Members of the Minot High School Class of 1969, who experienced a devastating flood and a contentious teachers’ strike their senior year, will gather in Minot on Sept. 6 and 7 for their 55th class reunion.

The two-day event, beginning at 1 p.m. both days, will be held at the Grand Hotel. Reunion organizers have scheduled plenty of open time in the afternoons to allow classmates to meet and catch up with each other.

Fifty-five years ago, when these students were set to graduate, some 12,000 people were displaced from their Minot homes, watching the Mouse River hit the highest level anyone at that time could remember. The 1969 flood peaked on April 19, in the middle of a 40-day stretch during which many had to flee two major crests that sliced the city in half.

If the flood wasn’t enough trauma and disruption to their senior year, the soon-to-be graduates also experienced a teachers’ strike. More than 100 teachers, unhappy with a salary offer from the Minot Public School District, went on strike in April, causing the students to miss weeks of classes before graduation.

Although these occurrences upended the city and the school district, their graduation ceremonies still took place on May 28, outdoors at Magician Stadium, now named Duane Carlson Stadium, marking the only time the school district has held a graduation event outdoors. Although the event was originally planned at the Minot Auditorium, the building was not available: it was filled with furniture from homes that had been flooded.