In 1963, it was risky business. Dannett Clement (then known as Dannett Crist) wore a pair of capris to her senior class yearbook signing party at Tacoma’s Lincoln High School.
A teacher tried to send her home for wearing the daring, leg-baring pants. This, of course, was years before anyone had ever heard of miniskirts, hot pants or Britney Spears.
But Clement stood her ground and told the teacher: “You can’t send me home. I’m a senior and I’m officially graduated.”
On Saturday, the graduate was back, along with alumni from several decades who crammed the halls of Lincoln to get a close look at the newly remodeled school. The historic high school, which opened in 1914, just reopened after receiving a $75 million makeover that took 14 months.
Like a lot of Lincoln Abes, Clement has deep family ties to the school. She graduated in 1963, and her mother, Beatrice (Allen) Crist, graduated from Lincoln in 1936. She died a year ago. On Saturday, Clement wore her mother’s class ring in her memory.
Clement toured the new and improved Lincoln with several high school buddies, including Linda (Hefty) Saunto and Sylvia (Kalivas) Bachman, who was visiting Tacoma from Lake Tahoe.
The women laughed as they took stock of how the world has changed since their Lincoln days. They remembered, for example, teachers who discouraged them from going to college. One told Saunto: “Why waste your parents’ money getting an ‘M.R.S.’ degree? You can get that here.”
Bachman remembered her 1963 class as the last with a 1950s sensibility.
“After us, everything changed,” she said. “There were drugs, the Kennedy assassination, the Beatles. We were the last innocents.”
Her younger sister Joyce (Kalivas) Griffin, Class of 1970, had to agree. She claims to have led the first student protest at Lincoln. The cause: a popular school counselor about to be fired. To express their displeasure, students got up at an appointed time and walked out of class.
“We protested everything,” Bachman said.
In between sharing memories, the women also had a chance to take a look at the new Lincoln. Saunto liked seeing the third-floor stained glass – it was boarded over when she went to Lincoln.
“It’s all so open and the colors are so bright,” said Bachman.
Clement was glad they kept the stairway bannisters and other building basics intact. Bachman swore she could still smell the familiar old polished wood.
Memories were everywhere Saturday.
Marilyn (Preuss) Sexton remembered starring in her senior class play and walking the halls, practicing lines with a friend.
“You walk through those doors, and it brings back a chill,” she said.
Elvis impersonator Danny Vernon helped take Abes back in time. In the school auditorium, he marked the 50th anniversary of the King’s appearance in the Lincoln Bowl with a lively show that included hits and costumes from three decades.
Cindy Hoffer, who attended Lincoln in the 1960s, was there with her 18-year-old daughter, Celia, who’s a senior at Lincoln this year. Both are huge Elvis fans.
“This is the music I grew up on,” Cindy Hoffer said as she and Celia swayed to the beat.
One of the most popular aspects of the day’s alumni tours was a chance to get access to the forbidden clock tower atop the school. Some graduates took the opportunity to scrawl their names there. One alum remembered the outdoor statue of Lincoln as the place where kids would meet to fight. Another pointed to what used to be the main entrance door.
“But if it was a warm day in May,” she said, “we never made it through the door.”
Elaine Osage attended a reunion for her graduating Class of 1939 on Friday, then returned Saturday to share Lincoln memories with her niece Dianna Tovoli, Class of 1958.
“They really cleaned it up,” Tovoli said. “It was kind of grimy looking. The trim was all dark wood. Now it’s lighter.”
Tovoli remembers that she had the same math teacher – Miss Mantz – as did her mom. And she remembers what Miss Mantz told her: “You’re certainly not the same student your mother was.”
Osage’s mom attended Lincoln the year it opened. The cornerstone for the school was laid in 1913, and the building opened in 1914. Like many young women of the time, Osage’s mother never graduated. At that time, even making it to high school was considered an achievement.
While alums focused on the past, their minds were also on the future. Many were impressed by the high-tech gadgets they saw Saturday. Teachers can instruct students with computer-assisted SMARTboards that project images from the Internet or a textbook. Science teacher Lee Ann Love demonstrated virtual frog dissection software.
The gee-whiz stuff inspired Sonya Fannings, Class of 1955, to exclaim, “I want to go back to school! I was too chicken to take science when I was in high school.”
Go, Abes!
Festivities continue today at Lincoln High School, 701 S. 37th St., Tacoma.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., you can tour the remodeled building and new school wing.
To buy a school T-shirt, commemorative brick, ornament or photo, call the school at 253-571-6680.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.