Has it been three months since we last sat down to chew a bone or two? Just to where does time fly away? My thoughts of times passed are often blurs as I attempt to keep pace with the hands on the clock. Most days my efforts are futile. But today I will "turn back the hands of time" (remember Tyrone Davis singing those words in 1970) to some "unforgettable" moments; after all it is the day we return to standard time from daylight savings time by pushing the hands of time back an hour. We can always use a few "extra" minutes to collect our thoughts. So here we go on a memory stroll.
Unforgettable, that's what your are
Unforgettable, though near or far
Like a song of love that clings to me
How the thought of you does things to me
Never before has someone been more
Unforgettable . . .
Last weekend Kathryn and I took a drive around and through the Buffalo River basin. Top down on the sports car, cruisin' along the winding roads near Boxley, Ponca, and Jasper, autumn leaves swirling up in miniature cyclones around our tires, painted landscapes awaiting us around each curve in the path. I popped some music into the CD player; perfect music for seeking beauty on a cool autumn day in the Ozarks. The words of "Unforgettable" touched my ears and pierced my heart as my mind sketched the faces of many unforgettable "someones" into the foreground of the scenic beauty that seemed to change with each blink of the eye. "Unforgettable" is a song that both my parents and my children can claim as music of their times. The Nat King Cole tune first hit the charts in 1951 and remained there well into 1952 (those years when most of us in the Class of 1970 were born). My mother regularly put Nat King Cole albums on the record player in the '50s and '60s. His velvet voice established a peaceful tone. Forty years later in 1991 through the magic of technology Natalie Cole sang an "Unforgettable" duet with her deceased father that won a Grammy award. It is this duet that Kathryn and I listened to on our drive through the Ozark countryside. It set a romantically peaceful tone. Kathryn captured many beautiful scenes on film, or should I say on digital images. Ah, improved music and improved photos through technology. Sharing the music and the natural beauty that surrounded us forged an unforgettable moment onto my life's timeline.
A few hours after our return home from the drive through the Ozarks I received an email message from Andy Gray (NHS Class of '67) with pictures of vibrant Fall scenes from Eureka Springs. Funny that we had both been out snapping up images of pulchritudinous scenes at similar times, but watching the leaves change from green to orange or red or yellow is a favored past time of all who love nature's artistry. Thanks for sharing some unforgettable moments in time, Andy.
Right after our last time together in the imagination of the Miles' Files the Newport High School Class of 1970 held its 35th Reunion at the Iron Mountain train depot on Front Street in downtown Newport. It was the first time I have attended an event at the depot since it was refurbished. Simply entering the depot brought back unforgettable memories of the few times I traveled by train from this very place with my father. Of course the Reunion was another unforgettable experience in my personal annals. Reminiscing and laughing with friends is cause for my happiness barometer to reach its peak. The night and day before the Reunion as well as the morning after saw more intimate gatherings of long time friends where several unforgettable conversations took place. Seeing Suzi Babb Baxter for the first time in more than thirty-five years amidst the hugs and kisses was a real treat. Suzi, Joy Stanfield, Ann Gardner, Mary Wynne Parker, Gail Thaxton, Ruth Johnston, Kathy Spann, Donny Appleton, Clay Wright and I spent some time together on Friday night of the reunion weekend and giggled well into hours of the morning not seen in many years. On Saturday morning classmate Eddie Jones served as tour guide around the campus of Newport High for a hand full of us yearning to retrace some thirty-five year old footsteps. This group included Ruth Johnston, Kathy Spann, Gail Thaxton, Margaret Ann Gillihan, Mary Wynne Parker, Dinny Bullard, Donny Appleton, Clay Wright and me. Eddie opened several old doors and a few new ones off the hallways we once walked as well as off those built since our last hoorah as students at NHS. We all relived times in the classrooms of Kate Rogers, Virginia Umsted Castleberry, Ima Jean Paige, Betty Newell, Butch Duncan, Lena Baker, Sally Molleston, Almarie Carr, Gerri Wiggins, Raymond Massey, Mary Helen Duckworth, Zora Reid, Irene Artymowski, Gloria Holden, Lynette Miller and many others. Thanks to Eddie for leading our jaunt down memory lane and to all those teachers past who influenced who we have become.
