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GREENSBORO — They grew up in a simpler Greensboro — dancing to Big Band records before the 8:30 bell, eating ice cream at the corner store and playing touch football with the streetlights as goal posts.

But the Greensboro High School Class of 1947 , which will meet today for its 62nd and last reunion, was also familiar with hardship.

They were “Depression babies,” said Jessie Macon Sapp Edwards.

Their freshman year was pushed back two weeks because of the polio epidemic.

During one of those afternoon football games, Jim Finch remembers mothers running out onto their front porches.

“Pearl Harbor’s been bombed,” one yelled from the steps.

After the war ended, young veterans became the class’s newest members.

It was a difficult time to grow up, Finch said. But out of that hardship, Greensboro — and the class — grew close.

“We were limited so we had to make do in our community, and we did,” he said. “… The community helped raise you, and if you got into trouble somewhere in Greensboro, the word quite often got home before you did, chapter and verse.”

After they graduated from Greensboro High School, which is now Grimsley High School, many stayed close to home and eventually settled down in town. But others went their separate ways.

They came back together for their 10th and 25th reunions, but as the years passed, many lost touch.

When the 45th reunion came around, Finch and his wife, Joan — who met at age 2, were friends all through high school and married in 1969 — decided it was time to bring the class back together. They solicited the help of friends and got to work, searching databases and making phone calls.

They were able to track down most addresses, Betty Michaux Causey said. When mail came back stamped “Return to Sender,” they just looked harder.

Some went so far as to walk through classmates’ former neighborhoods. They talked with the oldest residents, asking if they knew what happened to the student who lived down the block. In some cases, they did.

Out of the 321 graduates, they found all but seven.

One of those seven was Harry Morrison. He was an athlete, one of the most likable students in the class, and missed at the 45th reunion. A few years later, Finch found a number for him in New Jersey and gave him a call.

“I said, 'Harry, I have spent more time trying to track you down than anyone else in this class. You better come to this reunion.’ And he did,” Finch said.

It was at the 50th reunion that Morrison saw Anne VanHorn Mims , a girl he had dated in high school. They spoke that night, but only briefly.

A few years later, after both their spouses died, they started talking more.

In 2002, they were married. This will be the fourth class reunion they attend together.

“Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think this was going to happen — nor in his, I’m sure,” Anne Morrison said.

After the 45th reunion, the class went ahead and held a reunion at 47 1/2 years — just because the last one was so much fun they wanted to have another.

Since then, members have held a reunion every two years.

The gatherings sparked romance and rekindled old friendships. They brought classmates close again, strengthening relationships that had long faded.

Many who had stayed in Greensboro but hadn’t spoken since graduation now meet regularly to talk about old times, Edwards said.

She often has lunch with about a dozen high school girlfriends.

“You like to remember the good old days,” Finch said.

Today, class members will gather for their 62nd reunion. More than 100 have died, but for the 66 who plan to attend, there will be “a lot of talking and a lot of hugs,” Edwards said.

The class’s most famous graduate — a former ambassador to Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, Jack Matlock — can’t make it. But classmates are coming from North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Even a former teacher — Grace Illman, who taught business skills like typing and shorthand — plans to join the celebration.

In the 62 years since their graduation, the class has held 10 reunions. But today’s holds a special significance, not only because the classmates are turning 80 this year, but also because it is the last reunion for the Class of 1947.

It just seemed like the right time to hold a final gathering, Edwards said. Traveling is difficult. And even without the reunions, they’ll keep in touch.

After 62 years of friendship, that bond will be hard to break.

“It was a unique time to grow up,” Finch said. “… The worst part of it was the war. But it made us reach out for each other.”

Contact Tricia Nadolny at 373-7028 or tricia.nadolny@news-record.com