By Lynn M. Brady and Toby Williams
mail@floridanewsline.com
Members of the Samuel W. Wolfson class of 1969 and their guests gathered on April 27, 2024, at the Mandarin Community Club for barbecue and reminiscing. Classmates were delighted with the weather and the historic setting for their reunion.
The class was joined by Chris Begley, current principal of Wolfson, who gave a rundown of the achievements of Wolfson in the years following attendees’ graduation. Principal Begley is very proud of his school and was very grateful to the Class of ’69, which raised $11,000 for the “Leaders of the Pack” scholarships, a project begun by the class prior to their 50 year class reunion in 2019. As a result of the fundraising effort, four scholarships of $2,750 will be awarded to students headed to college after graduation. This year’s scholarship recipients are Aria Brown, Leila Jane Davis, Lucy Gueye, and Amina Zelihic.
The Class of 1969 was the second class to complete all three years at Wolfson after it opened. Wolfson drew students from duPont, Landon and Douglas Anderson high schools, which were repurposed as junior high schools. Wolfson is currently one of three “magnet” schools for advanced studies and students must apply to go there.
In past years, the class has held reunions at beautiful sites along the St. Johns River and in St. Augustine, but this year a casual and local gathering spot was preferred. The Mandarin Community Club is in an area where many of the students grew up or came on the weekends to ride the Little Train, to buy meat from Jo Curry, pick up some oranges at the Post Office & General Store, or grab some barbecue from Jenkins Bar-B-Q along State Road 13, now known as San Jose Boulevard.
Photo courtesy Lynn M. Brady
Wolfson High School class of 1969 at their 55th reunion.
