When Sue Schierholtz and fellow students from her Class of 1959 reunion visit the Lyons Township High School North campus this weekend, some of them are going to have a hard time finding the football field and may be surprised the building sports a swimming pool.
Then again, the same may hold true for classmates of Lorraine Redis Koshgarian of Burr Ridge, who not only graduated in a class of 300-plus at the North campus in 1949, but also from Lyons
Township Junior College -- which was then on the top floor of the La Grange campus.
We had a wonderful, wonderful class spirit and us girls in particular," she recalled. "There were some 30 of us who really hung together and went to basketball games, everything we could. Those were the days; when you could travel around safely."
Both classes are holding their reunions this weekend, '59's at La Grange Country Club (where the Class of 1954 will be all weekend) and '49's at the Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook. The Class of '59 will hold a Friday, Oct. 9 mixer at the Lake Hinsdale Village Clubhouse in Willowbrook and a Sunday, Oct. 11 brunch at the country club. The Class of '49 has a Friday night mixer at the same hotel.
Plans for each reunion have been underway for a year or more, as well as plans to have a contingent of classmates in the Homecoming parade set for 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 10 at the North campus. '49ers will be in a streetcar trolley and '59ers will be in a row of convertibles.
"A lot of us (reunion organizers) do this three-day thing right around Homecoming ... and this time there will be 25 of us in four convertibles," said Schierholtz, who cannot forget all the good times at The Corral, when it was located on Harris Avenue downtown (what is now Les Tissus Colbert). "If you don't get a seat, you walk."
Ever since this year's 50th reunion planning began, a group of classmates has been meeting regularly for breakfast every other month at Moondance Diner in Burr Ridge. Asked what was special about her class, the Western Springs resident couldn't have given a cornier answer.
"Nothing could be finer than the Class of '59-er," she proclaimed. "I made it to The Corral every opportunity I had."
Schierholtz, who went on to become a Chicago Public Schools home economics teacher, said it is sad The Corral is not what it used to be.
"That was the way to get out from under your parents (rule)," she reminisced, adding there were always two sets of parents there as chaperones who kept to themselves. "There were records playing all the time ... and there originally was booths and a dance floor there a step up with a corral-type fence around it. You'd walk around that 'til a guy asked you to dance."
She said the Class of '59, expected to attract more than 2oo to the reunion, was the last class to go through all four years at the North campus.
"There was no swimming pool and where the gym now is was the football field," she said. "We were told to not go across the street but through the undergound tunnel. And we obeyed."
As for the Class of '49, some 75 classmates are expected to show up this weekend.
"I met my husband (football player Herb Koshgarian) at LT; he was two years ahead of me in the Class of '47," said Redis Koshgarian, who raised her five children in a house at Edgewood and 47th Street. "I was a member of the Girls Club and I studied hard."
Unlike she and her husband -- who met at The Corral and married two years after she graduated LT -- their children attended South and North campus.
Her husband's class is the one that purchased the old mechanic's garage that was converted into The Corral, where she always hung out after it opened. I dunno, call it fate.
Her mother even attended LT, but that was back when girls only went for two years and then worked, because they weren't considered worthy enough to complete an education. Like her mother, she walked to school, right up Cossitt Avenue.
Redis Koshgarian, whose husband later operated the Koshgarian rug cleaning company in La Grange then Hinsdale, said she and many of her classmates of 60 years ago remain close.
"We're best friends," she said, noting her classmates came from as far away as Palos Hills back then. "LT was a wonderful melting pot. I can't imagine anyone going through the same experience as we did. I can't even say enough good things about LT."
The Classes of 1954, 1960, 1968, 1974, 1979, 1989 and 1999 also have planned reunions for this weekend and may also be seen in the parade, the game and other alumni events.
Spirit Week concludes
LT's annual Spirit Week began Oct. 5 and climaxes with the student dance on Saturday, Oct. 10.
This year’s theme, "Lights, Camera, Action," featured dress-up days and contests, the annual parade from North to South campus, a “red carpet” experience, search lights and Hollywood decorations.
LT welcomes the community to participate in the festivities and homeowners along the parade route are encouraged to show their school spirit and pride by showcasing their homes in blue and gold.
The pep rally will begin at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9 before the boys’ varsity soccer game at Bennett Field. Nessie and Noil will be on hand and the Homecoming queen will be crowned.
On Saturday, Oct. 10, the parade will be followed by alumni tours at South Campus at 11 a.m. and a reception for alumni at The Corral at South campus at noon.
The parade steps off at the North campus parking lot on Cossitt Avenue, just west of Brainard Avenue, heads south on Blackstone Avenue and west on Goodman Avenue. The route crosses Gilbert Avenue and continues west on 46th Street, south on Clausen Avenue, and east on 47th Street through the Garden Market shopping center to Bennett Field.
LionFest at Bennett Field will include family fun and the Boosters will have food and LT wear for sale during the Varsity football game at Bennett Field. Scheduled kickoff is 1:30 p.m.
The student dance will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, with nearly 3,000 students expected to attend. The cost of tickets is $15, and $20 at the door.
This year's Student Council is partnered with the Cause & Affect Foundation and donate all the proceeds from the sale of t-shirts, buttons and aluminum water bottles to the foundation’s worldwide philanthropy efforts. The Chicago-based nonprofit works to alleviate poverty.
Pizza, anyone?
Since Saturday, Oct. 10 is Homecoming night, Aurelio's at 11 Calendar Court in downtown La Grange will be open late especially for LT students.
From 10:45 p.m. to midnight, the restaurant will be closed down to all but those attending LT Homecoming.
