Larwill Gymnasium: Some things changed, but the old feelings for a beloved school stay the same
(Talk of the Town photos by Jennifer Zartman Romano) The old Larwill High School property has a special place in the heart of many of the alumni who went there over the years. Above, among the many who attended the open house at the building on Sunday were the Hawn siblings who all attended the school. From left are Derryl Hawn, Peggy Hawn Yoder, Duane Hawn and Kerwin Hawn. Below, attendees found that while much has changed in the old gym...some of what they remember still remains...as do their strong feelings for the old place.
By Jennifer Zartman Romano
Long after you’ve packed up your letter jacket and stowed the old yearbooks away in the attic, your old school still holds a certain affinity in your heart.
On Sunday afternoon, whether it had been 20 or 50 years since the attending alumni had been inside those hallowed walls of the old Larwill school, the memories were warm and the mood sentimental. 
A larger than anticipated crowd of former students and those familiar with the Larwill community came out Sunday for Reiff Construction’s open house. Reiff Construction recently completed renovation of the old gymnasium and constructed new, adjacent office areas as well.
Jerry Reiff, owner of Reiff Construction, has owned the property where he attended 12 years of schooling himself, for the past two years.
“We probably had about a year of actual work on the building,” Reiff said Sunday as he stood among the more than 50 people who attended the open house.
Reiff said there had been a school on that site since the 1850s serving Richland and portions of Etna Troy townships. Eventually what was once a 12-year school became an elementary school and when that closed in the 1970s, students were sent to Pierceton Elementary. The building deteriorated and eventually much of it was torn down.
Though the majority of the 15,000 square foot building has been redone in some way, it is all still sitting on original floors and foundations, Reiff said.
The wooden gym floors were taken out years ago, but a vast space of fresh concrete is there now. The old stage is gone, as are the old changing rooms and boiler room, making way for a larger space, new restrooms and a mezzanine. Reiff built a shop area back onto one side of the gym and an office on the other side.
Looking around at the finished results, Reiff said proudly, “I did this for multiple reasons – to preserve this building, as a financial investment and to create jobs for my employees at Reiff Construction.”
Like many of the others in attendance, Sunday provided an opportunity to reconnect with old classmates and neighbors.
“A lot of people here haven’t seen each other in a long time,” Reiff said.
“It’s changed a lot, but there’s enough that is still the same,” said Lee Neher who attended Larwill High School for his freshman year.
“It has changed a whole lot since I was here,” said Betty Kistler. She graduated in 1968.
A photographer for more than 40 years, Bill Kilgore was among the crowd who came back for the open house. Kilgore attended Larwill Junior High in eighth grade, later graduating from Columbia City High School in 1949.
“It’s pretty much the same,” he said looking around the gym. “I remember bleachers on both sides and I think the ceilings were different.”
“Jerry did a wonderful job on this. I am just so glad they didn’t just tear it down,” he said.
Reminiscing over yearbooks and old photographs, Peggy Hawn Yoder of Angola beamed. With her were her three brothers, Duane Hawn of rural South Whitley, Kerwin Hawn and Derryl Hawn, both of Garrett. The siblings all attended the school and came out for the open house. Yoder said she attended the Larwill Reunion, held during the summer, and enjoyed reconnecting with former classmates there as well. This was special, she said, because of the opportunity to be inside the walls of the old building.
“It still holds a place in my heart,” Yoder said. “It was where we all went.”
Another Larwill alumni and long-time Larwill resident, Pat Loe was among the attendees Sunday. Loe has watched the building for decades and as it faded, she worried a little. Now transformed for a rebirth of sorts, Loe said she’s seen similar buildings in other communities during her travels that have also found new use for old spaces – restaurants that used to be schools, churches turned into restaurants, etc.
When the Larwill School building was torn down several years ago, Loe got to keep a substantial number of bricks which her son, Charlie, built into an impressive outdoor grill and sidewalk at her rural Larwill home. Everyday, when she looks into the backyard, she thinks of her old school and the memories she created there.
Referring to the reuse of the building and her reuse of the old bricks, she laughed and said, “You’d call that recycling!”
“I think this is great,” Loe said as she examined each new wall inside the old building. “I am just to thankful it wasn’t torn down and that it has been made into something useful. It can be something very useful.”
“I think this is a really good thing for Larwill,” Loe said with a sense of pride that a place once so meaningful to her will continue to have meaning for years to come.