It may be the smallest school in the Hood River County School District, but Pine Grove Elementary School may just hold the most memories of any building in the district, judging by the turnout at its May 31 alumni reunion and ice cream social.

More than 100 former pupils of the school and their families and friends showed up on a mostly sunny Saturday afternoon for a chance to compare stories and revisit classrooms — which were much smaller than anyone remembered.

“Everything used to be bigger!” was a common observation as alumni walked the halls.

But, as alumni Christy (Thomsen) Ewald said in the fifth-grade-produced video for the event, “They’ve rearranged everything but the classes haven’t changed much — except for the new technology.”

The event felt more like a family reunion than a school reunion, and that may be because the Pine Grove community does consider itself to be one big family.

“Everyone loves each other,” said Priscilla Slegers in the video. “It’s like a family.”

“It’s a small school, a small community,” Ewald said, echoing, “Everyone knows each other really well — like family.”

The event was the brainchild of Cindy (Wells) Blachly, and was the result of months of planning by a reunion committee.

“I had thought about a Pine Grove reunion for the past couple of years, and we were finally able to get the ball rolling this year,” she said. “Unfortunately it didn’t correspond with any big anniversary of the school, but I wanted to have it before some of the older folks passed on.”

Blachly attended the school, as did her father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

“The Wells(es) and the Moores both had four generations present at the reunion,” she said. “My kids attend now and are the fifth generation at the school.”

She considered the reunion to be a big success and has had a lot of positive feedback — some suggesting it become a regular happening.

“No plans at the moment; but I do think this community is special to so many people and that regular gatherings would be well-received,” she said.

With the event the school launched a campaign to create a new bricked courtyard in front of the school, with bricks sold as a means of raising funds. Blachly said the courtyard will not only beautify the school grounds but also serve as a community gathering place.

Pine Grove School contains the only public green-space in the community, and the playground and field are used year-round, according to the reunion Web site (www.freewebs.com/pinegrovereunion).

“We only sold a couple of bricks at the event, but we handed out a stack of flyers and I heard many people discussing what their bricks were going to say,” Blachly said. “I expect we’ll do well with sales once we start pushing that a bit.

Her cousin, Nancy (Wells) Waller, said that it was a lot of fun to hear guys who probably hadn’t been back to the school since they graduated say things like, “I recognize you, but I wouldn’t have known your brother,” and “Remember when we threw rocks at each other over in that corner of the playground?”

Blachly said her favorite memories include getting to ring the school bell, which is still rung by kids today to call in recess, and a principal who had a clever way of dealing with the problem of projectiles.

“(He) would give us a penny for every chestnut we turned in to him,” she said. “It was an incentive to clean up the grounds instead of throwing the chestnuts at each other!”

Christy Ewald and Devon Wells, two of the Pine Grove alumni who were interviewed by the fifth-graders for the video, also both remembered the competitions held on equipment that used to be on the playground.

“We used to have these huge swings,” Christy Ewald said. “They used to let us jump off the swings and we’d have contests to see who could jump the farthest.”

“Everybody played together,” said Lynn Rasmussen. “All the grades would be on the playground at the same time.”

Gowlan Wells, who at 90 was one of the oldest alumni in attendance, said that in his day no one rode a bus.

“We lived close to the school, and everyone had to walk,” he said, “or a few would ride a horse.”

Even though it had rained in the morning, it turned out to be a very pleasant day for an outdoor gathering — and photo, since a photographer was hired for a group shot. The current schoolchildren sang some numbers, including the school song, led by Kathy Hannen-Smith.

“It was a great event, the weather was good and the turnout was nice!” Nancy Waller said. “The planning and execution of the event was flawless, thanks to the very hard work and incredible organization of Cindy Blachly.”

Blachley said the biggest thanks go to Kelly Beard, for his hard work and dedication to the school, the students and the reunion, and she also credited Jean Wells, Debra Laraway, Barbara Keir and Nancy Waller with helping do the majority of the planning.

“The Pine Grove reunion was a huge success and everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves!” she said. “There are still Pine Grove mugs and T-shirts available at the school if anyone forgot to get one,” she added.

“We will enjoy watching the newly planted pine trees grow both at the school and at our home, since we all got to bring a seedling home,” Waller said.