Fifty Years

The months have quickly passed since we started planning our high school reunion and Saturday the miles slipped away easily as I drove through the golden roadsides of Hamilton County towards my last meeting of the fiftieth reunion committee of the Jasper High School Class of 1960. I got to the Dixie Grill early, and since it was one of the warmest days we've had this May, I opted to wait on the rest of the girls inside letting my mind wander from this to that while I sipped my ice water.

As I looked over notes and thought about the meeting, my mind drifted to those years that all of us had spent together and a myriad of thoughts and memories crowded my mind. We graduated in May. When we went to school, the year was still tied to an agricultural economy, specifically, tobacco. Other than the box factory and some sawmills, the economy was based on agriculture and tobacco was the main money crop. So, we started school the last week of August. We had two days off at Thanksgiving, two weeks off at Christmas, and on teacher workday. By the time we graduated, we had Good Friday off. Other than that, we went to school. Tobacco harvesting would usually begin just as school let out for the summer.

Our graduating class was a mix of town and country kids, probably more town than country by the twelfth grade. We started out in the first grade with over sixty children and by the time we marched up the aisle together, there were just thirty-seven. This was before consolidation hit this county and integration. Consolidation of three high schools would happen in 1965 after we were off leading our lives; the other, integration, in the early seventies.

By 1960 Jasper was the largest town in the county. It was also the county seat. The other two "white" schools in the county graduated less than twenty between them. We were still a commercial center. We had a motel on each end of town and a hotel in the middle. Highway 41 streamed cars through town headed to and from south Florida all day long. By 1960 talk of the interstate that was to bypass us was already going on and people were nervous about what would happen to people who depended on these people coming through town and spending their money. They were right to be nervous. Those who survived found they had to move their businesses to the interchanges or slowly dry up.

Jasper was not a bad place to be in the forties and fifties. We had a variety of stores and you didn't have to leave town to find what you needed. Chain stores were pretty much still a thing of the future. We had dry good stores, hardware stores, jewelry stores, grocery stores, and others which were more fun such as a bakery catecornered to the city park.

The park was where we spent our recess hours from about the fourth grade on. The little kids went out behind the school to play on the playground where there were swings, turnovers, and slides. Us older kids played more inventive games and in the spring time the girls would spend their time making daisy chains and talking. We also played in the blocked off street where the school buses disgorged those who came in from the country and picked them up after the bell sounded. During the day, it was a place of jump rope, marbles, jacks, and pick up games of Red Rover, Mother May I or whatever was in season.

Anyway, the bakery was one of our delights. Owned and operated by Mrs. Adicks, it turned out the best cinnamon rolls with the most luscious icing I have ever tasted. By high school, they cost five cents each and were about four inches across. Doughnuts were three for a dime. When we had money, and we could always use our lunch money and skip lunch, someone would either bring a note from home or someone would write a fake note from home, take it to the office, sign out, and go to the bakery. Then it would be time for us to slip out of study hall and go to the little balcony overlooking the playground, that was next to the rest room. We didn't get to do this too often, but of the delight when we did!

Jasper also had a fruit stand just across the street from the park. The fruit stand had all sorts of candy from a penny up to a dime. Everyone had their favorite kinds. I think one kind was called Jigs and it had five pieces of individually wrapped strawberry wrapped chewy candies in a pack. They were cheap. We got good value for our money with those little candies. I suppose they sold fruit, too, but I never bought any. The fruit stand was next to the theater.

Down the street, one on one side of the railroad; the other on the other side, were two drug stores. When you had the money, they had ice cream by the scoop and fountain drinks. Our favorites growing up were cherry pepsi or vanilla pepsi. Most of us felt quite daring after our Sunday school teacher admonished us that we should not drink the vanilla pepsi because it contained alcohol! We were also a little shocked to think that our mamas used vanilla to cook, but the teacher assured us that the alcohol disappeared with cooking.

