Hound Dogs, perk up your ears! Let's bark a while!
I am certain that every generation in every community and every neighborhood has had its very own "Our Gang/Little Rascals" group of kids that "hung together" and pursued mischief and good times together and eventually created many memories together. Well, two weeks ago "Our Gang" (call us "rascals" if you will) regrouped in Newport for an Encore Reunion of sorts to follow up that wonderful and memorable 30th Reunion of the NHS Class of 1970 we enjoyed in the summer of 2000. We all had such a fun time last year; we just couldn't wait to get together again. Some may think a 31st reunion to be a little strange and unusual. And it is if you are one to think only in terms of traditional high school reunions being held in five and ten year anniversary intervals. But "Our Gang" learned to color outside the lines a long time ago. While one can still watch in television syndication the antics of the definitive "Our Gang/Little Rascals" group of kids who gained fame in the '20s, '30s and '40s with Spanky, Alfalfa, Porky, Tommy, Darla, Mary Ann, Wheezer, Froggy, Stymie, Buckwheat and others, there is no substitute for getting together with your own "gang."
More than 40 classmates from the Class of '70 gathered at the home place of Buck and Gladys "Mama" Hurley (now owned by their youngest daughter, "Aunt Sissy" Sanborn) on Walnut Street just one block south of the site of the old Walnut Street School. Our class was the last one to attend all three years at Walnut Street School (actually we departed for Gibbs-Allbright mid way through our third grade year). My young eyes never noticed the deterioration in the grand old school building on Walnut Street that made it necessary to vacate for another place, but so it was. At this self proclaimed Encore Reunion of the Class of 1970, a fun time was had by all, and I do mean a FUN time! I want to express my sincere appreciation to "Aunt Sissy" Sanborn for being our hostess with the "mostest" and to my mother, Lawana Miles, for helping with the arrangements and preparations for the party. Also, my gratitude goes to classmates Ann Gardner Hearn, David Sibley and Kenny Thaxton for tending to our needs with great foodstuff and tempting libations. It was nice to have Betty Ann Gardner (Ann's mom), Carolyn and Marvin Thaxton (Gail's parents), Janeil Cox (Peggy's mom), Emma Kathryn Ashley (Jenetta's mom) and Mary Keel drop in to assist Sissy and Lawana in chaperoning "Our Gang."
Naming all who came would exorbitantly tax my brain, but I do remember four who arrived at the Encore who were unable to get to the 30th Shindig and it was much fun having Kathy Spann, Peggy Cox, Jan Grimes and Brenda Talley with us. With those four there, conversation never grew idle. A handful of Sixty-eighters and Sixty-niners and a smattering of younger pups joined in the fun.
I extend a big hug to Mrs. Helen Shoffner who brightened our evening with her smile, especially for eleven of us present for the Encore who were in Mrs. Shoffner's first grade class at Walnut Street School 43 years ago. I have always thought of this first grade class as the core of "Our Gang." The eleven members of "Our Gang" who magically appeared for the Encore are Donny Appleton, David Sibley, Clay Wright, Jenetta Ashley, Mary Wynne Parker, Kenny Thaxton, Ann Gardner, Gene Bennett, Gail Thaxton, Margaret Ann Gillihan and yours truly.
During the course of the Encore Reunion, we all danced immediately across Walnut from Sissy's to the house on the corner of Walnut and Sixth Streets occupied for a brief time in our childhood by classmate Clay Wright and his family (later by the Lonnie Bennett family). This house has a high front porch with steps perfect for a group picture. Finding no one at home, we captured the moment and we made a valiant effort to recreate a famous photo of our first grade class taken in the fall of 1958 with Mrs. Shoffner on the front steps of Walnut Street School. Of course there were only eleven of the thirty who had been members of that class present for this special "Kodak moment," but we placed ourselves just as we were those many years before.
We then captured a snapshot of all at the party who were with us when we walked from dear old NHS in 1970. In the eleven years following the time when "Our Gang" came together in the first grade, many friends joined us from East Newport, the Airbase, and Rutherford schools. Those who attended East Newport School moved over to Gibb-Castleberry, the do-nut school, about the same time Walnut Streeters moved to Gibbs-Allbright. Others moved into Newport from places known and unknown. And some departed town before our graduation year, but their faces are still familiar even if names can't be recalled. It is a good feeling knowing that "Our Gang" expanded into a caring group of friends who made up the senior class of 1970.
During our Encore, a mosquito fogging truck passed by our party site reminding me of a recent email received from Andy Gray ('67) describing his memory of trailing the fogging machine on bicycles with a cadre of boys and girls skilled in following the truck and its spraying device. The power of the machine appears to have waned over the years, because what I witnessed the night of the reunion was a piddling mist instead of the dense fog spewing from the rear of truck that I remember as a kid. Regardless of the power and the make up of the emissions, the mosquitoes are still quite immune to the juice. I thought maybe I had inhaled enough of this mystical bug spray as one of those long ago trailing cyclists, but, lo and behold, I was still eaten alive by buzzard sized skeeters when Mike Brand, John Sink, Donny Appleton, Gene Bennett and I took to the golf course on Saturday morning following the Encore. After golf and the consumption of some spirits, Kathi and I joined Ann Gardner and her husband Frank Hearn, Gail Thaxton, Mary Wynne Parker, Kathy Spann, and David Sibley for a night of reminiscing at the Thaxton's house.
