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THE 50TH REUNION SPEECH BY OUR VICE PRESIDENT                   (SLPVP1959-60-61-62-63)                                 

 

BY GEORGE HANSEN

(VP)

50th Reunion

 

 

  • I was your Senior Class VP
    • Ran for office every year
      • Always lost to Bob Hill, Byron Zotaley, Marcia Hildebrand, etc. – even though I ran “dirty” campaigns
      • By senior year, nobody cared - so I was elected
    • Can’t remember that I had any duties…even looked in the yearbook
      • Maybe we were just ceremonial? – but Gary Sutton pointed out we didn’t have many ceremonies, either
    • So I thought I could make up for it by saying something tonight
    • Unfortunately, it won’t be funny like Art Himmelman could be
    • And since I’m Scandinavian, it won’t be highly emotional or sentimental either
  • First:
    • Thanks for coming! It’s great to see everybody here
    • Shout out to the committee…especially Diane Beach and Tim Hultman, without whom we might not have had ANY reunions (can’t bring myself to call Tim “hose nose”, just doesn’t seem politically correct)
    • And a special shout out to Hank Finn for producing our awesome SLP62 website.  Every morning when I get up, I check the web page to make sure I’m not in the obituaries!
    • And let us have fond memories of those who have passed on or are too sick to attend – it seems like a shockingly long list
  • Perusing the yearbook:
    • State Basketball Champions –but have they lost it?
      • After yesterday we can say at least they’re still entertaining…especially if you like air balls vs. “nothing but net”
    • Parkettes – definitely have aged better and maintained their skills
    • Cheerleaders (Sue and Jeri)
      • Have definitely retained their best assets
      • You know what I mean…strong voices, jumping ability, peppy attitude (yeah, right!)
  • Surf Belles – looked even better than the Parkettes in their costumes, i.e. bathing suits (even with the suit styles back then)
  • State Track and Cross-Country champions
  • Also, State Debate champions (helps to explain the seemingly inordinate # of lawyers in our class)
  • Top Ten (academic)
    • Reflected diversity/inclusiveness before diversity was even fashionable
    • Perfect reflection of our demographics – defies stereotypes about intelligence or study habits
    • 50% male, 50% female
    • Our three ethnic/religious groups…Catholic, Protestant, Jewish…all proportionally represented
    • Even height – very tall to very short (Heidi Applebaum and Howie Gilbert– I’m lookin’ your way)
    • CURIOUS OMISSION – Roger Blais – went on get PhD in physics and is provost and VP for academics at Tulsa University – must have gotten a B in 10th grade phy. ed.
  • And how could we forget:
    • Phil Teslow’s fantastic piano concerts
    • Mark Zanna always studying, even in the barber chair
    • Full driving privileges at age 15 – meaning student parking lot was a drag strip
      • Giving rise to us car guys and the Injectors Road Club with my old friends like Tom Burgeson, Craig Erickson and Bill Gullifer
      • It’s amazing we all survived
  • Best of all…we had talented and caring teachers
    • Gave us all a great start in life
  • In summary, we are truly blessed to have grown up and been educated here in St. Louis Park and to have friends and classmates like everyone here tonight (OK, this is where I get emotional…sniff)