Immaculate Conception Class of 1954 celebrates 70-year reunion in Cedar Rapids

On May 27, 1954, 36 students received their high school diploma from Immaculate Conception High School in Cedar Rapids.

On May 27, 2024, Memorial Day, 11 classmates and spouses of classmates (all around the age of 88) gathered to celebrate their 70th high school reunion.

“We think 70 years is an extraordinary feat for classmates that are still a close, cohesive group meeting throughout the years,” said Shirley Blood Ruedy, who hosted the reunion in her Cedar Rapids home with her spouse, George.

She said that class cohesiveness through the years has made the class of ’54 feel special.

“After the busy college and child-rearing years, members met at regular intervals for potlucks at one another’s homes,” she said. And this year’s reunion is no exception.

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“We decided that, in our age bracket, to make a meal of just hors d'oeuvres and canapes,” said Ruedy, retired Gazette features writer. “However, everyone brought their favorites, so there was plentiful, and no one left hungry.”

The group had a smorgasbord of everything from finger sandwiches to taco tortilla wraps to shrimp mousse, stuffed mushrooms, bacon-wrapped pickle bites, Crab Rangoon, veggies, and smoked oysters.

Plus, there was dessert and an official champagne toast to mark the special occasion.

Immaculate Conception High School first opened in the early 1920s. The high school closed just a few years after the class of ’54 graduated, in 1958. The grade school then closed in 1979 and the building was later demolished.

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The class of 1954 is just one small part of the living history of the Immaculate Conception era. Ruedy had the senior class photo on display and many memories were shared at the reunion. In 1954 there were just 36 seniors graduating. Today, Ruedy said she believes 19 classmates are still living.

“We just enjoy seeing each other,” said Ruedy. “The years have taken a toll and many of us have gone on. None of us would think of missing a reunion if are able to make it. We are all glad to still be here and still enjoying one another and we think it’s a milestone.”

“We do meet throughout the year, not just for reunions,” she added. “We help each other whenever we can if someone needs it. It’s a close-knit class. And that seems to be emblematic of more than our class at I.C. that they were close to each other, and they have kept it up through the years.”

Classmate Carol Niles — who often walked to school over the years with Ruedy — and Bob Engler agreed and were excited to attend another reunion, especially one as special as 70 years.

“As you get older it can be hard to find companionship and people you can really communicate with and appreciate for a real connection,” said Engler.

Niles and Engler were co-valedictorians in 1954.

“Our class was only 36 people, so we didn’t reign over too many people,” said Niles laughing.

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After graduating, Niles and Engler went their separate directions, including religious life for both on different continents. Niles, however, did come back to teach for two years at Immaculate Conception.

“I was teaching sixth grade to students in what was my senior class homeroom,” she said.

“We were brought up by nuns,” added Engler. “They were dedicated and always good to us.”

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The two recalled that while they got a liberal arts education, IC had to partner with McKinley High School just down the road so that students could share time at the school and take classes like home ec and science labs.

Eventually, Niles and Engler reconnected (through prior class reunion planning) and rekindled a friendship that led to their getting married a few years ago at age 80.

Niles was a cheerleader for the IC Greyhounds basketball team.

“Of course we were the best in the city,” she said.

“Life did center around basketball, which I didn’t like because I was too short and never played it much,” said Engler. “But even so this class was unique, and you really felt like you were part of something special.”

“School class size makes a lot of difference. You can be really close together when you have a small class,” Niles added, noting that she spent 13 years in school with most of her classmates from kindergarten through 12th grade. “It was like family. And we look forward to getting together, more so now, because one by one we are departing. It can be a sad time as we go along but a real glad time, too,” said Niles. “And Shirley has been so great about always getting the class together. She does it no matter what. She is just amazing.”

Ruedy shared that another classmate, Frank Ciastko who unfortunately was unable to attend this reunion, was born in Poland. “From ages 6 to 9 during World War II he lived with his parents in a forced labor camp in Nazi Germany,” she shared. “Afterwards, the family lived for five years in a Displaced Persons camp before emigrating to the U.S. and Iowa, where he joined the Class of ’54.”

The festivities for this 70th reunion were simple but fitting of a remarkable occasion.

“The graduation classes today are so large in the Cedar Rapids metro area and we just had 36 in our graduating class,” said Ruedy. “Our high school years were the ‘50s and it was just a much simpler time to live and enjoy. Even the music was better but that’s probably a generational thing,” she said, laughing.

And while much has changed, Ruedy reiterated that they just enjoy having time together with old classmates. While preparing for this reunion, Ruedy noted that the 70th anniversary is platinum, and so she gathered décor accordingly.

“I also hauled out my sparkly gold placemats because it's a festive and momentous occasion,” she said. “The classmates attending, including one from Illinois, are just glad to be ‘here,’ in more ways than one.”