Last weekend marked a special milestone for my mom Peggy.

I joined my parents on Saturday, June 22, to attend Mom’s 75th high school reunion just down the road in the neighboring small town of Wheatfield. Of her Class of 1949, only a few classmates still remain. And like our own hometown, San Pierre, the original high school building for Wheatfield, an architectural focal point from 1910 to 1970, no longer exists now that students attend Kankakee Valley High School.

My mom’s 1949 senior year Wheatfield High School yearbook called The Acrus (which in Greek means “the bow weapon” used for shooting arrows by ancient warriors) lists her academic stats next to her photo, her motto “A penny for your thoughts,” and distinctions like working on the school newspaper “The Echo” and serving as class secretary and class senator.

This year’s gathering of the alums included the sad duty of having a moment of remembrance for those who have passed, which includes one-half of the Green Twins from the Class of 1949, since my mom’s twin sister, my Aunt Patty, passed away just over a year ago at age 91 in February 2023.

This year also marked a decade since another of my mom and Aunt Patty’s favorite classmates’ passing, Lewis Clifford Jones, who died in 2014 at age 82.

Someone special who did attend the reunion is my mom’s classmate and “best girlfriend,” Camillia Plaga, who is originally from East Chicago but spent most of her life in South Bend after marrying high school sweetheart Carl Doherty.

Carl, just out of college at Indiana State University, found his first teaching job as the band teacher at Wheatfield High School, which is where he met Camillia and married her following her graduation.

Sadly, Carl, 98, passed away in October 2023. He taught music and band for 42 years in public, Catholic and private schools. Camillia’s son Dennis and daughter Cheryl brought their mom to the reunion dinner.

Camillia grew up in Northwest Indiana and East Chicago attending elementary school through the fourth grade before she moved with her parents to Wheatfield. During her youth in East Chicago, Camillia had the distinction of growing up next door to the little girl who would one day become the smiling Hollywood and New York actress Betsy Palmer, who ranks as our own East Chicago actress claim-to-fame.

Her slightly older famous friend and former neighbor Betsy rose to fame on television with her wide smile as the pert blonde panelist on the CBS panel game show “I’ve Got A Secret.” Though her stage name is “Betsy Palmer,” the actress, who died at age 88 in May 2015, was born and raised as Pat Hrunek while growing up in Northwest Indiana, where she graduated from East Chicago Roosevelt High School in 1944.

One of Camillia’s favorite memories is from her own fourth birthday, when her mother Alexandria (Pilarski) Plaga planned a beautiful birthday party in 1934 to celebrate the occasion, inviting all of the neighbor children to attend, including Betsy, seen in Camillia’s album photos seated in a tiny chair at the cake table holding a puppy sporting a big bow.

While Betsy’s career in New York started with theater and stage acting, it was her move to Hollywood and her movie studio contract which Camillia recalls caught her and others’ attention in the mid-1950s.

She had three feature films in 1955, including “The Long Gray Line” with Tyrone Power and Maureen O’Hara, and playing a nurse and love interest in “Mister Roberts” opposite Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, James Cagney and William Powell. But it was the third film role Betsy appeared in for the year 1955 which excited Camillia the most, with Betsy cast as maudlin sister-in-law Carol Lee Phillips in “Queen Bee,” opposite Joan Crawford.

Betsy helped me write my third cookbook, “Further From the Farm,” published in 2010, including a special chapter of her favorite recipes and recollections. In her later years, Betsy was a dedicated vegetarian, and her chilled creamy potato soup was one of her summer menu favorites. Of course, the “fancy” French name for this soup is “vichyssoise.”

Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org or mail your questions: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.

Betsy Palmer’s ‘Vichyssoise’ Chilled Creamy Potato Soup

Makes 8 servings

4 leeks or 1 large bunch of green onions, finely chopped (use white part only)

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1/2 stick butter or margarine

1 quart chicken broth (or 6 chicken bouillon cubes dissolved in 4 cups boiling water) or use vegetable broth

3 large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup milk

Salt and pepper

Cooked chives

Directions:

1. Cook chopped leeks or green onions and sliced onion over low heat in butter or margarine until soft and transparent.

2. Add broth and potatoes and cook covered for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

3. Blend until smooth in an electric blender or put through a fine sieve.

4. Pour in cream and milk.

5. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6. Thin with additional milk, if desired.

7. Chill thoroughly.