EL DORADO — They called themselves “The Magnificent Seven.” At least when no one else could hear.
In truth, the group of seven friends from El Dorado High School’s class of ’67 weren’t the type to wind up in the headlines or principal’s office.
“We weren’t the wild bunch, and I guess that’s a lot of the reason we started out hanging out together,” Teresa Bachman said.
And still do, at least once a year. Since reconnecting for a shared 50th birthday party, most of the seven — Bachman, Barbara Templin, Diane Trask, Nancy Kendall, Marcia Callaway, Sondy Moreland and Joyce Vietti — have gotten together once a year for reunions in places ranging from Wichita to Colorado and Savannah, Ga.
The seven are pictured during high school. From left to right are Barbara, Diane, Nancy, Marcia, Sondy, Teresa and Joyce.
The friends were in one of the last classes to graduate from the 1930s-era high school on Central Avenue — part of which lives on as the city’s splendidly restored Performing Arts Center — before the current one was built on the north side of town. Some of their mothers had been among the first to graduate from the old school.
They were in classes and extracurricular activities together and coalesced the way groups of friends do.
At a time of famously rebellious teens — well, when aren’t they? — “we were pretty straightlaced, we really were,” Trask said. “But it was fun to ride in Marcia’s Jeep and go out to the lake.”
That would be Bluestem Lake or the original El Dorado Lake, now both incorporated into the current El Dorado Lake constructed in the 1970s.
The seven never completely lost track of each other, but like many people, they spent the years after high school focusing on work and family. Three became teachers. One worked for a hospital. Bachman worked for a bank and then the Kansas Oil Museum here. Task was a crime analyst for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Only two still live in El Dorado, although most are within a couple hours’ drive.
Since they started their annual get-togethers, Trask said, “It’s almost like we’re better friends now than we were in high school.”
“We get together, and it just seems like the years fall away,” Bachman said. “None of us thinks we’re as old as we are, of course. Everybody is just about the same gal we went to school with. Our husbands will say, ‘And you talked for nine hours? What did you say for nine hours?’ Well, you know.”
The seven were recently featured in an alumni spotlight put out by El Dorado schools, with “then and now” photographs that required a little digital trickery for the older photo: Joyce’s image was superimposed onto the hood of the Marcia’s Jeep. But it’s not really misleading. All seven had been on the outing together but they’d had only one camera among them and so had to take two photos to capture everyone. Yes, it was long time before cellphones.
The seven enjoy reminiscing about times like those but are still making new memories, too.
“We just enjoy being together,” Trask said. “We all have other friends that we’re real close to, but this group has really been a blessing.”
