Larry Behle '73 Organizes Unusual High School Reunion

June 14, 2004

June 14, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - Larry Behle -- a retired Avon (Indiana) High School science teacher, owner of the Uncommon Corner Bookstore in Plainfield, Indiana, and the recipient of a masters degree from DePauw University in 1973 -- is preparing for an unusual high school reunion. For the 40th anniversary of his graduation from Washington High School in Daviess County, Indiana, Behle and his classmates "will celebrate this milestone with a national radio reunion," writes R. Joseph Gelarden in the Indianapolis Star.

Behle tells the newspaper, "We were trying to come up with something special and discovered we all liked to listen to a satellite radio program on XM Radio. It is called 'Sixties at Six.' " Gelarden writes, "Behle said he called Phlash Phelps, to ask if he would mention the reunion on his program. Phelps, music director of XM Radio in Washington, D.C., had a better idea. 'We have a feature called 'Power to the People' where we let people pick songs and write stories about them. We asked the Washington Class of '64 to do that for us,' Phelps said in an interview."

The program, which will air twice on June 24, will include songs such as Twist and Shout and Be True to Your School, as well as TV theme songs from the 60's. Behle and a friend wrote a script that will be read during the broadcast.

Gelarden notes, "Special projects are nothing special for Behle ... In 1989 and 1990, Behle and Robert Stack of DePauw University worked with College of the Atlantic at Bar Harbor, Maine. Using money from the Lilly Endowment, they put together a program to introduce Hoosier high schoolers to marine mammals. 'It lasted two years,' Behle said. 'We took 15 to 20 students from around the state and flew to Boston. There we boarded the 95-foot-long sailing schooner Harvey Gamage. For three weeks, we sailed up the coast to the Gulf of Maine, where we studied whales and dolphins and seals in their natural environment. They also studied basic sailing. It was a ball.'"