“I don’t know why I was honored and said in my speech that I appreciated it but hoped it wasn’t just because I was 99,” said the Venice, Fla., resident.
After the presentations, a man came up to him to shake his hand. "He introduced himself as Edwin Moses, and I just looked and said, 'The Edwin C. Moses, the Olympic star?' He just smiled and nodded." Moses, a '73 grad, was inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame in '89.
“There were very few people there that I knew, just friends of my kids that I’d known since their childhoods. I guess someone has to outlive their peers, but no one there would have remembered teachers or students I wanted to mention. “I did tell a few stories about my school days and they were a very appreciative audience — the tops.”
Downing was in the first class to attend the “new” school at Philadelphia and Hillcrest all four years, and met his wife of 74 years his senior year. “The auditorium was our homeroom, and we sat in alphabetical order. I looked next to me that first day and saw Mary Louise Diehl — the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. We were married five years later; she died two years ago.”
The Downings’ two children brought their father back for the reunion. They visited his 90-year-old sister in Springfield, and brought her back to attend the reunion.
In addition to the reunion, the family visited old homes, friends, and attended Shiloh Congregational Church on Sunday.
Downing was president of the church council and very involved in the construction of the “new” building in the ’50s. “I’d been a member since I was 16, was married there, and both my children were married in that church.”
About 20 members of the church remembered him, and they had lunch together after the service.
“I’ve been overwhelmed by all that’s gone on during my visit,” he said. “It was tiresome, daunting, exhilarating — a wonderful few days.”
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