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Photos: 50 years later, KCHS grads reunite

Published 5:22 am Sunday, July 30, 2017

By Elizabeth Earl

A couple chats at a table at the 50th Kenai Central High School Class of 1967 reunion at the Kenai Senior Center on Friday, July 28, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. The reunion was organized to mark the ‘67 graduating class’s reunion, though classes from the ’60s, ’50s and the days of the Territorial School before that were also welcome. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
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A couple chats at a table at the 50th Kenai Central High School Class of 1967 reunion at the Kenai Senior Center on Friday, July 28, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. The reunion was organized to mark the ‘67 graduating class’s reunion, though classes from the ’60s, ’50s and the days of the Territorial School before that were also welcome. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
A couple chats at a table at the 50th Kenai Central High School Class of 1967 reunion at the Kenai Senior Center on Friday, July 28, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. The reunion was organized to mark the ‘67 graduating class’s reunion, though classes from the ’60s, ’50s and the days of the Territorial School before that were also welcome. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Central High School yearbooks lie open on a desk at the 50th Kenai Central High School Class of 1967 reunion at the Kenai Senior Center on Friday, July 28, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. The reunion was organized to mark the ‘67 graduating class’s reunion, though classes from the ’60s, ’50s and the days of the Territorial School before that were also welcome.
Graduates of Kenai Central High School and their guests chat and catch up at the 50th Kenai Central High School Class of 1967 reunion at the Kenai Senior Center on Friday, July 28, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. The reunion was organized to mark the ‘67 graduating class’s reunion, though classes from the ’60s, ’50s and the days of the Territorial School before that were also welcome. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Central High School graduates’ yearbook photos lie spread out on a poster board at the 50th Kenai Central High School Class of 1967 reunion at the Kenai Senior Center on Friday, July 28, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. The attendees wrote their names on nametags and taped a picture of themselves from high school to the tag. The reunion was organized to mark the ‘67 graduating class’s reunion, though classes from the ’60s, ’50s and the days of the Territorial School before that were also welcome. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
Lopaka Bodnar (right) kisses his wife Mary Bodnar’s forehead during a slow dance at the 50th Kenai Central High School Class of 1967 reunion at the Kenai Senior Center on Friday, July 28, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. The reunion was organized to mark the ‘67 graduating class’s reunion, though classes from the ’60s, ’50s and the days of the Territorial School before that were also welcome.

Most of the attendees at the 50th Kenai Central High School class of 1967 reunion wore black and white printouts of their own yearbook photos attached to their nametags.

It helped them recognize each other, though many of them didn’t need that. Cheerful greetings and jokes rambled around the room at the Kenai Senior Center on Friday, when the graduates of 1967 met up again for their 50th reunion. But they weren’t the only ones — this time, the organizers invited graduates from all the classes that graduated in the ‘60s, ‘50s and in the days of the Territorial School, before Kenai Central High School was its own high school.

The high school in Kenai used to serve all the central Kenai Peninsula communities, from Nikiski to Cooper Landing to Ninilchik. Eventually, as the central peninsula’s population grew, high schools or K-12 schools were built in the outlying communities, and now Kenai Central High School serves primarily the city of Kenai and north Kenai.

The reunion goers mingled, danced and caught up with each other at the Kenai Senior Center on Friday night, with a barbecue scheduled at one of the graduates’ homes in Sterling on Saturday.

Reach Elizabeth Earl at elizabeth.earl@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/peninsulaclarion.

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