Rock Falls High School, class of 1955 celebrated their 50th Reunion with a three day event - Friday Night get together at the Wagon Wheel in Sterling IL, Saturday Night at the Sterling Candlelight Inn and Sunday with a Picnic in Centennial Park, Rock Falls. Great fun trying to remember names and faces.

Classmates came from West End, NC, Taylorville IL, Monticello IL, Rockford IL, Dixon IL, Polo IL, Tampico IL, Watertown WI, Seal Beach CA, Las Vegas NV, Lincoln NE, Milledgeville, IL, Haymarket VA, Simi Valley CA, Sheffield IL, Berwyn IL, Morrison IL, Cicero IN, Ft. Lauderdale FL to celebrate this great event with the Rock Falls and Sterling classmates. Some were surprised at the changes ot our towns. Classmates that could not make it sent Greetings from Bloomington IN and Winter WI.

Guests entered the hall Saturday night thru a Rocket Baloon Archway. Extending from each rocket were groups of Balloons in green and black, signifying each deceased classmate with one white baloon having each classmates picture on it.

At the dinner Saturday night we remembered the deceased members with a name call and a bell ring for each person after our Welcome and before Invocation. The menu included Baked Chicken Breast & Petite Steak, Parsley Buttered Potatoes & Steamed Vegetables, topped with Onion Rings.

Entertainment by All 4 U quartet. Decorations on the tables were Rocket bottle covers, each classmate received, Male, A mug with class ring emblem inscribed with black letters and 50th 2005... Black pots to hold our Gold chocolate coins with mints and nuts. The wine and grape juice rocket bottles were then given as door prizes.. Remembering good times and how life & time has given each one of us our own share of good and bad. But building our great friendship, making it even strong, as we in time would find out. Women received A Wine Glass With emblem inscribed with Green lettering, and 50th 2005….. Black pots to hold our Gold chocolate coins with mints and nuts. The Wine and Grape juice rocket bottles were then Given as door prizes…

The picnic on Sunday started with a baloon release, members of the class who were either spouse or friend of the deceased, released the baloon after a short prayer. Lunch and a cake with our class picture, from the year 2000, was enjoyed by all. Then a game of classmate bingo, with each classmate receiving a gift - door prize won by Marilyn and a vote to hold our Reunion in 2 years, rather than 5 years, ended our FABULOUS 50th REUNION !!

Friday Night Relax & Reminiscence

Saturday Night Dine - Dance - Discuss - Debate

Sunday Picnic - Play - Ponder - Part

Memorial Sue (Insley) Hippert

Every five years, as summertime nears,
An announcement arrives in the mail,
A reunion is planned; it'll be really grand;
Make plans to attend without fail

I'll never forget the first time we met
We tried so hard to impress
We drove fancy cars, smoked big cigars
And wore our most elegant dress.

It was quite an affair; the whole class was there.
It was held at a fancy hotel.
We wined, and we dined, and we acted refined,
And everyone thought it was swell

They awarded a prize to one of the guys
Who seemed to have aged the least.
Another was given to the grad that had driven
The farthest to attend the feast.

They took a class picture, a curious mixture
Of beehives, crew cuts and wide ties.
Tall, short, or skinny, the style was the mini;
You never saw so many thighs

At our next get-together, no one cared whether
They impressed their classmates or not.
The mood was informal, a whole lot more normal;
By this time we'd all gone to pot.

It was held out-of doors, at the lake shores;
We ate hamburgers, coleslaw, and beans,
Then some of us boated around in the shade,
In our comfortable T-shirts and jeans.

The men all conversed about who had been first
To achieve great fortune and fame.
Meanwhile, their spouses described their fine houses
And how beautiful their children became.

They homecoming queen, who once had been lean,
Now weighed in at one-ninety-six.
The jocks that were there had all lost their hair,
And the cheerleaders could no longer do kicks.

No one had heard about the class nerd
Who'd guided a spacecraft to the moon;
Or poor little Jane, who's always been plain;
She married a shipping tycoon

The boy we'd decreed "most apt to suceed."
Was serving ten years in the pen,
While the one voted "least: now was a priest;
Just shows you can be wrong now and then.

By the fortieth year, it was abundantly clear,
We were definitely over the hill.
Those who weren't dead had to crawl out of bed,
And be home in time for their pill.

And now I can't wait; they've set the date;
Our fiftieth is coming, I'm told.
It should be a ball, they've rented a hall
At the Shady Rest Home for the old.

Repairs have been made on my hearing aid;
My pacemaker's been turned up on high.
My wheelchair is oiled, and my teeth have been boiled;
And I've bought a new wig and glass eye.

I'm feeling quite hearty, and I'm ready to party
I'm gonna dance "til dawn's early light.
It'll be lots of fun; but I hope that there's one
Other person who can make it that night.
Author unknown