Frankfurt American High School’s 50th Reunion

Around this time 50 years ago in Germany, the Frankfurt American High School’s class of ’66 graduated in the Frankfurter Zoologischer Garten (Frankfurt Zoo), a fitting place for this memorable occasion.

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Photo of the entrance to the Frankfurt Zoo complex. Our graduation took place in a theater inside the complex.

A notice in our graduation packet spoke about rabies shots. I wonder if our principal had fears about one of us getting bitten by wild animals in the zoo?

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Do you think we’ll be able to graduate when we’re seniors and get out of this prison?

 

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Some of us are in line to receive our scholarships for academic achievements.

The notice of the 50th reunion of FAHS arrived in my inbox a few months ago. I had never been to any of my high school reunions over the years—or any reunion for that matter, except for reunions with family and friends. Initially I had no intention of going to the reunion, but then, one by one, I received emails from a handful of long lost friends who asked me to join them in San Antonio for the reunion. I changed my mind.

Why San Antonio? Since our high school in Germany no longer exists, the reunions take place at various locations in the States. The decision lies in the hands of the planning committee.

At this moment, I’m in the air, heading to Texas, with my head full of memories from half a century ago.

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Römer Platz in downtown Frankfurt am Main. Sometimes I skipped school, jumped on a trolley and headed downtown to simply wander around this historic part of town. One time I slipped past the guards at the court house and witnessed part of a trial of Nazi criminals which I wrote about in one of the posts called “Nuremberg Trials.” I learned a lot when I wasn’t in school.

Frankfurt American High School (FAHS) was one of six Department of Defense high schools in Germany that served the children of the American military, the government, and civilian personnel after World War II. The school, opened in 1946, relocated several times within the city, and ended up at a place called the Abrams Complex, seen below.

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In this old aerial photograph of the Frankfurt American High School complex, the playing fields can be seen in the upper area. On the far upper right, barely visible, are the sinister buildings of I.G. Farben, commonly referred to as I.G. Hoch Haus (Tall Building), where German chemists manufactured the chemicals used in the gas chambers during WWII. A Jewish classmate told me that the word “GIFT”—the German word for POISON, was stamped on each canister of chemicals. After the war, those deadly chemicals found a new use as insecticides and herbicides. The American military took over the building complex at the end of the war. One of my German patients worked at I.G. Farben after the war as a translator. She fell in love with an American soldier who became her husband.

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The school adopted the eagle as the its mascot. The motto became “Eagles Über Alles.”

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With the closing of American military bases in the Frankfurt region following the Cold War and German reunification, the school closed in 1995. The American government returned the Abrams Complex to the German Federal government and Frankfurt American High School became Die Phillip Holzman Schule.

Update: I’m stuck at the airport in Oklahoma City. Our plane to Dallas had to be re-routed because of a shooting at the Dallas airport (Welcome to Texas). We’re stuck in Oklahoma until there is security clearance at the Dallas airport. Of course, I’ve already missed my connecting flight to San Antonio. Not sure when I’ll get there, but not too worried about it.

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We stayed in Hotel Contessa, right on the lovely River Walk in the heart of San Antonio.

I finally arrived in San Antonio, checked into our hotel, located right on the River Walk, then walked along the river until I found the German Bier Garten where the dinner get-together was wrapping up. In my haste to join the group, I had not picked up my name tag at the hotel. Even without the name tag pinned to my shirt, several people called out my name, “Rickie Merriam,” as I entered the outdoor restaurant. Being addressed by my childhood name made me feel instantly like I was among family. Several people claimed I looked the same as I did in high school. Haha.

Fortunately, everyone else had name tags because it took me quite a while to recognize my old friends. One of my former classmates, Mike O’Connor, jumped out of his seat, whipped out his iPhone and showed me pictures he had scanned into his computer of the senior class play we were in, “Bye Bye Birdie.” He even played a monologue of me—the mother—speaking in a heavy Brooklyn accent. Mike’s parents had recorded the entire play and then Mike had managed to put the recording on his computer and iPhone and saved it for posterity.

In the role of Albert’s mother, Mae Peterson, I took on the personality of a high-strung, long-suffering martyr, desperately manipulative to get her son’s attention and resentful of the time he spent with his girlfriend, Rosie, and not with her. Fellow actor in “Bye Bye Birdie,” Mike O’Connor, put his iPhone up to my ear at the restaurant, and this is what I heard—a familiar voice from half a century ago:

 

Here’s a snippet of a professional rendition of “Bye Bye Birdie” with the song I sang,“Kids—What’s Wrong with Kids Today?”in our unprofessional version of the musical.

