For those who have not seen one another for many years, this short time together was precious. Conversations about children and grandchildren were center stage, closely followed by discussions about personal aches and pains. Being a grandparent myself, I was able to participate in a few bragging contests during the course of the evening.
On the topic of grandchildren, I find that our two older ones, Oliver (4 years old) and Claire (2 years old), yearn to be outdoors just as I recall wanting to play outside all the time as a youngster. Their desires have delivered opportunity for me to return to playgrounds and parks once again, activities that have lain dormant since the days our children were between the toddler stage and grade school age. When not outside, the grandkids have their toys to occupy their time indoors. And then there are the cartoons of the day for them to watch on television. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
One of Oliver’s and Claire’s favorite cartoons is "Curious George" based on the children’s books from the 1940s and ‘50s. In addition to the cartoon series, an animated feature film "Curious George" was released in 2006. The soundtrack from that movie entitled "Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George" includes the song "We Are Going to be Friends" performed by Jack Johnson. Johnson’s version of the song is a cover of the original released in 2002 by the White Stripes.
Fall is here, hear the yell
Back to school, ring the bell
Brand new shoes, walking blues
Climb the fence, books and pens
I can tell that we are going to be friends
There were about 40 classmates at the reunion accompanied by spouses and guests bringing the total in attendance to 70 or so. The planning committee put together a memorable evening. Class Vice President Clay Wright welcomed us and the Planning Committee Chairperson Billie Jean Nelson presented some light hearted awards. Jan Grimes was selected as "least changed" and the selection committee was spot on in that choice. Apparently Jan has been caught in some kind of time warp in that she is the same cute and modest girl I have known since grade school. If it really has been forty years since my littermates and I finished high school, it has been fifty-two years since we entered the first grade, a time when many of us first became friends. To be friends for more than fifty years is a heart-warming experience.
Walk with me Suzy Lee
Through the park and by the tree
We can rest upon the ground
And look at all the bugs we’ve found
Safely walk to school without a sound
We safely walk to school without a sound
The "Suzy Lee" in my life was Mary Wynne Parker. Mary Wynne and I are twelve days apart in age and we lived one block apart on Hazel Street (she at 510 Hazel and I at 412 Hazel) for the first seven years of our lives. Our homes were on either side of Miss Martha’s Kindergarten where we first began our formal education. Our families attended the First Methodist Church together and Mary Wynne and I often teased one another about holding hands in the Sunday School nursery before we were fully aware of our surroundings. Mary Wynne Parker and Mike Stephens, who lived on Laurel Street across the alley from the apartments where I lived, are the earliest friendships within my memory. For the three of us, the circumstances of being the same age, living in the same neighborhood, and attending the same church brought us together. The life-long friendship we have shared was born out of spending time together in our back yards, on the playgrounds of the Walnut Street School and Remmel Park, and in Sunday School at First Methodist Church. Mary Wynne, Mike and I often met at the corner of Hazel and Fifth Streets to walk the remaining half block to Walnut Street School during our first grade year. Our mothers could watch us all the way to the doors of the school. We were joined at times by Margaret Ann Gillihan and Freeman Travis who became close friends early on from romping together in the neighborhood.
Freeman attended Sunday School at First Methodist with Mary Wynne, Mike and me along with other fast friends Gail Thaxton, Cherry Lou Smith, Clay Wright, Jim Reid Holden, Kenny Thaxton, Jeanne Rogers, Susan Page, Lou Lindsey, and Ricky Wiggins. I’m thinking Cherry Lou, Jeanne, Susan and Ricky all lived on the east side of town and went to East Newport School. All the rest of my earliest neighborhood and Sunday School friends ended up together in Mrs. Helen Shoffner’s first grade class at Walnut Street School. My other wonderful life-long friendships established in that first grade class include Donny Appleton, David Sibley, Gene Bennett, Joy Stanfield, Ann Gardner, Jenetta Ashley, Betsy McCall, Greer Guinn, Eddie Jones, Coy Thompson, Billy Matthews, and Martha Miller.
