I’ve run into classmates in airports, supermarkets, on mountaintops and along unpaved country roads in the dead of night (don’t ask).

In 1996 we held a family reunion at the Greenbrier, a gracious old resort in West Virginia’s Allegheny Mountains. Our visit came shortly after the Washington Post exposed a decades-old secret.

Although the number “15” on the bonfire and jerseys caused me to pause for some quick math (answer: 35), the Homecoming slideshow took my breath away. Class pres Cami Bilger confirmed that it was even more spectacular in person.