Benton Class of ’58 reunites to give gift to community

By Ashley Luthans

After graduating more than 60 years ago, the Benton High School Class of 1958 came together Thursday to give back to a St. Joseph park, just ahead of the South Side Fall Festival.

The class has had yearly reunions for decades, but that changed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Their 2020 reunion had to be canceled, and the class was unable to meet again in the following years due to age and distance.

Don Bressman, a member of the class, said the group decided now was the right time to leave a legacy.

“Because we knew that we were probably not gonna have any more class reunions,” Bressman said. “And we wanted to make sure that, before any more of them passed away, that we had everybody included. And we ate at a restaurant, had a real good meal and it was just a great reunion, more or less.”

Classmates who still live in the area realized that there was still money left in their reunion account, and so they made the decision to donate two red park benches to Hyde Park.

With the South Side Fall Festival beginning on Friday, the timing worked out so that the benches would be in place for the event, which is important to many in the class.

“When we found out it was the festival weekend, we figured that was a good time to get everybody together and kind of tie it up,” Bressman said. “We wanted to make sure that we were remembered as Class of ‘58 and we did something special for our hometown.”