SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — In the 1960s, Shaker Heights ' Ludlow School became a model for integration — a place where Black and white families came together to build community.

Now, 65 years later, the former classmates — all in their 70s — returned to the old schoolhouse, remembering friendships and the lessons that shaped their lives.

The reunion brought back childhood memories of kindergarten days in 1960, when Ludlow became part of Shaker Heights' push to counter racial restrictions and white flight.

“The parents in Ludlow were trying to create what I would like to call a perfect experiment in integration,” Karen Holmes Ward said.

Old photographs lined the tables as classmates revisited the neighborhood that made history. The school, which closed in 1987, has since reopened as a P

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