A 69-year reunion: Lewes High, Class of ‘56
Sixty-nine years after graduating from the former Lewes High School, several surviving members of the Class of 1956 recently met for a reunion at Nicola Pizza in Lewes.
It was the ninth reunion they’ve held over the span of nearly seven decades.
Attendees included class members Lydia Jean Richards Richardson, Bonnie Wyatt Warrington, Barbara Russell Evans, Elizabeth Rice Hamilton, Jesse Calvin Sheppard Jr. and James Eugene Plummer, plus honorary member Cindy Downs, who organized the event and was married to the late Edgar Marvel Downs Jr., the class president. Two members’ spouses, Harold Hamilton and Bonnie Sheppard, also attended.
They enjoyed an afternoon of reminiscence over Nicola’s famous Nicobolis, and Downs brought a cake she baked with a photo of the 23-person class printed on the frosting.
All these years later, many of the surviving members still live within an hour of Lewes.
Thirteen members have since passed away: Joyce Baringer Sutton, Edith Carpenter Cross, Edgar Marvel Downs Jr., Arlynn Quinton “AQ” Hall Sr., Patricia Hill Chopp, Robert Yates Leedom, Barbara Mincy Millman, Alcine Mitchell Wilson, Rosalie Porter Schmidt, John “Harrison” Richardson III, Mary R. Vincent Polk, John “Jack” Warrington and Joan Carol White.
The Class of 1956 was the last small class to graduate from the Lewes Special School District, with the Class of 1957 coming in at double its size.
The students attended first through 12th grades in the same building, which at the time was the only public school facility in Lewes.
The building has since been repurposed and expanded, and is now home to the modern Lewes Elementary School.
Ellen McIntyre is a reporter covering education and all things Dewey Beach. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Penn State - Schreyer Honors College in May 2024, then completed an internship writing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In 2023, she covered the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand as a freelancer for the Associated Press and saw her work published by outlets including The Washington Post and Fox Sports. Her variety of reporting experience covers crime and courts, investigations, politics and the arts. As a Hockessin, Delaware native, Ellen is happy to be back in her home state, though she enjoys traveling and learning about new cultures. She also loves live music, reading, hiking and spending time in nature.
