A Mini-Reunion

In other blog entries I have mentioned a couple of my friends that graduated from Berea High School with me.  Gayle and I are, I think, the only ones who still live in our childhood homes.  (When I move to Mexico, she will be the last one.)  Duffy lives in Puerto Rico, but returns to Ohio frequently, and spends extended periods at the house that belonged to his mother.

Duffy is back in Ohio, and the three of us got together last evening for the Berea High School All Class Reunion.  The event is held each summer at the Polish Village Tavern in Berea and is for all graduates of Berea High School.  The get together attracts a large number of people, and the streets around the tavern are blocked off.

I had only been to one of these reunions previously.  In 2015 our class reunion coincided with the "all class reunion" and was a part of the weekend's events.

Here are the three of us, all wearing Berea High School tee shirts.  An attendee from another graduating class kindly took our photo.

We wandered around for a while and didn't see anyone that we knew.  We were on our way to the car, when we saw a couple of our classmates.  One of them I had known since kindergarten and was one of my best friends in elementary school.  So, we stuck around for a while and chatted with them.

After leaving the reunion, we drove a few blocks to the new high school building.  Part of the high school building which we attended dated back to 1929.  In 2013 the school consolidated with the other high school in the district and became Berea-Midpark High School.  Sadly, in 2020 our alma mater was demolished, and a new building constructed.

In 1967, when we were students at Berea HIgh, a 15-foot-high metal sculpture called the Tree of Knowledge was placed on the facade of the building.  The sculpture includes a map of Berea and courses of study.  Because of its cost ($25,000) it was quite controversial when it was installed.  For more than 50 years it stood on the front of the school building.  The sculptor, Robert Fillous, was a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, and gained quite a name for himself.  Among his many works of art was a cross made from nails for Coventry Cathedral in England.  Our Tree of Knowledge came to be considered a rather important example of 1960's sculpture, valued at much more than its original $25,000.

The Tree was removed from the building before demolition, disassembled and put in storage.  After all those years exposed to the elements it had deteriorated.  Restoration work was done on the sculpture, and earlier this year it was placed in a more protected area on the new high school.  None of us had yet seen the Tree's new location, and that was the reason for our quick visit to the building.