Roxborough natives and neighbors reconnect at 11th annual Roxborough High reunion

Sunday was a sweltering, sunny day in Wildwood, the kind of day meant for bathing suits and cold beers at a dockside bar. So really, why wouldn’t Joe Barr be decked out in full “Indian” regalia, from moccasined feet to a bright yellow feathered headdress, to attend the Roxborough reunion?

It’s become an annual tradition for Barr, owner of Hair Jazz salon and Barr’s Bikes and Boards on Ridge Avenue, to don the costume — complete with face paint and a beaded vest — commemorating the Indian that has been Roxborough High School’s mascot since the school’s founding in 1924. Ask his wife, Nancy Ertner Barr, if she’s OK with her husband’s getup, and she’ll show off the sun dress she’s wearing, imprinted with a similar Indian-head image.

Hey, it’s a Roxborough thing.

The annual event, now in its 11th year, draws not only alumni of Roxborough High School but a contingent of people who grew up in the Manayunk-Roxborough area and see the summer party as a way to reconnect. Plenty of familiar neighborhood names were there, from Brennans and Fahringers to Keenans and Westerfers, dancing and reminiscing and participating in fundraisers that support the school’s sports programs and fund an annual scholarship.

Sonny Marino was there, representing the class of 1956.

“There’s not many of my classmates around, but I’m here,” he said.

This year’s gathering, dubbed “Indians at the Pointe” because it took place at the Lighthouse Pointe complex at the foot of the Wildwood causeway bridge, drew old and not-so-old, and folks like Joe Berryman, who actually graduated from Roman Catholic High School in 1955 and now lives in Delaware, but makes it to the Roxborough event every year.

“I go to Roman’s, I go to Roxborough’s, I go to all of them,” Berryman said.

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