(This summer I dropped by the all-class reunion for SeaTac’s Glacier High School and wrote a column about it. Some alums felt the column was a little too much about me (and a long-lost Glacier girlfriend) and not enough about the wonderful school or its strong alumni association. So I agreed to let the alums tell Glacier’s story--unfiltered. Eric Mathison)

By Glacier Alumni Association
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES/NEWS

To our Alma Mater we pledge our faith to thee…

No truer words could be spoken of the people who touched our lives on our journey to graduation.

Glacier High School opened in 1960 and closed in 1980. Some 10,000 people walked through the halls. Teachers, students, administrators, janitors, cooks and secretaries…not to mention the coaches, Driver’s Ed instructors, gardeners and the PTA.

The teachers cared about us and our well-being and we respected their authority.

Because the school was open for a small window of time doesn’t mean we weren’t important in the big picture. Besides the doctors, lawyers and teachers Glacier turned out we can also boast of our NFL players both famous and infamous, a race car driver, an Olympic gymnast, a Miss Washington who went onto star in Grease and her own sitcom. She wasn’t our only talent. We have a Broadway actor and director too!

We are proud of them and of ourselves because we stay connected. Everyone was important to us. They molded and shaped our world for our 3 years at Glacier.

However, it isn’t just the high school that is gone. It is the elementary and junior high schools we attended that are gone now too. Our family homes are gone. We can’t take our children back to show them the ranch we lived on or the schools we attended. We can’t point out the A & W or Lewis Clark Theater or the trails where we raced our horses.
We can’t take them over to the Evergreen Tennis Club to swim or the Ice Chalet to skate. It is all gone. The treasure that remains is the memories in our hearts.

Ten years ago when the Glacier Alumni Association began to take shape we began to locate teachers and students. As of this writing we have 66 confirmed teacher connections and 2,103 students. Each thrilled to be found and reconnected to their friends and to their past.

Once a year we hold an all school reunion. Many times we have had over 600 in attendance. We are like a very large family. Each year we locate new members to join us. Our hope is to find the “missing” students and teachers to make our family complete.

Please write us at glacieralumniassociation@comcast.net and we are on Facebook! You can contact a volunteer at 206-935-6690. Come join the fun on August 11, 2012. Hope to see you there!

Grizzlies Rule!