Marietta High School Class of 1974 Hosts 50th Reunion

The Marietta High School Class of 1974 held its 50-year reunion at the Marietta Country Club Saturday night.

Over 200 attendees gathered to rekindle over a buffet dinner, making it the largest reunion the class had seen, said Betsy Maloney Miller, chair of the reunion planning committee.

She said the large turnout was due to fellow former classmate Ralph Fowler’s relentless research.

“He should have been a private eye because he left no stone unturned in finding people,” Miller said.

Through various people-search websites, Fowler was able to track down many of their former classmates, she said.

“Through that, he would find their phone numbers, addresses, relatives,” Miller said. “If he couldn’t find the classmate, he would contact their relatives and next door neighbors.”

Miller added that Kathy Kelly, who graduated early in 1973, was also instrumental in helping pull the event together.

This year’s reunion was also free to attend for many, thanks to pledges and donations from several classmates.

“We wanted to keep the cost out of the equation so everyone was able to come,” Miller said.

In addition to the reunion, several attendees also got together Friday for the homecoming football game, tailgating at the practice field of Marietta Middle School, once their old high school.

Miller said it was fun catching up with everyone, especially people she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Some of us haven’t seen each other in 50 years since graduation,” Miller said.

Miller hosts a monthly lunch to try to stay in touch with those classmates who are still local, but said she had to pause doing so in the busy months leading up to the reunion.

As chair of the memorial board, she said it is important to keep in touch and appreciate that they all still have each other.

“We’ve lost 70 classmates in our class of ‘74 and when you see them up on the board all at one time, it inspires us more and more to stay in touch,” Miller said.

Angela Cummins Howard, one of Miller’s classmates, even created a memorial book including the pictures, obituaries and stories of those classmates who have passed. Two books were on display during the reunion.

Although the reunion was typically held every 10 years, Miller would like to start getting together more often, every one or two years.

“Saturday night was an evening that we’ll all remember forever,” Miller said.