Class of 1977

Calling all MHS Class of 1977 classmates. This is your dedicated page on the MHS All-Class Committee website. Do you have a favorite picture, a class update or a story to tell? Send it to us here at: allclassmhs@gmail.com and we will post it on this page.

Leslie Lofthouse wrote recently: “Traditionally most reunions are held on a Friday night, and they run for about 4 to 5 hours.  When I lived in Texas and traveled 2,000 miles for my class reunion, I made a promise to myself, if I ever moved back home to Milford, I would get involved with the committee and make it a 2-day event.  This way it made it worth people's effort of spending a lot of money to travel back home. “

Both reunions in 2002 and 2007 had a “formal” Friday night at Aldario’s Restaurant.  Our late classmate, Ray Faustini’s family, were the owners and they treated us very well and made our evening a memorable one.  Then on Saturday we would hold an all-day beach party under the Walnut Beach Pavilion (note: we were the 1st reunion to be held under the new pavilion).  This would run from 10 a.m. to sunset and would include a continental breakfast, a late lunch was catered by Lasse’s Restaurant (owned by MHS Alumni), and supplemented w/lobster rolls (from MHS Alumni, Dave McAllen’s Lobster truck) and dinner was pick-ins later in the day.  We served alcohol, kegs of beer and bottles of wine, which required having 2 police officers on duty all day and a costly insurance policy of over 1 million dollars in coverage.  Reunions 2007 & 2012 (2011) class alumni, John Franco, had his “classic” rock band play into the early evening.  Winding up the day we held a raffle (which included bottles of wine from alumni Linda Baird’s vineyard “CrossWinds Winery at Hershey”) and a 50/50 cash prize, another fun highlight.  Class members would join up with old friends and take a stroll on the beach to reminisce and catch up.  2007 we opened the reunion to people bringing their children to the beach party to encourage higher attendance, since everyone had little one’s way back then.

Our 2012 reunion was held in 2011, because we joined forces with the class of 1976 which was really a lot of fun.  Again, having the Friday night dinner at Aldario’s and the Walnut Beach Pavilion all day party.

In 2022 we moved our venue to downtown Milford where our Friday night was at SBC Restaurant and then Saturday at Lisman's Landing Pavilion with the focus on everything local. (Note: we were the first class to hold a reunion under this new pavilion.) John Franco’s band played at the marina, with a surprise late night party “gig” with the “love to dance” yachters who were spending the night at the marina.   

Where do we go from here?

With the rising insurance premiums for city public spaces, and food costs, we may have to resort to a new itinerary to lower registration fees.  Not forgetting to mention COVID in 2020 & 21, and a poor economy, the attendance was disappointing to say the least for our 2022 reunion.

Let’s hope and pray for a brighter future, and many more reunions for our Class of 1977!

Memoirs - above - from your classmate Leslie Lofthouse

“I encourage everyone to share their thoughts & memories.”

To keep it simple “The Plate” food truck served both lunch and dinner, (a recommendation from Tom Williams, MHS Alumni and owner of the Williams Insurance Agency who we used for all our events at public locations).  Cocktails were a short walk to the Seven Seas and many of the other downtown restaurants.  Coolers of beverages and healthy snacks were available between lunch and dinner.  Other classes were invited, and we had attendees from ‘76 and a couple from ‘78. 

2017 - Chaired by Carrie Beggs, along with class president, Debbie Reiss & Dave Raffauf, pictured at right.  Our 40th reunion was another year our reunion almost didn’t happen.  Carrie brought our class into the 21st century with social media, by creating our very own FACEBOOK Page, “MHS Class of 1977 40th Reunion” (now 45th reunion & soon to be 50th).  Snail-mail invitations have become a thing of the past, and no longer a time-consuming and costly effort.  By just using Facebook alone for invitations, in less than 3 months prior to the event, she had pulled together more than 60 attendees for a dinner party at App’s Restaurant in West Haven.  Thus, our record of never missing a 5-year reunion was kept intact again.