(AP) — Alumni of a rural western Kansas school that closed more than 40 years ago continue gathering to swap memories of their teen years.

Former Pawnee Rock High School students gathered over the weekend in Great Bend for the latest all-class reunion. Before the school closed in 1972, there was a bitter protest over the decision to consolidate it with Larned High School.

Event co-organizer, Roger Hanhardt, recalled that to show their disgust, most of the Pawnee Rock High School students travelled 30 miles south to Stafford County and attended their remaining years at Macksville High School. He said they did that even though the school in Larned was only eight miles away.

The elementary school in Pawnee Rock has since closed, too.