This week, members of the Dartmouth High School class of 1953 gathered together for a reunion, as they have every five years since high school, with only one exception.

“I think we’ve had more reunions than any other class,” Bob Harding, one of the organizers of the event, said. “We look forward to it every time.”

About 20 members of the class, of the original 64 or 65, attended, along with some spouses. Some had traveled long distances from California, Vermont, Texas, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. Many of the classmates have attended all 12 reunions. Each wore a name tag with their senior photo printed on it, but most of them didn’t need the reminder.

“We are very, very fortunate to still be in contact with each other,” said Naomi Clark. “How lucky are we — after all these years — to recognize each other?”

“It’s different here now,” Harriet Cano said of Dartmouth. “But in here, it isn’t, because everyone looks the same.”

Cano also noted how much Dartmouth has changed since she graduated and moved to California, and then Colorado.

"I couldn't believe Faunce Corner Road!" she said.

Cano, along with her husband, created a memorial tree to honor their 26 classmates who have passed away. She and her husband brought it in the backseat of their car on their road trip from Colorado — Cano didn’t want to risk bringing it on the train. It is decorated with the graduation photo of each deceased classmate, along with the dates of their life, and the quote they chose to accompany their senior photo in the yearbook.

The classmates reminisced about their high school haunts: A drive-in theater at the corner of Cross Rd. and State Rd., now a Walmart, Brown’s Pharmacy, which had a soda fountain, Gifford’s Fish Market, the Yankee Trader, which sold gifts and clothes, and, of course, the Old Southworth Library.

They went to high school in the building that is now the town hall.

“How many friends do we have who we have known as long as we have known each other?” Bob Harding asked in a speech. “Some of you have known each other since the first grade!”

An attendee pointed out that they had all been in first grade in 1941.

Harding noted the accomplishments of the class, their spouses, and their children: John Viegas was a mathematician at NASA, and Miles Daub was on the team at Hershey who developed the Kit Kat bar. Several other classmates also earned doctorate degrees.

Towards the end of the reunion, following a traditional New England Clam Boil and lobster, the classmates sang their graduation song:

As an archer drawing his bow string
Sends an arrow on its way
So Dartmouth High as the archer
Sends her students forth today

Her aim is carefully taken
So the arrows go straight and true
Each arrow tipped with endurance
With truth and courage too

So it’s ever onward Dartmouth
Her praises we will sound
In years to come our achievements
Will make her name renowned.

“We’ve been out of high school for 65 years, so we’re doing some enduring,” Bob Harding said. “I sincerely expect we’re gonna try again in five years.”