Published May 23. 2026 06:08AM
“It’s funny, going back to that time, laughing at stuff we did, things that happened.”
Joan Dunkle was one of approximately 30 members of the Lehighton High School Class of 1956 that recently held their 70th class reunion at the Beaver Run Rod & Gun Club in the Mahoning Valley.
“It was ‘Lehighton High School,’ not ‘Lehighton Area High School,’ ” Dunkle pointed out. “We held reunions for awhile, then we stopped.
“And then we couldn’t because of COVID. In 2023, we decided to start the reunions again.”
Dunkle reminisced about when she started attending Lehighton High School, the one on North Third Street in the borough.
“I attended a country school, a one-room school house in Normal Square,” Dunkle explained. “All of a student, we were in the ‘big city’ of Lehighton. We had three floors and indoor plumbing. I kept getting lost. You don’t get lost in a one-room school.”
Dunkle said they were unsure about next a reunion next year.
“It’s getting harder and harder for us to get together,” she said.
Lehighton High School Class of 1956 had its 70th reunion recently. In the first row, from left, are Jane (Weaver) Dailey, Rose (Hammel) Frantz, Faye (Ziegenfuss) Wetzel, Joan (Miller) Dunkle, Barbara (Schappell) Steigerwalt, Jeanette (Zuber) Gaukler, Janice (Frey) Hoffman, Pauline (Rex) Frey, Joann (Gyuricsek) Finkbinner and Robert Green. In the second row, from left, are Robert Scheckler, Gordon Ripkey, Richard German, Richard Bisbing, Ronald Moyer, Richard Reiner, Roger Diehl and Bruce Kuntz. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Barbara Steigerwalt, left, and Jeanette Gaukler share memories at the Lehighton High School Class of 1956 70th class reunion at the Beaver Run Rod & Gun Club. JAMES LOGUE JR./SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS