50th REUNION

The reunion committee put together plans for 5 events on June 2 and 3. All involved did a wonderful job and received numerous rounds of applause and accolades from the attendees. The committee consisted of local classmates Peggy King Bishop, Patsy Bell Congleton, Joyce Horton Johnson, Sandra Foreman Morris, Betty Ann Ladner Douthitt, Jim Holland, Mary Ann Byers Lenz, Joann Marsh Gargis, Rebecca Malone Floyd, Shirley Kimbrough White and one out-of-the-Shoals, member Louis Buettner. Louis drove up from Tuscaloosa to attend a number of the meetings.

The two day celebration started off with a “Bulldog” breakfast at the Tourway Inn in Florence. The following “boys” attended: Bud Thrasher, Jimmy Todd, Ron Pace, Harold Chambers, Jimmy Brewer, Stan Brook, Ralph Emmons, Hooty Crittenden, Charles (Duck) Douthit, Bob Glover, Joe Frazier, James White, Buddy Baker, Jim Holland, Louis Buettner and Buck Locke along with two guests George Carter and Tuffy Hudson (who just celebrated his Deshler Class of '56 Reunion). It was special to see Tuffy since he had played football for Deshler against the many of the “boys” of Sheffield. George was a faithful fan of the Bulldogs in those bygone days.

Jim Holland, always the ultimate host at these breakfasts, gave an update on the current prayer list. Hooty Crittenden gave the most beautiful extemporaneous morning prayer and blessed the food. This was followed by James White's inspirational message on the blessings of surviving cancer. The always hearty Tourway breakfast was served by the always congenial waitresses, and the group launched into the morning social hour with conversations ranging from the events of the 50’s to the current price of gas! The “boys” (now men) get together on a regular basis with notices being mailed out by Jim Holland and a follow-up call by Bobby Glover. If you are an SHS Fifty-Sixer in the Shoals area and want to join the "River Rats" for these breakfasts, call Jim Holland or e-mail Louis Buettner (lebuettner@comcast.net).

The daily heavy downpour of rain in the afternoon didn't faze our hosts for the informal social gathering at 6:00 PM. Jean Gardner Estes reported that when she began to have doubts about the weather, her mother had told her, "Don't worry, Jean, it's not going to rain on you." And it didn't! At 4:30 PM, the clouds broke, and the weather was perfect until Sunday morning when the storms returned. Some remarked that even God smiled on us.

Friday evening's spirits could not have been higher--shouts of pleasure and joy at seeing old friends again or getting reacquainted with friends of our youth. Floyd Winston Carter came back to attend his very first reunion after 50 years! He claimed that the US government, due to his service in the Navy, had prevented him from making any of the previous reunions. In addition to Winston, Nancy Snyder Stevens, Ann Shook Mize, and Linda Methvin Smith were all attending their first reunion. This made it a special time for everyone!

The event was an evening hosted by Jean Gardner Estes and her husband Ed at their lovely home on the bend of the Tennessee River west of town. Dr. Joe Coons, Don Armstrong from the SHS Class of '55, and Sheffield Mayor Billy Don Anderson served as parking attendants and chauffeured folks from the parking area to the house in golf carts. It was great to see Billy Don, and consideration should be made to make him an honorary member of the class for his servant leadership and for his honoring the class with the official proclamation making June 2-3 "SHS Class of 1956 Days" in Sheffield.

First stop on the way in from the parking lot via the rose garden was the registration table. Joyce Horton Johnson and Rebecca Malone Floyd signed in 98 classmates and spouse or guests and passed out the Reunion Booklet and name tags. Name tags assist in identifying the spouses of classmates, but are invaluable in identifying folks you started first grade with due to the amazing transformations which have occurred over the years. There was a lot of squinting to read name tags and lots of hugging on recognition of names to celebrate seeing the friends of our youth.

One special person I enjoyed seeing was Faye Hand Holt. Over the past few years, I had seen her a number of times in the admitting office at Shoals Hospital. Like most of the class who still have their parents, we spend an increasing amount of time in the hospital with them. It was a special treat to see her in a social setting! Faye also holds the distinction of being the youngest member of our class as she graduated at the tender age of sixteen!

The buffet dinner of ham, turkey, and shrimp with all the fixings came from Big Mike’s Steak and Seafood Restaurant, and everyone settled around the swimming pool or on the deck to eat and talk, talk, talk. Grandkids, travel, hobbies all the rich variety of life at a 50^th high school reunion!

After the fine repast, Louis Buettner, emcee for the evening, started off by introducing the talented duo of Ron Newborn and Jean Gardner! They updated and performed the skit that Ron and Jean presented at the first class reunion in 1974—a dialog between our beloved Principal, Carl Boley, and Science teacher, Mary Ella Hammond. The roast skewered members of class of ’56 with numerous vignettes. Lots of laughter and lots of fond memories. A class in which “…never have so many done so little and gotten away with so much for so long”! The denouement was that the class was sent into the wide world with their diplomas!

Next followed a number of tales by some of the class story tellers. Eleanor Morrison Herron, Rebecca Malone Floyd, Johnny Neyman, Jimmy Kimbrell, and Jimmy Brewer covered some of the interesting pranks and adventures we had in the 50’s. Great stories about great times! Eleanor's story about the handsome swimming pool lifeguard who became a student teacher our freshman year at SHS was priceless. When he told the bevy of adoring girls that protocol dictated that they call him "Mr. Boley" instead of "Carl," it broke their hearts.

I brought a copy of the Class Night program that was performed 50 years and one day ago and suggested that we reprise the program. Louis and others said it couldn't be done. Louis (make that Louis' mother) had not kept the transcript of his Salutatorian address and his long term memory has turned out not to be photographic. Alas, the speech has been lost forever. Jean Estes had a flute solo on that program, but she said that she tried to show her grandkids her skills five years ago and found she could not make the notes now! Discussions with several others convinced me that Louis and the committee made the right decision as some folks could not remember that they had even been in the production of Class Night!

Finally, a highlight of the evening was Louis handing out prizes to winners of the contests on the reunion website. The prize for each contest was an RC Cola and a Moon Pie. Louis had to get the RC bottles from California as they were not available in the south when he tried to locate them to make good on his website promise! All who had contributed to the website got this coveted prize for their invaluable services.

Dear Readers: If you would like to see how you could have done in these quizzes, go to www.shsclassof1956.org on the Internet and find these contests:

1. Which boy and girl switched their mortar board tassels for the class photo on the front lawn of the high school? After hours of squinting, Jim Kimbrell, Barbara Laughlin South, Nancy Pugh Wilson, Peggy Wynne Taylor, and Jimmy Brewer got this one.

2. (Trivia Page) Who was the only majorette in our class who served all 4 years? Barbara Laughlin South knew this one.

3. (Trivia Page) What were the first names of the classmates whom we knew by their middle names? Only Jim Kimbrell won this one.

4. (Trivia Page) What were the names of the unidentified members of the "Silver Jets" pee-wee football team? Bud Thrasher got them all, and corrected one misidentification. For this he got a 6-pack of vintage cokes.

5. (Bulldog Breakfast Page) Who was the unidentified "River Rat?" Bud Thrasher got this one too.

6. (Elementary School Pictures Page) Name the teachers. Joann Marsh Gargis, Peggy Wynne Taylor were the winners.

7. (Farley Fotos Page) Name any classmates who are not identified by the legends. Barbara Laughlin South and Nancy Pugh Wilson were the winners of this one.

Louis Buettner wrote about why he created the website in the September 2, 2005, issue of the Colbert County Reporter—surely for Louis a labor of love and a joy for the rest of the class. To top things off on Friday night, he gave out CD's with a working copy of the website because he originally intended to discontinue the website after the reunion. Many of the class have begun to look on the website as a “Family Album” of our treasured youth.

At 9:30 AM on Saturday morning, about 50 of us, the largest reunion breakfast crowd ever, enjoyed a buffet breakfast on the back porch at the Robert Trent Jones clubhouse in Muscle Shoals. The theme for the breakfast was "Friends and Friendship." Farley Vaughn, class photographer who made a career in photography, prepared table decorations of the snapshots of high school classmates in groups of 2 to many illustrating "Friends." Gary Menne gave the meditation on the importance of friends in our lives—friendships that have endured over the ups and downs of decades, and the one really true Friend whom we have! Gary made special arrangements to return from a Las Vegas business trip at 1:00 o'clock on Saturday morning to be with us at the breakfast. Everyone was hoping he would be handing out hundred dollar bills, but sadly, Gary came back with only his shirt! This was another time for socializing and taking pictures and swapping more tall tales as well as small anecdotes from times gone by.

At noon, between 50 to 60 of us reconvened at Sheffield High School Cafeteria for the Sock Hop. Was I impressed to be greeted by John Collins in his "white sports coat and pink carnation!" He was sure dressed up for the ball in the best tradition of Marty Robbins in the 50’s. The white buck shoes added to the retro appearance of the outfit. John brought us The Tempos, a professional Fifties singing group from Mississippi to provide live entertainment for the sock hop. Boy, were they melodic, and they certainly blessed us with the best of the slower tunes of our high school days, although they tested us with a few like Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" and "Elvira," during which James Simmons, lead singer of the group, came out into the audience and called out classmates, like Linda Methvin Smith, to dance with him, showing that they still had their bopping skills.

Patsy Congleton handed out “poodle bobby socks” to the girls and “Rocked, Rolled and Ready for More” T-shirts to the boys. Patsy, June Holmes Holland, Rebecca Malone Floyd and others were decked out in poodle skirts, and the Sock Hop committee had come up with all kinds of retro decor to provide the proper ambiance to the occasion. Farley Vaughn really wowed us with his photographer's skill by gracing the perimeter of the hall with gigantic 3 foot by 4 foot photos of sock hop and prom dance scenes as well as other photos that were actually taken back when we were in high school.

Jimmy Todd demonstrated that he was still master of the dance floor with some cool moves with partner Janelle Proctor. Janelle’s usual partner Bob Proctor was sidelined from the dance floor due to broken leg, the cause of which is better not discussed. Great fun to see Winston Carter and his wife, Sylvia, Louis Buettner and wife, Georgia, Patsy Bell Congleton and husband, Jimmy enjoying the “golden oldies” music of the 50’s. One of the giant Farley Fotos actually caught Patsy and Jimmy bopping in 1955, so they posed for us with that picture.

During intermission, Peggy King Bishop led a tour of the high school. Lots of work was going on to get the school primed and painted for the coming school year. The quality of the facilities is far better than five decades ago. The Health Fitness Center has a large quantity of quality exercise equipment for physical education to keep the bodies fit in a facility devoted to lots of mental exercise! The Media Center (known to us as a "library") was full of technical equipment not available to us in the Fifties. The audio-visual center for scheduled academic programs for classroom video presentation, the bank of computers with Internet researching capability, and the distance learning classroom were wonders we couldn't have thought of back in 1956—but they are housed in a facility named in honor of our beloved librarian, Mrs. Rachel Berryman. Purple lockers for the student’s supplies were all sparking ready for the coming crew of academics. An elevator has been newly-installed for handicap access to the second floor. That would have made life easier for our English and Latin teacher, Miss Sherrod, who didn't know the word, "handicap."

After dancing the afternoon away it was time for an afternoon nap before the evening activities at Jim Holland’s home. This was our largest turnout with 118 signing in for the festivities. Jim turned his grounds into a festive setting with a glorious view of the Tennessee River overlooking the O'Neal Bridge and Florence. He set up a large dining tent, partially walled by the large Farley Fotos and graced with beautiful floral table decorations by classmate Nancy Snyder Stevens, on the lawn—and the aroma of steak cooking on the grill, courtesy of caterers, Whole Hog Catering Services, wafted over the area. A vintage 1956 rust and cream Chevrolet Bel-Air, exactly the same car that Jim's dad got his family when he was a youth, was parked beside the tent for Fifties flavor and photo opportunities.

Before Jim would let us eat, he herded everyone out on the lawn at "The Point" for a class picture with the O’Neal Bridge in the background. Getting everyone together was an effort, and there was some concern that one or more of us would slip over the bluff into the Tennessee river several hundred feet below—as Jim had done years and years ago not far from his present address.

The meal was a time for socializing and bringing friends up to date on our lives. We were attended by an elegant wait staff and enjoyed hand churned ice cream and homemade pie for desert. Again, lots of table-hopping and snapshots of friends and classmates. Patsy Bell Congleton arranged to have the photographer, Mr. Leslie Powell, roam the grounds at all four main events taking candid photos of reunion party-goers.

This also not only saved time but saved our eyes. At past reunions, we have had so many flashes going off that everyone had purple spots in front of our eyes for days! Best of all, when the reunion committee sends the print of the group photo, they will include a CD with all of Mr. Powell's candid snapshots in a format that can be printed on the home computer/printer of the classmates or taken to the photo print services that are so prevalent these days for professional printing. A wonderful service—we will all get all those photos and we didn't even have to bring a camera!

Jim Holland, our host, was the emcee for the occasion, starting off with a series of true and untrue stories that had the class rolling in the aisles. Then he introduced Bro. Jeff Garrett of the York Terrace Baptist Church, who, at Jim's request, had prepared a slide show of the families of Class of '56 classmates. Almost 200 photos were sent in and compiled by Jeff for our enjoyment and amazement. Classmates were asked to embellish the presentation of their families with stories and news.

Bob Proctor called a halt to the family presentation when Jimmy Todd and family showed up. Turned out the next day was Jimmy’s birthday. In an effort to embarrass him we all sang happy birthday to the oldest member of our class. Yes, this was yet another celebration of turning 39 again! Of course Bob and Janelle deserved a special round of recognition for outstanding courage. In a burst of enthusiasm they moved from Virginia to South Carolina during the Christmas holidays. There is perhaps a better name for this type of courage but not in a family paper.

