Many people make their way back to their hometown of Sault
Ste. Marie in the summer time. Class
reunions, family reunions or just reconnecting with family and friends are
common every weekend in our area. Turns
out these reunions may be good for our health as well. More about that later.
Sault Area High School Class of 1968 recently celebrated their
45th Class Reunion. That was
my class.
There were 218 students in the class of 1968. We graduated June 6, 1968 in Pullar Stadium-the
first
class not to walk across the stage of Richie Auditorium in the old high school
on Spruce Street. Graduation was moved
to the Pullar Stadium that year because of the large size of our class.
The spring of ’68 was a tremulous time. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated
in April. We marched into the Pullar that
June night under the shadow of the death of Robert Kennedy. Kennedy had been gunned down the day before
but succumbed to his injuries that next day in June.
After that day in 1968, our class spread out across the
country. Maybe that’s why reunions have
been so important to a large number of my classmates. Several classmates have worked faithfully to
ensure that we have had reunions every five years since 1968.
At our reunion the weekend of June 28 – 29, I surveyed the
classmates that we have contact with.
About 117 still live in the Eastern Upper Peninsula. Another 7 live in other parts of the UP. The Lower Peninsula is home to 34
classmates. Ten classmates are living in
Ontario. The remaining students are spread across 28 different states from
Alaska to Florida.
The class of 1968 had
to go far and wide to make their way in this world. But a large number of them still come back to
the Soo every five years to reconnect with those from their school days.
What is the draw and pull that brings so many people back to
town?
It turns out nostalgia is a universal emotion and even more
than that, it is good for you physically and emotionally. So all this reconnecting with your past is
actually beneficial to your health.
Researchers at the University of Southampton, England have
found that nostalgia’s benefits are many.
Nostalgia can counteract loneliness, boredom and anxiety. It can make you more generous and tolerant
to strangers.
According to the New York Times recent article What
is Nostalgia Good For?, nostalgia
can make “couples feel closer and look happier when they are sharing nostalgic
memories. On cold days, or in cold
rooms, people use nostalgia to literally feel warmer.”
I don’t think any members of the Sault High Class of 1968
were thinking about research when they attended the reunion.
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| These 1968 alum are enjoying reconnecting & sharing stories |
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