Published: Friday, September 17, 2010
65 years of memories and friendship revisited
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Julie Muhlstein / The Herald
Barbara and Jay Fortier, members of the Everett High School class of 1945, attended their 65th class reunion this week.
Paging through the 1945 “Nesika,” Everett High School’s yearbook, is like stepping back in time.
Principal Robert Farnsworth is pictured in a dark suit and fedora.
There’s a “typical Everett scene of industry, the Weyerhaeuser Pulp Mill on the Bay.”
Only boys are shown playing varsity sports. And at school, all the girls wear skirts.
Barbara and Jay Fortier grew up in that world.
On Wednesday, the Everett couple revisited old friends and memories when they attended a 65th class reunion lunch at the Everett Golf and Country Club.
A close-knit group, they were bound in high school by the global events of World War II.
When the United States declared war on Japan and Germany after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Jay Fortier and Barbara Piercey were in ninth grade. During their school years, they had no way of knowing that in 1945, by summer’s end, the war would be over.
The 1945 yearbook summed up the unique status of the class: “This senior class was the first to be graduated after having completed their entire high school education during war years.” Rather than listing college plans, the yearbook told of war: “Before the year was completed, a number of boys answered the beckoning nod of Uncle Sam to enter the various branches of the service.”
Jay Fortier was one of them. In her senior year, Barbara was a majorette with the band. By then, Jay was in a uniform of another kind.
His wife is an official member of Everett High’s class of 1945, but Jay left school after his sophomore year. By 17, he had joined the U.S. Navy and was serving in the Pacific.
A Navy radioman, he spent part of the war aboard the USS Monterey, a small aircraft carrier. Back home, he had a fiance, Barbara, the girl he met in fourth grade at Everett’s old Lincoln School.
When Fortier decided to go into the Navy, he gave his sweetheart a sweet choice. He would either buy her an engagement ring or give her his 1936 Ford convertible.
“In those war years, gas was rationed. You could only get three gallons,” Barbara Fortier said Thursday, holding out her left hand with its sparkling diamond.
“She’s had that diamond since she was 16,” her husband said. She’s now 83, and her husband is 84.
“I can’t remember not being in love with that gal,” Jay Fortier said. His wife finished his thought, adding “it’s been always.”
They were married in Everett on June 8, 1947, and have spent their lives here. They raised a daughter. Jay Fortier went to the University of Washington and worked for Motorola. He traveled the country as a salesman of two-way radios. Barbara Fortier taught elementary school in Shoreline.
After retirement, they traveled to Asia and Europe. They spend winters in Palm Springs, Calif.
Still active, Jay Fortier plays golf twice a week while Barbara keeps up a lifelong love of dancing. Once a tap-dance teacher and performer, she’s involved with a Northshore Senior Center dance group.
Always, they have cherished friends from Everett High. “There’s a rumor we have reunions on alternating weeks,” Jay Fortier said. “We made relationships we never parted with.”
“A lot of people have passed away,” Barbara Fortier said. “It’s so sad, you’re losing your friends.”
About 75 members of a class that once numbered nearly 400 came to Wednesday’s luncheon. “People mingled, they didn’t just sit at tables. There was a lot of hugging. It was so special,” Barbara Fortier said.
After decades of reunions, she said, “this was the best one ever.”
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Principal Robert Farnsworth is pictured in a dark suit and fedora.
There’s a “typical Everett scene of industry, the Weyerhaeuser Pulp Mill on the Bay.”
Only boys are shown playing varsity sports. And at school, all the girls wear skirts.
Barbara and Jay Fortier grew up in that world.
On Wednesday, the Everett couple revisited old friends and memories when they attended a 65th class reunion lunch at the Everett Golf and Country Club.
A close-knit group, they were bound in high school by the global events of World War II.
When the United States declared war on Japan and Germany after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Jay Fortier and Barbara Piercey were in ninth grade. During their school years, they had no way of knowing that in 1945, by summer’s end, the war would be over.
The 1945 yearbook summed up the unique status of the class: “This senior class was the first to be graduated after having completed their entire high school education during war years.” Rather than listing college plans, the yearbook told of war: “Before the year was completed, a number of boys answered the beckoning nod of Uncle Sam to enter the various branches of the service.”
Jay Fortier was one of them. In her senior year, Barbara was a majorette with the band. By then, Jay was in a uniform of another kind.
His wife is an official member of Everett High’s class of 1945, but Jay left school after his sophomore year. By 17, he had joined the U.S. Navy and was serving in the Pacific.
A Navy radioman, he spent part of the war aboard the USS Monterey, a small aircraft carrier. Back home, he had a fiance, Barbara, the girl he met in fourth grade at Everett’s old Lincoln School.
When Fortier decided to go into the Navy, he gave his sweetheart a sweet choice. He would either buy her an engagement ring or give her his 1936 Ford convertible.
“In those war years, gas was rationed. You could only get three gallons,” Barbara Fortier said Thursday, holding out her left hand with its sparkling diamond.
“She’s had that diamond since she was 16,” her husband said. She’s now 83, and her husband is 84.
“I can’t remember not being in love with that gal,” Jay Fortier said. His wife finished his thought, adding “it’s been always.”
They were married in Everett on June 8, 1947, and have spent their lives here. They raised a daughter. Jay Fortier went to the University of Washington and worked for Motorola. He traveled the country as a salesman of two-way radios. Barbara Fortier taught elementary school in Shoreline.
After retirement, they traveled to Asia and Europe. They spend winters in Palm Springs, Calif.
Still active, Jay Fortier plays golf twice a week while Barbara keeps up a lifelong love of dancing. Once a tap-dance teacher and performer, she’s involved with a Northshore Senior Center dance group.
Always, they have cherished friends from Everett High. “There’s a rumor we have reunions on alternating weeks,” Jay Fortier said. “We made relationships we never parted with.”
“A lot of people have passed away,” Barbara Fortier said. “It’s so sad, you’re losing your friends.”
About 75 members of a class that once numbered nearly 400 came to Wednesday’s luncheon. “People mingled, they didn’t just sit at tables. There was a lot of hugging. It was so special,” Barbara Fortier said.
After decades of reunions, she said, “this was the best one ever.”
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
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