Cynde Kichukoff, a '57 classmate who now resides in Florida with her husband George, also a '57 alumnus, said the survey she undertook was clearly in Gary's favor.

About four Wirt 1957 alumni now live in Florida, and the 50-year class reunion there was a push to make one of three cities in Florida the site of the class reunion.

"That doesn't make sense," said Leroy Kietzman, now living in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.

"A class reunion is an occasion to re-connect with our roots, the area that helped influence us in our formative years."

Besides the reunion dinner-dance planned for classmates and teachers from the 1957 class on a Saturday evening, Kietzman proposed many options available of having a forum with the Miller Businessmen's Association, taking a tour of Wirt School and participating in Sunday services at alumni churches.

The forum would be the opportunity to hear how Miller has developed over the past century and plans for the town's future.

"Going to the school, visiting classes and teachers would be a nostalgia trip for most of us," he said, "but would help us to see how Wirt has grown and where it's headed in the next years.

"Most of us grew up with a church home - whether Bethel, Chapel of the Dunes, St. Mary of the Lake or other faith communities - so the reunion weekend would be a time to reconnect with the church of our youth on Sunday."

The reunion committee is working on the program and date for the get-together, the first since 2002 which was in Miller.