Members of the Moapa Valley High School Class of 1961 got together at a class reunion held on Saturday at the Old Overton Gym.

By Jessica Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Valley High School graduates of 1961 gathered on Saturday morning in the Old Overton Gym for a 50 year class reunion. In 1961, there were 33 graduates in the MVHS class of ’61.

“And we were the largest class to have ever graduated MVHS at that time,” said class member Ace Robison.

About twenty students attended the reunion. Those in attendance honored their MVHS teachers, some of whom were also able to attend including Max Bunnell, Charles Pulsipher, Shirley Hardy, Ron Dalley, Marjorie Peterson, Katherine Hannig, Marie Parker, Glen Hardy, and Coach Dale Sessions.

During a program held at the reunion, Home Ec teacher Marjorie Peterson reminded her former students of the good times they had baking cookies in the class and of other adventures.

Class member, Roger Porter spoke about how much he enjoyed his teenage years, even though he tended to be a troublemaker, he said. In one class, he said that he flicked paperclips up at the vents, unleashing an enormous noise to startle the teacher.

“We were in a great nurturing environment that gave us the chance to become human beings,” Porter said. “I’m so thankful to the administration for being such a good example. I can’t think back to MVHS without thinking of the wonderful associations we had here.”

Glen Hardy, who had been the school’s Agriculture teacher, spoke next. He spoke of the Ag Shows and how scholarships worked back then. He told the graduates, “You were a special class and I enjoyed our experiences at MVHS.”

To introduce the next speaker, emcee Jerry Hayworth told a story from when Neils Pedersen first moved to Moapa Valley in his freshmen year of high school. He had lived in California and only ever seen chickens-never cows. Haworth explained that when Pederson joined Ag, he had to learn to milk a cow. So, some boys got him all set up and he reached down to start milking… but as it turned out, that cow had never been milked before.

“That cow kicked him and he rolled like a bowling ball,” Hayworth laughed.

Pedersen spoke of long-time MVHS principal, Grant M. Bowler. “He ran a tight ship,” Pederson remembered. “We were blessed to have a principal with principles.”

Pederson then had the audience laughing as he told them about an experience in Debate. During one match, he and Ace Robison frustrated a girl to the point of tears with their arguments.

To conclude the program, Ace Robison spoke. He said that they had the best teachers. Max Bunnell taught them the finer things in life. Concerning teacher, Ron Dalley, he said, “We used to kid that he looked younger than most of us when he came here, yet he had such an influence over us.”

Then, he also spoke of Principal Bowler. “He was determined to give the best opportunity that he could give and we could take advantage of. Because of him, we had the opportunity to go out into the world.”

After the program, lunch was served and the reunited graduates gathered to continue reminiscing.