Heard from Betty!

Received a telephone call from Betty Short (now Cummins) and she plans to come to the reunion. I had her sent two invitations, both to wrong addresses. Thank goodness she called. She'll be coming with her sister.

By the way, ANY of you can bring your grown children or any other grown relative. You just have to pay for them!

Above see a picture of Linda Blaine, Claudia, and Janie in the Senior Play.

(Janith) Sue's Sophomorific Poem . . . and news.

News first: (Janith) Sue Moore and her husband and Harold Gene Frazier have paid their way to our Reunion. William (Freddie) Martin and his wife have sent their regrets.

The picture is of Freddie, Tommy, and Karen at our first reunion.

Now on to the poem. (Let me say first that I think I must have been in that Algebra class, and all I remember is Jimmy instructing me to lean WAY out in the aisle so Mr. Boyd could see that I was laughing at his jokes. Jimmy swore that was the way to an "A".)

SOPHOMORIFIC

Along came our sophomore year, and thanks to Mrs. Armstrong,

I made the choir and proved to myself what I'd known all along:

That in evenone's heart there is truly a song,

And dear Mrs. Chambers had been so wrong.

That year in choir literally opened my eyes . . .

Why there was music beyond country and

rock n' roll to my extreme surprise

We sang show tunes from "Oklahoma" and

competed at Morehead to see who was best.

And I sang loudly, albeit without talent, with great gusto and zest.

Most of us met "Captain" Hayes that second year

in world history, which I liked best,

Because I could memorize those dates and ace his true/false tests.

Mrs. Keeton gave us our first taste

of Shakespeare in her English class;

She loved that Julius Caesar but hated our sass.

Memorizing Mark Anothony's eulogy

was nearly the death of us al,

And most certainly was a test of our

mental fortitude I recall.

Algebra 2 with "The Mr. Boyd" nearly

caused our collective undoing,

And brought many a grade point to near academic ruin.

What I disliked most in there, I must confess,

Were those sines and cosines and the old slide rule even less.

I was in that class with Herb, Dickie, and Jim,

Who managed to score higher than I and

annoy the daylights out of him.

Biology class with Mrs. Moore brought

even more wisdom indeed

About life's little secrets that we all should heed.

Our wildflower and tree leaves scrapbooks were filled

with wonderful collections

And remain to this day some of my favorite recollections.

But, once when we were discussing frogs,

I had a story I wanted to share

About the oddest thing I'd ever seen about a pair,

Of frogs, I'd seen on my way home in the ditch along my road

Why one frog was carrying another on her back

--what a strange silly toad!

That little revelation brought snickers and

laughter around the room,

And to any semblance of my sophistication instant doom.

That abruptly ended the discussion about frogs, let's just say,

And it was years before I realized that

I had woefully embarrassed myself that day.

I know of six more . . .

Here's a picture from our first reunion. I think it was our 25th, but other folks say it was our 20th.

Received word from Jim and Barbara Preston today. I KNOW Tommy and his wife and Sam and his wife are coming even though they're not sending me the money since Tom is actually the guy who'll deposit it and pay the bills. Sooooo, that makes a total of 36 so far. Karen Chapman and Linda Lee Caudill have been in touch with Claudia and say she's seriously considering coming. It would be a treat to see her again.

Keeps those cards and letters coming AND your checks.

This is just too cute . . .

Jessie Anne sent me a packet of the stuff from our 40th Reunion. Among the items was a "poem" written by Janith Sue Rowe (now just Sue) Moore. It's too good not to share. Make sure you read to the end.

I'll publish it a (high school) year at a time.

FRESHMANIA

My thoughts drifted immediately to that first day in 1957

when we enrolled

Thirteen/Fourteen, scared, signing up for classes,

and doing as we were told.

That freshman year would be a challenge for sure;

A challenge that some of us would not endure.

There were some tough lessons to be learned from the start:

When Mrs. Chambers told me I couldn't sing or be part

of the choir, it nearly broke my heart.

Then there were a few of us girls, who signed up for gym class

with Coach Lucia,

Who expected all of us to be athletic just like the boys, be good sports, and learn all sorts of physical and healthful minutiae.

From dodge ball, to basketball, to volley ball to softball,

seemed we tried a new sport every day,

I learned quickly after a lot of bumps and bruises

that athletic prowess was not my forte.

Some of us DID catch a break, signing up for algebra with

Mrs. Chapman was our lucky day . . .

But somehow she always wanted those exercises solved her way.

Perhaps my greatest lesson that first year wasn't in an actual class,

but was nevertheless a lasting one,

And it came during my study hall with Mrs. Jackson.

On a trip to the library, I was easily steered astray

By a senior guy, who was waiting

in the old cloak room along the way.

He pulled me inside and kissed me on the mouth

right then and there,

Which caused me to have a teenager's

worst nightmare!

You see, I thought he'd made me pregnant

by that little act,

And I had to wait till my next cycle to know

that my virginity was intact.

Armed with these pearls of wisdom,

I was ready to proceed:

I couldn't sing, was no athlete, and kissing didn't make babies,

all good lessons I'd surely need.

Linda Rae's Foot . . .

Another picture of Cabwaylingo featuring Karen Rose (Chapman) and Linda Rae Ferguson (Burke).

Also, I received money from Linda Bradley (Boggs) and Herb Rice. That brings us up to 30. I found a Robert Jay Bryant in Springfield, OH (where he was from) at the right age and have sent an invitation . . . we'll see . . .

I also got another returned which tells me that Opal Mae Hanshaw Caudill DOES NOT get mail at P.O. Box 126, Commercial Point, OH, 43116.

Also Cheryl (Pauley) Henderson says there's an another place to stay in Louisa (other than the ones I listed in the invitation). It's at Creekside cabins about 6 miles north of Louisa around Fallsburg. Don't have a phone number.

Wanda, Nancy Karen and Jessie Anne . . .

In the same vein as Dickie's picture, here's more folks at the pool at Cabwaylingo. From left it's Wanda Thompson, Nancy Karen Moore, and Jessie Anne Thompson. The partial figure on the right is Joan Carol Bailey.

Other stuff :

Returned mail:

Helen Faye Castle is NOT at 519 Seville Place, Lady Lake, FL, 32159

Sandra Little Shannon is NOT at 2927 Cunnington Lane, Grove City, OH 43123

Glenna Charles Rucker is NOT at Rt. 1, Box 15075, Louisa, KY 41230

Betty Short Quick is NOT at 10265 Sw. 92rxJ Court, Ocala, FL, 34481

Do any of you have any ideas about where these folks are?

This one is priceless . . .

This must have been taken at Cabwaylingo (Band Camp). I can't wait for Lura to see it. This is SO not like him.