Anyway, it is May and my thoughts kept wandering around. I thought of the evening when graduation had finally come. We had had a busy year. In the spring of our last year, our standings were figured up after the final grades were announced. The first spot, the valedictory rank went to Linda Clardy who had made straight A's all way through high school. This was no surprise. We weren't sure who would be second until the grades were calculated. Three of us were extremely close: Billy Pennington, Bonnie Riley, and me. I had some issues my ninth grade year when no one understood me, and my grades had slipped. That was also a year our family was in a lot of turmoil as we moved from town to the farm. For me, it was one of the most miserable years of my life. By the time I got into my Sophomore year, things had started to level off and I did well from then on. I think the A I made in trig was what tipped the scales and my scholastic average was a slight percentage above Billy and Bonnie.

By spring, we had also taken the Florida Placement Test which was the way you qualified for college in this state. A perfect score was five hundred. Three of us topped 450 (99th per centile) which was considered extremely good: the three B's, Billy, Bonnie, Barbara.

Some time after the caps and gowns arrived, some of us went to Valdosta to get our formal pictures taken. Mine were a gift to me from Mrs. Perry. She had taken me under her wing. In fact, I rode with her in her big car, I think a Buick, and that in itself was an experience. Mr. Perry was still alive then, but he must have been in ill health, because I never remember meeting him. Anyway, we went to the studio and had our pictures taken in drape and in our cap and gown.

Early in May, the juniors gave the seniors a banquet and prom. The theme was "The Stork Club" which, of course none of us had ever been to. Anyway, it sounded glamorous and we all had vivid imaginations. A week or so before graduation, we had class night. We had the prophesy for our class read and the history. I do not remember if we did a will or not. We also had some other entertainment supplied by our classmate such as Don's Shelly Berman routine.

About a week before graduation, we all went to Twin Lakes to the pavilion to swim and have a class picnic. This was fun. There was a jukebox and booths in the snack bar. I remember there was a pier going out into the lake.

Baccalaureate was moved off campus to the First Baptist Church which had a fairly large building that was new and could accommodate the expected crowd. It was also air conditioned and the seats were more comfortable than those in the old school auditorium. The only thing I remember about that night, Sunday, was that we had to go over to the church the week before so that their choir director could teach us to sing our hymn correctly. We sang In the Garden. I remember his lesson to this day. However, when I look at the program for that night, I find no mention of us singing a hymn. Maybe we never lived up to his expectations! I assume that we donned our caps and gowns for this occasion, but I do not remember. This was long before daylight saving time, and the service started at eight p.m. We exited the church to the tune of In Festive Mood by Kohlmann which probably caught our mood fairly well. There may have been some who were sad about graduation, but I, for one, was ready to be done with Jasper and leave. It is usually not the graduates that cry at these things.

We were out of school by graduation. I remember the day was clear and hot. I know I went to town and got my hair cut and set then went home and my mother put a Toni in it. I had to sit outside most of the day to get it dry. We did not have a hair dryer at that time. Therefore, I did not have the long page boy hair that shows in my cap and gown picture that was taken the week before. I had short, curly hair. It was a wonder any of us who slept on those awful brush rollers so that those long hair styles looked just right graduated at all because we sure didn't sleep good on those things.

Anyway, May 30, 1960 we showed up to the school to put on our caps and gowns. Air conditioning did not exist, so we all waited until the last minute to don the heavy robes. Girls were in one room; boys in another. We wore white. They wore black. I remember that the auditorium was full of people. We marched in to Pomp and Circumstance possibly played by the band since no pianist is listed. We sat on the stage. I see by looking at the program that a woman minister gave the invocation. I am guessing that she must have been Church of God, because I know that the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians wouldn't have put up with a woman minister at that time. Don spoke because he was President and Pola Clardy, one of the valedictorian's older sisters sang. Then I gave the Salutatory address and there was another solo by someone who was not directly related to our class. I think he was the choir director at the First Baptist Church. Then Linda gave the Valedictory address. After that, the principal, Mr. DeShazo introduced the speaker, the president of North Florida Junior College, Dr. Marshall Hamilton. Mr. Reid, the superintendent of schools gave us our diplomas, the preacher from First Baptist prayed over us and we left to War March of the Priests. Little did me know that just down the road our country would be brought into great turmoil by an undeclared war in South East Asia.

