Reunion visit included research time

Attending the All School Reunion weekend July 16 and 17 was more than a social experience for this Hot Springs County High School 1955 graduate. I needed information for a book I am writing about growing up in Wyoming and Montana. Since my brother Bill Cederholm and I were in Billings for a family visit, we drove on to Thermopolis for the weekend.

Thermopolis High School graduates need to know about the terrific resources available to those who want to revisit the past in some depth. Materials are rich and deep.

At the Independent Record, I browsed through back issues published the year I moved to Thermopolis and started fourth grade. The newspaper once carried high school, junior high and grade school notes for every class. It is a treasure trove of information available nowhere else.

The Hot Springs County Historical Museum, which I contacted in advance, had yearbooks from all my high school years. Browsing them was bittersweet. They once belonged to the late Leona Elliott, my 1955 classmate.

The museum is also part of family history. When it was the Coca Cola plant, my brother and I freely roamed the building and its basement. Our late father, Glen Cederholm, was manager there from the late 1940s through the 1950s. Bill enjoyed seeing the basement as it is today. Comprehensive and well organized, this facility houses a wealth of information about the town’s development. I found names and dates that will make my book more accurate.

The THS reunion committee helped me secure a ticket to the Class of 1956 banquet where class members shared their accomplishments and memories. Many praised the quality of education and deep friendships still important after 60 years. The Sunday picnic was another chance to renew acquaintances and to visit the park that features so vividly in our Thermopolis memories.

I know the reunion weekends are hard work for the volunteers who stage them each year. As keepers of ties to the past, they do important work. They deserve recognition and appreciation.