Vancouver High School’s Class of 1943 won’t be holding any more reunions, members say. When members want to get together, they can pretty much sit down around a table.
That’s what they did last week, in an example of “old school” school spirit. Seventy-two years after graduating from Vancouver High, six classmates met Tuesday and donated the money in their reunion account to Fort Vancouver High School.
“We kept collecting more money than we spent” on reunions, Don Millar said.
Don Davis, Pat Kogan Davis, Cal Olson, Rudy Podhora, Carl Stutz and Millar presented a check for $769.49 to Ken Roberts, assistant principal at Fort Vancouver High School.
There was no such school in 1943. These Trappers went to Vancouver High, at 26th and Main streets, which graduated its first class in 1913.
Fort Vancouver High School was built at 5700 E. 18th St. in 1970. But even though it’s a different name and a different location, “They’re still Trappers,” Don Davis said.
The donation will help low-income Fort students continue the Trapper tradition, Roberts said: “It will be used to pay kids’ sports fees.”
It costs $50 for a student-body card to participate in sports, Roberts said.
“Seventy-three percent of our students are eligible for free- and reduced-price lunches,” Roberts said during the meeting at American Legion Smith-Reynolds Post 14. “That’s a lot of kids in need.”
Reflections of war
The Class of ’43 graduated in the middle of World War II, which was reflected in their “Alki” yearbook. Each page is topped by a graphic that combines the word “VICTORY” with an eagle. “Life in a Bomb Shelter” was the title of one student production.
And, because of wartime gas rationing, the track team’s regular-season competition was limited to Portland schools.
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