Will 2013 be the LAST MHS All-Class Reunion?

The numbers tell the story since the first Milford High All-Class Reunion was held on a brilliantly clear and sunny day in 1983 when among many other activities including a downtown parade we enjoyed watching an active military duty parachuters fall out of the sky - making a pinpoint landing on the football field in front of more than 10,000 participants.

It was a glorious day in 1983 celebrating what was really a sad reality - the end of Milford High School - the city’s original high school dating back to the mid-19th century - 1842 to be exact. Click here for a short history of our beloved MHS.

Yes, the numbers do tell the story, even on our own All-Class Committee, with those passing since our last All-Class Reunion in 2018 including Bruce Kuryla (‘61) on Sept. 1, 2022, and Carol Molloy Smith (‘56), also last year.

And then there’s this: From more than 10,000 MHS alumni attending in 1983, just a little more than 1,100 registered for the last All-Class Reunion in 2018 - and the attendance figure at the 2023 event will likely have a large bearing on whether the event can be sustained for another one in 2028.

“It’s getting harder every event,” Co-Chair Deb Smith admitted. Indeed, by 2028, no former graduate will be younger than 60 considering that the last MHS graduation occurred in 1983 (although students who attended MHS up to 1983 had the option to list MHS as their graduation school in 1984 and 1985 while attending Law or Foran).

And now in 2023 those graduates of MHS from the 1950s and 1960s - who historically have had the highest All-Class attendance rates - are now in their 70s and 80s - with health and transportation issues increasingly working against event attendance.

“COVID hasn’t helped, either,” added Co-Chair Win Smith.

All of this is why it’s very important that we reach as many former classmates as possible, especially from the 1970s and 80s that have had disappointing attendance rates.

To counter this trend, ideally we would have a class representative from each year on the All-Class Committee, if not to physically attend the meetings but rather to help us get the word out to fellow classmates.

A shout out to Martha “Marty” Beard Merk (‘62) who for more than 20 years has been faithfully chronicling our active list of MHS graduates, in addition to keeping our “Missing MHS Alumni” and “Deceased” MHS alumni lists that can be found within this website. Marty and helpers through the years have done their best to keep these pages updated and accurate, and please help them keep these accurate and up-to-date by reporting address changes and especially if you know someone from the missing list. Email us updates at: allclassmhs@gmail.com.