LUNCH


Great pictures taken today at lunch never made the blog because of operator error. The folks in attendance, Gail...Lee.....Sharon.....WJ.....and Penny enjoyed a good feed at a ridiculously low price in a MHS run beanery next to the High School. We talked about the reunion, agreed to both meet again and invite all members of the class of 1966 to join us.
Again I am sorry today's pictures didn't turn out and promise next time I will hand the camera over to the nearest kid to assure quality photos!

PS
Just got this note from Jan about another meeting, read and respond if you wanta particpate.

Why don't we meet at Ruby T's on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 6 PM? Anyone who is interested can email me and I will make reservations. catteacher48@aol.com
I need to know by Tues. Sept. 19.

Jan

THE POEM


























Well, here is the poem, finally. It was tweaked a little to fit the
occasion, so next time we can actually add to it.









The Class Reunion

Every five years, as summertime nears,
An announcement arrives in the mail
A reunion is planned; it'll be really grand;
Make plans to attend without fail.

I'll never forget the first time we met;
We tried so hard to impress.
We drove fancy cars, smoked big cigars,
And wore our most elegant dress.

It was quite an affair; the whole class was there
It was held at the Officers Club.
We wined, and we dined, and we acted refined,
And everyone thought it was swell.

The men all conversed about who had been first
To achieve great fortune and fame.
Meanwhile, their spouses described their fine houses
And how beautiful their children became.

The homecoming queen, who once had been lean,
Now weighed in at one-sixty-six.
The jocks who were there had all lost their hair,
And the cheerleaders could no longer do kicks

No one had heard about the class nerd
Who'd guided a spacecraft to the moon;
Or poor little Jane, who's always been plain;
She married a shipping tycoon.

The boy we'd decreed "most apt to succeed"
Was serving ten years in the pen,
While the one voted "least", oh my gosh Ken's now a priest; (Abbott)
Just shows you can be wrong now and then.

They awarded a prize to one of the guys
Who seemed to have aged the least.
Another was given to the grad who had driven
The farthest to attend the feast.

They took a class picture, a curious mixture
Of beehives, mullets and wide ties,
Tall, short, or skinny, the style was the mini;
You never saw so many thighs.

At our next get-together, no one cared whether
They impressed their classmates or not.
The mood was informal, a whole lot more normal;
By this time we'd all gone to pot.

By the fortieth year, it was abundantly clear,
We were definitely over the hill.
Those who weren't dead had to crawl out of bed,
And be home in time for their pill.

And now I can't wait; they've set the date;
Our 45th is coming, I'm told.
It should be a ball, they've rented a hall
At the Shady Rest Home for the old.

Repairs have been made on my hearing aid;
My pacemaker's been turned up on high.
My wheelchair is oiled, and my teeth have been boiled;
And I've bought a new wig and glass eye.

I'm feeling quite hearty, and I'm ready to party
I'm gonna dance 'till dawn's early light.
It'll be lots of fun; But I just hope that there's one
Other person who can make it that night.

Author Unknown


THANKS BEVERLY

There were more than a few very special people who never walked that final walk to get their MHS diploma. As Herman said, Gene was one and as I said at the gathering, Emmet was another. Emmet stood up for me when I got married, went up to Chillhowee Lake more than a few times to ski and was never seen by anyone without a SMILE! I remember bumming a place for the night off of him in Atlanta and although it was a few years after MHS it was just like we were still hanging together as dork ass 17 year olds. Anyway, he is on a good path right now and I want all of us to hold him close as I do!

Here is a note I got from him last week, lord help if we could all be about a third as cool and NICE as this guy our nasty world would flat shine!




"Things here in the big city of Houston are doing great. On my last visit to MD Anderson my M-Protein level, which normally should be 0 and mine was at 5.6 with a goal of cutting that in half before the insurance would consider doing a stem cell transplant, well after several rounds of Chemo mine was lowered to .5, my doctor really couldn't explain it other than we know that prayer works. I meet with both my Myeloma and the transplant doctor on Sept 1 to firm up our plans. We will probably do the transplant the first part of October.
Thanks for the pictures from the reunion, it looks like a good time was had by all, really could have used some names to go along with some of the pictures, of course you are always the easy one to pick out. One of these days we might just surprise you in Tennessee. Wth our oldest daugher living in NJ with our only grandson, it might just call for a car trip up that way. Both daughters and family were here last weekend and we had Michael baptized and then it was my birthday so what more could a Dad ask for. It is tough having one in NJ and the other one in CA, at least we are half way.
I will keep you up to date with my happenings"

Be SURE to go to the next post after this one, both are new.
THANKS!






Actually, Walker, I enjoyed seeing the picture of your Mom and your DAWG!
I'm sad to report that our beloved Bichon, Dixie, died three weeks ago
today. She would have been 16 in October, and Buddy and I finally brought
ourselves to put her down because she had for some time been suffering from
a variety of physical problems (diabetes, arthritis, blindness, deafness,
skin problems, mental confusion - any of this sound familiar to any of
you?), and we knew that it just wasn't right to make her continue to be in
such distress.

Anyway, we had her cremated and then I went to the vet last Wednesday to
pick her up. Ran into an acquaintance there who was telling me his dog was
in for a checkup. "Well, I'm just here to pick up ashes today," I said.
"Really, what kind of dog is it?" he asked. "It's a dead dog!" I responded
emphatically to his dismay. Anybody out there know of a dog named "Ashes"?

