My morning has been spent wrestling newspaper sized books around as I searched the archives of The Jasper News for articles and pictures of the Jasper High School Class of 1960. We are in planning mode for the auspicious fiftieth reunion which will occur next May 29th. One of my goals was to find a sense of what those years were like.

I wanted to touch bases once again with those people with whom I shared so much of my early life. I wanted to get a sense of who we were, what we did, and where we lived.

The hours slipped away as I found myself amused by what I found. I was once again reminded of how much fashion has changed over the last half century. There we girls were once again in our gathered skirts over yards of crinolines. The boys were in jeans with shirts tucked in. We appeared to be amazingly fit. I did not see anyone who would be consided overweight in today's world although I can remember thinking I was grotesquely fat because my waist was 28 inches.

So much of this was forgotten until I opened up the pages once again. Teachers and principals that were old to us at the time now seemed remarkably young in their photos.

The largest change I sensed, however, was in the town where we went to school. The newspapers were full of ads from car dealerships, drugstores, department stores, and grocery stores. In each edition I found a large ad for the movie theater. Jasper now has one grocery store, no department store, and one car dealership. The theater has been long gone. There was a vibrancy to this town that is gone.

I can't help but be a little sad about the loss that has come with the changes over the last fifty years.