Better check the record books.
How often does a high school class hold a reunion 80 years after their graduation?
The Frank H. Craig Wethersfield Alumni Association decided to look back and see how many members of the Class of 1945 were still around as they planned for this year’s annual meeting of the “50-Plus Club,” alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago from Wethersfield High School. Those who graduated in 1945 would now be in the top end of their 90s so they knew there probably wouldn’t be many.
Fortunately, they found three…June (Schoonover) Jacobs, Ila (Morey) Cunningham, and Doris (Cady) Lindstrom. June still lived in Kewanee, Ila in Galva, and Doris at Hillcrest Home near Geneseo.
Detective work led to the location of all three who, it turned out, had met monthly for lunch at Good’s after their husbands died, but hadn’t seen each other in years due to health and mobility issues.
June and Ila were able to attend the alumni association’s annual gathering Sunday in the Wethersfield cafeteria, but Doris was unable to attend for health reasons, although her family kept her up on what was happening.
There were 25 students who received diplomas that year, although several of the boys had been drafted into military service in World War II during the school year when they reached 18. Two young men who graduated that night were scheduled to be called up in the next few days.
Doris and classmate Wilfred Moss were co-salutatorians, and Ila was one of five seniors receiving Honorable Mention.
After graduation, June taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Saxon. Back then, all you needed to teach in a country school was complete eight grades and pass a county exam. Her mother, Monghild Schoonover, was also a country schoolteacher, who then taught fourth grade at Wethersfield for nearly 30 years.
After two years at Saxon, June married Gene Jacobs, a young man she met at a dance hall on West Sixth Street and had to give up the teaching job because only single women could teach school. After raising five boys and one girl, June worked at Penney’s and K-Mart. From her mother to her great grandson, now a junior at WHS, five generations of the Schoonover-Jacobs family have either taught at, attended or graduated from Wethersfield.
Ila grew up on a farm in Annawan Township but came to Wethersfield because her brother wanted to take ag classes and Wethersfield was the only school in the area that offered them at the time. After graduating from Eureka College, she taught at the Pink Prairie country school near Geneseo and Lyle School in Kewanee before moving to Davenport and a teaching position in Rock Island.
One night at a dance at the Col Ballroom a young student from the Palmer School of Chiropractic, Charles (C.L.) Cunningham, asked her to dance. They eventually moved to Galva where Cunningham set up a clinic, Ila taught first grade, and they raised three children. Ila retired in 1993 after 32 years of teaching, all but seven of them in Galva.
Doris, recipient at graduation of the Business & Professional Women’s Award, presented to “the commercial student who possesses the qualities of a good businesswoman,” went to work right away at Peoples National Bank, but soon married Earl Lindstrom, another Wethersfield student who farmed with his father southeast of town. There, they raised three children including son Dale who was manager of the Kewanee Municipal Airport for many years.
Their junior year both Doris and June were involved in production of the class play, with Doris as prompter and June serving as the student director.
Each honoree was presented with a green and white wrist corsage designed by Sue Sagmoen at Blooms by Heartfelt.
The alumni association also honored the Class of 1975, observing the 50th year since graduation. Graduating that year were 64 seniors including valedictorian Jackie Strand, salutatorian Emily Vlahos and honor student Bruce Lininger.
Bill Leaf was class president and Bob McPheeters class sponsor. A group of about a dozen classmates attended Sunday’s meeting and were invited back next year on the third Sunday in August, the association’s traditional meeting date.
The floor of Wethersfield High School gymnasium was covered Sunday with tables full of trophies and plaques in a sale that coincided with the alumni meeting to raise funds for scholarships. The public was invited to view the array and take as many home as they wanted in exchange for a donation. By the end of the day, 65 items had been taken and $420 raised. Adding trophies, plaques and banners “rehomed” to people with a connection to them prior to the sale put the total number “rescued” at 82.
Assisting with the weekend’s activities were members of the WHS Key Club, National Honor Society, Student Council, and volleyball team.
Eva Ceja, a 2025 WHS graduate recently crowned Miss World Festival Queen, also assisted and spoke to the alumni gathering about what receiving an education at Wethersfield meant to her. Ceja and classmate Leah Franklin each received renewable $1,000 scholarships presented at graduation in memory of
Frank H. Craig, Wethersfield’s first superintendent, and the late Lois Gleason, a 1940 graduate.
Officers for the coming year were re-elected as follows: Dave Clarke, president; Ray Cruse, vice president; Donna Ericson, secretary; and Pam Sellers, treasurer. Serving as school board liaison is Steve Newman, and as Wethersfield Academic Foundation liaison is Jon Looney.
