It seems like only yesteryear that we said goodbye to classmates, teachers, Principal McCurdy and the beautiful red brick building on Main Street that was our Auburn High School.

Many would leave the area forever, others would remain in Auburn permanently. Others would scatter to the winds, yet return in early summer in order to spend a few hours together with their close-knit friends from the Auburn High School class of 1946.

This year the call has been made for a gathering to occur June 4.

In June 1946, 106 graduated stepped forward to proudly accept their diplomas. Among them were classmates of 12 years of education in Auburn (its population was almost 4,000), returning veterans of World War II and those who had moved to Auburn during the war years.

The years have changed the demographics of the class as one might expect. Thirty-seven blessed souls have gone to their reward. Thirty-two wonderful people simply have disappeared from the radar screen and 11 have reported that they are unable to attend our brief get-together because of distance or reasons of health. That leaves 26 classmates and 19 spouses, 45 total, who are probable for our annual June reunion. And should this message reach even one classmate whom we have missed in our search, it would be grand if they were to attend.

This year’s meeting will feature six or seven speakers from the class who will remind their friends of interesting times gone by – stories of NP yard steam engines and the flight of Batman featured during an Auburn Day celebration in 1937. And how about the days some of us skipped school to watch the state basketball playoffs at UW, only to discover Principal McCurdy was three rows behind us? His greeting: “Hi, boys, enjoy the games and remember that you are each suspended from school.”

Although most of the attendees live in the greater Northwest, some travel from Colorado, California, Nevada and Oregon. Ray Kreiter, the class VP and his wife, Betty, will drive from Richland to attend. Howard Allmain, a Marine Corps veteran of Korea, will drive from Sandy, Ore. Frank Shaughnessey, another Marine and three-year letterman, will arrive from Nevada. Howard Bothell lives in Mexico.

The party is on.

Mike Merwick, the Auburn High School senior class president of 1946, lives today in Seattle. He can be reached a mmerwick@msn.com.