Cape Charles High School Alumni Hold First Reunion

Cape Charles High School reunion organizers Troy Lewis, Yetta Stratton Wilkins, Pamela Brown Upshur, Leah Bowen Forest (Wave photos)

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

July 8, 2013

About 100 Cape Charles High School alumni gathered at Sunset Beach Grill last Saturday.

Organizers  Leah Bowen Forest, Pamela Brown Upshur, Yetta Stratton Wilkins, and Troy Lewis said the reunion was the first-ever for students who attended the school in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

Students from the oldest class represented , 1970, had waited 43 years.

The youngest class, 1986, graduated 27 years ago.

Leah Bowen Forest said that there have been reunions of classes from the ’50s and ’60s but nothing after that.

Eddie Spencer, Lionel Bailey, Lisa Merritt and Chris Merritt

When the school opened in 1912 it served first-graders all the way through high school. By 1919 the number of students required adding two wings to the building.

The high school closed in 1986, and older students were moved to Northampton High School.

Elementary children continued to use the building until Kiptopeke Elementary opened in 1993.

The building then was used at various times for a Boys and Girls Club, a police station, and recreational purposes.

Martha Holdsworth ’84 and Michelle Spence ’83

In December 2012 Mayor Dora Sullivan signed over the school property to a real estate developer who intends to convert the building into a 17-unit apartment house.

The alumni group met at Sunset Beach Grill instead of at the high school at Central Park to avoid having to pay for a $1 million insurance policy required by the Town.

The Town also prohibits use of the park by private groups on holiday weekends.

Andrea Alter ’84 and her basketball coach Frank Wendell ’76