When he was a teenager at Pleasant Hill High School in the East Bay in the turbulent middle 1960s, the teenager who would grow up to be Mayor Jim Clarke of Culver City, was a traditional classmate.
Among the reasons he was elected student body president was this trait of loyalty to friends and to PHHS, closed now for lo, these many years, 35 or more.
Racing 375 miles up the coast last Friday morning, he was determined to reach the old Courthouse before it closed at 1 o’clock.
One more time, the 68-year-old bachelor and prominent member of St. Augustine’s Church, yearned to glimpse the formal wall-hanging portrait of his father, James. That is the picture that accompanies this report.
And about the traditional side of Mr. Clarke’s character:
Saturday night’s 50th reunion of the Class of 1966 was, he said, a golden occasion in the mayor’s vast reservoir of massive memories. But dependable classmate that he is, Mr. Clarke has returned home for reunions every five years for decades.
At the 50th reunion, he was glowing.
“Since I go every five years,” Mr. Clarke said, “mostly it is the same people who show up each time” from the 236-member class. “But there were people there Saturday night I had not seen in 50 years.”
Mr. Clarke then launched into what may be considered a worldwide definition of the meaning of reunion.
“Here is what I think is interesting,” he said.
“We start out in a common place. We all grew up in the same place and graduated from this one high school. Now we have all gone off and found our own pathways. Fifty years later, we find ourselves coming back together again and share the experience of what each of us has done with our lives.
“After scattering, we can yet reconnect 50 years later.
“I think that is kind of fascinating,” Mr. Clarke said.
