2 years late, KHS Class of 1970 finally has its 50th reunion

Sure, it was two years later than it was supposed to be — but what hasn’t been postponed because of COVID?

The Kearny High School Class of 1970 finally got to celebrate its 50th reunion, 52 years after graduation.

Organizer Pearl Buehler says the original date for the event was September 2020 and was going to be in Hasbrouck Heights, but COVID had different plans for the KHS Class of 1970.

“It was rescheduled a few times and finally decided we were going to move our destination to Toms River, so on Sept. 23, the Kearny High School Class of 1970 finally was able to celebrate their 50th Class Reunion at the Clarion Hotel,” Buehler said. “We had anticipated a larger turnout, but many classmates couldn’t make it for health reasons, family commitments, etc., and we ended up with approximately 55 classmates. The event turned out great and we received nothing but positive comments. Classmates connected with people they had not seen in a long time. So here is a little bit of advice to all of you who hesitate on going to your reunion — just do it  — each one is a once in a lifetime event.”

The reunion committee included Buehler, Harve Hantiuk, Carole Leahy and Pat King.

“The work put in by the committee was well worth it,” Buehler said. “We also brought a little bit of Kearny to our reunion by having bagpiper Joe McGonigal pay a surprise and play some tunes. Carole Leahy had suggested this and we thought it was a great idea which was well received by the class. Go to your class reunion and reconnect.”

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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.