I went with Diane Groth to Homecoming in 1976. This was for me, and I suspect
for many others, a first official date. Diane and I went to summer band camp
together in Oshkosh. A half dozen of us went to the camp from the classes
of 1978 and 1979. If I recall correctly it was mostly those from Jazz Ensemble.
I believe Bobby Sullivan came along. I believe Mike Badursky was there, too.
Also Kathy Levenhagen from class of 1979 who played saxophone and was very active
in school theater and musicals. We stayed there a week or so and had practice with
group instruction during the day. We stayed in the college dorms with kids
from various high schools around the state. Somehow I built up enough nerve
to ask her out to homecoming when school started again in September.


Before the prom the guys needed a suit. I went to Sears with my Mom at Northridge
(which had just opened) and she bought me a light brown courduroy suit with a vest
from the "Young Men's" department. That was pretty cool. The suit was tailored to
fit which basically meant that the pant legs were shortened the right length and
the waist line of the pants were taken in so that they were a bit snugger.
A week or so later we picked up the suit. I had saved a bunch of cash from working
at Ozaukee C.C. that summer and went to Thiensville to order a corsage. The big
decision was ordering a hand corsage or one that could be pinned onto the dress.
Hand corsages were more common at the Junior Prom. I chose one that could be pinned.
(That was followed later by the even more impossible task of delicately pinning
the corsage onto your date without impaling her with the extra-long stick pin and
without placing your hand too far inside the v-neck of the dress. What basically
happened was that you made one lame attempt to pin it on, then Mom came to the rescue.)
There was a florist on the east side of Main Street just after you passed the
Thiensville fire station. The corsage came in a white paper box with a see-through
plastic window. I was afraid to touch it for fear of destroying it. We were told to
keep it in the fridge so that it would not wilt or turn brown. The Friday before homecoming
I went with my Dad to pick it up. We then planned for the event.



I picked up Diane at her house and met her folks. They were super nice and tried
their best to make me feel comfortable. I think a lot of parents get nostalgic
around homecoming. That makes it easier. Diane had on a dress that I believe
her Mom made for her. It was just around the time of the bicentennial and that
may explain the quilted design. The style was very popular with the bicentennial
celebrations that summer. TV shows like "Little House on the Prairie" had a definite
impact on clothing and hair styles as well. As you can see the dress was very
intricate with lacing and with open sleeves. The dress was also very long, nearly
covering her feet. Of course she looked gorgeous in it. I remember that as we left
her house that I stepped on the hem and she almost fell down. This was the first in
a series of blunders. We drove back to my folk's house. This photo was taken by my Dad.
My folks started a fire to make the whole event cozy.


I had just turned 16 so I had only a temporary (paper) permit. I believe my parents drove
us to the restaurant and then picked us up later so that we could go to the dance in the high
school gymnasium. I can't remember who else went with us, but I think we might have gone with
another couple. We ate at a restaurant which I think was called Boder's which was very upscale
by Mequon standards at the time. The restaurant was on River Road, I believe, but on the north
side of the river. At that time there was no bridge that connected the north half of
River Road with the south. I remember that we both ordered "Surf 'n' Turf" which included
both a filet mignon and some seafood. I think it may have been a salmon filet or scallops.
A nice entre like that cost around $14.00 at that time, so it was a real for a bunch of high
school kids to dine like that.