Everywhere I went in Murdo the week I was there was a backward glance into my past, a lovely flood of memories and joy. It didn’t matter that I was a Murdo High School graduate imposter. It was all good.
I had a marvelous childhood divided between growing up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA and summers every other year in Murdo where I loved being with my cousins and getting to know Grandma and Grandpa Sanderson. Then there were the Aunts and Uncles who were hardworking and had great houses where I could visit. Aunt Helen, my Mother’s sister, and Uncle Bob would usually meet up in Murdo from their home in Michigan with their four kids to get us all together for a reunion. It was a happy time. Most Sanderson’s lived in Murdo though.
Then after my Dad lost his job at a machine shop outside Pittsburgh, we moved back to Murdo, having lived there when I was born. Dad went back to work at Sanderson’s Store. I was in heaven being able to walk all over town and play with most of my cousins and their friends or their cousins not on the Sanderson’s side, like the Bork’s, but this all came crashing down when we had to leave again because Sanderson’s Store was closing in the early 1960’s. It was a sad time for me because I was all primed to start my high school career with the junior high class I had come to know. Shock hit me like a California earthquake.
So when I go to these school reunions, I’m the imposter since I didn’t graduate from high school there but I do have a history in Murdo and loads of good memories. I was fortunate to be able to crash the festivities during this time with cousins Billy and Mary and Uncle Gus Gustafson later. I went to one reunion by myself but met up with Billy. We are then we hung out late one night at the Buffalo Bar with Suzanne Brost, and Joe and Ralph Thomas. We told jokes while we drank. Fun doesn’t do it justice. I told my cousin Billy that I drank wine now that I was retired. He thought that was a lame yet funny excuse to drink.
This 2026 Murdo Reunion was the best. I am getting pretty adept at being the imposter graduate. What class was I in? Class of 1967 of course, Anaheim, California. Ralph Thomas in all his wisdom, kindness and honesty sent this form to the committee that plans these things:
Those 70ish Girls 