Guinn holds high school class reunion at governor’s mansion

Monday, Sept. 11, 2000 | 9:43 a.m.

Nearly 700 people who attended a small California high school with him gathered Saturday night at the Governor's Mansion for a '50s-decade class reunion.

Guinn is a native of Exeter, Calif., a town of about 5,000 nestled at the base of the Sierra Nevada midway between Fresno and Bakersfield. He's a 1955 graduate of Exeter High School.

"Some of the fellows asked if I could help out (with the reunion) and I said, 'Sure, we can have it in my back yard," Guinn said.

After buses pulled up to the Governor's Mansion, Guinn's former classmates stepped onto a red carpet on the way to dinner in the back yard.

Guinn isn't the only notable Nevadan to hail from the town. Other Exeter natives include his wife, Dema, and former Gov. Bob List, who held the post from 1979 to 1983.

"I have a photo of the whole student body of Lincoln Elementary School where I went in Exeter," Guinn said. "There's over 200 students in that picture, including me and Bob List.

"Two of Nevada's governors, the latest two Republican governors, used to be students in the same school."

Former classmates said Guinn stood out as an athlete and scholar, but was not known as a politician.

"I've been a campaign consultant for 25 years and I didn't expect he would become a governor, either" said Gary Huckaby, a member of Guinn's Class of '55.

"But he did have all the qualities of leadership to be able to influence people and solve problems."

Dwight Ruminer of Woodlake, Calif., remembered Guinn as an aggressive football and basketball player.

"We weren't imagining him as being a governor, but we knew he had a lot of potential," he said.

Guinn was invited back to Exeter in April 1999, soon after he took office, so the town could pay tribute to him.