By GAIL LOWE
WAKEFIELD — More than 100 members of Wakefield Memorial High School’s Class of 1973 gathered at the Crystal Community Club on Saturday night, June 10 for their 50th reunion.
The evening opened with “The Star Spangled Banner,” sung a capella by DJ and singer-songwriter Victoria Tetrault of Connecticut and an Italian buffet provided by Anne Giambarresi, owner of House Calls of Wakefield.
Giambarresi and her husband John, also a member of the Class of 1973, had operated House Calls together for many years until his death in December 2022. Giambarresi was shown appreciation by her deceased husband’s class members with a bouquet of roses, and his photograph had been placed on her name tag. Laurie Martin, Class of 1972, was server.
Six couples who attended the reunion met in high school and later married: Linda (Funk) and Robert Moses, Donna Chase and John Pacillo, Ruthann (Carey) and Charles “Chuck” Strong, Kim Pasquariello and Robert Moore, Ellen (Sullivan) and Ron Sen and Deborah “Deb” and Robert “Bob” Murphy.
Reunion Committee Chairman Kathy Kelleher-Cunningham and her classmates Suzanne Zahlaway-Meserve, Beth Hanson-Galvin and John Hunneman met on Zoom every Thursday since March to plan the event and delegate tasks.
Kelleher-Cunningham, student council president in her senior year, said that Hunneman created an eight-minute video honoring 45 deceased classmates and had specialty wine labels made for two bottles of California wine he brought with him to give away as prizes.
A list of trivia questions pertaining to 1973 was also part of the reunion’s fun.
Zahlaway-Meserve handled centerpieces and decorations while Hanson-Galvin created an updated reunion booklet from a survey sent to classmates asking about their lives following graduation from high school.
Other volunteers included Eileen Flynn Sarson, Lisa Raffael, Kevin Boyle, Robin Cheever O’Hare, Karen Lamb, Gail Allecca-Ollila and Tom Crusco.
Door prize and raffle winners were announced later in the evening.
Class members arrived from California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland and New Mexico.
Class officers Andrew Mazzone, president; Debbie DeCristoforo, vice president; Jean DeCicco, secretary and Patty Ring, treasurer were unable to attend. Mazzone, loved and respected by his classmates, died in 2013 at age 57.