POULSBO — “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

It’s a common question, one frequently heard near the end of a job interview or perhaps posed to a floundering friend who’s stuck in a rut.

Now try to imagine where you will be 70 years from now. That’s more of a puzzler, isn’t it?

But for the North Kitsap High School Class of 1947, it is perhaps the easiest question to answer. The date, time and location may have changed year to year, but over the course of seven decades, the lifelong friends and classmates have managed to get together numerous times to share a meal, a few laughs and highlights of their lives.

For their 70-year reunion, they gathered on Sept. 13 at Elmer’s Restaurant in Poulsbo.

This year’s reunion did venture into some uncharted territory — it was the first without beloved organizer Mary Page, who died on Aug. 22 at the age of 88. Page’s tireless devotion to seeing her friends reconvene over the years made this group unique among other classes that rarely, if ever, continue the reunion tradition.

“She was the one who pushed this along for years and years and years,” Carolynn Swearingen said. “She was the one that came up with all these cute ideas, everything.”

In her stead, Swearingen, with the help of Jim Pickrell and Ted George, helped follow through on the plans Page put together before her death. While the remaining class members are unsure if there will be any reunions in the future, many of them expressed hope that they would continue.

“She [Swearingen] deserves all the time and thanks for putting in the time and effort of getting this together,” George said.

Some of those plans included giving away candy cigarettes as a party favor. These were widely available in the 1920s and 1930s and are still sold today, but under a different name — candy sticks. Twelve class members were in attendance, though several others still live in the Kitsap County area but could not make it for a variety of reasons. The class’s most famous member, astronaut Richard Gordon, who was the command module pilot for Apollo 12 and may have had a chance to walk on the moon were it not for budget cuts that cancelled later Apollo missions, could not attend.

But the highlight of the day is always the opportunity for each classmate to share stories, whether old or new.

Pickrell recounted a story from when he was a senior at North Kitsap High School. A particularly feared English teacher had been giving out book reports, and Pickrell admitted he was prone to not reading the books in a timely manner. However, one day, while waiting to board a ferry in Seattle, he found a comic book shop that sold comic versions of classic books. After that, he was often the quickest to turn in his reports.

“All of the sudden, I was turning in book reports right and left. I don’t think she ever wised-up to us,” Pickrell said. “Every penny I had in my pocket went to comic books.”

Even at an older age, some members of the Class of 1947 are still traveling. Bud Pierce took a trip to Europe with 21 members of his family. They toured London and the castles of England before heading to Scotland and Ireland, and then taking the Channel Tunnel to France.

Other stories told of chance meetings with spouses, practical jokes gone awry, and even the continued search for family history; Pierce noted he has traced his genealogy back to first-century Europe.

But no matter how big or small the story, no matter how long or brief, there is always an eager, engaged audience for it each time these old friends gather around the restaurant table. While the only constant in life is change, for the North Kitsap High School Class of 1947, so have been these reunions.

“I really hope this isn’t our last visit,” Pickrell said. “I hope we get together again.”

— Mark Krulish is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. He can be reached at mkrulish@soundpublishing.com.