The South Eugene High School Class of 1980 held its 30-year Reunion on the weekend of August 6-8, 2010. Here are some highlights…

On Friday morning, a group of 12 Axemen played golf at Tokatee golf course. This was organized by Greg Fleener. It looks like fun in the sun!



On Friday evening, about 80 classmates showed up at the Meet 'n' Greet at the Villard St. Pub, formerly home to McDonald's. They were joined by a few members of the SEHS classes of '78,'79, '81,and '82. It was a warm night and the fun didn't stop until well after 1:00 am.
 

Saturday night found about 120 of us, including spouses, having a buffet style dinner in the upstairs Vista Ballrooms at the Eugene Hilton. We were privileged to have Don Jackson in attendance. We all have fond memories of our genial and funny principal (some of us have known him since the 7th grade!), and we watched as he took the podium and without a single note in front of him, gave an accurate and interesting synopsis of our Senior year. He infused his speech with humor, and we were all moved to see how much he had prepared for this event. He called our class "unusual", but in a good way! Heather Curran, our keynote speaker, admitted that Mr. Jackson was a tough act to follow, but she rose to the occasion as she touched on many current events and other aspects of our high school experience. Mark Baker had prepared fabulous poster boards with dozens of photos from the yearbook, in addition to a slide show of photos of Axemen athletes which appeared in the Register-Guard. And once dinner and the speeches had finished, the disco-kings and queens just couldn't wait to boogie down to the dance mix from 1980 that Mark had also prepared. The Hilton staff asked us at one point to turn the music down, and they finally kicked us out after last call at 1:00am.




And for those of us who were still full of energy on Sunday morning, Stephen Neel and his wife Lisa hosted a brunch at their Ranch on Dillard Road, the site of a couple very wild Graduation parties back in the day...About 60 adults and 20 kids feasted on grilled hamburgers and cheese burgers from Stephen's own meat company, and it was delicious. The kids (and the adults) were treated to a wonderful story-telling session performed by our own Chris Leebrick. And the weekend ended with a break-dance performance by my own son, Samuel. He is a real "ham", but I just don't know where he gets it!
 

Although there is always a possibility of another informal get-together at the 35-year point, it is more likely that our next official Reunion will be in 10 years. If you would like to stay updated, please be sure that we have your current address. You can email Becky Zweig at beckyz_99@yahoo.com if you did not receive our invitation in the mail for this year's reunion, since that is a sure sign that we DO NOT have your current information. Also, sign up for Facebook and check out the South Eugene High School Class of 1980 page (wisely started up last year by Patrick Dizney) which has photos of all events. And lastly, our photographer, Bruce Searl (SEHS Class of 1978) has created a CD with all his photos of the weekend on it. You can send him a PayPal payment of $17.50 to bruce@aardvarkhill.com to order your copy!

Many thanks to all who attended and we look forward to seeing you again in 2020!

Becky Zweig and the Reunion Committee
Mark Baker, Bill Matthews, Julia Searl, Jennifer Wilson, Stephen Neel, Patrick Dizney