THE CLASS REUNION
Every five years, as summertime nears, an announcement arrives in the mail. A reunion is planned; it'll be really grand--make plans to attend, without fail.
I'll never forget the first time we met; we tried so hard to impress. We drove fancy cars, smoked big cigars, and wore our most elegant dress. It was quite an affair; the whole class was there. It was held at a fancy hotel. We wined, and we dined, and we acted refined, and everyone thought it was swell. The men all conversed about who had been first to achieve great fortune and fame. Meanwhile, their spouses described their fine houses and how beautiful their children became. The homecoming queen, who once had been lean, now weighed in at one-ninety-six. The jocks who were there had all lost their hair, and the cheerleaders could no longer do kicks. No one had heard about the class nerd who'd guided a spacecraft to the moon; or poor little Jane, who's always been plain; she married a shipping tycoon. The boy we'd decreed 'most apt to succeed' was serving ten years in the pen, while the one voted 'least' now was a priest. Just shows you can be wrong now and then. They awarded a prize to one of the guys who seemed to have aged the least..another was given to the grad who had driven the farthest to attend the feast. They took a class picture, a curious mixure of beehives, crew cuts and wide ties. Tall, short, or skinny, the style was the mini. You never saw so many thighs! At our next get-together, no one cared whether they impressed their classmates or not. The mood was informal, a lot more normal; by this time, we'd all gone to pot. It was held out-of-doors, at the lake shores; we ate hamburgers, coleslaw, and beans. then most of us lay around in the shade, in our comfortable T-shirts and jeans. By the 50th year, it was abundantly clear, we were definitely over the hill. Those who weren't dead had to crawl out of bed and be home in time for their pill. And now I can't wait; they've set the date: our 60th is coming I'm told. It should be a ball, they've rented a hall at the Shady Rest Home for the old. Repairs have been made on my hearing aid; my pacemakers been turned up on high. My wheelchair is oiled, and my teeth have been boiled; and I've bought a new wig and glass eye. I'm feeling quite hearty, and I'm ready to party. I'm going to dance 'til dawn's early light. It'll be lots of fun; but I just hope that there's one other person who can make it that night! Life is wonderful...don't forget it! Praise the Lord, we've made it this far! Author Unknown (submitted by Janet Long Walker) |
||
Read this slowly...it's pretty profound.
(Author unknown) Too many people put off something that brings them joy because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know about it, or are too rigid to deprt from their routine.
I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible. How many women out there will eat at home because their husbands didn't suggest going out to dinner before something had been thawed? Does the word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you? How often have your kids dropped in to chat and sat in silenced while you watched 'Jeopardy' on TV? I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, it looks like rain' and my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never had lunch together. Because people cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect! We'll go back to visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college. Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' I plan on,' and 'someday, when things are settled down a bit.' When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind to new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerbades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord. My lips have not touched ice cream in ten years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy! Now, go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to do...not something on your 'should do' list. If you were going to die soon and only had one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry-go-round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Did you run through each day on the fly? When you ask, 'How are you?' did you hear the reply? When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child or grandchild, 'we'll do it tomorrow,' and in your haste, not see her sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say 'hi?' When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift...thrown away. Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over. Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here, we might as well dance! |
||
Katie Buck Kiesey submitted this bit of trivia--our class song! Who knew we had a class song? Well, I"ll tell you who knew we had a class song: Cathy Lloyd--she wrote it! And it's sung to the tune of "I"ll Be Seeiing You:"
CLASS SONG-1960 WE'LL BE SEEING YOU, AS WE LEAVE FOR DISTANT PLACES. THOUGH WE MEET SOME DIFFERENT FACES, WE'LL THINK OF YOU. IN OUR CHOSEN WAYS, WE'LL THINK OF OUR CLASS PLAYS, THE FOOTBALL GAMES, THE VIC'TRY DANCE, AND OUR OLD FLAMES... WE'LL BE SEEING YOU--WE NEVER CAN REPAY THE FUN WE'VE HAD FROM DAY TO DAY WE'LL ALWAYS THINK OF YOU THAT WAY. THE TIME HAS COME FOR US TO GO, AND BID YOU FOND ADIEU-- THOUGH WE LEAVE THESE HALLOWED HALLS-- STILL WE'LL BE SEEING YOU. NOW IT'S TIME TO SAY GOOD-BYE TO ALL OUR HIGH SCHOOL DAYS, AS WE GO OUR SEPARATE WAYS OUR HEARTS TO THEE IN SONG WE PRAISE-- WE'LL SHARE WITH YOU OUR MEMORIES THAT ALWAYS WILL BE NEW THOUGH WE MAY BE FAR AWAY-- STILL WE'LL BE SEEING YOU. |
||
LINDA LEE MOORE SENT THESE OLD PHOTOS WITH SOME PEOPLE YOU MAY OR MAY NOT RECOGNIZE:
|
||
(CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE THEM) Back Row: Donna Bealer, Tom Young, Donna Osincup, Janet Long, Paula Thomassen, Steve Johnson Front and Middle Rows: Martha Speake, Dolores Zager, Susan Owen, John Wilson, Karen Lance, Bill Arthur, Margaret Melville, Connie Buckwalter, Bonnie Kelly, George McDaniel, Patty Gastman, Linda Lee, and three cute little boys who look vaguely familiar, but she couldn't identify them> Maybe you can! (I have subsequently learned that this picture was taken by George McDaniel's father on the occasion of his birthday. George says that Miss Welch honored every student on their birthdays. And if you're thinking George's eye looks black, it was. He got hit by a bat!) We have further learned from George that the unidentified boys in the above class may have been: Ben Dusenbury, Larry Huisman, Patrick Lynch, or Jimmy Neff. George isn't able to put the names to faces, nor are we! |
||
TOM BALDWIN, JOHN WILSON, BILL ARTHUR, A FAMILIAR FACE WE SHOULD KNOW BUT CAN'T PUT A NAME TO, JERRY HYSELL,TOM STEWART, BOB SPEAKE, JIM STEELE, TOM YOUNG, RONNIE ROBERTSON, LARRY VANWINKLE, RONNIE ARMSTRONG FRONT ROW: RONNIE STALDER AND GEORGE MCDANIEL GEORGE MCDANIEL HAS LEARNED THAT THE NAME OF THE PREVIOUSLY UNIDENTIFIED TEAMMATE IN THE ABOVE PICTURE IS JERRY PETERS. |
||
|
||
Stan's Shtick (bits of humor & wisdom from Soucek's files) |
||
Comments made in the year 1955--that's only 55 years ago!
'I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $10.00!' 'Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $1,000 will only buy a used one.' 'If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. twenty cents a pack is ridiculous!' 'Did you hear the post office is thinnking about charging 7 cents just to mail a letter??' 'If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.' 'When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 25 cents a gallon?? Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage!' 'I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies anymore, ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in Gone With the Wind, it seems every new mover has either HELL or Damn it it!' 'I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the turn of the century. They even have some fellows they call 'astronauts' preparing for it down in Texas." 'Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $50,000 a year just to play ball?? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the President!' 'I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.' 'It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.' 'It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.' 'I'm afraid the Volkswagon car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.' 'Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to Government.' 'The drive-in-restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.' 'There is no sense going on short trips anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $2.00 a night to stay in a hotel!' 'No one can afford to be sick anymore, at $15.00 a day in the hospital, it's just too rich for my blood.' 'If they think I'll pay 30 cents for a haircut, forget it!' |
||
Here is some information you may want to commit to memory:Subject: THE RULES OF THE UNIVERSE. . .2009 EDITION1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night. 2. Don't worry about what people think; they don't do it very often. 3. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car. 4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity. 5. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious. 6. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention! It never fails!) 7. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program. 8. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the vacation. 9. A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good. 10. Eat well, stay fit, die anyway. 11. Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it! Embrace your differences. Love each other. 12. No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes. 13. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places. 14. Opportunities always look bigger after they have passed. 15. Junk is something you've kept and throw away three weeks before you need it. 16. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on. 17. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again. 18. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends. 19. Thou shalt not weigh more than your refirigerator. 20. Someone who thinnks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world. 21. It ain't the jeans that make your butt look fat! 22. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness." 23. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them. 24. You should not confuse your career with your life. 25. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. 26. Never lick a steak knife. 27. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip. 28. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time. 29. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment! 30. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside we ALL believe that we are above average drivers. 31. Your friends love you anyway. 32. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur build the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic. 33. How old would you be if you didn't know who old you are? |
||
DON'T MISS THIS GREAT SITE:CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO A WONDERFUL "GOLDEN OLDIES" SITE. IT'S SET UP IN JUKE BOX FASHION AND YOU CAN CHOOSE SONGS FROM THE PERIODS THAT INTEREST YOU. http://www.tropicalglen.com/ |
||
While scrolling through the Washingtonians recently, Cathy Lloyd noticed that twenty-four of our classmates went to the prom in our senior year with the person they eventually married. |
||
|
||
Do you recognize any of these classmates?
|
