From Dancing Boots to hiking boots: Years after graduating, Reynolds alumna find fellowship on trails around the world – Winston-Salem Journal
June 4, 2022When the Reynolds High School class of 1970 gets together this weekend for its twice-delayed 50th reunion, there is sure to be lots of talk about the old days — the big football wins, the dances, the thrill of cruising down Stratford Road with Three Dog Night blasting from the car radio.
Cathy Blevins Howe, Sally Thomas Huntley, Stephanie Wilson Havenstein and a few of their friends are sure to join in the reminiscing, but they also plan to spend part of the reunion deep in discussion about their next big hiking adventure.
All friends or at least friendly with one another while students at Reynolds, the women have, only relatively recently, become a tight-knit circle of hiking buddies. The group also includes Christie Taylor, Sally Marr, Deborah Pratt Tacon, Margaret Yearns Lucas and Pogo Davis.
At an age when lots of folks are dialing back on adventurous pursuits, the women have trekked up mountains in Alaska, Italy and France, with more trips on the horizon.
“Traveling with women, I never laugh more,” Havenstein said. “I don’t know why. It’s just hilarious stuff. Women you went to high school with, you look at something, and you’re in hysterics.”
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Havenstein and Huntley met in fourth grade at Whitaker Elementary School in the 1960s and became close friends.
While at Reynolds, they were both part of the school’s famed Dancing Boots team.
“I went on to become a cheerleader, and Stephanie continued with Dancing Boots,” Huntley said.
The two took divergent paths after graduating in 1970. Havenstein went to the University of Maryland and worked in human resources in Washington, D.C. She stayed at home for several years to raise her children then went back to work for a school in the Bethesda, Md., area where she lives.
Huntley started at Peace College then transferred to the University of South Carolina. In 1978, she and her husband moved to Alaska, with the idea that they’d stay for a few years. Huntley fell in love with the state, its abundant beauty turning her into an avid hiker.
“I live in the biggest National Park in the nation, so getting out in it, that’s what you did,” said Huntley, a longtime owner of a …….
