The Class of 1976

The 1976 graduating class of Heritage High School held our commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 23, 1976, at 3:00 p.m. on the football field. It was an overcast day with drizzle and a chill in the air, but our camaraderie and excitement overshadowed anything the Colorado weather could throw at us.

As the first class to graduate after four years at Heritage, we were honored with a program rich in pomp and circumstance, both figuratively and literally. Brent Bailey conducted the combined bands in the processional, "Pomp and Circumstance," and the recessional, "New World Symphony." In between, Russell Hillock led the concert choir in a stirring performance of "Battle Hymn of the Republic." In addition, there were several special speakers, including our classmates Brian Vogt, Leesa Wingo, and Ann Rowland.

Four members of the board of education presented our diplomas, along with just a few of our favorite teachers: Doug Hodous, Joy Leif, Roger Lockhart, and Bernie McCall. Tom Roberts, another beloved teacher, delivered the opening remarks.

Our commencement theme was from T. S. Eliot's Little Gidding, though many of us may not recall it now.  

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

Eliot's idea speaks to the way human exploration—intellectual, spiritual, and personal—continues throughout our lives, and that in time, our searching takes us back to our "beginnings" with more clarity and appreciation. Sounds very much like what we would call today, a full-circle moment.

Looking back on the Class 1976, it is remarkable how the friendships formed in concrete hallways and classrooms, in the theatre, on fields and in gyms, and of course, in the pit, have endured. Now, fifty years later, those connections remain strong, anchored by a vast collection of shared memories. 

Since graduation, our paths have carried us over five decades of work, family, joy, loss, and discovery. In August of 2026, those journeys brought us back to our Heritage "beginnings" to reunite and celebrate a full-circle moment as the Class of 1976.