Stewart Indian School renunion set for Saturday

Some 500 students, teachers and staff from the former Stewart Indian School are expected to attend the first reunion on the school grounds since the school closed in 1980.

The hope is to make Stewart Day an annual event, said Sheila Abbe, executive director of the Stewart Indian School Museum.

The reunion will be from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday at and around the museum.

"We have busloads coming up from New Mexico and Arizona," Abbe said. "Five (Stewart) teachers who now live in Oregon are coming. We have a dentist coming who worked here 40 years ago."

Abbe said people are coming from most western states for this reunion at a school that taught Indian children from more than 200 tribes from 1890 to 1980.

She said many students from the last class have planned to come, as has a 97-year-old graduate.

Carson City Justice of the Peace Robey Willis, who was the school's boxing coach for many years, plans to go to the reunion.

Abbe didn't know what response she would get, but she has more than 300 RSVPs already.

"There are a lot of people who care about Stewart and everybody was waiting for a real reunion," Abbe said. "We need to have one here at the school, on the grounds, sharing experiences and stories."

A barbecue will start at 5:30 p.m. Cost is $7.50 and a reservation must be made by calling Abbe at 882-6929. There will also be a DJ with an open mike and dancing until 10 p.m.