Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Somerville High School’s class of 1971 had their 50th class reunion on October 23. It was a fun night of food, dancing and catching up for about 50 classmates. Fifty years! Yikes. I decided to look back over those fifty years to reminisce.

In ‘71 the train still rolled through Davis Square, there were no bus or bike lanes, no social media and no cell phones. At our fun-filled reunion we danced to songs of that era. Here are some of those songs:

Some of the top tunes of 1971 were Three Dog Night’s Joy to the World, Rod Stewart’s Maggie May, Carole King’s It’s Too Late, Janis Joplin’s Me and Bobby McGee and John Denver’s Take Me Home Country Roads.

On TV we were watching All in the Family, Columbo, Cannon and Soul Train.

Back in 1971 gas cost 40 cents a gallon and the average cost of a new house was around $25,000. The average yearly salary was $10,600 and rents were about $150. Stamps were eight cents and a movie ticket was $1.50.

At the reunion we passed around a 1971 Radiator, our class yearbook. The boys and the girls had very big hair! Some of our classmates didn’t seem to change that much. We reminisced about memories of massive walkouts and demonstrations against dress codes and heating problems.

No one could believe it was fifty years ago. It seemed to go by in a flash. We shared photos of our kids and grandkids. We shared stories of talent shows and assemblies. We remembered favorite teachers, principals and building masters.

Bell bottoms, love beads and peace sign medallions were popular back in 1971.

Walking to Dilboy Stadium for graduation ceremonies with my best friend Charlie seemed like yesterday. But it wasn’t yesterday. It was fifty years ago.

They may have torn down a big part of our beloved high school but our memories were intact.

Thank you to Rosalie DeLucia for all her hard work in organizing our awesome reunion. We all got on board the Love Train and had a blast dancing like it was 1971.

The Musical Dynamo featuring Larry Falk provided the wonderful music of the 60’s and 70’s and more. He brought a limbo stick and hula hoops. He can be reached at 617-965-4534. Themusicaldynamo@comcast.net