In the 1950s, about 50 students graduated from Fairhope High School every year. These students were a tight-knit bunch, but like most, they moved on, got married and started working, and many of them lost touch with one another.

But 26 years ago, lifetime Fairhope resident Cella Parker decided she wanted to know how her high school girlfriends were doing. Many of them still lived in Fairhope, so she invited several women who graduated from Fairhope High or the Organic School in the 1950s to her home.

“I invited people over for gumbo to catch up,” she said. “We were so glad to see each other that it turned into an eight-hour day. Each one of us had to tell each other what had happened to us since we graduated from FHS. If one of us had to get up to go to the restroom, we would say, 'Wait; don't say anything while I'm gone.' because we didn't want to miss anything.”

The group of nine women had such a wonderful time that they decided to start meeting once a month, and they've been meeting on the second Tuesday of every month since they reunited in 1987. The group has grown to about 14 women now.

“I've been with it for about 20 years, and it's been the best 20 years,” said Dot Parish, who graduated from the Organic School in the early 1950s. “If you don't feel good and you don't feel like going, but you do anyway — I am always so glad I did. It's like therapy.”

Cella said the group loves to reminisce about Fairhope all those years ago — Burkel's Skating Rink on the Bay, the walk-in theater with church pews, the old school on Church Street, learning to dance the jitterbug in on the second floor of the Fairhope Casino and how there used to be just one of every type of store in town.

“We don't talk about people,” Dot said. “Some people think we're a gossip group, and we're not.”

Dot said she realizes how rare it is to be best friends with high school friends 60 years after graduation.

“My coworkers just can't get over it,” she said. “We are just best friends. When you need them, they're there. I lost a granddaughter about five years ago, and I couldn't have gotten through without them. We're friends, and we're going to stay friends. We all have our aches and pains now, but we feel better after meeting.”

Cella said she isn't sure why the group gets along so well, but she's grateful every day for her lifelong friends.

“We have such a close bond, and why, I don't know,” she said. “It was just the air we grew up in, I guess.”

Anyone who graduated from Fairhope High School or the Organic School in the 1950s is welcome to join the group. Contact Cella Parker at 251-928-8286 to connect with the group.

25th annual Fifties Reunion for Fairhope High School and Organic School

Want to connect with men and women from FHS and the Organic School?

WHEN: Saturday, June 29, 2013, 5 p.m.

WHERE: VFW Post 5660, 950 Nichols Avenue in Fairhope

ENTERTAINMENT: Music by Charlie Freeman

WHAT TO BRING: A tray of finger food, covered dish or dessert

COST: $10

DRESS: Casual

CONTACT: Cella Parker, 251-928-8286; Delores (Muggy) O'Neil, 251-605-8838