A more somber realization of Father Time’s heavy hand was brought to mind with the news that several classmates have lost their spouses recently—Barbara Bundy Occhipinti (Edward 2005), Nancy Pugh Wilson (Walter 2006), Barbara Laughlin South (Billy 2006), Jim Holland (Mary Katherine 2005), Bobbie Cornett Caudill (Billy June 7, 2006).

The memorial moment for members of our class who have passed away started off with a time of silence as photos of the eighteen were projected on the screen. This was a somber time for reflection on the joy of friendship and the importance of sharing love and good times with friends while we have them. Sandra Foreman Morris then led a moving ceremony in which a white balloon carrying the name of each of the 18 deceased classmates was released. It was especially touching that one bearing the name of Jim's wife, Mary Katherine, joined those of our classmates.

Sam Malone came forward to give a tribute to the classmates who had served in the military because our reunion came so close on the heels of Memorial Day. He gave an eloquent presentation although he claimed he had left his notes at the hotel! We were all proud of those who protected our freedom, and Sam asked all who had been in any branch of service to stand. Our class had many who saw combat in Vietnam, many more who served during that period and since, and many who were in the National Guard, the Reserves and other armed services, since our country was in an active conflict when we were young.

Next on the program Peggy King Bishop updated us on our teachers and, especially, Carl Boley, who grew up with us as a student teacher, a teacher and our principal. We had hoped he would be here, but he had come down from Knoxville only one week prior to our reunion to give the commencement address at the SHS graduation. Most of our teachers have passed on but Mrs. Kimbrough who taught English and Journalism is living in Tuscumbia. Mrs. Daniel attended the Friday evening dinner.

Peggy also provided information on friends who could not come to the reunion. Harold Fell in Tennessee is struggling with cancer. Amos Jones in Mississippi recently lost a son. Carol Cahoon, in Arizona, was discovered too late to make plans to attend. Elise Hastings, in Texas, is coping with her husbands illness. Peggy proudly announced that all living members of our class had been contacted and invited.

Louis returned to give out prizes for the "Biggest & Best" contests to highlight the evening. First on the list was the "Longest Distance" award. Helen Holman Lutes who traveled from Tempe, AZ, to attend the reunion—the farthest distance of a classmate's residence from Sheffield High according to Microsoft Streets and Maps. Buck Locke, the class' favorite nominee, came in a distant second from Massachusetts, but won the Greatest Round trip Distance award, as he travels to all parts of the eastern United States to visit family when he attends a reunion.

From there Louis asked for the classmate who had been "Married The Longest" and it was a close contest between Patsy Bell Congleton and Sandra Forman Morris who both were married the same week after receiving our diplomas. Patsy won by a day and both are celebrating their 50^th Golden anniversaries this week! Having gotten an early start, Patsy also won another prize for the "Most children!" Peggy King Bishop took the prize for "Most Grandchildren."

Next Louis ventured into dangerous waters by calling for audience participation. Names were shouted out for the "Classmate Who Has Changed the Most." Among the nominees of Jimmy Kimbrell, Jimmy Brewer, Johnny Neyman and a few others. Ann Shook Mize was chosen the winner. In the category of "Least Changed," some of the nominees were June Holmes, Mary Ann Byers and JoAnn Marsh, and Louis, being the soul of discretion, declared a tie, giving a prize to each of them.

The final category of awards went to the principal contributors to the reunion's production. Special Reunion tee shirts were presented to five classmates. Rebecca Malone Floyd gave special tribute to Master Planner Peggy Bishop King whose organization skills kept all of the events on track. Master Hostess Jean Gardner Estes and Host Jim Holland were recognized for opening their homes to us for our wonderful evening events. Master Sock Hop Coordinator Patsy Bell Congleton won her prize for accepting the role on short notice and putting together a highlight event of the reunion. Special kudos and a special tee shirt went to Master Photographer Farley Vaughn who supplied the super-sized three by four foot photos as well as the many small photos of classmate friends that graced most of the events and eloquently spoke to us as they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words." All of the other members of the Reunion Planning Committee received the coveted "RC Cola and Moon Pie" for their hard work. In addition to the website CD's, all classmates received transcripts of Ron Newborn's Class Roast Skit and a CD which features 24 songs of our high school years performed by the original artists. Jim Holland called this disc "the heart of the watermelon," as it represented what Jim called the best of the 160 Fifties tunes collected and put on CD's for background music during the event by a friend of Jim's, Paul Slatton of WBTG-AM.

We all left late in the evening, having experienced a Fiftieth Reunion that was truly golden!