The Reunion itself was everything a reunion is supposed to be . . . Fun! Our Class of 1970 is especially blessed with dedicated caring classmates who remain close to the kennel. This year the scheming committee was led by Becky Cathey. She was ably supported by Ann Gardner, Margaret Ann Gillihan, Shairon Haigwood, Jamie Hopkins, Linda Burris, Joy Stanfield, Marion "Cotton" Mullins, Mike Brand, Kenny Thaxton, Buddy Rutledge and Larry Lewallen. It is certain I have overlooked someone who helped put the party together, so I thank the unknown as well as those mentioned (especially Becky) for a reunion well done. Unforgettable! In addition to about sixty of our classmates we were joined by several members of the Classes of 1969 and 1971. Along with those from the Class of 1970 deserving of accolades for organizing such a fine and fun affair, I wish to express my deep appreciation to Bobby Gray (Class of '69) who personally produced a video CD comprised of still pictures of present day Newport scenes accompanied by a soundtrack of late '60s music. Some of the scenes depicted in the video were of houses where our friends once lived and of noteworthy places where we gathered for fun and games. It is a truly neat production entitled "Bridges Back." If you would like to know more about its availability, contact me at your convenience. Thank you Bobby Gray!!! A good time was had by all on this night of nights. I stayed out a bit late that evening with Gene Bennett, Mike Tucker and Rickey Harris, familiar names from late nights long ago. The next morning Mary Wynne Parker, Ruth Johnston, Clay Wright, David Sibley and I attended church together at First United Methodist just as we did so very often from our toddler through teenaged years. Classmate Freeman Travis was the liturgist at this Sunday morning worship service which was especially nice for all of us. Ruth, Mary Wynne, David and I were joined by Ann Gardner and Kathy Spann for lunch at Sissy Hurley Sanborn's prior to going our separate ways one more time. Thanks to Sissy for her generous hospitality.
Our class appears to enjoy a particular closeness of heart and soul. As with all relationships the closeness we share is nurtured by partners like Becky Cathey and Cherry Lou Smith who are the gluesticks of the NHS Class of 1970. I am thankful for their spirit and for their enthusiastic energy in keeping us together. This year marked the fourth time in the past six years we have gathered for a class reunion thanks in large measure to the class members who still live in Newport. For them I am grateful. Each one is unforgettable. We are not unique in our love for one another. I know the classes of 1960 and 1965 have enjoyed fun filled milestone reunions this summer and the Class of 1975 will be gathering for their 30th next month. If you are a member of the Class of 1975 you should visit the bulletin board on the NHS alumni website at www.nhsalumni.net. Details and contacts can be found there. Check it out!
Unforgettable in every way
And forever more, that's how you'll stay
That's why it's incredible
That someone so unforgettable
Thinks that I am unforgettable too
That "someone" who thinks us unforgettable is our hometown of Newport. I can feel the caring of its people each time I return. At this recent reunion of my high school mates I was able to sneak in brief visits with the parents of friends Gail Thaxton, Clay Wright, Ruth Johnston, Ann Gardner, John and Bruce Pennington as well as with former neighbor and wonderful friend Margaret Van Dyke. These visits ground my existence and nourish the roots of my being. As time passes so too do people. Since we gathered to celebrate our long time friendships on the reunion weekend, Ruth Johnston's father David L. Johnston passed from this life. David L. is among the unforgettable ones encountered on my life's journey. Not only was he the father of one of my childhood friends he was a genuine leader in my church and in the community in the years of my youth. In the early 1980s when I returned to Newport after being away for a while, David L. was a mentor in my job at First State Bank where he served on the board of directors and from which he had retired. I will miss conversation with him. I am equally saddened to learn that littermate Kathy Woodruff's father and littermate Roger Pearce's mother passed from life this summer. (These losses are sure to have been doubly hard on Kathy since she is married to Roger's brother Michael.) Classmate Rick Brown recently lost to death his younger brother Nick who many of you will remember as a fun loving, free spirited kid. I know all of you join me in holding Ruth, Kathy, Roger and Rick close in thought and comforting prayer. Two other "old" Hounds who are regular correspondents with the Miles' Files also witnessed the passing of loved ones last month. Joe Peters (Class of '68) and his wife Carol lost their 21 year old son Cody in a tragic shooting incident. A week later Bobbie Blanton Soth (Class of '62) lost her husband Terry at the all too young age of 61. I always appreciate hearing from Bobbie and from Joe and mourn their heart breaking losses from afar. I reach out to them in prayer as I know all of you do. When friends lose "unforgettable" ones that is what we do.
