The Old Newgate Coon Club in Norfolk was the gathering place for 65 classmates and guests from the Gilbert Class of 1949 on June 12, 2004 .

The evening began with a presentation by Patty Sales, daughter of our late class president Charles Rowley whose plane was shot down over Laos in 1970. Members of the class who served in the military joined Patty in a tribute to her father. This was followed by a delicious buffet dinner and a brief program recognizing classmates from AZ, CA, FL, GA, MI, MS, NH, HJ , TX and CT.

Joining the class was former football coach and physical ed teacher Roy Kent who was honored on Friday night with a well attended reunion of sportsmen from 1948-1955.

Overheard were conversations of children, grand-children and great grand-children as well as various travels, accomplishments and of course the complaints of aches, pains, and current aliments!

It was a wonderful evening and the class is pleased to report that continuing the spirit of providing legacy for the Gilbert School, the class of 1949 raised enough money to fund another granite bench similar to the one donated in celebration of our 50 th class union in 1999.

A brunch was held the next day at Eleanor (DiMartino) Pratt's home on Highland Lake . The weather was perfect and many of us enjoyed a boat tour of the lake shore. The lake is still as beautiful as it was when we were in Gilbert.

Our motto “55 and Still Alive” will become “Sixty and Still Kicken” when we meet again in 2009.

Huge banners (courtesy of Chris Jauch '49) depicting the Gilbert sports teams from '48 thru '55 covered the walls of the Coon Club for the June 11th and 12th celebrations.  Banners from previous reunions of the class of '49 during their 50th reunion group pictures were also displayed on Saturday.

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