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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Reunion Attracts Young And Old Of Kellogg High

Blame Kellogg’s population explosion on Alice Edwards. She’s a great-grandmother who likes to bring the flock home - at least for one weekend every now and then.

In her case, the flock is 2,000 to 3,000 strong. Alice invites home anyone who wore the purple and gold of Kellogg High.

“We just like to get together and visit, talk about people we dated. It’s so much fun,” says Alice, making the mega-gathering sound like a family picnic.

Her phone rings constantly. “I went to Kellogg High but didn’t graduate. Can I come?” “I married a Kellogg grad, but he’s gone. Can I come?” “My sisters went to Kellogg High, but we moved before I could. Can I come?”

Class leaders gave Alice, a 1931 grad, the names of 6,000 living graduates whose whereabouts are known. Some days, it seems every one calls with a question.

“I’m not working now, so this keeps me from getting bored,” Alice says. At 81, she has the vitality of a woman half her age. She needs it to organize class meetings, parades, two dances and a barbecue.

Kellogg’s all-school reunion Aug. 11-13 is the third since 1986. Graduates flooded Alice with flowers and candy after the first, and clamored for more. It was too much fun.

“The fellas came thinking we were their long, lost sweethearts,” Alice says, giggling. “They wanted to hug and kiss everyone. We looked at them and were glad we didn’t stick with them.”

The all-school reunions are most popular with graduates from the 1940s and 1950s. Few come from the 1960s and 1970s; and 1980s graduates just aren’t interested.

Alice says they need more time away from school to miss their old classmates. It took her 25 years, and then she couldn’t get enough.

“Two people already have asked me to help them with the reunion in 2000,” she says, as her phone rings again. “I don’t know if I will. I’ll be near 90 then, you know.”

White knights

Post Falls’ Wes Davis believes in kids, especially after this summer. Sixty teens in Wes’ youth group at Falls Full Gospel Assembly of God joined forces with 35 teens from churches in western Washington. The kids raised $9,000 from car washes, doughnut sales, a pie auction (a lemon meringue sold for $105) and garage sales.

In mid-July, the kids convened in Post Falls for a week and put their earnings to work. They bought basketballs for the juvenile detention center and clocks for the retirees at Forest Place, videocassette recorders for the Golden Years retirement home and a vacuum for the Women’s Center.

They scraped paint at the food bank, painted the American Red Cross office, made lunch at two senior centers and took lonely kids to the waterslide park. In all, they gave 25 care packages and worked on 15 projects - just for fun.

“The motto for the week was ‘We’re just here to serve,”’ Wes says. “We were the lucky ones. You get more by giving.”

Free tunes

Pack the picnic basket and head to Q’Emiln Park in Post Falls Sunday. It’s not hard to say: Ka-mee-lin. The Sandpoint Chamber Ensemble will perform a free concert at 1 p.m. in a picture perfect setting along the Spokane River.

You can’t beat this group. It includes Spokane Symphony stars and budding professional musicians from the Schweitzer Institute. If you like what you hear, thank the Festival at Sandpoint and the Post Falls Arts Commission.

Wedding bells blues

Weddings on water are hot in North Idaho but a little hairy when the weather doesn’t cooperate. What crazy things happened at the last floating wedding you attended? Toss those tales to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83814; fax them to 765-7149; or call 765-7128 and make me weep with laughter.

, DataTimes