Attached is a photo of Dixie (on the right) with our 8-year old
Lhasa-Maltese, Bamboo. After about a week of moping, Bamboo has fortunately
decided it is quite a good thing to have us both all to herself.
Ruthie




Also here is a note from Yvonne on the flag issue.


RIGHT ON
I wasn't able to attend the Reunion, but I must say that it upset me that
the time of our youth could not be looked on as the time of our
innocence. People can take any object and attach a bad or hurtful
meaning to it.
Yvonne


More on the next post, just scroll down.

Hi Class of 66!

Great IDEAS about future reunions are rolling in and to kick them off I included this picture of Laurel Valley Golf Course. Some of you will remember the old First Baptist days of Camp Laurel Lake? Well the Tree Huggers (bless their yellow hearts) talked the new owners of the area into opening the dam and creating a WET LAND (liberal speak for swamp) by draining the lake. No problem, the republicans just build a beautiful golf course (insecticides out the wazoo flowing minute by minute into the water supply of the swamp..Sorry wetlands) and filled the surrounding mountains with beautiful homes for rent.

We dashed up for a three day R&R this wkend and really had a nice time! If any of you wander back to the Mother Land (Murvle) consider Laurel valley as a place to relax!

Now about those suggestions..
Chip Sutton sent this great one, read it and send me a note at wjonair1@aol.com about your thoughts OK?

Thanks!







Dear Walker,
Due to my sometimes lack of computer knowledge where blogs are concerned, I tried posting comments about what Steve wrote and experienced no success. I am now responding this way, and hopefully, you'll be able to transfer this to your blog. Anyway, here goes my dissertation.

Steve, I do understand your position about the flag, and after talking with Herman the other day at the store, I feel the need to address the issue presented. Yes, I quite agree that as adults we need to move beyond the bias that our world is showing toward all races and not just the African American population. As part of the decorating committee for the reunion, I wanted to express my opinion and my views only. When we were discussing decorations for the reunion, to my knowledge, I don't recall the committee discussing sensitivity where the flag was concerned. If they did, I wasn't aware. However, our goal was to make the evening location (that Lee was so gracious to supply), a walk down memory lane and recalling a time when things were of a simpler nature. Yes, there are times when our society has gotten so complex that I yearn for those years in high school and maybe beyond. The committee wanted to provide as pleasant an evening as we could possibly arrange, not only for the returning out- of- town classmates, but in-town classmates as well. I guess from my perspective, I never gave the flag issue a thought, until I met Herman at the store and he related his displeasure to me. Then, upon reading your comments in Walker's blog, it became more aware that our lack of consideration was an issue. As one of the committee persons, I sincerely apologize for any displeasure or discomfort in our decoration arrangement. Your concerns are valid, but I do agree with Walker when he stated that the flag was part of our being there experience at Maryville, and nothing else. In addition to this, I would never try and hurt the classmates who were constantly reminded in our high school years, of bigotry that obviously some at Maryville dished out in an insensitive manner. Herman made me realize that if one of our classmates is upset with the lack of mature judgment on any level of planning the reunion, then we obviously didn't meet our goal of "pleasant environment" for all.

I also wanted to address one other thing that you mentioned, and please forgive my sensitive nature about this. When I was in the Air Force and returned from Vietnam, those of us who were there, certainly didn't experience a welcome home like the ladies and gentlemen who are coming from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other points around the world. Tragically, some veterans were not welcomed back into American society as has been the recent history. Throughout our history with war, beliefs caused great loss of life. Mind you, I don't totally agree with this position, but I certainly feel for those who gave their life in the defense of their ideas. God love them for whatever they fought and died for. During the Civil War, the flag was not just one dealing with racism for some, but stood for states' rights, and we just can't push our history under the rug and try to forget it. That being said, our own personal history is not meant to harm or hurt anyone. We deeply care about the modern perspectives and try to be sensitive to those around us.

Walker, as a suggestion for the fall, I think it would be nice for maybe a hayride around Cades Cove and dinner afterwards either at the Carriage House in Townsend, or one of the restaurants over in Pigeon Forge that could accommodate a large crowd. This is just a suggestion for people to consider. Thanks for allowing me to express my opinion and it was certainly good to see everyone who came to the reunion. God bless to each and everyone of you!

Kindest regards,

Chip

Brothers and sisters I am working like a field-hand trying to get you kids to send me some pictures, notes, thoughts or feelings that I can share with all of those wonderful people you spent a weekend in MURVLE just a few weeks back.

Because NONE of you have sent me a thing I have resorted to loading my 90 year old (she will be 91 in feb) MOM into my wives new SUV and hauling her down to the the river behind our home for some pictures. UP side is this is the river that some or all of you used to swim in at the Y and below. Down dang side is she and the dawg were missing EVERYONE LOVES RAYMOND on the TV, big show for those 88 and above. I am just saying that this great lady sacrificed her show and I snuk (is that a word) my wives Lexus out, to make these shots...all in hope that you guys would send me something back. You really DON'T wanta see my (pictures) and We ALL would love to see yours.

OK, now look on your hard drives and see if you have CHRISTMAS 1999 or whatever saved and send me the junk and I will post it!

Jan says she is working on a gathering in September, heck if I can get my life in line I will have one before that. We ALL had such a great time together the general censuses is we want to have another...but right now if you can send me a note about YOU or a picture about your fam we can keep this blog rocking.


Thanks

Walker Johnson