JAY – The Livermore Falls class of 1949 held its 55-year reunion at LaFleur’s restaurant on July 24. There were 29 classmates and 19 guests attending. Dr. Melvin and Barbara Fuller of Damariscotta and Meredith Monk Dalessandro also visited.

Thomas Berry gave the blessing before the buffet-style dinner. Favors at each place setting were cards depicting a donkey with a California Gold Rush Forty-niner panning for gold, donated by Carolyn Merchant. She also filled nut cups, which looked like little gray pails, with gold-colored candy and nuts for each card.

Gerard “Zeke” Richards was Master of Ceremonies. Meredith Dalessandro created a background for the list of 31 deceased classmates, accompanied by a floral tribute. Norman Bilodeau read the names during a period of silence.

Winnie Shink gave a financial report and, after a little discussion, it was decided to keep the balance for future reunions, which will continue in five years with informal daytime luncheons annually between.

Eleanor Martin Hutchinson and husband, Hazen, were recognized as first-time attendees. Cards were signed and were sent to those unable to attend because of illness: Richard Dalessandro, Leonard Poulin and Tom Nichols; also to Charles LaBrecque, Phillip Lyman and Arlene Reed Dysart, whose spouses are ill.

Richard Lapointe, a 49er who became a coach of basketball and baseball, and a teacher of physical education, general science and biology, spoke about Neil Sullivan, who was a five-sport coach, the fifth being hockey. Archie Poulin was remembered as a coach under Sullivan.

During World War II, many students were serving their country and there was no football team at LFHS for five years. Then, as the men came back to finish high school, there was once again a team in 1948, coached by Tom Farrell.

Carolyn Merchant prepared a program, “Eight Days Make a Miracle,” about Dr. Neil Sullivan. He was superintendent of schools in East Williston, Long Island, N.Y., when he was called to Farmhills in Prince Edward County, Va., in 1963 to open four schools that had been closed since 1959 to avoid integration. He was selected because his lifelong interest in a flexible education to suit a child’s ability, rather than his or her chronological age, fitted him for the situation.

Dr. Sullivan had two weeks to find teachers, clean the schools, repair school buses, arrange hot lunches, get textbooks and supplies.

Many students, ages 6 to 15, didn’t know the alphabet and couldn’t read, nor did they recognize the “Star Spangled Banner.” Their average IQ was 77.8, bordering on mental retardation. However, within a few weeks after opening day, every student was retested and the IQ level was improved.

Dr. Sullivan, who is about 89 and in a New Hampshire nursing home, has written two books, “Bound for Freedom” and “Now is the Time.”

Carolyn Merchant’s granddaughter, Anahita Pajuhesh, and her friend, Jared, entertained on drums. Pajuhesh spent a semester in Senegal, West Africa, studying percussion. Wearing an Army uniform and hat, Merchant ended the program with a humorous reading, “G.I. Joe,” which her mother, Helen Bean, used to recite.

The door prize, a gift basket, was donated by Norman Paradis and won by Nancy Baker. The evening concluded with the singing of the class ode, “Forever and Ever.”

Attending were Emile O. Laplante of Ocala, Fla.; Nancy Baker Stanwood and daughters, Sandra Goodwin and Linda Calamato, of Westwood, N.J.; Philip Q. DeSotto of Tewksbury, Mass.; Betty Barker Morrison and husband, Erland, of Alfred; John and Edna McKenney of Portland; Richard and Beverly LaPointe of Brunswick, Paul Norman and Harriet Laverdiere of Madison, Leah Flagg Virgin of Bowdoin.

Also, Laurette Laverdiere McCobb of Woolwich; Eleanor Martin Hutchinson and husband, Hazen, of Poland; Norman W. LaPlante of Peru; Effie Forbes Waite of Mexico; Thomas and Beverly Berry, Morrill and Alice Gosselin Lafreniere of Livermore; Ronald and Arlene Jones, Norman and Bernice Bilodeau, Ruth LaBrecque, Norman and Pauline Pare Duguay, Victor and Lorraine Richard Mercier of Livermore Falls.

Also, Robert and Winnie Cossette Shink, Henry DiSotto, Norman W. and Annabelle Paradis, Gerard “Zeke” and Annette Richards of Jay; Claire Wilkins Flagg of Fayette, Romeo Langelier of Chesterville, Celine Paradis Wells, Carolyn Bean Merchant of Wilton; Irma Bean Sawyer of Lancaster, N.H.; Anahita Pajuhesh and Jared; Valerie Walton Wood and Margaret Riggs Knight of Wayne.