Anderson High School celebrates its 100th year in grand style

Anderson Police Department personnel were out in force directing traffic for Anderson Union High School's centennial homecoming parade on Friday, Sept. 4. Hundreds turned out for the event, including alumni and students from elementary schools in the downtown area.

The AUHS marching band led the parade with the school's fight song and Grand Marshal Genevieve Thomasson Pope, Class of 1925, who at 101 is probably the oldest living AUHS graduate, followed right behind.

Each decade was represented by a float, ranging from oldest to the most recent graduating class. Future Cubs all, Anderson Middle School's marching band also participated in the parade.

"I'm really excited about the parade. I'm a senior this year. So far, this year has been really fun especially since it is the centennial," said AUHS student Courtney Neff, who was watching her friends glide by on the parade floats.

Junior Shannon Westmoreland said her excitement for the parade was due in part to the centennial and because no other high school in Shasta County has a homecoming parade.

Debbie Boban-Chaves, a former AUHS Homecoming Queen representing the Class of 1978, said she was excited about being back in town and about seeing the recently refurbished Bob Reid Stadium.

"That (stadium) has been a long time coming and they really deserve to have it," said Chaves.

Hundreds of alumni from Anderson Union High School attended Thursday evening's opening of the long-anticipated all-class centennial reunion celebration.

Alumni and their guests gathered by the hundreds at the Gaia Hotel Amphitheater in Anderson River Park to reminisce about their school years, reconnect with friends and honor the school's history.

While some 780 dinners were served at a tri-tip barbecue sponsored by the Anderson FFA, overall attendance was estimated at 1,300 people. The evening served as a fitting kickoff for a weekend of activities celebrating the high school's 100th anniversary.

"It really is everything we hoped it would be," said Anderson New Technology High School Principal Pat Allison, a 1970 graduate and a co-chair of the reunion committee. "I've seen people I haven't seen since high school, and that was 39 years ago," she said.

Allison and Jean King, a 1966 grad, were among the more than three dozen organizers who worked 18 months to pull off the reunion of a century.

"This was a great night because it was the first night of everyone getting together. By Saturday, we will all be relaxed and ready for the reunion dinner and dance," King said.

Jackie Baker, who graduated from Anderson High in 1946, thoroughly enjoyed her evening in the park.

"I think its a great opportunity to tell younger people what it was like when the school started," Baker commented regarding the scripted excerpts of school history highlights read throughout the evening.

Of the performances, Baker said, "This venue gives the youngsters a chance to perform and it gives them something I hope they will remember for the rest of their lives."

Baker and her subcommittee contacted as many graduating class members as they could to invite former homecoming royalty to join in the festivities. As the 1945 Ag Queen (World War II precluded any homecoming festivities, but the agriculture students carried on the school tradition with their own royalty), Baker was to represent the mid-1940s in a parade of 17 former homecoming or ag queens during half-time festivities at the varsity football game Friday night.