Wildwood High Reunion Looks to Remember Happy Days

WILDWOOD – Sixty years ago Bill Haley was rockin’ around the clock, girls polished their saddle shoes and boys meticulously groomed their hair into pompadours. And inside Wildwood High School, 61 seniors were chomping at the bit as they waited to graduate and take on the world.
Sept. 27, members of Wildwood High School’s Class of 1954 will be coming together to share memories of those happy days as part of their 60th class reunion.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said 78-year-old John Eslack, a proud member of the class of ’64. Eslack said he was born in Camden but moved to Five Mile Island in 1946. “I went to Margaret Mace School and lived on West 15th Avenue.
For Eslack, going to high school during Wildwood’s heyday as a veritable musical mecca, had its upside.
“It was a great time for music,” he said, “We had dances in the auditorium and we’d get to dance with the girls. My most memorable times were in Wildwood.”
So vivid are Eslack’s memories of high school that 60 years later he remembers the details of his senior prom. “The theme was An Evening in Paris and the gym was decorated like a Paris café.” His date was a local girl, Marie Hall.
According to Rita Rosenberg Best, a reunion organizer, the call going out to find class members has gone as far as Florida, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
“More than half of us are gone now,” she said, noting the reunion hopes to include 25 or 30 remaining classmates who are well enough to make the trip back to the beach. Time has taught the group to treasure their memories and those who share them.
“We lost a lot of our dear friends,” Best said. “So now we hang on to each other. We all got along and were very close.”
“The members of Wildwood High School’s Class of 1954 are treasures to the city,” said Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano, Jr., a 1969 alumnus of the school. “During their lifetimes these graduates have represented Wildwood well. We are proud to call each of them sons and daughters of Wildwood.”
Best has remained true to her school her entire life. Born in Wildwood, she has remained here her entire life, with the exception of her college education at the University of Delaware.
When asked if she considers herself a Warrior or a Blue Hen, her answer was emphatic and swift.
“My mother was a Warrior, my kids are all Warriors. I’m a Warrior.”
Best said while the reunion is focusing on the class of 1954, she hopes that all alumni of the school will join the group and participate in the event regardless of their graduation year. “Any graduate is welcome,” she said, promising an afternoon filled with great food, a walk down memory lane and lots of laughs. “We hope lots of people come.”
Wildwood High School’s Class of 1954’s 60th reunion will take place Sept. 27 at Alfe’s Restaurant from 12:30 – 4 p.m. Tickets cost $25 and are available by contacting Best at 609-522-0464.