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The
class of 1966 just had their 40th reunion. I was one of the 106
students who graduated that year from
Knox
County High School.
Every few
years, most of us have a high school class reunion. Later, we read in the
newspaper something like this:
“The Class
of 1966 held their 40th reunion on
September 9, 2006, at the
Edina
Country Club. There were 42 classmates, two teachers, and a total of 71
people present. A catered dinner was served, pictures were taken, and a
good time was had by all.”
Although
that is what took place, it just seems like so little to say about so very
much. Yet, how do you describe an event where you get to see the classmates
that you grew up with and haven’t seen for years? How do you cram in a
visit with each of them in about three hours?
Our reunion
began by riding together on, “The Class of 1966” float in the Knox County
Corn fest parade. Yes, nineteen of us arrived to ride the float that was
pulled by Vance Parrish. (Well, he did use a tractor.) There were joyful
greetings, lots of hugs, joking, and, “Hey, Richard, where did you get that
big red sombrero?”
As we
gathered beside the float, someone mentioned that Miss Greenley, our high
school principal, lived close by and was sitting in her yard to watch the
parade. We took the opportunity to go and visit with her for a moment.
Since some of us hadn’t seen her since graduation, we introduced ourselves
just in case there was the remote possibility that any of us might have
changed in the last forty years. We laughed and had a good time sharing
with her some of our memories of high school. Miss Greenley was a good
principal and she didn’t miss much as we recalled how we tried but never
could seem to get by with anything. (I can’t help but wonder if she is
reading this and checking my punctuation.)
Later that evening we
all gathered at the Edina Country Club. We were so happy that two of our
teachers, Mrs. Parrish, (Business Education) and Mr. Roberts, (basketball
coach) joined us for the evening.
During the program,
we were asked to answer some trivia questions about our graduation year.
Later, as I thought about 1966, I thought it might best be expressed by
what Charles Dickens said in A
Tale of Two Cities:
“It
was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness”.
When the Class of
1966 was graduating from high school:
Lyndon B. Johnson was president.
The average income per year was $6,900.00.
A
new car would cost around $2,650.00.
A
postage stamp was five cents.
The fashion magazines paraded their mini skirts, bell-bottoms, and even
paper dresses.
The average life expectancy was 70.2 years.
A
partial artificial heart was first implanted in a patient.
Medicare came into existence.
Congress passed a law that cigarette packages had to carry the warning:
“CAUTION, cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health.”
In
1966, the academy award for best picture went to
The Sound of Music.
The movie,
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
came out and seemed to describe the times in which we lived. In 1966, there
were race riots in the cities, the Viet Nam War was raging, and we were all
anxious as our young men were being drafted into what later would be known
as America’s longest war. However, when you are just eighteen and
graduating from high school, only
”the good”
part of that title seemed relevant to us as we crossed the stage and
received our diplomas. We were ready to set out on our own, searching for
the great American dream.
As
for television, it was the year that
Batman
and
Star Trek
made their appearance and it was also the year that
The Grinch Stole Christmas.
(and he’s still trying)
Popular singers were,
The Beatles,
The
Monkees,
The
Beach Boys,
Petula Clark,
Simon and Garfunkel,
and
Frank Sinatra.
The music in 1966 had such conflicting titles that we could form a crazy
phrase with them:
Monday, Monday,
We
Can Work It Out,
Wild Thing, Somewhere My Love, Cherish,
The Sound of Silence.
SSgt Barry Sadler helped write the hit song,
The Ballad of The Green Berets,
while recuperating from a leg wound suffered during the war in Viet Nam.
Martina McBride was born and Walt Disney died.
There’s been a lot of
water under the bridge since the class of 1966 graduated from high school.
After forty years, the conversation seemed a little different than at
earlier reunions. We heard news of some of our classmates that could not
attend the reunion due to health problems and we missed their presence. We
found that some of our classmates had been through a lot in the past few
years. There had been difficulties, heart attacks, cancer surgeries, and
the loss of loved ones. Yet, those classmates were there to share their
survival stories with us.
I couldn’t help but
think about what a blessing it is to enjoy the company of my classmates when
I remember that my father-in-law, who is 89 years old, is the only one left
in his graduating class.
Our class will always
remember 1966 as the year that ended our high school days but it was also
the year of new beginnings as we began our climb toward our goals. Our
climb was never meant to necessarily lead us to fortune and fame.
Hopefully, we climb so that we can see better than we have ever seen
before. We climb to a place where we can view what is really true and
valuable. We climb looking forward and upward. We climb looking with the
eyes of our hearts toward that broader view that we once set as our motto
back in 1966.
“The higher we climb, the broader the view”
(1966 KCHS Class motto)
Somewhere a hill
Blossoms in green and gold
And there are dreams
All that your heart can
hold.
(Somewhere, My Love
From the Movie Doctor Zhivago)
By
Pamela Perry Blaine
© September 20,
2006
About Pam:
Pam
lives in Missouri with her husband, Michael. She enjoys composing music and
writing stories. She writes "Pam's Corner" for her local newspaper, The
Edina Sentinel. Pam and her husband are active in their church where
she plays piano and he is music leader. They have a CD available called,
"I'll Walk You Home". The title song is about her lifelong friend who died
of cancer. You can hear this song on her website: http://blaines.us/PamyPlace.htm
Several of her
stories have been published on the internet as well as in books such as
The Miracle Of Sons, 2The Heart/People Who Make A Difference, and
A Tribute To Moms. Her goal is to write to encourage others and to
write stories for her children and grandchildren so that stories and family
history will be preserved.
My
Website:
http://blaines.us/PamyPlace.htm
e-mail:
pamyblaine@blaines.us
)
?.·? ?.·??) ?.·*?)
( ?.·? (?.·? ?.·?
`·-»Pamy
"Security is not the absence of
danger,
but the presence of God"
My Website:
http://www.blaines.us/PamyPlace.htm
e-mail:
pamyblaine@blaines.us
"NO
ONE IS USELESS IN THIS WORLD
WHO LIGHTENS THE BURDEN OF
ANYONE ELSE"
http://www.greatcom.org/laws/englishkgp/default.htm |
