Revisit Youngstown for 55th South Reunion

On August 29, Paul and I went to Youngstown to attend his 55th South High Reunion, and returned home in the evening of September 3, the day after Labor Day.

Awesome Eight who attended together Sheridan Elementary, 

Princeton Jr., & South High School 

In less than a week's time, we embraced a lifelong experience. Before and after the big event that weekend, we packed three lunches with his friends from kindergarten, grade school and high school. All in their early seventies, those friends were more or less living and retiring locally or in cities like Columbus or Cleveland, with the farthest in Pittsburgh or Farmington, Michigan. In general, they were all content and happy in their own way. Even Gary who has been taking care of his 101-year-old Mother for more than two decades did not complain to much, except for his bitter reminiscence of his football career thwarted by a school bully who died young in his twenties. 

Poland Public Library Now in Youngstown, Ohio

In addition to lunching with friends, Paul and I visited the famed Poland Public Library, newly renovated Millcreek Park, and ate twice at Handel's Ice Cream, one in the rain, and the other on a chilly evening. According to Wikies, Handel's Handmade ice cream is a company founded by Alice Handel in 1945 in Youngstown, Ohio. Now it operates 125 corporate and franchise stores in 12 states, with its headquarters in Canfield, Ohio, and it's own neighborhood district in Youngstown. To a certain degree, Handel's ice cream & yogurt is similar to Penny's Ice Cream in Santa Cruz with its local business roots. With the change of times, Handel's has branched out to catering parties and Uber delivery, apart from its physical stores. It is superior in its inexpensive pricing and over 45 flavors rotating each month, such as Salty Caramel Truffle, Chocolate Pecan, and of course, Paul's favorite, Black Cherry. No wonder, the business is so loved by many new and returning chubby and chunky individuals and families.

A Handel's we visited twice in Youngstown, Ohio

The 55th Reunion was preceded by an unofficial meet and greet on Friday, August 30 in Holiday Inn hotel. It served as a warm up for the following day for both organizers and attendees. On arrival at 7:00 pm, we found a roomful of people talking and snacking. It turned out that we were one hour late, by adhering faithfully to the schedule which had undergone many revisions without too much notifications to all. When the actual reunion started, Paul and I were in the same hotel one minute before 6:00 pm, so were his classmates.

As Bill Finzel, the Master of Ceremony (MC), was absent due to his dizzy spell, Joseph Palmer, a retired library director, became his replacement. Together with the former Homecoming Queen, Deborah North, the new MC announced the opening of the reunion. It was quite a spectacular scene, with eight round tables, and one long VIP table in the hall, permeated with colorful lighting, music, dance and 3-D rotating photography. 

Paul and I at Reunion

Fifty-five years later, all those high school students gathered together in one place. Their former anger, competition, or frustrations were all like water under the bridge. Present and future was what they held. The organizers did a fantastic job making the reunion affordable and possible. In the past five years, they were holding bake sales and selling raffle tickets to donate to the proceeds to the event.

Deborah North and I

We celebrated Labor Day with Alexees's family. Michael and Joann's four kids came, including two-month-old Charly (Charlotte). It was a real treat to enjoy authentic Greek home cooked food, such as spanakopita, lamb, baklava, etc. On our way to the Cleveland airport, Paul was lamenting our missed opportunities to visit his Greek Church and downtown Youngstown. At that very moment, he happened to glance over his shoulder to see a magnificent building beckoning. Since there's no time like the present, we exited immediately to go through downtown streets and revisit this building that turned out to be his former church. 

Former Greek Orthodox Church, now Apostolic Faith Temple

109 W. Woodland Avenue, Youngstown

What a memorable revisit!