There’s dirt on our uniforms
From chasing all the ants and worms
We clean up and now it’s time to learn
We clean up and now it’s time to learn
We didn’t wear uniforms in the Newport schools in the late ‘50s, but we did get plenty dirty during our daily routines. We were the typical group of kids in small town Arkansas eager to go to school and learn alongside our playmates It was very clear from the point of beginning that "we’re going to be friends."
We made other friendships along the way after those earliest, most innocent years. After those days at Walnut Street School, we came together with others at Gibbs-Albright Elementary, Newport Junior High, and Newport High School. Then came relationships beyond our school days…….college pals, sports teammates, fraternity brothers and sorority sisters, business associates, community partners, friends of friends……the small intimate circle expanded, love grew.
Numbers, letters, learn to spell
Nouns and books and show and tell
Play time, we will throw the ball
Then back to class, through the hall
The teacher marks our height against the wall
The teacher marks our height against the wall
Walking through the halls of Newport schools together has morphed into racing through life. "Show and tell" time is now an important business presentation. Those pencil markings on the walls symbolizing our growth have surely faded away, but those "wonder years" together are imbedded in our hearts.
During our reunion last month, our littermates who are no longer running through life’s hallways were remembered. Our departed classmates include Betty Barber, Larry Binning, Raymond Cameron, Becky Cathey, Eddie Crawford, Glenn Gay, Rex Grigsby, Greer Guinn, Keith Huey, Kathy Looney, Bobby Ruddell, Marsha Scott, Becky Scroggs, Frank Simmons, Kenny Taylor. Coy Thompson read a poem entitled "Friendship" written by classmate Linda Gail Burris as a memorial. Coy noted that Danny Ray (NHS ’71), a fun loving littermate, passed from this life on the eve of our reunion just three days before his 58th birthday.
The name of my sweet forever friend, Mary Wynne Parker, was added to this list of departed littermates last Sunday, October 24, 2010. Mary Wynne had been diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer in July, 2000, a month following our 30th high school reunion. She valiantly battled the disease for more than ten years. Her husband, the Reverend Grady Perryman, called Mary Wynne his "Champ."
In recognition of her determined fight and her steadfast faith, I lift up Mary Wynne’s fisted glove in victory. Mary Wynne Parker Perryman is survived by her husband, Grady; her son, David, and his wife, Victoria; her daughter, Melissa; and her sister, Kaki Parker Kinard (NHS ’67) and her husband, Jim. In magical coincidence, classmate Jerry "Pud" Wooldridge was in North Carolina on business on the day of Mary Wynne’s memorial service. I have been told that ‘coincidence’ is God’s way of remaining anonymous. The result in this ‘coincidence’ is that Pud was able to drive the short distance from Charlotte to Southern Pines to represent our NHS Class of 1970 at the service in proper fashion. I am truly grateful to Pud for being there on our behalf. I know each of you join me in holding Mary Wynne’s family close in your hearts.
In a twist of fate, Mary Wynne’s niece and Kaki’s daughter, Jennifer Wynne Johnson, was diagnosed with breast cancer within months of Mary Wynne’s cancer diagnosis. At the time of her diagnosis, Jennifer was 27 years of age and pregnant. Today she is cancer free and serves as the executive director of the Young Survival Coalition in Kansas City. Jennifer’s story is featured in the October issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I know Mary Wynne was extremely proud of Jennifer.
I also ask that you lift up in prayer lifelong friend Betsy McCall. Betsy continues to struggle against ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and her daughter, Katie Compton Presley, informs me that Betsy’s health is in serious decline. Today, Halloween Day, is Betsy’s birthday. I wish you love, dear Betsy. Happy Birthday! A playful Betsy McCall alongside happy go lucky Gene Bennett graces the introductory page for our senior class in the 1970 Lakeside yearbook. Betsy’s winsome smile and amiable personality fill up my heart.
