The time has come today to reflect on the world around us during our days together at Newport High School and since. Sex, drugs and rock 'n roll seemed to be America's theme during the late '60s. The music of that time screamed at us to be different. Song lyrics bespoke the social unrest and rebellious attitudes. Experiments in the fusion of rock, jazz and blues created a new sound. Some called it acid rock. Others called it psychedelic rock. I remember it as great music! It was easy to get caught up in all the craziness. After all, men were walking on the moon. And Richard Nixon was elected as the leader of the free world. What were we thinking? We were young.
Time has come today
Young hearts can go their way
Can't put if off another day
I don't care what others say
They say we don't listen anyway
Time has come today
It must have been then that the world started spinning faster, that instant gratification came into vogue, that listening to others became a challenge. There was a desire to march to the beat of one's own drum and that drumbeat was tantalizing and rapid. Dreams were in place. Realizing those dreams was at our fingertips. So many of us thought.
Newport was a bit isolated from the scene depicted in the songs and the movies of the late 1960s. We were a few steps slower than our counterparts on the left and right coasts of the USA. But that was all right with us. We lived in the heartland where the rednecks outnumbered the hippies. We had our honky tonks and our juke joints. Long neck bottles of beer were more plentiful than the loco weed. Elvis could still be found on the charts. The Greyhounds from Newport dominated football fields week after week and the games were huge social events. But the sights and the sounds from other places made us wonder. Just what did await us after high school? That unknown had an allure. Nothing could dampen our dreams.
We all have our personal stories. Divergent paths were taken after high school. Some stuck pretty close to the kennel. Others have roamed far and wide. Some are sure of the road they are on. Others have lost their way. Some view life from the left. Others from the right. Some approach life with a cautious stroll. Others race through life with reckless abandon. Some dreams have been realized. Others have been shattered. So what! Such is life, a wild ride at times, a walk in the park at others.
Regardless of your experience along life's trail, all of us could use a little escape from the routine from time to time. Such an escape is being provided in the NHS Class of 1970's 35th Reunion scheduled for August 6, 2005, just seven days away. Becky Cathey Landreth and her planning crew at the dog pound have spent endless hours coordinating this gathering of high school friends gone astray. She tells me that a good number of the 175 in our graduating class will be in attendance along with a few stray pups from the adjacent classes of 1969 and 1971. This group therapy session will begin at 5:00pm on August 6 (next Saturday) in the train depot on Front Street in downtown Newport. It's cheap too, $25 for a single attendee or $35 for a couple. Laughing out loud will be permitted just as it was in the classes of Betty Newell and Butch Duncan some 35 to 40 years ago. I'm sure some of the stories that will be shared that evening will have an element of truth to them. Some others may not. All memories will be accepted whether fact or fiction.
Retracing one's steps is often necessary in the review of a plan that produced a different result from that which was expected. I left Newport High School knowing I was going to be an architect and entered the University of Arkansas to pursue that goal. An architect I am not. I am a banker. I have been in the banking business for thirty years. I periodically tell myself I would do something different if I knew how. That change in career path took place just one short year into the journey. Most of you have experienced similar changes in direction on the road of life. Obstacles exist, some known, others totally unexpected. Detours must be taken. Life happens. Our varied experiences influence our approach to every day living. But our genetic makeup is pretty much the same as it was the day we were born. For the most part, we are the same but different. Just like we were when we walked alongside one another in the halls of Newport High School. That sameness, those differences brought us together as friends. The time has come today to reconvene and to relive times shared together and apart.
The rules have changed today
I have no place to stay
I'm thinking about the subway
My love has flown away
My tears have come and gone
Oh my Lord, I have to roam
I have no home
I have no home
Rules change as often as they are made. I knew nothing of subways when a student at NHS. Love is pronounced yet often is fleeting. Tears come and tears go. Unlike the lyrics from the second verse of the Chambers Brothers "Time Has Come Today," I do have a home. I am certain most littermates in the NHS Class of 1970 consider Newport, Arkansas home even though they may presently reside many miles from there. Now thirty five years later Newport is a lot like we are, the same but different. Each time I visit Newport this befuddling fact becomes more apparent. Despite considerable changes in the landscape and the disappearance of certain buildings and establishments, much about Newport remains the same. Take a drive around the town and allow your mind to wander back a few years. I'm sure you will see what I see there. Some of the people who were important in my life are no longer there, but their personalities still impact my memories of another time. I wish to mention a few people who have departed this life since my last writing who influenced my youthful actions. Harryette Hodges, Elliott McDonald McManus, Mary Ann Dupree and Bob James were all members of my church family at First Methodist Church in Newport during my formative years. (Some of you are sure to be thinking that I must not have paid very close attention to their examples, but we don't have time to debate such thought.) My admiration and respect for each of these persons is genuine and I hold their families close in my heart. All of them encouraged young people to be the best they could be. Harryette was particularly encouraging in my continuing the Miles' Files once she learned of them and it was she who initiated their publication in the Newport Independent. Thank you, Harryette. And thank you Elliott, Mary Ann, and Bob for your impressions left on Newport's soil. I am also saddened by the death of Payton Burgess who lost his life in a boating accident earlier this month. Payton is the son of Sonny Burgess and Joanne Burgess and brother of John. He is a 1982 graduate of Newport High School. All in this family know Newport as home. Sonny gave me much friendly advice as a youngster and I knew Joanne well as a coworker with my mother. Tears come and tears go.
