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Photo by Tim Skinner
Class of 1975 cake.
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(From left) Sandy Hillmer and Scott Hillmer
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The Class of 1975 yearbook.
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(From left) Shereth Squives, Elaine Darte, Cathy Maceau (Zarlingo), Paula Roberts.
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(From left) Tom Wilkerson and Sarah Wilkerson
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(From left) Stephen Lathrop and Jim Belling
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(From left) Debbie Saner (nee Oliver) and Jill Podraza (nee Langenstein)
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(From left) Mary Beth Harper (nee Hillniar) and Rick Harper.
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Sandy Jenkin enjoys a fire.
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(From left) John Early and Dany Menoza
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(From left) Terry Ravanelli, Beth Ravanelli, John Bell and Mark Greenwald
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(From left) Gary Warren, Landa Touechette and Bobby Touechette
GRANITE CITY — In 1975, Gerald Ford was president, Captain and Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” was a big hit on the radio, pet rocks and mood rings were popular and everyone got to see “Jaws” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” at the movie theaters.
And Granite City had two high schools — North and South — that were three miles apart. The two schools had a total of 900 graduates in 1975.
“Granite City was a great town to grow up in the 1970s,” said Vic Coleman, who graduated from Granite City North in 1975 and has been working as a state trooper in Arkansas for 30 years.
On Saturday, about 200 people showed up for the 40th Granite City North and South High Schools Class of 1975 Reunion at the Elks Lodge Pavilion and talk about the good times they had in high school in 1975.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said Becky Rodgers Rosenbaum, who graduated from South and is a member of the reunion planning committee. “There’s a lot of people that you’re glad that they have name tags because I don’t recognize them.”
In 1973, the Granite City School District decided to split GCHS into two schools. The North campus was located at 4950 Maryville Road. The South campus was at 3101 Madison Ave., GCHS’ current address.
“In our sophomore year, we went together,” said Sandy Smith Jenkin, who graduated from North and is now retired. “There was just one high school. Then, they opened North in our junior year, so we had to split up. So we went to school with some of these people for one year, so we really didn’t know them that well.”
Debbie Oliver Sander, who graduated from North in 1975 and is now the executive director at Phoenix Crisis Center, said she was glad to be part of a new school. North wrapped up its second year in 1975.
“It was an exciting time with a new school,” Oliver Sander said. “We lived in North, so a lot of new traditions were starting and new friends were formed.”
The split also started a big rivalry in athletics between the GCHS North Steelers and the GCHS South Warriors. South had three all-state medalists, including Tom Schooley, who graduated in 1975 and now works as an attorney here. North had one state qualifying team (girls’ bowling), two district championship squads (girls’ bowling and baseball) and one regional championship team (boys’ basketball).
“In athletics, that was probably bad because had we stayed together we would have had some really good sports teams,” Coleman said.
Janet Bunselmeyer, who graduated from North in 1975, played on the school’s first girls’ tennis team. During that time, many high school girls’ sports teams across the country, including North and South, had their first year of competition.
“I fell in love with tennis and I still play tennis today,” Bunselmeyer said. “Tennis is my love. 1972 was the first year of Title IX, so girls’ sports were just starting. I did tennis and I did gymnastics.”
Things were different in 1975. There were no cellphones or social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
“You had everybody’s phone number memorized,” Smith Jenkin said. “I can’t tell you anybody’s phone number because it’s on my phone. When you said someone’s name, you knew their phone number.”
Rogers Rosenbaum, who retired from Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis last year after 39 years, said plans for the class reunion began in April.
“Everybody has moved away, so we really didn’t have a lot of contact names,” she said. “When we graduated in 1975, we didn’t have computers, so we didn’t have a master list of everybody. So we had to get a master list together and try the word of mouth. We’re still missing a lot of people because we can’t find them.”
Granite City North was closed in 1983 and is now Southwestern Illinois College. Granite City South changed its name back to Granite City High School.
Oliver Sander said there are students from the North campus who still keep in touch.
“Granite City High School North last year celebrated the 40th anniversary of their school, so we actually celebrated last year for their 39th year and now this year,” she said. “We just like to be together.”
1975 in review
There were 35 songs that hit No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1975, tying the record set in 1974. Three of those songs were from Elton John (“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” “Philadelphia Freedom” and “Island Girl”). Captain and Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” was No. 1 for four weeks.
“All In the Family” became the top-rated television show for the fifth straight year. “The Jeffersons,” “Barney Miller,” “Baretta,” “Welcome Back, Kotter,” “One Day At A Time,” “Saturday Night Live” and “Starsky And Hutch” debuted in 1975.
Gerald Ford was U.S. president and Nelson A. Rockefeller was vice president. Ford took over the office in 1974.
The unemployment rate was 5.6 percent, the cost of a first-class stamp was a dime, a quart of milk was 46 cents and a loaf of bread was 33 cents.
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” won the Oscar for Best Picture, making it the fourth time in five years an R-rated movie won the Academy Award for best film.
The Vietnam War ended and the Watergate scandal came to a close after three people were found guilty of the cover-up.
The Golden State Warriors won the NBA Finals after sweeping the Washington Bullets in four. They ended their 40-year drought with a championship in June of this year. Other champions include the Cincinnati Reds (World Series), Pittsburgh Steelers (Super Bowl) and Philadelphia Flyers (Stanley Cup).
Drew Barrymore, Bradley Cooper, Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet, Michael Bublé and Tiger Woods were among the celebrities born in 1975.