The Class of 1969 had a wonderful time the night of July 17, 1999, at the White Bear Armory in our beautiful hometown of White Bear Lake, Minnesota. There were 104 classmates and 26 guests who attended the "down home" affair. The evening proved to be very warm with 93 degree heat and 90% humidity. The armory’s newly-installed air conditioning system failed, so those in attendance ended up "sweating with the oldies" all night long. The atmosphere was like it would’ve been 30 years ago: fans blowing, doors thrown wide open, and everyone laughing, talking, sharing lots of great memories, and just plain enjoying each other’s company. Music was provided by Angie from "The Scene!" deejay service, and the program was emceed by Ken Rubenzer, who did an outstanding job. Only classmate John Molkenbur was brave enough to get up twice to perform Karaoke in front of everyone. His most memorable rendition was of the 1969 classic, "Born to Be Wild." You had to be there to fully appreciate his vocal efforts! We ran out of food because 40 people showed up at the door, but there was plenty of pop to whet everyone’s thirst, and it was cooled by ice brought from our alma mater, WBHS, by classmate Greg Pitlick who works there. Door prizes, donated by classmates, were drawn throughout the night. The most prized ones were two beautifully-designed "Bears 1969 - 1999 30 Year Reunion" vinyl signs (valued at $500 each) that were donated by classmate Les LaMotte from his company X-tra Lite Signs and won by Angie Klidzejs and Laura Meredith. As the night was winding down, there an impromptu conga line formed, and all present grabbed onto one another and danced around the entire armory floor. Smiles were beaming from everyone’s faces. A great time was had by all in attendance. Those of us there wished that more classmates could’ve joined us to share in lots of good memories and fun. We also appreciated being back home to enjoy the beauty of White Bear Lake.

Joseph Ackerley

Sandy Arcand

James Arend

Don Atchison & Connie Jensen

Kevin Ault & guest

Craig Bailey & wife Connie

Fred Blackwelder & Petra Heck

Edward Boyd

Mary Brisson & husband Mike

Terry Burke

Bill Butters

Carolyn Carlson

Dawn Close

Dwight Close

George Collova & Michele Orlando

David Culver

Cindy Dittberner

Joanne Donahue

Steven Downs & Cheryl Gamboni

Greg Dupre

Christine Farkell & husband John

Debra Fischer & husband John

Richard Fischer

Kenneth Fleck

Sandy Fornell

Peggy Fredrickson

Celine Gadbois & husband Richard

David Gadbois & wife Lynn

Wendi Gamboni

Tere Gibson

Sandy Gleixner & guest

Laurie Griemann

Tony Grier & wife Kay

Stephen Hamel

Jim Hamilton

Virginia Harvey & guest

Sandie Hofer

William Hohman

Angie Klidzejs & guest

Susan Korfhage

Cathy Korolchuk & husband Rick

John Kraning & wife Sharon

Lester LaMotte & wife Vicky

Craig Larson

Frank Lewandowski & wife Cassandra

Linda Lindau

Patrick Lindbeck

Glenn Lutz

Douglas Magnuson

David McCarthy & Pam Salberg

Gail McGinnis

James McIntyre

Stuart McKenzie & wife Belinda

Laura Meredith & husband Mike

Keith Methven

Linda Michaud

John Molkenbur

Candace Montgomery

Chris Mutkala

David Nelson & wife Faith

Richard Nelson

Chris Nilsson

Stephen O’Gorman

Susan Osterbauer

Marie Paulson & husband Paul

Christine Peck

Sandie Peterson

Bill Petryk

Gregory Pitlick

Jim Prescott

Kerry Reimer

Patty Reinhardt & husband Earl

Linda Roden

Ken Rubenzer & Lynn Johnston

Steven Samuelson

Peggy Schmidt

John Schwartz & wife Eileen

Jackie Sevelin & husband Daniel

Shannon Sherer

Charlotte Sieber & husband Cyril

Lynn Smith

Jim Steinmueller & Cheryl Warn

Roger Tatge & Nancy Robinson

Coleen Thorson

Peggy Truhler

Carolyn Vadnais

Jeff Valento

Suzanne Vilendrer

Diane Vogt

Christine Vono

Kris Wahlberg

Rosemary Westin

Heidi Wilbur & guest

Carol Williams & husband Bert

Craig Wood

For the first time ever, a memorabilia table was set up for classmates to bring items they’ve kept for the past 30 years. Carolyn Carlson brought her picture lunch card which showed which "mod" she was supposed to each lunch in. John Kraning brought some old copies of the Bear Facts and Sue Vilendrer brought two big scrapbooks that she kept, chronicling everything she did in grades 9-12. Jim Steinmueller commented to Sue that he was especially interested in reading the articles on the school shooting that took place in 10^th grade. Sue had all of the local newspaper articles on that event. By the end of the night, several of the old, yellowing scrapbook pages had been pulled out of the books. But Sue didn’t seem to mind. "Why keep this stuff for 30 years if you’re not willing to share it with those who lived it?" She says she’ll probably bring them back to the 35^th to display too.

Five special ceramic white bears were awarded to classmates for outstanding contributions to the 30^th reunion. They are:

Fred Blackwelder and Petra Heck for being the first to respond to the reunion invitation (so we knew that classmates actually received them), and for donating the most door prizes.

John Molkenbur for writing the most "forward looking" and shortest recap for the recap book.

Greg Pitlick for assisting with last minute details, such as bringing bags of WBHS-generated ice free of cost to the reunion.

Doug Magnuson for writing the best memories from the past 30 years and for traveling from one of the farthest states, California, to attend the reunion.

Carolyn Carlson for her dedication to planning the 30^th reunion. Without her strong desire to have a 30^th reunion, along with her dedication and hard work, there wouldn’t have been a reunion during the summer of 1999. WBHS would’ve ended up without a reunion like its two neighbor schools of Mahtomedi and Stillwater. Go Bears!