hamilton High School a great experience and fostered many lasting friendships.

Our class did not change the world, but individually we did our part to improve our communities and raise another generation that will do the same.

Northeast Hamilton is no more. Due to a declining enrollment, the district was merged into a larger neighboring district a decade ago.

One thing, however, remains the same: We are the Trojans; couldn’t be prouder! If you can’t hear us, we’ll shout a little louder!

Arvid Huisman can be contacted at huismanowa@gmail.com. ©2026 by Huisman Communications.