BUTTE, Montana—One highlight of the golden reunion of the Butte High School Class of 1957 (with a few hardy souls from the Class of ’56) was Emerson school alums, who were present in greater numbers than Judy Bork Scott’s McKinley “kids,” talking about Miss Darlington’s fourth grade Bird Club.

      Several Emerson folk explained that their much beloved teacher had each student pick a bird and give a report.   Not a single Emerson grad seemed to have forgotten Bird Club although they probably have forgotten everything else they did in grade school.

      Maryellen Trewhella Pedlar said,   “I wanted to be a canary. We had one at home.”   But, since her name was far down the alphabet, she was a Mississippi Swift (or something like that).

      “I had just complained to my mother that my name was too long.”   When she reported to her mom that she was a Mississippi Swift, her mother said,   “See. That’s another long name!”

      Contacted at his home, Butte’s best-known hermit, Mike Gamble (McGlashan's husband), said,   “I was a Barn Swallow.”

      Maryellen provided a focal point for the festivities at the War Bonnet Hotel: a very big plush bulldog.   “We were at Lagoon (a Salt Lake amusement park) with two of our grandsons when I spotted the bulldog at a booth where people threw baseballs at bottles.   ” She gave the boys money to compete.

      One grandson stepped up, threw and—on his first try—knocked down all three bottles.   “Even the guy who ran the concession was surprised,” Maryellen said.   Zena Beth McGlashan commented,   “It must have been karma.   You wanted that bulldog!”

      Although Maryellen said the toy dog could be donated to a charity after the reunion, organizer Laverne (Larson) Daicich said she was taking “our” bulldog home where he will rest until the next reunion in 2012.

      Penny (Freebourn) Foreman was unofficially voted the woman who has aged the least, followed closely by Stana (Rowe) Herbolich, reunion organizer Dotty (Merriam) Fredrickson and Darlene (Clark) Olenick, the only class member trustworthy enough to be reunion treasurer.

      As Joan (Cann) Edson, seated at the same table as Penny for the dinner, said to McGlashan,   “How does she do it?”   Penny denied clean living accounts for her youthful appearance.

      Helen (Carden) Lutz, as she has done at each reunion, walked away with the unofficial best dressed award.   She was also in the “how do you stay so young” award category.

      Joan (Cann) Edson stunned friends with her photograph of her standing in front of a huge photo mural of New York City at night with the Brooklyn Bridge in the foreground.   The picture was taken before the Twin Towers were vaporized.

      The shock for her friends was not the photo—it was Joan’s explanation that the mural is actually a 12,000-piece jigsaw puzzle that she put together.   Several people said they were totally awed by the magnitude of Joan’s effort.

“I didn’t even know they MADE jigsaw puzzles that big!”   was a frequently heard comment.

      Joan’s husband Gary glued the huge puzzle, assembled in three panels, to foam core to create the 4-foot by 9-foot mural which is in Joan’s sewing room.

      She reported that she will soon begin a 20,000-piece religious triptych.   A class spokeswoman said   “We look forward to Joan’s photograph of that at our next reunion.”

      Although retired, Glen and Gladys Shaw have not made good on their threat to move to Arizona.   Still living in Fairbanks, Glen denied rumors that the couple is frozen in place.   A super star researcher in some kinda science, Shaw says he has too many contracts to leave the Far North.   (Or as suggested by one person, they may be waiting for global warming to turn their home into a palm lined beach resort.

      Reports from last year that the hotel’s rooms were shabby to the max were confirmed this year.

      David Wise, an Emerson alum who went to BHS for one year before his parents shipped him off to military school, attended the reunion at the urging of his former neighbor and grade school friend, Maryellen.

      Commenting on his room at the War Bonnet (last year it was the Red Lion), Dave said,   “It should be called the WORN Bonnet.”

      The food received a rave review from expert cook Judy William Cyr, confirmed by eager eater McGlashan.  [ Both Judy and Zena Beth thought the crowning touch of the Sunday brunch was chocolate cake.   Delone (Huber) and Ernie Smith who celebrated their wedding anniversary on Saturday were presented with a very large sheet cake.
      Fortunately for Judy and Zena Beth, they chopped into the white side on Saturday leaving the excellent chocolate half for brunch-goers to share.   The two chocoholics were oblivious to several looks of disgust as they scarfed down cake after each had eaten a huge plate of brunch goodies.

      Jack Mueller, sans Cate (the wife we’ve never seen), entertained with his story of moving from the Washington, D.C., area to the Seattle area after the elusive Cate’s retirement.   Cate drove and Jack flew with their four cats.   The highlight of the flight was Jack’s having a heart attack on board.   Jack’s just fine now and, of course, the cats were nonplussed.

      Ralph Shipley attended.   He told his sister, Ann, that he would only go if she did too.   Ann came with her husband.   The couple, both retired higher education administrators, lives at Big Sky, near Bozeman.

      Although appearing to be perfectly fit, Ralph and his wife have moved into the Waterford which was recently sold and given the new and catchy name, the Big Sky Senior Living Center.

      Reunion organizer Wilma Blewett Puich worked like a tenacious bulldog to find photographs of each grade school and 8th grade class of 1953, both public and Catholic, to assemble a four-foot banner.   From that, placemats were made.   Although the people pictured are too tiny to be seen, the mats’ school photos are quite clear and the mats were a big hit.

      Mats, purple paper napkins stuffed into coffee cups, the Class carousel horse “Purple Glory” (probably not the right name, but close enough) were the decorations.

      About 135 attended this year’s event.

      “This is a LOT better than last year’s” was an often heard comment.

      Ellen Devaney Ulrich was among those commenting on the ease of movement.   “We were like sardines last year.   You couldn’t talk to anyone.”

Reunion sidebars:

      Norma Collins Moore and husband Jim attended for the first time in 10 years.   Accompanied by McGlashan, they visited Norma’s relatives sleeping in Mount Moriah Cemetery.

      McGlashan, who is still working on her cemetery book, dipped into her vast store of Butte factoids and trivia as she gave Joy (Morse) Sleizer and her daughter, Lori, a quick tour of Uptown.