Stoughton Alumni Say Goodbye To Old High School

STOUGHTON, MA — The old Stoughton High School building has over 100 years of memories, and before it's demolished to make way for the new school opening in the fall, alumni were granted one last chance to reminisce. Despite a heatwave, making it feel well over 100 degrees Saturday, hundreds of alumni visited the school one last time to say goodbye.

Principal Juliette Miller greeted the crowd as they came in to take selfies and talk with old friends. Before becoming principal, Miller was a Stoughton High School math teacher for seven years and was a member of the class of 1994. As she caught up with old students and classmates, she joked, "There's no surprises. It looks exactly the same."

"My family grew up here," Miller told Patch. "We are long time townies."

Like Miller, the rest of the alumni filled the school hallways, opened their old lockers, and talked to friends about their old teachers and classmates. The crowd went on a tour through the auditorium, library, gymnasium, cafeteria, and several classrooms. Many of them also peeked around corners of the building closed for construction.

The Gelly family, a group of six brothers and sisters, spanning from the class of 1976 to 1997, took some pictures together in the auditorium. The whole family moved away from Stoughton years ago.

Still, five of them Bob, Diane Govey, Joe, Paul, and Matt, met outside their old house and walked to the school together one last time. Their sister Ann Zucco, couldn't make the trip, but they made sure she was represented, proudly holding a sign with all their names and graduation classes. Paul Gelly even flew in from Pittsburgh to walk with his siblings and say goodbye to their old school.

"We did the same walk and the same path, and might have even got poison ivy again," Govey said joking about the path, which partially went through the woods her family used to take to school over the span of three decades.

The family said they felt a connection to the building because their mother, Betty, worked in the school's special education department for decades, including a 20-year stint at Dawe Elementary School before working at Stoughton High School until her retirement in 1992.

Bob Gelly said some of his best high school memories were made playing on the football team. All the brothers played on the team, and the two sisters were majorettes. For Govey, her best memories came from graduating during Stoughton High School's bicentennial year.

"My class was unique, over 400, but we stayed close," Govey said. "The football stands used to always be full."

Govey said those friendships from her high school class spanned decades. The get togethers happened far more often than just the high school reunions. She still gets together with a group of her old friends regularly. Govey said her group of friends met recently to celebrate a 60th birthday party.

Other former students like Matthew Mullen, of the class of 2009, came back to share their memories with their new families. Mullen brought his wife to show her where all these old stories he'd tell her came from.

"She's heard so many stories about growing up in Stoughton," Mullen told Patch. "To actually bring her here where it all happened is just amazing."

When Mullen brought his wife to the gymnasium, he started reminiscing about the practices he would participate in leading up to the powder puff game.

"During powder puff senior year, my friends thought it would be a good idea to throw me up to grab a ceiling beam," Mullen told Patch. "I said 'Okay, you better catch me coming down.' Fortunately they caught me or else it would have been a different kind of memory."

Mullen said that although, he's since moved to Ashland, he could see him and his wife coming back to Stoughton to start a family because of the new school, library, and other "strong investments" the town has made over the last few years.

Miller agreed, saying that although it's a little sad to see the old school go, she couldn't be happier to see what the new school will offer Stoughton students for years to come.

"It's an extremely exciting time as a principal to move into the new building, but it's bitter sweet because it has so many memories ...," Miller told Patch. "The spaces we designed for education are out of this world. We will be able to offer expanded programs. The building will take us to the next level."