One of the pictures of the musical that Mike showed me on his iPhone.

The storyline in the musical, “Bye Bye Birdie,” was inspired by events in the life of Elvis Presley when he was drafted into the army in 1957.

Our little sub-group spent the rest of the evening reminiscing about our times together.

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Some of my old buddies gathered together. On my right is David Vining. He played my son in Bye Bye Birdie, our senior class musical. The couple all the way to the left fell in love at their 40th high school reunion and got married.

The reunion planning committee reserved a room in our hotel for meeting up with classmates and a place to leave personal memorabilia for all of us to savor. I came unprepared, but enjoyed looking at other people’s scrapbooks.

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Next Morning: Fire Alarm in the Hotel at 7 am. A loudspeaker announced that we had to evacuate our rooms due to a fire alert. About twenty minutes later, the loudspeaker announced it was a false alarm.

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Our hotel served breakfast right on the River Walk. The morning air felt cool and refreshing.

So much reminiscing with a flood of memories that came pouring over me as I spoke with my former best buddies. Below are photographs of a couple of friends who went to the prom together in 1966 and then met up again at our reunion, fifty years later.

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Linda Looney and Peter Patrick in 1966, dressed up for the prom.

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Linda Looney and Peter Patrick 50 years later. Shining through the accumulation of years, I see their strong and vibrant spirits. The smiles are just as infectious as ever.

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On the left is the Honorable Judge Susan Illston, district judge of northern California, appointed by Clinton in 2009. Susan missed the graduation ceremonies at the zoo because she was in Washington, DC, shaking the hand of President Johnson, one of just a handful of students who got the presidential award for excellence. We went to Paris together for wild adventures during spring vacation of 1966. And to the right is Karen Tackett, professor of nursing, the person who cut off my braid and set me free, as written in the blog post “Cutting the Braid.” After junior year, Karen and I went to Neufchatel, Switzerland together during the summer of 1965 to take an advanced course in French.

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Peter Patrick showed his affection for me in high school by pulling on my braid. The more he pulled on it, the more I knew he liked me. That braid got a lot of hands-on attention from the boys.

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Downtown San Antonio.

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Exploring downtown San Antonio with Susan Illston and her husband, Jim Larson.

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The front entrance to the Alamo.

 

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Seniors from FAHS, 1966, have come together as seniors again—this time from a different kind of school called LIFE, 2016. The graduation date from this school is unknown.

Out of a graduating class of around 350, 300 of us are still alive. Almost one-third of the surviving class attended the 50th reunion. I could not fit them all into one picture.

Our classmates include doctors, engineers, teachers, therapists, lawyers, judges, government officials, military officers, CIA agents, nurses, professors of nursing, artists, actors, professors of drama, and musicians. About half of the people I talked with at the reunion are still working full or part-time because they love their jobs and find them meaningful.

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Cindy Ravitsky and Tony Jesurun dancing to a mariachi band on the hotel balcony.

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Susan Illston posed with her 1966 prom partner, Eric Melby, just for old time’s sake—at my request.

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During the intermission at our reunion dance party, all the people who won school prizes in 1966 were announced and told to stand up, one by one. Mike O’Connor and I were voted the “wittiest” in the senior class. I never thought of myself as particularly witty.

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This group of former classmates called themselves “The Melloteens.” They had achieved some fame in the area and had even been invited to sing in Berlin. They sang for us at our graduation ceremony in the Frankfurt Zoo in 1966. And now they assembled again for our 50th reunion and graced us with their beautiful voices.

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We danced the night away to the infectious music of the 60’s. The band members looked our same age. I enjoyed every minute of it. In the music-driven state of ecstasy, I totally forgot how old I was. For just a moment, I was back at the teenage club in Frankfurt.

Update: I’m stuck at the San Antonio airport until late tonight because of a big storm in Dallas. Yet another Dalles delay, but at least this time is not due to a shooting. So, my trip has been rerouted. I’ll arrive in Albuquerque in the middle of the night. I’ll be in Santa Fe in the wee hours Monday morning. Fortunately, I don’t have patients until the afternoon. I’m just going to relax into this prolonged delay and savor the walk down memory lane this weekend at the 50th reunion. I had no idea it would be so much fun. The planning committee did an outstanding job.

If you’d like to read the little memoir series of short stories I did about my life in high school in Germany, here are the links, in the order they were written. The first one is “The Nuremberg Trials,” then “At the Pub,” “Cutting the Braid,” “Cutting Loose,” “Trials of Transparency,” “Summer with Jean Pierre,” and “First Day at Antioch College.”

That’s all for now.

