Louise Nowack Dolliver (Lima High Class of 1946) speaks to the gathering at the Lima High Alumni Reunion last Saturday night. Photo by Donna MacKenzie
Shared memories of high school days mixed with catching up on each other’s latest news at the annual Lima High School Alumni Banquet on July 11 at Lima Country Club.
The 2026 Lima High Reunion was attended by around 70 to 75 people total, 50 of them graduates of the school which was open from 1919 to 1969, when Lima School District merged with Honeoye Falls Central School District to form the current Honeoye Falls-Lima Central School District in the summer of 1969. Lima High School, built in 1936 on College Street in the village of Lima, to replace a prior school building on the site, eventually was turned into the current Lima Primary School which houses the kindergarten and first-grade students of HF-L.
Until 2019, the banquet celebrated the 50th anniversary class. This year’s banquet celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Class of 1946, the 65th anniversary for the Class of 1961 and the 60th anniversary for the Class of 1966. The Class of 1966 had seven graduates attending the reunion as did the Class of 1968. The Class of 1961 had six graduates at the reunion. In addition, two members of the Class of 1970 attended the reunion as members of that class were invited to the reunion because they were rising seniors when the merger occurred.
At the head table were Louise Nowack Dolliver (Class of 1946), Howard Schillinger (Class of 1952), Shirley Schillinger Peters (Class of 1955), Karl Semmel (Class of 1957) and John Brooks, Vincent Burke, David Luft, Joan Bawden Reilly, Marilyn Potter Thurston and Jenny Hayes Tubbs, all from the Class of 1961.
After some socializing, the formal part of the program began with welcoming remarks from Reilly. Ed Rouse (Class of 1966) asked all veterans in attendance (whether they were graduates or spouses of graduates) to stand and be recognized for their service, asking each to state their name and the branch of the military service they served in. Rouse then led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Laurie Dechau Wolf (Class of 1969) gave the invocation prior to the buffet dinner.
Following the dinner, Reilly and Burke shared introduction of the Lima graduates at the head table and Rouse introduced his classmates from the Class of 1966.
The most somber moment of the reunion came when Shirley Franskavish Caccamise (Class of 1960) read aloud the names of those Lima High graduates who have passed away since the reunion in July 2025 or whose passing was just made known to the Lima High School Alumni Reunion Committee. They are Dana Schillinger (Class of 1949), Virginia Madigan LaJuett (Class of 1951), Marlin Icenogle (Class of 1953), Nancy Fraser DeFranco (Class of 1961), Nancy Weber (Class of 1963; passed away in 2024), Roger Buckman (Class of 1963; passed away in 2024), Floyd Chatterton (Class of 1966), John Manning (Class of 1966, who was a former Green Beret), Darlene Menz (Class of 1966) and Theresa Roykouff Peterson (Class of 1969).
Mary Recktenwald Blazey (Class of 1958) presented the Roll Call of Classes, reading the names of those present at the reunion by class year.
Class of 1965 members Sharon Dechau Neenan and John Recktenwald spoke about the HF-L Alumni Hall of Fame which seeks to recognize graduates from Honeoye Falls High School, Lima High School and HF-L High School. Those individuals who are nominated have contributed in some way to their communities through military service, their work or employment or their volunteer work in their communities. It was emphasized that it is not an athletic hall of fame (although many of the inductees were fantastic athletes during their high school years) nor does it recognize alumni based on their wealth or the influence/power that the individual held or currently holds.
Individuals who are nominated should have at least three letters of support and the 13-member Alumni Hall of Fame Committee goes through each nominee’s file and votes on whether to admit that nominee. The names of the nominees are then submitted to the HF-L district’s administration and the board of education. Inductees are celebrated during HF-L’s Fall Weekend activities and are formally inducted into the Hall of Fame during a ceremony that is usually right after the Fall Weekend football game. There will be six people inducted during the Fall Weekend activities on October 3, 2026. The six inductees are: Bonnie Noble Coddington, Stven Coykendall, Ellen Mahaffy, Leah Gotcsik, Daniel Mulligan and Jonathan Stills. There are 40 people from Lima High in the Hall of Fame. Nominations for the 2027 induction will be accepted through May of 2027.
The evening closed with a Treasurer’s Report from the Lima High Alumni Reunion Committee, a 50/50 drawing and the singing of Lima High’s Alma Mater and God Bless America.
The Alumni Reunion Committee is also seeking information on the whereabouts of several alumni. They are Thomas Petrillo (Class of 1959, last known address of Cranberry Pond Trail in Victor), Hayden Bennett (Class of 1960, last known address of Dalton Road in Lima), Delores Poles Gilbert (Class of 1961, last known address of Spanish Trail in Greece), Frank Beare (Class of 1969, last known address of Big Tree Road in Livonia) and Patricia Horan Pfegling (Class of 1969, last known address of Landville Park in Rochester).
