BONITA SPRINGS
Two old classmates are showing just how small the world really is. 73 years after graduating high school, they ended up in the same retirement community in Bonita Springs.
Millie Schuler moved into The Terraces at Bonita Springs, a local retirement community, after her husband died. She liked the social atmosphere but never guessed what else would happen in that community.
The Terraces retirement community. CREDIT: WINK News
“We were asked by the hostess, who seats us at the table if we would mind having a fifth person join us, and we said, ‘We’d be delighted’…Stan said, ‘I lived in Haddonfield,’ I said, ‘Hey, I’m from New Jersey,’ Stan said, ‘I’m from New Jersey too,’ and I looked at him. And I knew him right then and there. I said, ‘You’re Stanley Maslowski, aren’t you?’” Schuler said.
Maslowski took a bit longer to catch on.
“He had no idea who I was, none whatsoever,” Schuler said.
But as the two swapped stories, the confusion turned to pure shock as he remembered his old acquaintance from Hadden Heights High School, class of 1949.
“After 73 years, come on, give me a break. You only read about that in the comics,” Maslowski said.
Reuniting at Bonita Springs retirement community. CREDIT: WINK News
They admit times were a lot simpler.
“We were very naive. We had our Friday night movie, we had our Saturday night dance,” Schuler said.
But Schuler insists not much has changed.
“He’s lost a little bit of hair. Maybe he’s gotten a little gray. But he’s still Stan,” Schuler said.
Two classmates more than a thousand miles from where they grew up reunited 73 years later.
“I think just having each other. Is sort of fun. just sort of fun,” Schuler said.
“I’m still awed by the fact that after suddenly three years, did you owe me money?” Maslowski said.
“You wish! you wish,” Schuler replied.
While they’re no longer going to dances and school football games, they have each other to reminisce with. Takes them right back to the halls of Hadden Heights High School and an era they say is long gone.
WINK NEWS