Welcome to Sycamore High School's (Sycamore, IL), Class of 1956, alumni website. The purpose of this website is to keep you posted on upcoming events and to stir up old memories.

 
     Sponsors of the website hope you enjoy your visit and if you have any suggestions or information you would like to share please contact us.

          Please sign the "Guest Book" be you classmate or visitor. Thank you and be safe.


NOTICE:   If you have changed your email address recently and would like to continue to receive notices of class functions or happenings, be sure to let me know what your new email address is. I noticed the last couple of times I sent emails out to our classmates, that some came back undeliverable. 

Send updates to Jack Lindstrom at jaxson4801@sbcglobal.net



Remember:
 
Take time to appreciate every day, because these years will be gone before you know it.

"Don't regret growing older. It's a privilege denied to many."

 

 

    

 

 

Birthdays & Anniversaries

 

September Birthdays

      8 - Dorothy Becker Brown

    14 - Jerry Thomas

    19 - Sandy Gustafson Hill              

 

September Anniversaries

     27 - Bill & Kathy Lenchow

 

   



What's Up - Setember 2024
 
1. Updated "Welcome" page and added "Then and Now" page back on website. It got deleted somehow.
 
2. 68th Class Reunion will be held Sept. 20th, 2024.

3. Class dinner - (Summer months) Last Monday of the month at 1:00 pm at Parkway Family Restaurant in Sycamore.
 
4. Added September birthdays & anniversarys. 



 

Class of 1956's
68th Class Reunion
 

IT IS ALMOST TIME FOR OUR YEARLY CLASS GET TOGETHER. THIS YEAR IS 68 YEARS SINCE WE GRADUATED, SO TRY TO COME IF YOU CAN. WE HAVE LOST A LOT OF CLASSMATES.
 
PLACE: HOUGH'S CABIN
            7040 CHERRY VALLEY RD
            KINGSTON, ILLINOIS 60145
 
TIME: NOON
DATE: FRIDAY, SEPT. 20th
NEED: $5.00 AND A DISH TO PASS.
           Drinks and table service furnished.
 
Let Alta know if you are coming by Sept. 16th.
Phone: 815-751-4217
By mail at: 1419 Lewis St., DeKalb, Il 60115
You can pay at the reunion when you come.


 
Monthly Class Dinner.

Class dinner - July 2024
Front Row: Barb, Linda, Sandy, Joyce Alta & Bob.
Back Row: Orin, Bill, Arliss, Joe, Cheryl, Jack, Sally & Bill.


Monthly Class Dinner will be held at the Parkway Resteraunt, 605 E. State St. Sycamore, Il at 1pm during the winter months. Hope to see you there. Pass the word.

All classmates and their spouses are invited to attend.


Come and renew old friendships.
 
 
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Sponsors                              

In responce to the email I sent out to classmates to sponsor our class website. I am happy to report the following class members have made this website possible for another five years by their generous contributions. Our website is now paid for until August 2026. 

Sponsors of this Alumni website, in random order are Dave Drenckpohl, Pat O'Connor, Oz Kendall, Joe Peplow, Gary Holland, Bert Fredrick, Gene Behler & Jack Lindstrom.

Also a shout out to Alta, Sally and Barb for there donation which I returned as we had reached our goal.

Thank you all.


 
Do you recognize any of these little angels?


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FYI

In the Reflection Section, you’ll find a beautiful, cerebral and introspective vignette called "Waiting” written by Dave Drenckpohl. Dave steps back in time to capture his feelings as he contemplates his graduation from high school. He knows he is leaving the relative safety of his youth and venturing into the real world. That evokes a range of emotions.

This not a piece that someone can simply breeze through. To really appreciate it, a person needs to linger over many of its passages. At times, there is trepidation about the future, others times hope and optimism, and still other times a fond regard for the past. Dave describes it best when he wrote "It was a long, long time ago when what we were to become was a very small seed planted in a vast expanse of possibilities!"

Let us know what you thought of Dave’s vignette and tell us what was going through your mind as you approached graduation. Make comments to Dave's vignette in the Guest Book section. Put “Waiting” in the subject line.

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As some of you may or may not know, Joe has always had a fascination with the railroad. This is something he sent to me after I had emailed him a list of railroad cars that were available for rent throughout the United States, as a place to spend a night or week.

 

 

Article by Harold (Joe) Peplow

 

The great Western never had much of a passenger fleet - they tried with one, the Bluebird right before the depression but that was discontinued in 1931.They were a freight railroad. The one that ran through Sycamore started from Olwein IA and went to Chicago in the morning and returned that night. It was slow since it had to stop everywhere along the line. The equipment wasn’t fancy but it looked like a passenger train from head to tail. The colors were pretty. The power was gas electric - gasoline engine running a generator to supply power to electric motors in the trucks (wheel sets) Wish I could say I rode on it. Pat O’Connor did since his dad worked for CGW. I have a picture I took of Jerry Swanson standing in front of #1009 - the year was probably between 1947-1949.

 

When John Florent and I were at S.I.U., we rode the Illinois central City of New Orleans a number of times back and forth to C-dale and Chicago. In the 60s, it was a streamliner from head to tail - all the cars were the same color scheme and the observation car at the end had a bar. It was a fast train - 306 miles in 5 hours. fare was $9.33 one way or$16.80 round trip.( I was making $1.00/hour working for the school in various jobs and delivering flowers for a local florist.

A long time ago, but good memories.

 


Saw this was on facebook and thought some of you might be interested in reading it. It is a link to a book written by C.R. "Luke" McLagan in 1960 called Nostalgia and Glee. It is about the history of Sycamore. Click on this link. 
 
https://archive.org/details/nostalgiagleeins00mcla

 

Sycamore High School Alumni website

 The Sycamore High School has established "The Sycamore High School Alumni Association" on facebook with the mission of "Supporting, Serving, Recognizing and Connecting" Click on the link below to go to the Sycamore High School Alumni Facebook page. 

www.facebook.com/pages/Sycamore-High-School-Alumni/225111654233415 

They also now have the Sycamore High School Alumni website up and running. You can find it at www.sycamorehsalumni.com

There is also another website where you can follow the Sycamore High School spirit in action. It showed the high school's homecoming parade live, when it happened. You can find the website at www.ihigh.com/sycohigh


 
 
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     I would like to extend a special thanks to Gene Behler for the numerous articles he has written for this website; some of which, can be found on the "Archives" page. 

I would also like to thank Joe Peplow for the pictures he has supplied. He is becoming the websites official photographer.
                       
    
  


More - For Your Information.....

The Sycamore True Republican archives are now available on the internet at:  www.library.Illinois.edu/dnc/idnc. Newspapers from the 1869 thru 1968 are available. Log on and check what was happening in 1956.

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The City of Sycamore launches a new website. Check it out at www.discoversycamore.com.
 
                                                    ******                                            
If anyone is trying to locate someone they might have served with in the military, a good website to check out might be "Together We Served". Just type in the branch of service and togetherweserved. com. Re: www.airforce.togetherweserved.com