POCATELLO - Wendy Hyster started a tradition when she painted "1983 - The Class with Class" on a two-foot wall bordering a Pocatello High School parking lot shortly after she graduated.

On May 1, Hyster e-mailed her friend Kelly Fay to congratulate her on her seventh wedding anniversary and to solicit her help to repaint the message on the wall, where students have painted expressions of school pride ever since.

She died 18 days later of a blood clot.

Friday evening, fifteen of her friends, who were in town to celebrate their 20th high school reunion, painted the message together on the so-called "pony wall" and posted a banner on it in a tribute to Hyster.

Hyster made it a priority to keep in touch with dozens of friends after graduation and never failed to send cards for countless anniversaries, birthdays and special events.

Friday would have been Hyster's tenth wedding anniversary.

"She was kind of the focal point. You could always know what everyone else was doing through her," said Fay, of Mucilteo, Wash. "She was the type of person that everyone in their lifetime should have the opportunity to meet."

Hyster worked as a senior scientist at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory before quitting to start up her own Idaho Falls-based special events planning business. She also earned a masters degree in psychology at Idaho State University.

Fay said Hyster intended to learn to surf.

Despite the somber note, members of the class of 1983 say the reunion brought back happy high school memories.

Friday night, class members attended a social event at the Red Lion with members of Highland High School's Class of 1983. The Pocatello graduates had a dance party Saturday night at the Ramada Inn, and today they will have a picnic at FMC Park.

Julie Clark stayed up talking with friends until 4 a.m. Saturday morning and had breakfast with them at Denny's, just like in high school.

"I can't even describe how much fun it was," Clark said.

Lonna Robbins Anderson, of Soda Springs, and Casie Hofman, of Pocatello, posed for pictures by the locker they shared in high school.

"There's a lot of us still here, and it's amazing we don't see each other any more than we do," said Hofman, who was the senior class president.

John O'Connell covers courts, law enforcement and local government for the Journal. He can be reached by calling 239-3128 or by e-mail at joconnell@journalnet.com.