In July I sought your collective prayers for Mr. Bob Guthrie, our junior high school principal and my former scoutmaster. Mr. Guthrie passed from this life earlier this month. I ask that you hold his wife, VaRue, close in thought and prayer. Mr. Guthrie provided many of us a guiding hand during those impressionable junior high years. After my family moved from Hazel Street to South Main, Mr. and Mrs. Guthrie became my neighbor and our friendship developed. Mr. Guthrie left Newport in 1967, but he never left my heart. Another twist of fate…..with the Guthrie’s move, a new friend entered. Beloved friend and classmate Kathy Spann’s family moved into the Guthrie’s old home and made it their own. Excellent neighbors, wonderful friends. To be friends!
Angela Rutledge has informed me that Karon Adcox (NHS ’68) recently departed this life. Karon had been living and working in Las Vegas. Karen was a jovial soul with penchant for mischief. Her presence will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved her.
Throughout this evening we have had a steady stream of youthful ghouls and goblins knocking on our door and greeting us with ‘trick or treat.’ It is Halloween, a time that rekindles memories of days gone by. My thoughts travel back to times with childhood friends as we dressed in Halloween costume and walked the neighborhoods of our youth seeking to fill bags with goodies. I also remember those times when the Methodist Youth Fellowship would Trick or Treat for UNICEF, an organized effort to raise monies on behalf of the United Nations Children’s Fund. This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Trick or Treat for UNICEF initiative, which has become a Halloween tradition for youth around the nation. To be with friends playing and working for the common good creates fond memories.
And we don’t notice any time pass
Because we don’t notice anything
And we sit side by side in every class
The teacher thinks that I sound funny
But she likes it when you sing
Tonight I’ll dream in my bed
While silly thoughts run through my head
Of the bugs and alphabet
And when I wake tomorrow I’ll bet
That you and I will walk together again
Because I can tell that we are going to be friends
I can tell that we are going to be friends
When we first met as toddlers it was a given that we were going to be friends. Friends for life. Friends forever. I am certain that "I will walk together again" with my dear friend Mary Wynne Parker and our other littermates who stepped away from life’s path months and years before, just as we walked together on graduation day more than forty years ago. I extend thanks to Billie Jean Nelson, Buddy Rutledge, Jamie Hopkins and others on the reunion planning committee for putting together such a meaningful event. While the time together was short, the memories created will endure. I enjoyed visits with some old friends not seen for quite a while, years in some instances….Drew Stewart, Rue Luter, Victor Proffitt, Bobby Joe Forrester, Mickey Doyle, Rickey Harris, Cledy Pollard, Lynda Matthews, Marion Mullins, Rick Dobson, Tommy Long, Clifton Morgan, Rick Riley, Mike Tinsley, Mary Lynn Fortenberry, Madonna Stroud, Sandra Huey, Ruth Johnston, Mary Sullins, Sharon Haigwood, and the Smart twins, Betty and Billie Jean. I even got to dance with Kristine Artymowski. To be friends!
Following the reunion, Kathryn and I wandered down to Front Street in downtown Newport to take in the final hours of Depot Days and capture the opportunity to see other ‘old’ friends. We enjoyed a nice visit with Charlie and Peggy Gardner Watson (NHS ’57) and Sonny Burgess. Please keep the Watson family close in prayer as Charlie’s and Peggy’s son, Charles, recovers from receiving a liver transplant. My visit with Sonny was short since he had just come in from Austria where he and the Pacers had been on tour. We caught Ronnie McDowell’s performance with D. J. Fontana accompanying him on drums. Fontana was the drummer for Elvis Presley in the early years. Nothing like a little rock n’ roll music on the streets of Newport on a fall evening. Now that is a stroll down the proverbial Memory Lane, that ‘street’ where all my childhood pals reside today. I knock on a door of a house on Memory Lane. The door opens, a child speaks, "I can tell that we are going to be friends."
I am Miles from Nowhere…………..guess I’ll take my time.
joe
PS – The White Stripes will be the first musical guests when Conan O’Brien’s new show, "Conan," airs on November 8 on TBS.
