Senior citizens get a second chance at a memorable prom

WASILLA — The last time Katherine and Timer Downs attended prom, television was just starting to catch on and the hottest singers on the radio were Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

“We had ‘Good Night Irene,’ ‘Unchained Melody’ was another one,” Timer said while recalling popular songs he and his then-future wife would have heard at their high school prom. They both attended New Haven High School in New Haven, Conn., and smiled when remembering their first prom.

“We danced to Count Basie, Mel Tormé,” Timer said.

“I remember ‘String of Pearls’ was popular at the time,” added Katherine.

As if on cue, that same Glenn Miller big band classic wafted out of the speakers in the Wasilla High School cafeteria. It may be 2013, but for a handful of area seniors, Saturday was prom night again.

Organized by the high school’s National Honor Society program, and spearheaded by student Christina Hoy, WHS invited the Greatest Generation to relive their own youth at a literal “seniors” prom.

“We wanted them to have fun,” said student Ashley Leach. “With the winter weather, you don’t get out as much as in summer and there aren’t as many activities. Some of us got to go to prom, some of us didn’t. So, we figured why not? It’s not only fun for them, it’s fun for us.”

Hosting a prom for the area’s senior population is an idea that’s been kicked around for awhile, Hoy said. The teen — who also volunteers at Primrose Retirement Community in Wasilla — said she decided to take on the project and make it happen. In doing so, she also got to see another side of her own family when her grandparents John and Audrey Bognar attended Saturday.

“Never had I ever seen them dance before,” Hoy said. “They were really good, and so were their friends. It’s been exciting to see them dance and the high school seniors are having a good time dancing with them, too.”

For John and Audrey, it was also a chance to remember some of the things that make the first time they attended their proms special.

When asked what he recalls, John chuckled.

“That’s why I’m laughing,” he said. “I don’t know if I can count back that far. … But oh my, it was a big deal.”

He went to prom in style — in a brand new 1957 Chevy.

Audrey helped decorate for her high school prom, and said straightaway she remembers “making all those birds of paradise and all the decorating.”

They danced to Frankie Avalon and Elvis, but didn’t go overboard like some teens do today.

“I don’t think we had the limos and things they do today,” she said.

That doesn’t mean everything about the high school prom has changed, Timer added.

“Well, I remember wondering who was going to sneak the gin into the punch bowl,” he said.

For the record, that would be no one on Saturday.

“Oh, sure, some of it doesn’t change,” added Lady Pamela Whatley. “We parked, we ‘ran out of gas,’ had ‘flat tires.’”

She recalls her first prom “was back in 1972,” while husband Lord John Whatley — and yes, he’s an actual lord dubbed by royalty, but that’s another story — remembered his was in 1960.

Both expressed gratitude to the WHS students for giving them another prom.

“I think it’s wonderful that the (high school) seniors would care about their elders and would take the time to even think about doing this,” Pamela said.

While Saturday was a nice trip down memory lane for some seniors, it was a long overdue treat for others like Dav Ellison.

“This is my first prom,” he said. “I never had one before.”

He explained that he grew up in an area that “frowned” on behaviors like dancing, so his high school didn’t hold dances or proms.

“I would have like to have had one,” he said. “I remember Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley, The Beatles were all popular.”

If he had been able to go, who would have been the lucky girl?

“Well, let’s see,” he said. “There were two different girls, probably.”

As Cab Calloway belted out “Minnie the Moocher” in the background, Katherine said Saturday was a pleasant evening with some really good music.

“That’s when music was music,” she said. “I don’t understand any of the music they listen to today.”