Former classmates meet for the first time

By Meghan Streit
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Beverly Rathje, Ruth Flower, and Beverly Forman all graduated from Hyde Park High School in the 1940s but didn’t meet until more than 60 years later when they each moved to Sedgebrook.

Different paths
During their school days, the three ladies had different friends and weren’t in the same extracurricular activities, so they never crossed paths. Each graduated, married, and had children and careers in different towns.

Rathje and Flower raised their families in the Chicago area. Forman moved far from her hometown to Arizona but made the decision to come back to live at Sedgebrook and be closer to family.

Together again
It was only during chance conversations that the trio realized they had all been at Hyde Park High School during the same time period. Rathje, inquisitive and social by nature, wasn’t surprised that she stumbled onto the commonality.

“One of the reasons we moved to Sedgebrook is because I’m a people person. I don’t find it difficult to talk to new people and ask them where they’re from,” Rathje says.

All three still have their high school yearbooks. Gathered one day in Rathje’s Sedgebrook home, they flipped through the worn pages, sharing stories and comparing notes on their time there. They talked about former teachers and forgotten classmates. They also gossiped about entertainer Steve Allen and actor Mel Torme, both famous Hyde Park alums.

“I wonder what happened to all these people,” Forman thought aloud as she leafed through the yearbook.

How much they’ve grown
Staring at the rows of young faces with 1940s hairstyles, Rathje, Flower, and Forman looked back on how much they’ve grown since the day those photos were taken.

“We have so many different experiences in life, I think we do change a lot,” Flower says.

People come to Sedgebrook from all over Chicagoland and beyond, so once they get to know their neighbors, there’s a good chance they’ll find something in common.