And then my own beloved uncle Tom Meacham, my mother's sole surviving brother, passed away in early October after an extended hospital stay in Jonesboro. He was 72. I was honored to have been a pall bearer along with a half dozen of my cousins. In another time Uncle Tom had carried all of us upon his shoulders in playful romps. It was fitting that we should carry him on his final carefree trek. My mother is the eighth of fourteen siblings. With Uncle Tom's passing, four now survive. Those four are my mother and her three younger sisters, Rhodell Bunch, Laura Hutton (Uncle Tom's twin) and Patsy Bowie Fyles. Life in the Meacham family amongst all the cousins is often like a large scale slap stick comedy. I guess you could say these family get togethers are much like class reunions. Unforgettable!
Thinking of comedic experiences, two other notable souls left this life in recent weeks. 1960's television icons Maxwell Smart and Gilligan, the principal charactes in "Get Smart" and "Gilligan's Island," have exited life's soundstage. When in junior high I looked upon Maxwell Smart (Don Adams in the real world) as one whose antics were ripe for imitation. "Would you believe" became a catch phrase for me and many other would be pranksters. And who would have envisioned his shoe phone being the forerunner of today's cell phone. The shoe phone was a bit more cumbersome to use, but no less annoying to those nearby the user. Bob Denver who we knew as Gilligan (and prior to that as Maynard G. Krebs, pal of Dobie Gillis) was another who captured our attention and brought us smiles in days when we were younger. I thank these two men for the laughter they brought me. Unforgettable!
Being the baseball fanatic that I am I would be remiss in not making note of another passing that has occurred in these past few weeks. With our favored St. Louis Cardinals getting ousted from post season play by Houston came the final game ever to be played in the second coming of Busch Stadium. The wrecking ball is swinging as these words fall from my fingertips. Some unforgettable moments in the presence of some unforgettable people took place within the confines of Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. The first major league ball games I attended were in the first Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsmen's Park). It was to that venue that my earliest train rides originating at the Iron Mountain depot in Newport took me and my dad. The first Busch Stadium gave way to a new Busch Stadium in 1966. The first game I saw in this second coming of Busch Stadium was just weeks after its opening at the 1966 All-Star game, an unforgettable experience about which I have told you in previous Miles' Files. My dad and I were accompanied to the '66 All-Star game by Doc Hawk and Jimbo Hardin. (The catfish dinner at our 35th Class Reunion was catered by Doc Hawk. It was held at the train station. Baseball games, train stations, life long friendship with Doc Hawk, unforgettable times with my dad . . . it just all seems to fall together, doesn't it?) Anyway, I digress. After forty years, the "new" Busch Stadium that delivered so many good times into my memory banks will be torn down in favor of a newer Busch Stadium scheduled to greet Cardinals fans on opening day 2006. I can't wait to see it. I'm sure more unforgettable moments await me there. My archival cigar boxes and such hold old ticket stubs and score cards from ball games attended at Busch Stadium and elsewhere. Besides those games attended with my dad, I can recount many unforgettable days at Busch. There is the one spent with Jim Reid Holden and Carl Cross at a Sunday afternoon double header with the Atlanta Braves in 1968, and the one with best college pal Keith Croft in 1975 when we watched the Big Red Machine from Cincinnati march to the pennant, and the rain delay in excess of three hours in a game also against Cincinnati in the late 1980s with Burton Ford, Bill Moss and Bill's son Beau, and then the first game attended with my oldest daughter Evelyn in the early 1990s with friends from Arkadelphia. Well, you get the picture. All are unforgettable.
Tomorrow is Halloween, the following day All Saint's Day. I'm taken back 22 years to this weekend. There was a Halloween masquerade party at the home of David and Christina Gray in Newport. I recall David greeting guests in the most unforgettable costume I have ever seen. He was a "flasher" dressed in a trench coat and wearing sneakers. He "flashed" each guest as he opened the door. I will leave what David had on underneath the trench coat to your imagination. I still laugh out loud each time I think of David's outrageous costume. I'm very appreciative for that moment of laughter. Later that same night while still at the party I received a phone call from Harris Hospital where my dad was a patient. I was dressed as the children's cartoon character Papa Smurf. I left immediately, arrived at the hospital room of my father, touched his hand. He took a final breath. His spirit left that room for another room in God's spacious house. We held his funeral service on All Saint's Day in First United Methodist Church in Newport. A moment in time. Unforgettable!
I bring us back to the present with lyrics from the last verse of "Autumn Leaves," another Nat King Cole song . . .
Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all
When autumn leaves start to fall
I'm thinking of taking another drive through the Ozark Mountains. I can see the rusted leaves falling from the trees and swirling up along the roadside as I motor by. Cool. Unforgettable! On this drive I'll be Miles from Nowhere. Guess I'll take my time . . .
joe
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