11-09-2026 4:23am

Boyertown’s Class of 1976 Holds a Reunion To Remember!

Lesley Misko Editor

Boyertown Class of 1976 officers pose with the Black Bear; 50 years later the class reunited to celebrate. Photo from CUB.

by Luann Zambanini, class of 1976 and reunion committee member

As there were many committees all over the USA planning for the big 250th birthday of America, there was a small committee of six planning a very special celebration. The committee members were a part of the class that had graduated during USA’s Bicentennial celebration! Boyertown Area High School’s Class of 1976 would be celebrating that golden 50 years since graduating. Where had those 50 years gone? No one really knows the answer to that question. The committee had their heads full of ideas of how to make this 50th celebration something very special. The class had to skip the 45th celebration thanks to COVID, so this celebration had to be extra special.

The committee started their search months before to make sure they got the perfect venue for this celebration. Then it was time for “the search”-- searching for all those class members, 463 of them. Could we find them all?

The perfect venue search was the easy one. In our harder serach we found most of the classmates, which is only possible in this day and age with the help of the internet. Words like internet, Google, and Facebook weren’t even in our vocabulary back in 1976. But for this reunion they were super helpful.

We mailed out the invitations and then heard something like a rumor that Mike and the Monotones might get together for a 50th reunion. Could this be? I guess I should drift back to 1976 to explain this. Back when we were in high school the 50’s rage of music had come back into style again. We had 50’s dances. We did phone booth stuffing. I will say the class of 1976 held the record for the most kids in a phone booth. We were smart enough at that time to put the smallest girls in the booth! We had no idea that our brilliance would carry on through our entire life (well for most of us).

Back then, a group who called themselves “Mike and the Monotones” had started when Mr. Arlen Saylor had said we need a 50’s band. A bunch of band boys put together a group. Keith Larson was instrumental in this and even wrote out the music for the guys. They had to get someone to act as leader of the pack, so they suggested Mike McHugh. Mr. Saylor had to hear him sing and after that he was approved to be a part of the group. Keith Larson who was usually a drummer wanted to play the keyboard. The other band members were Mark Reifsneider on saxophone, Earl “Skip” Sands on trumpet, Steve Adams on trombone, Lenny Bradford on bass guitar, Jim Sokolowski (who was actually in the class of 1975) was on the electric guitar. They needed a drummer. Don Smale played trumpet, but Keith Larson handed him drumsticks and told him he was going to be their drummer, and so there was a trumpet player who became a drummer that day.

I remember the dance concert they put on in 1976. The concert was so much fun. I loved that 50’s music and I loved to dress up for that kind of stuff. I also remember the guys swallowing gold fish like they did in the 50’s, but I wish I didn’t remember that part of the evening. I had taken my camera along and snapped a few shots in between dancing and phone booth stuffing, not realizing those pictures would be viewed again in 2026 when they’d become the poster on the wall during that reunion concert.

Fast forward to the time after the invitations to the class reunion were sent out. Sometime after that we heard Mike had talked about Monotones getting together. Are you kidding?? That would be fabulous, but they are spread around the country! Believe it or not they went ahead with their plan. Mike called Steve Adams and Steve said he had been waiting a few years to get that call. Since Keith Larson had passed away and had kept all the original music he wrote, Steve had written out all the parts for each player. May I say “Things began to Rock and Roll” from there?

It was planned: Mike and the Monotones would do a concert the night before our class reunion! Mike had a very close connection in the area: Jayne and Tom McHugh (his brother and sister in law). They took care of finding and renting a venue and selling tickets. Any proceeds from the dance concert where going to go to the Boyertown Alumni Band.

The dance concert sold out in a few days. So on Friday night of our reunion weekend, I personally got all decked out in my poodle skirt, saddle shoes, bright lipstick, and I was ready to dance. I wasn’t the only one dressed for the 50’s! The beginning of the dance was started by DJ Bruce Miller, who was playing until the main show would start at 8:15. It was great walking up to people that looked familiar but you weren’t exactly sure who they were. It was fun to walk around before the concert started and talk to classmates you hadn’t seen in years.

When the Monotones came out the crowd went wild. They walked on stage. We were shocked to see Mike in a gold suit and gold shoes. Not exactly like the gold jumpsuit he had rented from Swann’s Costume Shop back in ’76, but he definitely stood out! They started the first song, “Rock and Roll is Here to stay” and after videoing it, I knew I had to work those saddle shoes. Many folks in the crowd were out dancing, feeling like they were in high school again. Several folks dressed with poodle skirts, even if the folks hadn’t dressed for it, their minds were back in the good old days!

The firehouse was decorated totally in 50’s style from pictures on the wall that were from the Monotone’s concert in ’76 to the centerpieces on the tables. Checkered placemats included old fashioned cars filled with candies of yesteryears, like Mary Janes, caramels with cream in the center and of course those silly wax bottles with juice inside.

The guys did exceptional despite the fact they had one rehearsal for this event. They didn’t have time for anymore because the guys had come from everywhere (Steve Adams from Maine, Lenny Bradford from New Hampshire, Skip Sands from South Carolina, and Mike McHugh from Florida). A few came as far as Boyertown. Don Smale, the trumpeter turned drummer, was from Boyertown. Original Monotone Mark Reifsneider, couldn’t play the event, so they got Tim Koss to fill in there and as I said, Keith had passed away, so Mike Norris filled in on keyboard. The event was so much fun for all who attended.

Saturday morning a bunch of 76er’s met for a tour of the school. Loads of changes since 1976! Where was the canteen? Where was my homeroom? How many lunch periods do they have, and how many minutes between classes? How do they all fit through the banana hall in four minutes? Many of us remembered going outside to skip the banana hall, but you can’t do that anymore. That old auditorium used to have all wooden seats in our day, not soft cushioned seats like it has today! It was a great tour and all the changes were amazing. I think a few of us were happy they kept the old gym floor even though they changed that gym into science rooms.

Saturday night was the actual reunion, but for several of us it was our third event for the weekend. It was wonderful to see more classmates and catch up. We held the main reunion at the Loft at Landis Creek in Limerick. The room was very nice and the food was very good, but the best thing there, were our dear friends that had walked the hall of BASH with us so many years ago.

We had name tags with our yearbook picture on them (thank you Don). That was a really big help with our memories! Each class member received a gift of a mug with a bear and class of 1976 on the front and 50 year class reunion and bear prints on the back. There was a special gift at the table for all who attended. It was a weekly pillbox which said Boyertown Class of 1976. We aren’t afraid to admit we are getting a little older! The evening went too fast as we all seemed to mingle with so many friends we haven’t seen lately, and for some, it’s been 50 years.

There was a memorial book at the event that Luann Zambanini had put together. The book had a page for each of the members of the class that had passed on. We have lost 59 people from our class. Some of them never got to graduate, some died soon after graduation, and some died just recently. No matter how long it has been since they left this earth, we want to remember them. They were a part of our BASH memories and we hope they are resting in peace.

Congratulations Class of 1976 on your 50 year reunion! Can’t wait to see you soon again! Perhaps we’ll get a little grayer, and walk a little stiffer at the 55th reunion, but the love and friendship we have for one another will still be there! What a great group of wonderful people we have!

I believe everyone would say it was a really enjoyable class reunion weekend. Oh by the way, the committee has decided we want to book Mike and the Monotones for our 75th class reunion – we aren’t gonna let them wait another 50 years to get back together and entertain us!

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