 


Comments

Frankfurt American High School’s 50th Reunion — 25 Comments

  1. Hi, Erica —
    I was a sophomore at FAHS in 1965-66, and that ‘senior class musical’ you refer to was actually the spring school musical. I know this, because I was in it, the belting girl on the ladder in act one, who started “The Telephone Hour.” I was also a Melloteen, and traveled to Berlin that spring. It was great to hear the chorus again with Steve Smith’s solo that brought the house down!
    I went to my own 50th reunion, and have been attending mini Melloteen reunions at Virginia Johnson’s home in Madison, WI. Wonderful to see your pictures of the musical and of Frankfurt!!

    Nancy Kulczak Wrigley

    • Nancy, how exciting to hear from you and to know that you were actually in the spring school musical AND you were a Melloteen. Wow!!! You have talent. I bet you have a lot of fond memories from those times. I wonder how you found my blog. Many good wishes to you, Erica aka Rickie

      • Having been home from a Melloteens reunion for several weeks and missing our glory days, I started searching for anything related on the Mighty Web, and lo! There you were.

    • What a pleasant surprise!! How did you find me and this blog post? I will go to your facebook page. Best wishes, Erica

  2. Thanks for sharing your wonderful memory’s…It was so fun to hear about your reunion and see you photos!! Thank you.Kelly

  3. I loved reading your words and memories of our reunion. I too felt moved by the experience and the jogging of things buried in my brain!!

  4. We do know how to have fun!! Because my parents were living in Heidelberg our senior year, I missed a lot of weekend fun with Frankfurt folks. But I do remember bomb scares where we got to go to the park! I didn’t know some of the things about the high school that you talked about so thank you! Hope to get together with you in August Ruth

  5. This was fantastic, a walk-through your life with you and the joy you all shared at your reunion. I read every word and savored every picture! Thank you for bringing us into your life dear Ricky.

  6. I love high school reunions and your remembrance of yours is entertaining. I’m glad you managed to get there and back safely even though you had some problems (the shooting and the weather). Thanks!

  7. In my early 20’s my husband and I were living in Manhattan. At the time Bye Bye Birdie opened on Broadway I was working for Lee Adams, the lyricist, as his secretary at This Week Magazine. So reading this episode of yours was a walk down memory lane for me. What fun! Several years ago (2009), when I first got a computer I contacted Lee Adams, just to say hi (a reunion of sorts) and got a nice letter back from him. I occasionally play the soundtrack from the Show and go back in time. Thanks for the memory…

  8. Erica, so delightful. You made my day after an exhausting trip home across country! It is obvious that sp called “army brats” make exceptional people. The Bye Bye Birdie story was so much fun I wished I could have been there in 1966 instead of in Tampa keeping 6 teenagers in line. And, obvious that you are a lady of many talents! Just a wonderful, wonderful blog, Erica. And, the pictures were amazing. although I.G Hoch Haus gave me chilling goose bumps. Thank you!!! What a blessing to be your friend, Anna

  9. What fun to read……..and so well-written…. Thank you, Erica, for sharing this experience with us. I had a vicarious thrill. And you look great!
    I just hope you get this, as I am not able to send regular email, since my laptop has been invaded by Windows 10, against my will. Need to have it un=installed.
    Thanks again for this breath of fresh, cool! air…………… hot love to you from the real desert.

    • So sorry for your computer hassles. Vreni said that after you un-install Windows 10, you can re-install your old program and hopefully recover the data you thought you lost. Abu Dhabi sounds blisteringly hot. I don’t think I’d survive there. I bet you’re looking forward to being in India when the monsoons come. We are all thinking about you and keeping you in our hearts. Love, Erica

  10. I attended Frankfurt-Amer. Elem in 1959-60 for 6th grade and Frankfurt-Amer. Jr. High from 1960 – 1962 for 7th and 9th grades but watch FB postings just in case some one from those years stayed on to graduate from FAHS in ’66.
    Reading your article reminds me of those open, one-person elevators in
    the I. G. Farben Building.
    I probably would have gone to San Antonio if I did not commit to two other 50-year reunions: Franklin Pierce in Tacoma WA where I went to elem. sch. for 4th, 5th and 9th grades and kept in touch with classmates there and
    Escondido High School (CA) where we lived after Dad retired from the U S Army at Fort Lewis (nka Lewis McChord).
    I am looking forward to the next West
    Coast FAHS reumion !
    Joseph J. ‘Joe ‘ Wu
    jjw94133@yahoo.com

    • Joseph, what a nice surprise to hear about your Frankfurt connection. If you connect with someone from the reunion planning committee through FB, lie Kathy Bates, maybe you could convince them to have the next reunion on the West coast.

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