Another recent notable death relative to music and the late '60s is that of Anne Bancroft who will always be remembered as Mrs. Robinson in the 1967 film The Graduate. Her character was immortalized in Simon & Garfunkel's song "Mrs. Robinson" and she represents the fantasy of many young men of every generation. So "here's to you Mrs. Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know. God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson. Heaven holds a place for those who pray. Hey, hey, hey." Hey, hey, hey!
"Time Has Come Today" was getting plenty of radio time in 1968. The Chambers Brothers from southern Mississippi were ushers in the psychedelic soul sound along with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, War, and Sly and the Family Stone. Soul music and rock music coming together to tickle the ears. All of these groups were interracial and their music influenced the times. Newport was not immune to the racial tension present in our nation throughout the 1960s, but there was a mutual respect that filled the gaps in our town. Newport High School and W. F. Branch High School coexisted in the late '60s. Desegregation was a gradual process in Newport that was not fully realized until the early '70s. Our senior class at Newport High School in 1970 was 175 students strong with only eight black students counted among our classmates. We were different, yet very much the same. I recall students from both Newport High and Branch High attending dances at the old armory in those days. Yet Newport High held no proms during our high school years. We did enjoy the sound of the Seven Wonders, an interracial band in which good friends Harry Goodyear and Drew Stewart played. Yes there was tension, but it was tempered by respect. The time has come today.
Now the time has come
There's no place to run
I might get burned up by the sun
But I had my fun
I've been loved and put aside
I've been crushed by the tumbling tide
And my soul has been psychedelicized
Life's pace is a hectic one. Along the way my soul has been "psychedelicized" on more than one occasion. I've had psychotic reactions to many of life's experiences. Recovery time has differed. Three fingers of single malt scotch usually helps things along. This summer has been full of life for me. It began with our oldest daughter Lynli getting an additional college degree, a happy occasion. A week later, youngest daughter Elizabeth graduated from high school and started planning for college, another happy occasion. Two weeks after Elizabeth's graduation daughter Evelyn gets married to Nick Wade, another very happy occasion. Every father should experience walking his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day to the lyrics of "Butterfly Kisses." This Bob Carlisle song was impeccably sung at Evelyn's wedding by close friend and Evelyn's godfather Keith Croft. Tears come and tears go. A month after Evelyn's wedding, a young man approached me and asked for daughter Emily's hand in marriage. Of course I caved in. Emily and Josh Richardson will marry December 30, 2005. Another happy occasion. Four daughters, four opportunities to smile and enjoy life. All of this happiness was diluted in wife Kathryn's necessary move to seek long term care for her mother. Getting my mother-in-law settled into new surroundings has been a heart wrenching experience and a not so happy occasion. My mother continues to age gracefully in the caring company of my sister Lana in the Las Vegas desert. Mother and Lana were at Evelyn's wedding accompanied by my mother's three surviving sisters. Their presence was a real treat. At our present stage in life, our generation has been referred to as the sandwich generation since we often seem to be caught up more in the lives of our children and our parents than in our own. Following generations are sure to experience similar days. As a member of a sandwich generation, all I can say is "put some extra mustard on this hot dog." Life is scrumptious.
Two weeks ago, good pal and golf partner Greg Hubbard and I made our annual trek to the Newport Country Club Invitational Golf Tournament. We had our usual great time. We enjoyed laughs on and off the course in the company of Butch Duncan, Rodger Brand, Mike Brand, John Pennington, John Sink, Jimmy Jowers, Jabez Jackson, Joey Treadway, Dennis Williams, Jerry Bullard, Lindley Smith, and others. There was something different about this year. Each day Greg and I talked about the fun we were having being around so many from our past who we don't get to see often enough. On Sunday we were paired in the same foursome with Jerry Bullard and Lindley Smith. Yes, we laughed a lot. And at the end of the day Greg and I were at the top of a flight. Yes, it was a flight far removed from the championship flight. Another year of fun. Similar to the others years we've had at the tournament yet different. Magic moments abound.
Now the time has come
There are things to realize
Time has come today
Time has come today
Yes, the time has come today. One more magic moment looms on the horizon. There is a reunion next weekend. The 35th Reunion of the NHS Class of 1970. If you have not contacted Becky Cathey Landreth to let her know you will be there, do so now. Her email address is rebecca.landreth@asun.edu. Write her and tell her you will be at the train depot in downtown Newport at 5:00pm, August 6, 2005. Or you can reply to me and I will pass on the good news to Becky and her fellow schemers putting the reunion together. The hour is getting late, but it's not too late. See you next weekend! You can find me where the music is loud and the laughter is louder.
In thinking about the past 35 years I recognize one constant amidst all the chaos. The music is still great. And the Rolling Stones are still together. I will leave you with some lines from a couple of Stones songs from the '60s. First from the song "Ruby Tuesday,"
There's no time to lose, I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams
And you will lose your mind.
Ain't life unkind?
And to wrap it up, this opening line from "Mother's Little Helper,"
What a drag it is getting old
joe
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