A noteworthy birthday was held this October in Wheat Ridge! It was the 80th birthday party for the very first graduating students of the (then) brand-new Wheat Ridge School on 32nd Avenue in 1959. Through these many years, these classmates have remained in close contact with each other with reunions and other functions, and diligent record keeping.
About 40 classmates were able to attend the festivities, which were held in the Wheat Ridge Grange at 38th and High Street. It was directly across the street from the original Wheat Ridge High School, and it was the perfect location for the celebration because everyone at some point in their school lives had a connection to the Grange. On the weekends there was always something happening there: square dancing lessons were called by the father of identical twins in our class, formal cotillion dances where the girls had a fancy dance card that boys signed to assure him of one of her dances, Job’s Daughters and DeMolay events, and many other events were held at the Grange. There were even classmates who attended fifth and sixth grade there when the local school became overcrowded.
At our party, we had fun playing trivia games, reminiscing, and enjoyed just being with each other especially after a year and a half of not getting together. Great pizza, salad and birthday cake were enjoyed by everyone. Our festivities were topped off at the end of the afternoon by a raffle. Because of the huge generosity of many Wheat Ridge merchants, a local artist and several classmates, everyone there had the excitement of having their names drawn in the raffle and got to go home with a wonderful birthday surprise!
Everyone agreed, this was the perfect way to celebrate this 80th birthday milestone of the WRHS class of 1959!
Virginia Avery was the Chairperson for the Wheat Ridge School Reunion Party.
