March 23, 2016
Historic high school reunion Recipes
11
Reasons to drink chocolate milk
Around Town
3
Give Kids a Smile
Submitted photos Beaumont High School as it stands now and (below) how it looked in the mid-20th Century.
Beaumont High School graduates mark 50 years with a final reunion By Sara Hardin Beaumont High School’s graduating classes of January and June 1946 will be holding their 50th reunion this June. The school became widely known for its success in sports and for being one of the first St. Louis schools to desegregate after the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. Martha Strehle, who graduated from Beaumont in June 1946, says that she looks forward to learning about how the school differs now from when she walked its halls with her fellow classmates. “At that time, they graduated a class in January and a class in June. It doesn’t work that way anymore, but one of the nice things about the reunions is learning about how things at the school have changed over the years,” said Strehle. “You got to know the people at Beaumont.” Strehle has helped coordinate multiple reunions for the classes of ’46, which have been held about every five years since her graduation. She reflects on her time participating in the school’s History Travel Club and the Latin Club, through which she remembers participating in “wiener roasts in Forest Park” and socializing with her fellow club members. Beaumont has certainly gone through many changes since its founding in 1926. The school boasts over a dozen Major League Baseball and NFL players among its alumni. Several leaders in politics and education also decorate the school’s alumni list, including
Feature Section
4
The Golden Years
Blanche Touhill, Chancellor Emeritus of UMSL. The school garnered national attention for its desegregation in 1954. A reenactment of events following the school’s racial integration was formed into a documentary film called “A City Decides,” which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1956. Today, Beaumont functions as a career and technical education high school, focused on providing students with skills necessary to enter the workforce. Earl Link, a Beaumont High School graduate of the class of 1946 is among those looking forward to the reunion. “I joined the Marine Corps right after graduating, so I’m looking forward to getting together with people who I haven’t seen in years,” Link said. “This is about the only time I get the chance to see those who I graduated with.” This will be the final reunion for the Beaumont graduating classes of 1946. The reunion will consist of a dinner at
Clayton Plaza on June 11, followed by a lunch at the DoubleTree Hotel in Chesterfield on June 12.
Business
8
Forrest Keeling Nursery
Movie: “Best and Most Beautiful Things’” FREE Online Subscription at mycnews.com
16