SACRAMENTO, California — One Hiram Johnson High School class of 1973 graduate came up with an idea to memorialize their late classmates while planning the 50-year class reunion.
Anne Kile-Griffin was going through the yearbook to find other past students to involve in the planning. What she found was a lot more obituaries than she was expecting, but instead of letting the revelation loom over her, she suggested they brainstorm a meaningful way to honor the late graduates.
"Painting the river rocks was actually her idea," said fellow graduate Debbie Hess. "So there were a few rocks I got from the neighborhood after posting about it (online)."
Kile-Griffin found at least 87 graduates had died from their class of about 800.
"I went through Ancestry, especially with the women whose names have changed with marriage, then I started to see the names," she said. "That's when at our next meeting I said we really ought to do something special. Somebody brought up cubes or something with their names on them and I said, 'What if we did river rocks?'"
The community of volunteers from the class of 1973 got to work finding suitable river rocks just big enough to paint a name and date on.
Hess says they plan to display the rocks on their 50th class reunion celebration scheduled for Sept. 16 at the Croatian-American Cultural Center.
Graduates or family members are encouraged to take the rocks home to continue remembering their loved ones.
"We don't look at it as just being our 50-year class reunion, but also your other high school friends and siblings," said Kile-Griffin. "We like to party, and the more the merrier."
If you're interested in attending the Hiram Johnson High School 50-year class reunion call and leave a message at 916-754-2642.
