In 1976, The Apple Computer Company was founded, Jimmy Carter won the presidential election and the minimum hourly wage was boosted from $2.10 to $2.30. Disco music and punk rock grew very popular around the world but the British-American rock band, Wings, featuring Paul McCartney, had the number one spot on the charts with “Silly Love Songs.” Elton John and Kiki Dee snagged the number 2 spot with their duet, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” People crowded the theater to see the big box office winner, “Rocky” starring Sylvester Stallone.
Top TV shows included “Happy Days” starring Ron Howard as Richie Cunnigham and Henry Winkler as Fonzie. Goodhue High School’s 1976 senior class looked back on their own happy days of 50 years ago while reuniting this summer. 17 Class members participated in the Volksfest parade by riding in a wagon decked out in red, white and blue—the colors seen everywhere when the United States celebrated 200 years—the colors the class adopted for their graduation.
27 of the original 66 classmates gathered again at the Goodhue Lion’s Community Center on July 24th. The celebration events included touring the renovated school building, a catered meal, and trivia questions. A pictorial display honored these eleven deceased classmates: Joel Burfeind, Ann (Larson) Erickson, Ann “TC” (Ryan) (Gadient) Buckingham, Ray Gilsdorf, Sandy “Sam” (Benrud) Shuster, Larry Betcher, Mike Kehren, Cindy (Holst) Arendt, Sandy (Bremer) Van Stone, Tim Michner, and Laura (Majerus) Luhman.
