Hello 'Mates,
Hope all you 'Hounds' had a safe and happy 4th (I'm certain several of you at least enjoyed a "happy" fifth). Looking back thirty years, we saw graduation day in the spring of 1970 as a sort of "Independence" Day. No more daily rigors of high school. Oh, sweet Freedom! Well, our recent reunion reminded me that the "independence" gained that day came with a cost. As my favorite economist, Milton Friedman, once said, "there is no free lunch". Certainly the "price" of our freedom from high school was far less than the sacrifices made by our forefathers to gain our country's independence which we celebrated this week on the 224th anniversary of the signing of the "Declaration" (I did learn something in Duncan's History class). But there was a "cost" associated with our new found "freedom" when we "graduated" into the real world and that "cost" has been separation (from our "littermates" as Cherry Lou would say), a loss of our "togetherness". Our relationships are still strong in our hearts and minds, but we have lost that ability to "touch", "see", "hear" (I'll skip over smell and taste for those a little less intimate) one another. It's wonderful living in a free country, but this country is pretty big making it difficult to get together often.
So what can we do about it?!? Stay in touch as best we can through cards, letters, phone calls, weekend visits, and emails (so easy). "Cause breaking up is so very hard to do", you've got "to make it easy on yourself" (borrowed from "Make It Easy On Yourself" written by Burt Bachrach and recorded by Jerry Butler, Dionne Warwick and the Walker Brothers -- maybe others -- in the sixties. Best version -- Walker Brothers in 1965).
We now have 43 registered on the NHS website and I have 50 of us in my Miles' Files list. I am in the process of getting our class information posted on the website and when completed I will let you know. I will be our class sponsor for the site and will be working with Harriet Brantley Lane (Class of '64) to get our page up to date. In the meantime, send me email addresses of classmates so I can get them in my files. This week I heard via cyberspace from Cherry Lou (what a pest!), Betsy McCall, Mary Wynne Parker, Kathy McKee, Pud Wooldridge, Bobby Joe Forrester, Drew Stewart, Margaret Ann Gillihan, Scott Baker and Rickey Harris (through his ghost writer, wife Kathy). Believe me, I love getting the mail each day!
Cherry Lou has about 20 sets of photographs from the reunion (40 pics in each set) available for $20 each. These would be great for those of you who were not able to come to the Big Shebang. And they would be great for some of you who were there and don't quite remember everything (yes, I have placed my order!). There are also two "books" of biographical info available. Contact Cherry if interested!
Mary Wynne mentioned that the sixties music really takes her back. Let me suggest to all of you netradio.com and tune into the Fab 60s catalog of netradio. I am listening to it "as we speak". Nothing but tunes from the late 60s. Of course, for you "psychedelic" guys, there is a catalog there for you too.
Betsy was back in Newport this past week caring for her mother's estate and had no other than Buddy Rutledge over to repair her air conditioner. A mini reunion was enjoyed. Betsy is also celebrating her 28th wedding anniversary this weekend. Congrats!
Kathy McKee is going through some more tests this weekend to add some more initials behind her name. She is about to become too qualified to treat me on her therapy "couch". Best wishes, Kathy! She also made me aware that Harvey Haley's Stardust Big Band will be playing at the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs on Sunday afternoon (July 9). I may attempt to stumble over there for some big band sounds.
Speaking of big bands, Pud told me that he and 21 year old daughter Erin went to see Jethro Tull at the House of Blues in Disney World last week. I know Ian Andersen can still do magic on his flute. Sounds of the 70s can really take us back a bit on memory lane.
Pud and Scottini Baker made references to the new TV show "Survivor" and its Tribal Council ways of voting one "off the island". Surely they weren't sending any hidden messages to me. I believe we are all Survivors! Drew said that David Sibley gets his vote for least changed. He commented that David looked as if he just walked across the gym floor to pick up his diploma. Drew, I agree. He also observed that Clay still has his patented "dry wit", that Bean has his same joyful laugh, and that Willhite can still BS with the same intensity. Amen, to all!
Some of you on the receiving end of these Miles' Files have not had your voices heard. Now that the reunion is a memory, let me hear from you. Michael Willhite and Mike Brand, I know you remember something from those typing classes that Mrs. Paige and Mrs. Green put us through. You may notice that I have been referring to all the girls in our class by their maiden names. It helps keep me in my youth. Hope none of you mind.
This week let me know what your favorite songs from our high school days are. And while you are doing that, throw in your favorite movies and tv shows from that era. A good story from high school or today would be great. This is not the Drudge Report, so nothing "really" embarassing will be reported (unless you insist).
I will be going back to the "scene of the crime" next weekend. An annual July trip to Ground Zero (Newport) to play in the Newport Country Club Invitational Golf tournament is on my calendar. Let me emphasize "play" in its real sense. John Sink, Mike Brand, John Brownd and David Sibley can attest that I do not really "play" golf, I just have a lot of fun swinging a stick at a ball.
No matter where you have landed since since that "independence" day in 1970, don't forget to stay in touch with your "littermates". Just as the "Spirit of '76" lives on throughout this great nation, the "spirit of 1970" lives on in our hearts. I raise my glass to each of you!
I can hear the laughter!
joe
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