The Long Goodbye...

For a lot of us that live here in Ritzville, Division and Seventh Street will never be the same especially after the final brick is cleaned up from the site of Old RHS. For those of us living here, we understand this project is a long time coming. For those alums who live far away it is a sad time for them. Well, it is also sad for us living here but quite necessary.

For 30 years, there was a hope that the building would get a second life as an apartment complex, community center, business park or fill in the blank with your own ideas.

It is interesting how we can romanticize this building. You would think that our entire lives were improved by just walking through the front doors. I remember when I was a high school student there and hearing rumors that the building would be condemned and a new building would need to be erected. That never came about because of the drop in student population. Two older buildings would undergo some changes in order to keep maintenance costs down and limit students’ falls down stairways.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I went to school there and disappointed the right buyer for the building wasn’t found. There are a lot of memories of RHS and the building did serve the community quite well.

The auditorium was the location for many plays, musicals, Junior Miss Pageants, choir practices, pep assemblies and those fabulous Alumni skits presented each Homecoming Friday afternoon. The stairs that led from the back stage to the band room were kind of cool. Looking above those stairs there were autographs of the many alumni that had parts in those plays and musicals. They were famous forever on those walls.

The alumni that did the skits during Homecoming brought a lot of laughs and enjoyment to the high school students. As a football player I was ready to go after these memorable events.

As sophomores, Greg Shelman, Larry Tufts and I, were coerced by several cheerleaders that we should wear women’s dresses, hats and makeup and do a skit for a basketball pep assembly. When you’re a sophomore and a cheerleader even talks to you, it is hard to say no. It was funny, there were a lot of laughs and we looked phenomenal. That’s my story and you can believe or not!

The old gym was utilized by the Junior High basketball team, when I was playing. We had a lot of intramural basketball games that were witnessed by the Junior High boys. No attendance for those games. Going in for a layup was an adventure, and those many Bronco athletes that played their high school games there had earned our respect. I never had the opportunity to view the gym from the rafters because those doors were locked and I’m not sure if anybody had a key.

In high school the gym was used for the dances after some games, Homecoming dance, Sadie Hawkins and the prom. It was a great place to go that’s for sure.

The library was remodeled prior to my junior year and the utilization of space was improved. But the two conference rooms on the west side of the library were great places to go during study hall, especially when the state tournament was going on. Someone brought a radio and those of us that were in the room did our best impersonation of someone trying to learn. It was an acquired look.

During my time at RHS there were two instances of motorcycles in the school. One was when Larry Tufts drove a Honda Trail 50 down the aisle of the auditorium during the musical “Bye Bye Birdie.” The other time happened during noon hour when hellions opened up the doors on Division and Columbia, while an unnamed individual drove the cycle up the hallway and down the other side and out the door with no one getting run over. I didn’t witness that one and if you would like more details please feel free to contact a member of the Class of 1969.

There were several Halloweens when a few hooligans would transport an outhouse from the country and set it on the front steps of the school on Seventh Avenue. It happened once while I was a student. There were a few suspicions as to who was involved, but there were no video cameras and the perpetrators were never caught. It was funny though.

Every student that attended good old RHS has their particular memories of her. The emotions of high school students run the gamut and some memories are far better than others. Being a teenager is not easy and we were fortunate to have a lot of great teachers, community support and wonderful classmates.

It has been a long time in coming for RHS to become a memory and be eliminated from the landscape. Many of us have been ready to say goodbye to the dilapidated building for some time.

I won’t miss RHS because I will always have those fond memories, which will never go away.