BIDDEFORD — Each year many high school graduating classes hold reunions. High school reunions provide an opportunity to bring together friends and acquaintances from the past that time and distance have kept apart. Five, 10 and even 25-year reunions are common. However, as the years come and go, and life happens, it often becomes more difficult to justify taking the time to meet up with the people one grew up and went to school with decades ago.

Not so with the Biddeford High School class of 1944.

On Friday, seven of the 56 students who graduated in 1944 gathered at the Longhorn Restaurant for the 65th class reunion. After their luncheon, the seven classmates, and their three guests, spent several hours together at the Pool Street home of one of the 1944 graduates, Philomene (Serpico) Center, where they spent more time catching up and reminiscing.

Philip Masse, the chief organizer of the event, said he started organizing the reunion in February and sent letters to everyone that he knew was still alive.

“I was ready at one point to call it quits,” he said.

He was discouraged, he said, because so many more class members who are in their early eighties, even since the last reunion five years ago, were sick or deceased.

When the graduating class of 1944 entered Biddeford High School, which is now the Richard J. Martin Community Center on Alfred Street, there were 62 students in the class, according to Masse.

However, the country was in the midst of World War II during the time the class was in high school, Masse said, and six of their male classmates left school to enter the armed services and didn’t graduate with their class.

By his count 20 class members are still alive, said Masse, 37 are dead and he isn’t sure if the remaining five are dead or alive.

Despite the loss of their many classmates, including the husbands of Esther (Silcox) Caldwell and Center, both of whom had married their high school sweethearts Robert Caldwell and Robert Center respectively, both women and the others attending the reunion tried not to let that dampen their spirits.

While reminiscing Lois (Bank) Johnson noted that because of the war, “it was a hard time. Those were tough years,” she said.

However there were a lot of good times too, many remembered.

“I thought it was a lot of fun,” said Caldwell about her high school days.

“We loved it,” said Antoinette (Antonakos) Mendros.

Center noted that there were a number of their classmates who went on to distinguished careers.

To name just a few, class valedictorian Simon Dorfman became a psychiatrist; Joseph Frances Ouellete was a US. Navy commander and before retiring worked at the Stanford Research Institute in Calif.; Robert Reny founded Renys department stores; Bernard Osher has had a successful career in business, as a founding director of World Savings, and started the Bernard Osher Foundation in 1977; and Margaret (Stebbins) Boradine once worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Although the class of 1944 has been holding reunions almost every five years since graduation, it’s uncertain whether there will be future reunions.

“It’s hard to say if we’d do this again,” said Masse. The class “is getting smaller and smaller.

However, said Center, “We may not have a lot of quantity but we have a heck of a lot of quality.”

Members of the 1944 graduating class who attended Friday’s reunion included Antoinette (Antonakos) Mendros, Lois (Bank) Johnson, Philip Masse, Philomene (Serpico) Center, Esther (Silcox) Caldwell, Marian (Smith) Robichard and Henry “Harry” Sullivan.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.