“Let all the Circleville High fall in line
We’re gonna have a jolly good old time…”
These musical lines from the Circleville High School song could be heard coming from the gymnasium April 19 when the 72nd year of the CHS alumni banquet was celebrated.
This year, the decorations took on a new and different theme from past years when beautiful formal decorations were showcased throughout the gym. The guests, upon entering, were surprised to see a whimsical picnic theme with red and white checked tablecloths, tables decorated with lady bugs, ants, bees, spiders, and small jars filled with blinking miniature lights representing fireflies. Other decorations included a tent, firepit, sleeping blanket, lanterns, fishing gear, picnic baskets, trees, and many additional items associated with a picnic/camping excursion. A picnic themed backdrop for the taking of photos was also part of the decorations. The programs were uniquely printed with a red and white checked picnic theme. Several attendees sported red and white checked shirts to go with the theme.
Following the welcome and the blessing, a catered buffet style steak dinner was enjoyed by the attendees which was followed by a short program.
In 1935, the original Circleville High School was destroyed by fire. A new high school was constructed by the Works Progress Administration on the same grounds, while in the meantime students attended classes in store lofts, a theatre, and any vacant building available in the town. The first graduating class of 40 students in the stately newly constructed Georgian Revival style school, topped with a wooden cupola, was in the spring of 1939.
Due to the consolidation of the beloved Circleville High School with Franklin High School, the last graduating class of the school was in the spring of 1998, thus a new county school was born in the town of Franklin, and given the name Pendleton County High School. Since there has not been any new graduates of Historic CHS since that time, and a high number of deceased each year, sadly the roll for continuing the alumni banquet is getting more meager with each passing year.
To begin the program, the names of 30 deceased alumni since last year’s banquet were called out and a pillar candle was lighted in their memory.
Special recognition was given to the 26 members of the class of 1960, this being the 65th year since graduation. Of this number, 11 are now deceased. A framed group class portrait was displayed, as well as a framed photo display of each of the deceased. Eleven candles were lighted in their memory. Three members of this class were in attendance.
One of the highlights of this event was celebrating a member of the class of 1945, which has only two members remaining out of a class of 23. Attendees were honored to have 99 years young, Idelta (Sponaugle) Lambert, who received special recognition. In the fall of 1944, a senior in high school, she was entered in a contest for Queen of Sports of CHS. She came in second and was crowned Sports Maid of Honor. At this year’s alumni banquet, she was crowned queen of the Circleville High School Alumni Banquet 2025. She was presented with a bouquet of beautiful fresh cut pink roses. Accolades to Ms. Idelta.
Lambert was born Nov. 1, 1925, at Circleville, the youngest of 15 children, to the late Harman and Etta (Warner) Sponaugle. She attended the Circleville School through all her years of schooling, first through twelfth grades. Since her parents lived on the outskirts of Circleville, she and her siblings were able to walk the distance to school, except when there was snow, a friend hauled them on a horse-drawn sled.
It was at Circleville High School where she met her future husband, Roy Keith Lambert. Following his military service in the United States Navy, they married Dec. 7, 1945, and were blessed with 68 years of married life. They were the parents of three children.
The evening adjourned with the singing of “God Be with You till We Meet Again.”
(submitted by Frances (Warner) Morgan, class of 1960)