Sunday morning Kathi and I attended church with my mother at First United Methodist where I was able to see many of my favorite church ladies (not to be confused with the infamous Church Lady portrayed by Dana Carvey on Saturday Night Live). Doris Scott, Kathryn Torian, Irene Moore, Eliot McManus, Suka Fincher, Bess James, Mildred Holden, Sammie Ritter, Maisie Bundy and so many others met us with open arms and open hearts. We enjoyed a potluck lunch at the church as the congregation welcomed a new pastor, Roger Glover, to Newport. I ran into Carolyn Cross Jones ('65) there and was able to bid farewell "until we meet again" to classmates Mary Wynne Parker and Gail Thaxton.
Our Encore Reunion is now just another piece of history, but an inspirational one. Much like the group of old Hound dogs who came together in the fall of 2000 for a Millennium Reunion of the classes of 1950-60 and are "doing it" again this year, we young pups of 1970 are just compelled to get "Our Gang" together again and again after the blast we had at our 30th Reunion. Next year we are going to have a 50th Birthday Party since all of us '70 graduates will begin turning fifty years of age this fall and on into 2002. So if you don't like "reunions," put on your dancing shoes and come to our "birthday party" next year. If you missed it this year ... you missed it ... and you were missed!
Last Saturday, Kathi and I caught an urge for hot tamales and bar-b-que. This hankering for tamales was probably brought on from my recent quest to remember the "real" name of James the Hot Tamale Man from my childhood days in Newport. James the Hot Tamale Man was always a sweet soul with a calming voice for young customers. Since letting it be known that I have been searching my mind for his "real" name, I have heard from two "reliable" sources. One says Johnson and one says Williams is the last name of James the Hot Tamale Man. I'm looking for a tiebreaker.
Anyway, back to last Saturday and the satisfaction of my desire for hot tamales and bar-b-que. The best place in my neck of the woods to find such satisfaction is McClard's in Hot Springs. As Kathi and I slid into a small booth there, my eyes met with those of Mary Rachel Johnston ('66) who was sitting in the booth right next to me. She was with her daughter and we enjoyed a nice conversation about times in Newport. I couldn't help but let my mind drift back to the many times of sliding into a booth at Headlee's Drug Store run by Mary Rachel's dad, Peel Johnston. What a great after school hang out during our junior high years. I can still taste the chocolate shake and tuna fish sandwich that was my usual fare. The sounds of 1966 come back so easily ... Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys, Paperback Writer by the Beatles, Paint It Black by the Stones, Wild Thing by the Troggs, Good Lovin' by the Young Rascals. All that came rushing back just because I wanted some hot tamales. Can it get any better?
Being the baseball fanatic that I am and tonight being the eve of the midsummer classic major league All-Star game in Seattle, it's fun for me to travel back 35 years to this very night in 1966. My father and I are standing in line at Stan and Biggie's Restaurant in St. Louis. We are going to the All-Star game to be played in brand spanking new Busch Stadium tomorrow. No way can I adequately describe the excitement of a 14 year old totally enamored with baseball in this situation. I am introduced to Stan "The Man" Musial who is three years into retirement from the game, but still an icon who autographs a picture for me. Realizing we are only father and son together, he invites my dad and me into a private dining room filled with players and coaches readying themselves for the big All-Star game tomorrow. I still have my autographed picture of Stan Musial from that evening that also sports the names of Rocky Colavito, Jim Bunning, Mel Stottlemyer, Tony Kubek and Johnny Keane.
Next day we go to Busch Stadium and see the Gateway Arch that was just completed in the fall of 1965. It is terribly hot with temperatures above 100 degrees and much hotter on the new artificial turf on the floor of the stadium. This is the first All-Star game played on an Astroturf field. Sandy Koufax and Denny McLain are the starting pitchers. The National League outfield is made up of Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente. One of my very favorite players, Frank Robinson, who was traded from Cincinnati to Baltimore during the off-season, is starting in left field for the American League. He will go on to win the Triple Crown in 1966. The National League wins the game 2-1 in ten innings when Maury Wills drives in the Cardinals' Tim McCarver from second with a single to center. Little Rock's own Brooks Robinson goes 3 for 4 and scores the American League's lone run and is named the game's Most Valuable Player. Doc Hawk and Jimbo Hardin accompanied my dad and me to the game. What a game! What a time!
Today it is hot outside! After all it is mid July in Arkansas. If you are one who proclaims to have a poor memory or if you just happen to have a reluctant imagination, step outside, let the sweat build up on your brow, breathe in the fumes from the mosquito fogging machine, tune your brain into the sounds of Good Lovin' by the Rascals, and you will find yourself back in Newport in 1966. If nothing else the heat should transport you there. The summer of 1966. Hear it! The sounds of the Lovin' Spoonful singing Summer in the City. Can't you feel it?!? The summer of 1966 when "Our Gang" was standing on the threshold of Newport High School wanting to get in. How quick the time passed and we stepped over the threshold and out of those doors as seniors in 1970. Nothing but Hound dogs, laughin' all the time .....
I'm still Miles from Nowhere, takin' my time,
joe
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