Post by Cliff DeMeritt on Aug 20, 2015 21:32:21 GMT
I've often wondered if the Class of '61 just fell apart. As I advanced in age, those old high school days at Boone '59 & '60 and Oak Ridge '61 became my fond memories, and I wished I could re-live them, perhaps changing a few things that would surely have changed my destiny. Enough philosophy!
I contacted Oak Ridge administration a few times in the 80's and 90's, expecting someone there to know if someone were coordinating a reunion. Nada! Really hoped a 50th was gonna' happen, but heard nothing and was unable to find out anything. I was clearly out of touch with my old classmates. I revisited the area, was VERY disappointed with all the growth around the school, and learned from the local sheriff that the neighborhood and school reputation had deteriorated drastically. All I had were memories of Yvonne, LaDell, Wayne, Bubba, Vernon, the senior class play, Ruth Byers, Mr. Mitchell, and being suspended for a few days for backing my dad's car up to the breezeway to unload a science project, not knowing the FFA had just seeded!
My high school sweetheart remains in a warm corner of my heart, as does her twin sister. Both married, last I heard, so names omitted. Then there were the Cameron sisters, Marie (or Maree?) and Brenda, my closest friend Rodney King, and others with whom I spent a lot of social time. How many times have I thought about them, wondering what paths they took?! Some I remember more from our Boone years, like Jim Lee and his Lincoln-Mercury fettish :-) And another "Bubba," Wilfred G. Harold, for whom I've searched since 1968, and the 1967 hurricane we rode out in Key West. We both worked on krypto gear that was transmitting Castro propaganda from subs in Cuban waters to relay by teletype to the White House.
My folks moved to Miami the summer following graduation, so I lost contact with everybody from school daze. I joined the Air Force (to avoid the draft!) in '64 after Miami-Dade JC and pre-med at USF, but lost family financial support to continue and didn't want to accrue a college loan obligation. I married in '66, started a family in '69, and had our third child in '73. I was a police officer in Miami from '71-'73, then a state criminal investigator until '79. Moved to Texas as engineering liaison to Japan with Panasonic, but family illness brought us to SC and a career with the SC DOT as the I.T. troubleshooter.
Retirement finally arrived six years ago, and it's certainly not overrated! We retired to the mountains of western NC, and our grands are now in Austin. A fridge slid off the trailer during our move up here, and I suffered a spinal injury that paired me with a service dog. She's in her final days now at 12 1/2, with health issues that come with old age. Uncanny timing, in that I am now usually able to get around without her retrieval assistance nor my cane. My daughter lives next door with her new family (the old one was broken!) including two boys (our step grandsons?). I play upright bass (the musical instrument, not the fish!) with a Bluegrass Band, and that is my hobby. My wife, Susan, has always wanted to hand-build pottery, and has her own unique method of leaf imprinting. It pays for her supplies, but it's her "hobby."
My challenge to all of you out there: I lost count of our addresses at 40 twenty years ago. It was worse that a military brat's life, but new assignments and changes kept coming our way.
I contacted Oak Ridge administration a few times in the 80's and 90's, expecting someone there to know if someone were coordinating a reunion. Nada! Really hoped a 50th was gonna' happen, but heard nothing and was unable to find out anything. I was clearly out of touch with my old classmates. I revisited the area, was VERY disappointed with all the growth around the school, and learned from the local sheriff that the neighborhood and school reputation had deteriorated drastically. All I had were memories of Yvonne, LaDell, Wayne, Bubba, Vernon, the senior class play, Ruth Byers, Mr. Mitchell, and being suspended for a few days for backing my dad's car up to the breezeway to unload a science project, not knowing the FFA had just seeded!
My high school sweetheart remains in a warm corner of my heart, as does her twin sister. Both married, last I heard, so names omitted. Then there were the Cameron sisters, Marie (or Maree?) and Brenda, my closest friend Rodney King, and others with whom I spent a lot of social time. How many times have I thought about them, wondering what paths they took?! Some I remember more from our Boone years, like Jim Lee and his Lincoln-Mercury fettish :-) And another "Bubba," Wilfred G. Harold, for whom I've searched since 1968, and the 1967 hurricane we rode out in Key West. We both worked on krypto gear that was transmitting Castro propaganda from subs in Cuban waters to relay by teletype to the White House.
My folks moved to Miami the summer following graduation, so I lost contact with everybody from school daze. I joined the Air Force (to avoid the draft!) in '64 after Miami-Dade JC and pre-med at USF, but lost family financial support to continue and didn't want to accrue a college loan obligation. I married in '66, started a family in '69, and had our third child in '73. I was a police officer in Miami from '71-'73, then a state criminal investigator until '79. Moved to Texas as engineering liaison to Japan with Panasonic, but family illness brought us to SC and a career with the SC DOT as the I.T. troubleshooter.
Retirement finally arrived six years ago, and it's certainly not overrated! We retired to the mountains of western NC, and our grands are now in Austin. A fridge slid off the trailer during our move up here, and I suffered a spinal injury that paired me with a service dog. She's in her final days now at 12 1/2, with health issues that come with old age. Uncanny timing, in that I am now usually able to get around without her retrieval assistance nor my cane. My daughter lives next door with her new family (the old one was broken!) including two boys (our step grandsons?). I play upright bass (the musical instrument, not the fish!) with a Bluegrass Band, and that is my hobby. My wife, Susan, has always wanted to hand-build pottery, and has her own unique method of leaf imprinting. It pays for her supplies, but it's her "hobby."
My challenge to all of you out there: I lost count of our addresses at 40 twenty years ago. It was worse that a military brat's life, but new assignments and changes kept coming our way.