The Class Of 1962 at Rockland High School

The Class Of 1962 at Rockland High School

By Doug Mills

The class of 1962 at Rockland High school, the last class of Rockland High School, gathered in Rockport this weekend to celebrate 50 years since graduation!

In 1962 the Rockland was a very different place the first computer had only been invented and was so big it filled a large room. If you wanted to know what your classmates were doing you called them on the large phone on the kitchen wall. When the weather was bad there was TV, The Beverly Hill Billies, Candid Camera , The Red Skelton Show, Bonanza, The Lucy Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Ben Cassey, The Danny Thomas Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show and Gunsmoke, that is if the reception was good enough. When the weather was good you could get your friends together and go to the Strand to see, Spartacus, West Side Story, The Music Man or King of Kings. How about blasting the car radio with, "Pepermint Twist-Part I", "Duke of Earl" by Gene Chandler, "Jonny Angel" by Shelley Fabares or maybe "Good Luck Charm" by Elvis Presley, as you cruised the rotery.

Not only Rockland but the whole nation was a different place. John F. Kennedy is president and vows to have a man on the moon within ten years. The United States commits troops to Vietnam. In Cuba less than 100 miles of out coast Russia helps Castro to install missiles touching off some very tense days ending in the missiles being removed. This is the world that the class of 1962 entered.
This weekend 51 members of the class of 1962 gathered to share stories and see classmates they had not seen in 50 years in some cases. The hall was full, full of old friends, full of stories and memories of days gone by. Full of plans for the future.

Best wishes to the Class of 1962 may you have many more happy reunions!