Willow Glen High’s Class of 1953 holds 70th—and last—reunion

Alum establish scholarship fund for current WGHS students.

More than 30 members of Willow Glen High School’s class of 1953 will be celebrating their 70th and last formal reunion on July 28 with a lunch at Three Flames restaurant on Meridian Avenue.

“We were a special class,” said Winifred Cooper, a 1953 Willow Glen High School graduate and current resident of Willow Glen. “We were very close. People just got along. It was a great time to grow up and be a part of things.”

Willow Glen High School was established in 1950 by San Jose Unified School District. The class of 1953 attended what is now Willow Glen Elementary School for kindergarten through eighth grade, and then attended Herbert Hoover Middle School for the first half of ninth grade while Edwin Markham Junior High (now Willow Glen Middle School) was being built.

“We were the first class to open up Markham and then the first class to open up Willow Glen and go all the way through,” said longtime Willow Glen resident and 1953 graduate Carol Kaczmarek.

San Jose High School, which opened in 1863 and is the second-oldest public high school in California, was the only high school in the area until about 1942, when Abraham Lincoln High was built, said Joan Brodovsky, a member of the WGHS class of 1953 and current resident of Mountain View.

“In September 1950, my class entered the sparkling (and leaking) new Willow Glen High School as sophomores,” said Brodovsky. “I think Willow Glen High opened with around 500 students.”

In comparison, there are 1,645 students enrolled for the 2023-24 school year, according to an employee at WGHS.

There were 223 students in 1953’s graduating class, said Douglas Cooper, Willow Glen High School’s 1953 class president and husband of Winifred Cooper. Ms. Cooper, Ms. Brodovsky, and Ms. Kaczmarek are the last remaining members of the original class reunion committee, he said.

“We have had reunions every five years since 1953,” said Douglas Cooper. “Our first class reunion was in 1958. In 2016, we had an extra reunion because the students were afraid they might not be around for the next one.”

Many of the 1953 graduates say the Santa Clara Valley looks a bit different now. Seventy years ago, said Kaczmarek. “Willow Glen was a little village. Lincoln Avenue was two lanes. Very few of us had cars in high school.”

“The Dry Creek and Meridian Avenue area was all cherry orchards,” said Winifred Cooper. “You didn’t have to go very far to be considered in the country.”

“Most of the stores are gone now,” said Douglas Cooper. “The old soda fountain on Lincoln Avenue sold comic books and candy. It was a few doors down from the elementary school. After school, quite often the students would go down there and get cherry Cokes and pick up comic books.”

Professions and family dynamics are also different now, say the 1953 graduates.

“As a very first job, a lot of kids picked prunes or apricots,” said Kaczmarek. “There weren’t that many businesses around.”

“Our fathers were bank tellers, butchers, teachers, haberdashers, small businessmen, entrepreneurs, railroad workers and bureaucrats,” said Brodovsky. “Most of our mothers were homemakers.”

More than 15 years ago, the Class of 1953 established a scholarship fund for WGHS graduates who want to continue to college or other professional training. They have awarded nearly 100 cash grants to graduating seniors totaling around $125,000.

The Scholarship Committee sends out a donation request every fall. Donations are raised from the within the class of 1953 and the occasional friend of same, said Benjamin. WGHS officials provide information on prospective recipients, then the committee selects the winners.

“We gave away about $11,000 to the class of 2022,” said Chuck Benjamin, acting chairman of the Class of 1953 Scholarship Committee, who currently resides in San Jose. “One of the primary criteria for selecting these students is need, and the students have all excelled in spite of major life challenges and really impressed the members of the committee.”

“Nearly every year, at least one recipient not only has presented top grades and held down a part-time job during his or her high school years,” said Brodovsky, “but he or she has had to deal with homelessness.”

Members of the Willow Glen High School Class of 1953 who are interested in attending the July 28 reunion but have not registered should RSVP to Brodovsky at 650-962-1880.