Seven original members of Mariner Girl Scout Troop 120 reconnected at the Hoquiam High School Class of 1960’s 65th class reunion at the Hoquiam Elks Lodge #1082 on Thursday.

The ranking class officer in attendance, Sergeant at Arms Tom Quigg, officiated the festivities.

According to Quigg, 39 of the 174-member Class of 1960 graduates attended the reunion. He also mentioned that the Class of 1960 has held a reunion every five years and has only missed one — 2020, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

A highlight of the event included the attendance of Mariner Girl Scouts Toni Rydman Reineke, Dolores Gross Rockafield, Marjorie Winterhalter Mandery, Ruth Landstrom Anderson, Helen Anderson August, Shirley DeWitt Miller and Marilyn Cummings Sutherland.

In 1950s Grays Harbor, in the absence of a local Girl Scout Council, these young women moved up the ranks to Mariner Scouts, which was akin to the Boy Scouts of America’s Sea Scouts. Harriet Lamb, who was a librarian at the Hoquiam Library, was the first Mariner Girl Scout Troop 120 leader. Her daughter Frances was an original member.

“We made our own uniforms, we were in the newspaper all the time. We sang, we did a lot of service, we had dances, we did all kinds of things in the community,” Reineke said. “We were always the troop that would go in and set up camp. We were asked to prepare the site for the next girls to come in. We did primitive camping and cooked biscuits in a reflector oven we made ourselves with aluminum foil.”

The Mariner Scouts all said they became close friends through the experience.

“Being in the Scouts was a (formative) activity in my life, something that set the foundation for many behaviors after that,” Reineke said.

Reineke credits Dolores Gross Rockafield for keeping not only the Mariner Scouts but the entire class of 1960 in touch over the years.

“We have 80 people on the (email) list, if they don’t have email addresses, she’s in touch. When I talked to her last week, it’s amazing what she knows about our class,” Reineke said.

The Mariner Girl Scout program launched in October 1934. The program was designed for older Girl Scouts who were interested in outdoor water-based activities. The Sea Scouts became co-ed in 1971.