Cleveland High School (Portland, OR) Class of 1981

This was originally posted to the Cleveland High School Alumni & Community page.

Jan Watt is actually retiring from Cleveland after 56 years of service. We have two events scheduled for past students to come celebrate with her.

Years prior to 2000
July 26th, 7:30 pm
Sckavone's Restaurant, 4100 SE Division

Years from to 2000
Aug 9th, 7:30 pm
Sckavone's Restaurant, 4100 SE Division

This message was sent to me by the one and only Sandi Wong Lum who did such an amazing job pulling together our 40+1 reunion. She asked that I share this here for everyone.

"On behalf of the Cleveland High School Class of 1981 40+1 Reunion Committee, we thank you for coming to this event! An amazing turnout! We missed those who were unable to attend. We hope you had a memorable and fun time catching up! Reconnecting is so vital. Hope to have a 45th or 45+1 gathering! Please check this webpage for future information and spread the word! Way to go Class of 1981!🙂"

A family discussion was started today when the Cleveland Indians announced their name change for the next MLB season and that got me curious. I was living in Boston when CHS changed from Indians to Warriors. Does anyone in the group remember when that happened? Was that a student-initiated change? Parents? School District?

And yes I'm going to ask, why was it changed? I know the obvious answer, but I also know a High School on the southern coast has been allowed to keep their Indians name, as well as the Minor League Baseball team the Spokane Indians. They are keeping their names because they worked with the local tribes to ensure their iconography properly reflected the local tribe's culture. And in the case of the school, they're also added more about the local tribe into the school curriculum. So my question is, why didn't CHS pursue an option like that?

A couple of us have been talking about a reunion this being our 40th anniversary. But as no real plans have been made to this point the general thought is to try and hold an in-person event in 2022 instead of trying to rush something for this year, maybe we call it the 40+1 Reunion.

If this is to happen we need more than just the two or three of us involved. Soooo...I can think of two things right now that we need.
* First, leave a reply here to let us know if you are even interested in the possibility of an in-person 40+1 reunion in 2022. There is no commitment here, just an expression of interest.
* Second, when you're leaving your comment about your interest level, let us know if you might be willing to help plan the event. It will take more than just two or three of us to make it happen, and as they say, many hands make for light work.

So now is your chance to speak up and let your fellow classmates know what you want.

Have a great day.

I saw this in a post that my brother-in-law commented on, but instead of sharing an ad to the group, I thought I would just re-post the question.

If you could go back and relive your high school years, would you?

Hello Class of '81. I've had a few questions about a possible reunion. At this time there is no committee and there are no plans, and Covid certainly makes planning unpredictable. If anyone is interested in planning a reunion, say so in the comments below and hopefully you can organize a committee.
Also, this page is very stagnant and I am not interested in continuing to be the hall monitor. If anyone wants to take over administration of this page, please PM and I will make the switch. Otherwise, I will "unpublish" this page at the end of May.

Jerry Anthony Gatto
Feb. 19, 1939 - Feb. 26, 2019
Portland's ambassador of "I Believe" and positivity both on and off the field, Jerry passed away at the age of 80.

If you are in town and don't mind leaving the Christmas clean up for another day... a few of us classmates are meeting today (26th) at 4pm at Hopworks Urban Brewery - 2944 SE Powell Blvd. (the old McCall Oil building)