Sixty-two years after graduation, 11 members of the 44-member Hunter-Tannersville High School class of 1964 reunited on July 17 at the Jewett home of classmate Linda Nicholls.
Some spouses joined them, and the classmates spent the day outside catching up over food and a festive birthday cake. Several wore shirts reading, “We’re still standing after all these years.”
Classmate William “Billy” Pond organized the reunion as a group birthday celebration. Several still call the mountaintop home, while others traveled from around the country.
A few hadn’t seen each other in decades. Those who stayed in the Hunter area catch up more regularly.
The gathering also gave those who moved away a chance to consider how the area has changed.
“I’m really surprised at how different it looks, coming through,” said Kathy Hoff, 79, a teacher who grew up in Tannersville and now lives in central New Jersey.
“It’s always nice to come back,” she said. “I’m amazed at the mountains. They’re just so beautiful.”
Pond, also 79, moved to Syracuse after graduation and later settled in the Atlanta area. He was a scorekeeper at major league baseball games before opening an insurance agency.
He recalled a childhood spent outdoors sledding, swimming, fishing in the Schoharie Creek, hiking, and participating in the Boy Scouts.
“When people ask where I’m originally from, I tell them I grew up in paradise,” he said.
Although Pond had polio as a child, he said he did his best to keep up with the other scouts.
“Every day was just incredible,” he said. “I couldn’t have been happier. I don’t think kids anywhere have what the hell we had.”
Return visits to Hunter remind Pond of how much the community has changed. He recalled the town’s response to the deaths of his parents.
“When both my mother and father died, they stopped the whole damn town,” he said. “Everybody was outside, waving. I don’t think the town has that kind of stuff anymore.”
Many members of the graduating class moved away, while Diann “Dede” Terns-Thorpe, 79, stayed. She is now Hunter’s town historian.
After graduation, Terns-Thorpe attended nursing school and worked as a nurse in Hunter Mountain’s first-aid room. She later worked for the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Postal Service. Becoming town historian, she said, was her “last goal in life.”
“I worked at DEC, I ran the fire tower, and then I spent seven years running the Devil’s Tombstone Campsite, which is why my heart has always been in Lanesville,” she said. “Lanesville is like the orphan child of the mountain.”
She called reconnecting with her classmates an “amazing experience.”
“Everybody had a different walk of life,” she said. “You’re just learning about the last 60 years with these people.”
For Terns-Thorpe, who lives in Haines Falls, Hunter has changed, too. Still, she said the town retains its distinct character.
“Tannersville looks great,” she said. “Haines Falls looks great. I wish so much that Hunter could build itself up business-wise, but it’s a beautiful place.”
“I don’t think the town has lost its charm,” she said.
Connor Greco is a staff reporter for The Overlook covering Windham, Hunter, and surrounding Greene County communities. Send correspondence to connor@theoverlooknews.com.
