The Class of 1946 Celebrates 70 Years!
Written by Karl Houtman, Former Student on Thursday, August 18, 2016
The summer sun didn’t stop the SHS class of 1946 from celebrating their seventy-year reunion this past Thursday, August 18, at the Buzz Inn Diner in Snohomish.
Put together by Max Weed, an SHS alumni from 1946, the reunion was small and simple, under a white tent on the patio where alumni and their loved ones greeted each other wholeheartedly and sat down to swap stories and cherish those around them who lived to celebrate and those who had sadly passed before the seventieth anniversary of their graduation.
1946 was a much different time for the alumni, considering they were the first to graduate after the end of World War II on September 2, 1945.
“The big thing back then was World War II,” says Bob Ulrich, whose older brother fought in the war.
Ulrich did an 18-month enlistment after he graduated, being stationed in Panama before returning home to work with his brother on the family farm.
“I still live there today,” Ulrich said with a smile.
Dick Rodland, a former assistant coach and teacher at SHS, as well as former sports writer for the Arrowhead, was present as well, and talked about his experiences in education in the early fifties and until his retirement.
Rodland taught in the Snohomish School District for 39 years, teaching “reading, writing, and arithmetic” to seventh graders before teaching health for seventh and eighth graders his last fifteen years.
When asked what he would say to the class of 2017, Rodland said to “tend to business, no matter how bad a teacher you have,” after telling a story about his former algebra teacher.
The alumni of 1946 celebrated with many laughs and stories, and made sure to say hello to dear friends of theirs from years long gone by.
