In the fall and spring of each school year, Southern Lehigh invites senior citizens from the community to eat dinner in the cafeteria, served by Key Club members, and watch a special preview of the fall play or spring musical.

The Senior Citizen Dinner is often filled with Southern Lehigh alumni.  They enjoy the chance to see their high school and to share insight on their experiences as students.

Karline Donecker (Class of ‘56) is a bit of a Southern Lehigh celebrity as the writer of the school’s alma mater.  In 1956, Fountain Hill and the Coopersburg School merged to form Southern Lehigh High School.  Students from the two schools held preconceived notions of one another that they carried with them to Southern Lehigh.

Donecker still recalls some of the animosity, although now more lightheartedly.  “We were called the hicks from the sticks,” she said, smiling.

Regardless of the hard feelings, however, Donecker and the other 63 members of her senior class began their senior year at Southern Lehigh and she wrote the alma mater to celebrate the union of the two groups.

“I saw [the school] being built,” Donecker said, adding, “I thought [the song] fit the period and the topography of the land.”

That year that she spent at Southern Lehigh proved to be much better than anyone had expected.  Now, decades later, her class is still close, and they hold class reunions at least every five years.

“I wish I could have done it all over again- it was wonderful,” Donecker said.

Jerry and Elaine Trexlor (Class of ‘60) met at Southern Lehigh High School and are still together today.  Jerry participated in Cross Country and Elaine played piano – she even got to play the Warsaw Concerto for the band.  One of Jerry’s fondest high school memories was “the junior prom with my wife.”

Thelma Kiess, a graduate of The Coopersburg School Junior High (Class of ‘37) and Allentown High School (Class of ‘39), graduated in classes of 13 and 18 students, respectively.  She was astonished to hear that the 2013 graduating class is about 250 students.  It wasn’t only her class size that was different from the modern high school experience, though.

“We went home for lunch,” Kiess said, “and when it rained or snowed, we took our lunch [to school] and that was a treat for us!”