BERNARDSTON — About 80 seniors stopped by Monday to honor the alumni of the Powers Institute at the school’s old home, which now houses the Bernardston Senior Center and the Bernardston Historical Society.
Volunteers from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office along with Selectboard Clerk Ken Bordewieck grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for visitors before the Senior Center wheeled in strawberry shortcake from the kitchen.
Visitors and Powers Institute alumni munch on hamburgers and hot dogs outside the Bernardston Senior Center on Monday. STAFF PHOTO/AALIANNA MARIETTA 
“We kept it going for a long time.” Oldest Powers Institute alumnus Russell Deane shared a few words during Monday’s cookout. STAFF PHOTO/AALIANNA MARIETTA 
Steph Marshall and Mike Duffy perform for seniors in Bernardston on Monday. STAFF PHOTO/AALIANNA MARIETTA
According to Bernardston Senior Center Director Pam Parmakian, the Powers Institute educated middle and high school students from 1857 to 1958. The alumni have met every three years to swap memories about their school days.
Monday’s cookout would have marked their 48th reunion, but the group decided to dissolve in May due to members being spread out across the country and struggling to make the trek back, according to 97-year-old Russell Deane, the oldest Powers Institute alumnus. The group donated its remaining $1,400 to the Senior Center, and their contribution was used to add two picnic tables outside the building.
To thank the alumni and celebrate the building’s history, Parmakian said the Senior Center settled on a cookout so visitors could enjoy lunch while looking up at the town relic.
“If we had an outdoor cookout, we could be looking at the Powers Institute building as we’re about to honor it,” Parmakian explained, gesturing to the building in front of her. She added, “And everybody wants to have a cookout.”
Bernardston natives Deane and alumna Eunice Grover, 91, spent their middle school years upstairs before moving to the lower floor of the building for their high school education. The pair shared memories between bites.
With a chuckle, Deane recalled tossing an unlucky classmate into the pond with his peers. “Then we’d do it again in another week or so,” he added with a grin.
Grover remembered playing friendly games of basketball after class. The pair also performed in plays and traveled to New York City and Washington D.C. for class trips.
“We had a lot of fun,” Deane said. With only eight people in Deane’s graduating class and 12 in Grover’s, they agreed that there were no strangers in their school.
“You get to know them when it’s a small class,” Grover said of her close classmates.
At 3 p.m., local musicians Steph Marshall of Greenfield and Mike Duffy of Shelburne Falls, or “stringman extraordinaire” in Marshall’s words, strummed and sang classics, covers and original songs inside the Senior Center.
“I was just so thrilled to be a part of this,” Marshall said before her set. “I love sharing my music and I love giving people joy. Hopefully they’ll sing along with us. That’s what we love — getting people to sing along and just be a part of it.”
For Bernardston resident and friend of the alumni Marsha Pratt, attending the cookout was never a question.
“I knew when I first learned about it that I would be here,” Pratt said. “I enjoy everything they do here.”
While cleaning up the grill after lunch, Bordewieck said he served about 50 hot dogs.
“One of those things that you should do in life is take care of people who need help, and I think the Senior Center is all about that,” Bordewieck said. “That’s their specialty.”