Maine man planning Lynn Trade School reunion

LYNN – Frank McLaughlin has never been to a high school reunion, because as far as he knows, there has never been one for the Lynn Trade High School.Now the Class of 1961 graduate is determined to reunite with his former classmates, and he’s putting together a multi-class reunion without the help of an alumni association.The reunion will take place Sept. 16 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Prince Pizzeria on Broadway in Saugus.There will be pizza, salad, coffee, soda and a cake with the school’s name on it.Each graduate will take a name tag to write down their name and class. “After 50-something years, it’s going to be hard to recognize your classmates, never mind remember their names,” said McLaughlin.The Lynn Trade High School was open from 1953 to 1971 before it was renamed the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute.But McLaughlin said the trade school has no association with Lynn Tech’s alumni association, and has no such organization of its own.McLauglin said he has been thinking about putting something together for two years now, but got motivated about two months ago when he met up with friends from high school at his home in Maine.Now he is looking for about 70 other classmates, plus alumni from all of the Lynn Trade High School who graduated in 1962 or before to join together for a reunion.He used a book that he had of the graduates’ names to begin tracking them down.”I started by searching for their names on the Internet,” McLaughlin said.He narrowed the search by comparing the names with people who are older than 65 and the individual’s middle initial.”With a computer, it’s possible to find them. They are all boys, so they still have all the same names,” he said.McLaughlin then started making calls.”I’m not sure how many I found,” he said. “Most of the numbers weren’t any good, and if it was an answering machine it was hard to tell if it was the right person.”McLaughlin said he has also sent out 225 letters and has had some success so far reaching people by mail.”I talked to a few dozen people and for the most part they are very enthusiastic about it. Some people died, and I found a handful that didn’t have any interest,” McLaughlin said.But he has been surprised about who he has heard from.”One guy who called me up lives two streets away from me in Maine, and I had no idea he went to Lynn Trade,” he said.McLaughlin said planning the event could have been easier if the Lynn Trade School had an alumni association.McLaughlin is expecting about 150 to 200 people for the “simple” reunion, which will include the alumni and their wives. “It’s not going to be a perfect attempt,” he said. “But we will find everyone we can.”Tickets for the event are $17.50 a person until Aug. 31. No tickets will be available at the event.For information on how to order tickets, call McLaughlin at 207-459-5033.Kait Taylor may be reached at [email protected].