Mass high school reunion celebrates togetherness
Decades’ worth of Macedonia High grads reminisce about times past
For the 19th time in 38 years, students from multiple Macedonia High School graduating classes gathered at their old alma mater Saturday for an indoor picnic and some fellowship.
Every two years since 1979, 60 to more than 100 Macedonia alumni from various years have come together for their biannual Macedonia High School Reunion at what is now LibertyEylau School of Success.
Although the school campus fronts Macedonia Road, the high school actually drew its name from nearby Macedonia Baptist Church.
The high school existed as far back as the 1920s, with its last graduating class leaving in 1969, said Ellsworth Fisher, Macedonia High School Class of 1953.
“My graduation class had 16 students, and today, only three are still living including myself,” said Fisher, 83, who was the oldest living graduate at the reunion. “I’ve managed to be at all 19 biannual reunions we’ve had so far.”
As the youngest child of his family and now the only living member of his immediate family, Fisher said he had two sisters who graduated from Macedonia in 1941 and one in 1942. One of his brothers graduated in 1951, while another graduated the same year Fisher did.
As one who attended Macedonia High for all four of his high school years, Fisher said he helped build the school’s gymnasium during the 195051 school year. It remains the oldest existing building on the School of Success campus.
Fisher joined the Air Force the year after he graduated and served for 20 years as a medic until his discharge in 1974.
During that time, Fisher was deployed overseas—to Turkey in 1964, then to South Vietnam between July 15, 1967, and July 15, 1968.
“We took care of wounded servicemen and women sent to the medical evacuation center during and shortly after the Tet Offensive there in 1968,” he said. “We had to take care of all kinds of combat wounds and injuries caused by bullets, shrapnel and even flame throwers.”
Fisher said the military deployed him to Greenland before his discharge.
“There, it was very cold—like 78 degrees below zero during the winter,” he said. “On the Fourth of July in 1973, the temperature made it up to 21 degrees. On Christmas Day in 1967, in Vietnam, it was 89 degrees, mostly because of the humidity.”
Fisher also has a nephew, Michael Bursey, Macedonia High School Class of 1967, who now serves as president of the Macedonia Alumni Association.
Faye Erma Chapman Allen, Class of 1961, said she remembers playing outside with other classmates where the school’s auditorium and cafeteria now
“I think I loved English class and social studies most of all when I was going here,” she said. “We held our graduation right in the gym next to where we are standing now. I’ve been to about 13 or 14 of these reunions, and I think I just love seeing my classmates because we get to talk about the old times and about what has happened in our lives since. These reunions take us back to our togetherness.”
“I’ve been to about 13 or 14 of these reunions, and I think I just love seeing my classmates because we get to talk about the old times and about what has happened in our lives since. These reunions take us back to our togetherness.” —Faye Erma Chapman Allen