Taft High School to celebrate 50th anniversary

The 50th anniversary for Taft High School's class of 1959 was a three-day extravaganza that included a 160-page color book, a 60 minute DVD movie and a Web site with more than 1,000 links.

Northwest suburban residents played key roles in the event, which was pulled together beginning three years ago under the direction of class president Ret. Rear Admiral Larry Marsh of Great Falls, Va. About 160 people, including spouses, attended. The graduating class was 301 students.

Fred Allegretti of Johnsburg was the webmaster and created the video and book of the life and times of the class of '59 at the school on Chicago's Northwest Side. Pat (Santell) Lutz of Arlington Heights, who assisted him by gathering and inputting all the questionnaires from class members, estimates he spent 1,000 hours on the project. Sue (Willers) Bruce of Richmond, Va., also played a key role in development of the book and Web site, taftreunion1959.com.

The weekend began with a city bus tour Friday, Sept. 25. That evening featured a '50s dinner/dance at The Hilton Garden Inn Des Plaines that featured a performance by 20 performers from the renowned Spirit of Life Chorus, directed by David Barth of Bartlett, brother of Ron Barth of the class of '59, who now lives in California.

Saturday included a lunch in Taft's cafeteria catered by Superdawg, the favorite destination for people who escaped the school for lunch.

Saturday evening, friends from several grammar schools that fed students to Taft broke into groups to reminisce. Adding a special touch was the "Taft Museum and Library" recreated by event/design planner, Mary Kalesz of McKenna and Me Design of Lake Zurich, using historical records and information, clippings, photos and memorabilia.

"We believe we created a most unusual event that has far surpassed other high school reunions in design, form

and function as it was a real laboroflove" said Marsh.