In 1963, Sewanhaka High School alum Adele Werthmuller pulled out her yearbook. She was on a mission and began paging through the pictures and names of her beloved classmates. She decided to look through the phone book for familiar names. She said, “I kept in contact with many of my girlfriends so I started looking for the men first.”
She was successful and found 12 of the graduates in the area. By 1969, together with her classmate Frank Wibben, they hosted their 25th high school reunion at The Garden City Hotel. Since then, they’ve held the event every 15 to 20 years with great success. Their 50th reunion was held 20 years ago at The Hempstead Country Club.
The 70th reunion of the Class of 1944 took place Aug. 28, at Koenig’s Restaurant in Floral Park. Holding a balloon, co-chair of the event. Werthmuller said, “When we get together, we never argue; it’s camaraderie!”
Friends, Frank Wibben and Al Krug sat together and joked. Wibben said, “Al never got to be class president. He always lost to the same girl. He was vice president of the graduating class.”
Krug interjected, smiled and quipped, “I didn’t feel bad because as vice president, I didn’t have to do much!”
Krug told the New Hyde Park Illustrated News, “I met my sweetheart in grade school and we went to Sewanhaka together. I didn’t know it at the time, of course, I was only 10 years old. I wanted to throw snowballs at her, but she had other things in mind. I went into the service and she stayed in school. When I got out of the service, we got married. We were married for over 63 years.” His voice lower, he said, “There was an episode in 2011 and I lost my wife but I’m newly married and we recently celebrated our honeymoon.”
Werthmuller added, “When I think back, it was such a sad time, many of our friends went on to fight in the war and nobody had any money but we didn’t care. It was about the very simple things and we got along beautifully.”
As a result of the hard work of classmates Werthmuller and Wibben, the feelings of friendship and bonds haven’t faded.
