A High School Reunion for Iranian Americans, 40 Years After the Revolution
Asal Ehsanipour Oct 31
Students at Ettefagh School, a coed Jewish private school in Tehran, sometime before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. (Courtesy of Pirooz Abir)
On a warm fall evening at the Bel Air Crest Clubhouse in Los Angeles, Mandana Vassigh put the finishing touches on displays of fruits and pastries, high school mementos and a glittering sign that read “1977.†Before long, guests arrived in cocktail attire and greeted each other with a kiss on each cheek, giggling and giddy.
But this was not a typical school reunion: Just as this group of students was graduating from high school in Iran, their country was gripped by revolutionary riots. Most of them fled the country as the monarchy was overthrown and Iran came under the rule of an Islamic theocracy.
Now, on the 40th anniversary of the Iranian revolution, these former classmates said that this reunion — their first in 42 years — took them back to a time and place that felt like a world away.
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Former Ettefagh School classmates settled around the United States, Canada and Israel after leaving Iran around the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. On Sept. 1, 2019, about 50 alumni came from around the world to attend their first formal high school reunion in 42 years. (Courtesy of Pirooz Abir)
Read more at: https://www.kqed.org/news/11780176/a-high-school-reunion-for-iranian-americans-40-years-after-the-revolution
Article courtesy of NPR, I remember when some of the Iranians from the Shah's Iran came in, there weren't many where I lived. Pretty interesting.
In fact, I know one gentleman from there now. At least, one of his sons is an optometrist or something, some medical profession.
