60th Reunion for the Class of 1965

(September 19-20, 2025)

Thursday, September 18, 2025 Those members of the PHS Class of 1965 who were the Early Birds met for dinner at the Coney Island and later for more visiting at the Pampa Senior Citizens Center.

Friday, September 19, 2025

We started the day with a gathering in the lovely home of Bill and Karen (Hepler) Bridges where we were treated with finger foods, desserts and drinks. Visiting with each other was really a treat. Some of us have known each other from our days before we entered school or else met in the First Grade. Photos were taken and will be shared in the Class of '65 Photo Gallery. Look for "60th Reunion" on this website.

In the evening we met at the White Deer Land Museum (WDLM) on Main Street. Our dinner was catered and our speaker was sensational. Grant Johnson, who is a Pampan born and raised here, is an artist. Some of you may have seen his artwork featuring our hometown of Pampa. He has a collection of paintings of various buildings and activities in Pampa. His collection will be in three divisions. This first  series is nearly completed. (Some of you may know of his work because Grant has shared it on Facebook.) Not only does Grant have the paintings but he is creating prints of the paintings to be sold. One of the next series will be of memories of the past times here in Pampa that I am sure many of us native to Pampa will enjoy reminiscing about our past as we view them. His final phase will also have 20 paintings as well as prints. Once all three collections are completed, Grant plans to compile them together in one collection. As Grant was sharing his paintings and plans with us he spent time reminiscing about how he grew up in Pampa and like many of our classmates, he attended Horace Mann Elementary School, Pampa Junior High School in downtown Pampa, and finally culminating his education at our "Dear Ol' Pampa High School." Althought we are a bit older than Grant, we lived in the same Pampa that he grew up in - just ahead of him by a few years. We loved his sharing! 

Saturday, September 20, 2025

In the morning time was spent in the Commons Area at Pampa High School where we met the current PHS Principal who shared so much with us. We spent time touring the PISD Administration Building where we were able to roam through the Hall of Fame room where some of our classmates as well as friends from other classes are recognized and honored for their outstanding activities and awards. (This includes our 4 classmates who are recipients of the PHS Hall of Fame: Randy Johnston, Jim Shelhamer, Chuck Worley and newly recognized member for the 2025-2026 year, Stephen Maddox.)

Findley's downtown diner was our noontime gathering location. The luncheon was comprised of a buffet and highlighted by a cake recognizing our 60th reunion. Findley's is a wonderful place to sit and visit with friends.

OUR BANQUET This is the second year that Freddy and Sandy Vanderburg have offered their meeting area for our Saturday evening banquet. Their two sons prepared the Prime Rib dinner for us. (I overheard several comments on the delicious potatoes, too!) We are so blessed to have Freddy and Sandy inviting us to enjoy our evening in the nice meeting hall. Pampa has certainly been fortunate to have them return "home!"

Photos were taken at the Photo Booth during our banquet. Lots of great accessories were offered so we could "dress the part" - whatever that might be.

We honored our 4 members of the PHS Hall of Fame at the banquet. I invite you to go to the left-hand sidebar and read the biographies for all four men. You will be impressed and proud to say you know them! VERY IMPRESSIVE stories are written about these worthy recipients who we call our friends! You can read their personal biographies found in the left-hand sidebar under the top tab.I encourage each one of you to read them.

As we celebrated our classmates who served in the various military branches of service, each one was honored with a very significant gift, an United States flag. A local Marine, Larry Ray of Pampa, honored our men with playing "Taps" at the closing of this recognition. To me, that hit me to the core - we're all so appreciative of your service, classmates!

At this time classmates Randy Johnston suggested that we establish a PHS Scholarship for a worthy student graduating from PHS this year. We voted to create this scholarship Those who are interested in participating in this project are to contact Randy Johnston who volunteered to coordinate the scholarship. Please contact him at his email address randy@jtlaw.com

Karen and Bill organized some fun events for us during our Reunion. We are so blessed to have them as they work so hard to do a wonderful job. I heard more and more compliments about how well our weekend was planned. Thank you to both of you. Karen used her expertise for such a funfilled weekend. We all had a good time visiting our classmates who stayed at our hotels and had breakfast time together as well. 

It's always hard to pack up our bags and go to our cars to leave Pampa after visiting with our classmates, but we do keep in touch...till we meet again.

Help us create a wonderful set of memories in our 60th Reunion Photo Gallery by sharing your photos with me at pamprice1965@gmail.com I will post them in the 60th Reunion section of this website for us members of the Class of '65 in the Photo Gallery.

Pam Price | pamprice1965@gmail.com