Andrew Warde & Roger Ludlowe Combined Class of 1958 Plans 50-Year Reunion This Year

The combined Class of 1958 from Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe high schools is planning a 50-year reunion later this year. It was the second graduating class from Warde, which opened in the Fall of 1956.

Fifty years ago, the seniors at Warde previously attended Ludlowe for their freshman and sophomore years before the Melville Avenue campus opened for the start of their junior year. The students from both high school graduating classes were classmates at Ludlowe, which was then located in what is now Tomlinson Middle School, for their first two years.

The combined classes created a Web page (click the image below) to publicize the event, complete with old photographs, a listing of alumni from both schools, biographies, and memorials. The cover photos show their former high school buildings, which are home to Tomlinson Middle School and Fairfield Warde High School today.

There are class graduation photos from each of the six public grammar schools in Fairfield, too. Junior high schools didn’t yet exist in the early-to-mid 1950s. A half-century ago, students from McKinley, Stratfield, and Lincoln schools eventually attended Warde, while those who were products of Mill Plain, Grasmere, and Sherman schools moved into Ludlowe.

Lincoln School was located on Jackman Avenue on the Eastern side of Fairfield. It closed its doors for good following the 1963-64 academic year, and many Warde students attended the school prior to its closing. The photo below shows the sixth-grade class of 1952, most of whom eventually graduated from Warde in 1958.

Here is a copy of a sheet with their handwritten names from 56 years ago.

Many of the 1958 Warde grads attended the original McKinley School, which was demolished a few years ago when mold forced the closing of the building. The teachers and students were assigned to other Fairfield public schools by grade level until the new state-of-the-art school, located on the same site, was built.

Here is a photo of McKinley School's eighth-grade graduating class from 1954. Many of these students went on to graduate with Warde's Class of 1958.

Stratfield School is now the oldest public school in Fairfield and has been a staple on Melville Avenue for decades. However, the building is in desperate need of repairs, and it will be renovated soon. Here's a look at the eighth-grade graduating class at Stratfield School in 1954. Many of these children graduated from Warde in 1958.

Good luck to the Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe Class of 1958 50-year reunion committee. I'm sure there will be many stories shared among the combined classes when they get together.

The 1950s and early 60s marked a time of rapid growth and change in Fairfield, and the opening of Andrew Warde High School in 1956 ushered in a new chapter in the town's public education landscape.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".