ROSE LAKE - The days of squirrel hunting and attending first grade in a one- or two-room schoolhouse belong to the past.

The memories of those days belong to those who lived them.

The 100th anniversary celebration, 50th-year class reunion and all-class reunion at Rose Lake School was a walk down memory lane for the dozens of graduates and former students who attended Saturday's gathering. They assembled on the lawn, the old school prominent in the background. It was a treasure trove of stories and nostalgia as they discussed the past and the present.

Leonard Lehtola, 91, of Cataldo, sat with friends in a circle of chairs. He wore his WWII veteran cap and rested his hand on his cane.

Lehtola graduated from Rose Lake School in 1939, where he was a pitcher on the baseball team. He was the oldest graduate at the reunion. He said he usually makes it to the yearly reunion and he really enjoys seeing his old school friends.

"There's not many of them left anymore, not at my age," he said.

Many of the graduating classes from the '30s and '40s had fewer than 15 students, creating a close-knit environment. They all knew each other, their siblings knew each other and they attended social events together.

Robert Fisher, 86, of Pinehurst sat opposite Lehtola. He grew up in a house across a field from Lehtola in Rose Lake. When he was born, 5-year-old Lehtola and his mother visited the Fishers to welcome their new son into the world. Lehtola and Fisher were childhood friends who fished, hunted squirrels and did other things that boys do.

"He used to run away from home when he was little, 4 years old or 5 years old," Lehtola said with a chuckle. "He'd end up at our place all the time."

Doris Black, 86, of Rathdrum was seated next to Lehtola.

"He used to pick me up all the time and we'd go to the ball games and dances," she said. Then she leaned over and asked Fisher, "Hey Bob, could you dance in those days?"

"I would say I was an excellent dancer," he jovially replied. "That was during WWII, and the sailors were jitterbuggers. I could never master that jitterbug, but I could sure watch them guys dance."

Fisher and Black lived about a mile from each other while attending Rose Lake School. They graduated in a class of 12 students in 1945.

"They all remember," Black said. "We remember each other, and I think that's great."

Helen Jacquemin, 87, of Cataldo, graduated in 1943. Jacquemin keeps young by ballroom dancing twice a week, and her spryness is evident in her cheerful demeanor. She was one of four students who graduated that year.

"The biggest thing you have to remember is that you knew everyone in the high school, because there weren't that many," she said.

Some former students come to the reunion every year, and some haven't seen each other in up to 60 years.

Across the school lawn another group was standing under a white canopy. The class of 1963 mingled with grads from the class of '64. Rose Lake School stopped serving as a high school in 1955, so students in the area went to Kootenai High School after attending grade school at Rose Lake.

Sisters Sue Kraack, 62, of Coeur d'Alene, Peg Timmons, 65, of Hayden, and Mary Williams, 68, of Post Falls all attended Rose Lake School as children. Their mom was the school cook and their dad was a bus driver. Before their mom was the cook, Williams said she helped in the lunchroom as a sixth-grader.

"I would wash the tables and get them all ready for the kids to come in and eat," she said. "Then when the kids left, I would clean up, help the cook clean up and stuff like that, and then I'd get my free lunch for doing that."

Members of the Rose Lake Historical Society provided an $8 lunch and held a drawing for small prizes, such as a fishing pole or a case of energy drinks. Proceeds went to the historical society.

Rose Lake School, located at 14917 S. Queen St., roughly 3 miles from Interstate 90 just off Highway 3, opened as a grade school in 1913. It now houses a library, museum and serves as a community center. In the museum section, countless black-and-white class photos of smiling first-graders, and pictures of graduating seniors are displayed on the walls and on a glass case.

The photos are a reminder of a simpler, bygone era, an age that will live on in the minds of those who attended Rose Lake School all those years ago.