Lunch, laughs, a lot of reminiscing about good times, and even a pop quiz marked Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School’s spirited 70th high school reunion June 20 at Hazelmere Golf and Tennis Club.
Twelve graduating members of the Class of 1946 made it out to this year’s luncheon, coming from as far away as Kamloops and a Gulf Island, and as nearby as Langley, White Rock and Cloverdale.
About 40 students graduated in 1946, when the school was in its original location on Highway 10 at 178 Street, and there were only two other high schools in Surrey. The close-knit sense of community and friendship forged during those days endures, a fact that was evident as alumni looked at photographs and swapped stories, slipping into familiar roles.
John Woodward, who now lives on Salt Spring Island, was president of the school photography club. He brought a handful of black and white photos taken in the mid-1940s using a folding Kodak loaded with 620 Verichrome film.
He and his sister Bev were put in the same class as children and ended up graduating together, despite being several years apart in age.
“My sister and I went all the way through school to high school,” he said.
Their classmate Clarence Heppell, the former Overwaitea Foods Group president who passed 
away this spring, was dearly missed at the 2016 reunion.
A friendly, easy-going man, he was fun to be around and always injected a lot of energy to their annual luncheons.
“Be sure and talk to the people around you,” former class president Bob O’Brien said in his welcome speech as emcee, describing his daughter’s recent illness, which forced him to miss Heppell’s funeral.
“We’re getting up there, you know.”
Then, with an expansive wave of his arm, he wondered: “That was my next question: Do we want to have another one of these get-togethers?”
“Yes!” said several people at once.
“Sure,” added another.
“Lord willing,” said a third.
“I’d have to hitchhike,” declared someone else.
“I take it that means, ‘Yes,’” O’Brien said, launching into a trivia quiz, the answers coming fast and furious.
“Here’s an easy one, you’ll all get it. What’s the capital of Sweden?”
It turned out to be a stumper.
“You all get a demerit,” he joked.
“Just thank you all for being here today,” he said, noting the ages of the graduates now range from 87 to 89. “It’s getting tougher and tougher.”
The class has gotten together nearly every year since their 40th reunion in 1986.
“Then we said we can’t afford to wait,” organizer Jean Ardiel explained. “We’ve got to do it sooner.”
Some things have changed since their graduation, including school traditions. In her day, Grade 11 students fundraised all year to pay for the Grade 12 graduation dance, selling hot dogs cooked at her mother’s apartment.
“We got time to pick up the hot dogs and the buns and carry them to the school,” Ardiel said.
The younger students also had to put on the graduation dinner for their Grade 12 schoolmates.
“Everybody loved doing it,” she said. “That’s the thing.”
When asked why the class keeps getting together after all these years, Norma Vandenburg said, “I don’t know! I guess we’ve got lots in common. It was like one big, happy family.”
She remembers holding school mixers at her family’s barn at the Bose Farm.
“In those days, we didn’t lock our doors,” she said. “That’s how Cloverdale was.”
Vandenburg is part of a long line of Lord Tweedsmuir graduates in her family.
“All my kids went there and my granddaughter is a teacher there,” she smiled.
Follow the Cloverdale Reporter on 
Twitter and 
Facebook. View our print edition online.