SURVEY RESULTS

CLASS OF 54 QUESTIONNAIRES

 compiled by Bill Hoke

 

Overview

We received 190 total responses from classmates or their family members from the questionnaires we sent in 2003. In some responses, not all questions were answered by that respondent. The summaries below reflect the percentages of the answers to those questions which were answered by each respondent. The total number of responses to each question are shown in parentheses where applicable..

 

How many classmates have passed away?

We define “members of the Class of 54” as all of those who were in 10th grade with us whether they graduated or not. By that definition, there were 221 classmates. Of that number, 23 have passed away as of March 2004.

 

Where do we live? (168)

47% of us live in Hanover. 26% of us live within 50 miles of Hanover, and 27% live more than 50 miles away. 73% live either in Hanover or within 50 miles of Hanover.

 

Are we retired? (152)

70% of us are retired. 24% are semi-retired, and 10 people (.7%) are still working.

 

Are we happy with “our time on this planet”? (121)

The question was, “If you could have chosen, would you prefer to have been born in the 30’s or in the 80’s?” The vast majority of respondents (86%) indicated they preferred being born in the 30’s. 13% indicated no preference and one person (a lady who cited the advances in opportunities for women in modern times) would have preferred being born in the 80’s.

 

How do we view the quality of education at EHS in the 50’s? (119)

49% feel we got a better education than that provided by today’s public high schools. 34% feel it was about the same, and 17% feel it was not as good.

 

Who were the most effective teachers at EHS in the 50’s? (90)

Mary Menges won by a large majority of votes. She was chosen by 54% of the respondents. Mrs. Jones received 9%, and Gladys Hamm received 7% of the votes. 30% of the votes were for other teachers.

 

Who were the favorite teachers at EHS in the 50’s? ((93)

A very large number of teachers got at least one vote. Mrs. Jones got 16%, Mary Menges 10%, Gladys Hamm 5%, Mrs. Blettner 5%, and Mr. Brubaker got 5%. The remaining 59% of the votes were cast for over 25 different teachers.

 

Do we use cell phones? (145)

56% of us have a cell phone.

 

Do we use email? (149)

Approximately 40% of the members of the Class of 54 have email addresses.

 

Education after high school (160)

A large number of classmates, have associate degrees, nursing degrees, and degrees from trade schools. 31 classmates (19%) reported having Bachelor’s Degrees and 4 classmates (2%) reported having an advanced degree.

 

Children (160)

160 classmates reported having at least one child. 9% of them have one child, 33% have two, 32% have three, 16% have four, 4% have five, 2% have six, 2% have seven, and ….

 

Eleanor (Miller) Muscarelli and Donna (Rhodes) Eckenrode each have 8 children.

Willard Kagarise has 9 children

 

Grandchildren (148)

148 classmates reported having at least one grandchild. 3% of them have one grandchild, 15% have two, 15% have three, 20% have four, 13% have five, 10% have six, 7% have seven, 3% have eight, 2% have nine, 2% have ten, 1% have eleven, and …

 

Peggy (Kline) Duck has 16 grandchildren.

Pat (Rudisill) Hoffman has 17 grandchildren

Donna (Rhodes) Eckenrode has 18 grandchildren

Daryl (Toot) King has 19 grandchildren.

Willard Kagarise has 23 grandchildren.

 

Great grandchildren (35)

 35 classmates reported having great grandchildren.  51% of them have one great grandchild, 23% have two, 11% have three, 3% have four, 6% have five, and …

 

Shirley (Kehr) Day has 6 great grandchildren.

Connie (Stonesifer) Fisher has 9 great grandchildren.

 

Plan to attend the reunion? (130)

In 2003, the responses were as follows.

 

Yes          83      (64%)

No             9      (7%)

Maybe      28     (29%)

 

If the “yes’s” don’t change their minds, and some of the “maybe’s” move to the “yes” category --- it would appear that about 75% to 80% or more of our classmates might be attending the reunion in 2004.