Anyway, that night brought an end to twelve years of basically the same people in our lives. The majority of the staff loaded on a bus a couple of days later and headed to Washington, D.C. for the class trip. I headed to Tallahassee to participate in 4-H Short Course where I was giving a dairy foods demonstration one evening. Others headed pretty quickly to National Guard Boot Camp. After Short Course, I would start college on June 16 at Florida State University.

Each of the thirty-seven who marched together have our own stories, but we share some commonalities. Most of us married and had kids. Most of us had a job or jobs. More of us experienced divorce than our parents. We moved more, on the average, than our parents did. We traveled more. We watched our world change. Surprisingly, the majority of us ended up, fifty years later, within a fifty mile radius of where we graduated. Eleven of us ended up with college degrees, with four of us having advanced degrees.

I have found the preparation for this reunion interesting. Several of our graduates have not participated in my fact finding efforts, and I am sorry that they haven't. I have enjoyed getting a little glimpse into the lives of those with whom I shared so many years. I have also enjoyed the chats I've had with people on the phone that I have not seen for so long. One, Carol Spruce left the night of graduation. Her parents had already moved and she had finished out the year living with the Denmark family. I knew that she had gone to the the nursing program at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, but I had lost track of her. I find that she has been eighty miles west of here for the last twenty-six years, working at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. I wonder if she has been in some crowd at a restaurant when I was there. We would probably not have recognized each other.

We had our first reunion after twenty years. We came to it and everyone had great plans of doing this every five years, but we were all busy. Getting a reunion together is a great deal of work whether it is a large or small class. There were occasional efforts to gather groups of multi classes together. One, I attended. The others I have missed. Now, though, we are coming up on the big one. We started planning over a year ago, hoping to generate interest and get as close to everyone as we could. Glenda is happy that we have fifty per cent coming. I am not. We have people who are coming from a distance away and some of the ones who are within fifteen or twenty miles of Jasper are not coming. Others made other plans. Realistically, I understand, but the selfish part of me wants everyone there.

We could never have imagined fifty years coming this quickly when we walked into that old auditorium nearly half a century ago. We also could not have imagined that by this time eight of our classmates would have died, five guys: Charles, Jerry, Mickey, Lester, and Franklin and three girls: Linda J., Bonnie R., and Linda G. That is more than twenty per cent of the graduating members.

Panty hose, transistor radios, tape decks, fast food, ethnic food, disposable diapers, nursing homes, moon shots, seat belts, baby seats, birth control pills, mini skirts, disposable razors, blow dryers, hot rollers, dental floss, air freshener, instant mac and cheese, Gatorade, color TV, cable TV, satellite TV, cell phones, Cd's, DVDs,cat scans, MRIs, self-service gas stations, computers, microwave ovens, dishwashers, air conditioning in the car and house, clothes dryers--the list of things that have come into our lives goes on and on. Most of our mothers were stay at home moms. The wash alone took a morning of the week and ironing everything took another. We could not have imagined all the things that have come along to make our lives easier and more comfortable. We could also not have imagined many of the societal changes that have made our lives less meaningful.

So as the temperture begins to rise toward summer and we approach June, we, at least fifteen or sixteen of us, who walked down the aisle in the old three story school, torn down for progress after consolidation, will gather to reacquaint ourselves, to remember the years we spent together, and to honor the ones who have left us too soon. It will be an evening spent to the background music of the fifties with pictures from our years together playing out on the screen. I plan to have a blast.