Class of '53 Roster

51st Year - 2004 Class Reunion

by Donald Roark

The Class of 1953 from Huntingdon High School held our reunion (as in most previous years) at the Pin Oak Lodge in Natchez Trace. This two-day event was held on Friday and Saturday, April 16 and 17, 2004.

Attendance totals were as follows:

Friday

Classmates      12

Spouses/friends   8

Total:   20


Saturday

Classmates     26

Spouses/friends   16

Total:   42

One very interesting statistic: There were 21 of our 31 surviving **Class Graduates** in attendance.

The weather was fantastic - the food was good AND expensive - the fun was terrific - the LOVE was awesome. Also, I might add: The ClassGALS looked marvelous - the ClassGUYS looked ug ... ugg ... uggg ... Uh! Err! ... Ahmmmm! ... Well! ... the ClassGUYS just looked!!!!!

Most of us found Pin Oak Lodge to be very hospitable and the lodge staff had arranged for us to use the "Natchez Room" (the conference room across the hall from the restaurant) for our "hospitality" center.

On Friday of this first day of our reunion, most of us began arriving about mid-afternoon. Immediately, the majority of us began to congregate in groups from small to medium (in number) in order to get re-acquainted or to "catch-up" on details that had been missed for the past few days to a year or more of absence. Then, at 6:00 o'clock PM, most of us ate dinner together in the Pin Oak Restaurant.

After our evening meal on Friday, we assembled in the "Natchez Room" and enjoyed our evening together. Harvey (Leon) Turner brought a TV and DVD along with a disc of last years reunion. The disc also contained some clips from the outing (Barbeque) that the Class had enjoyed at the Turner's home - back in fall (of 2003).

Around 9:00 PM that Friday evening, most of us called it a day ... Nay! a wonderful day ... with about half staying at the Pin Oak Lodge - while the other half went home for the night or reportedly went to visit other relatives/friends - until the next day.

Those who stayed - overnight on Friday, at the Pin Oak Lodge - entertained themselves and/or each other on Saturday - during the earlier part of the day. Then about mid-afternoon on Saturday, most of us classmates and spouses began to drift back into the lobby of the Pin Oak Lodge just as had happened on Friday, finally making our way to the "Natchez Room" again. Most of us stayed in this vicinity for the remainder of Saturday afternoon.

So ... After at least an hour or two of socializing in the Natchez Room, the "Blessing over the food" was asked and then all of us proceeded across the hall to the restaurant. This was approximately 6:00 PM.

After obtaining truckloads ... Er! Excuse me! ... plateloads of food along with side items of salads and deserts, all of us returned to the Natchez Room for a very delicious evening meal and several hearty but polite "circles (or tables) of conversation". After every last one of us was finished eating, our President, James "Butch" Reams called the class to order for a short business meeting.

Our meeting went along very smoothly with the following being a synopsis of the order of business:

Reports regarding various individuals and events were made as follows:

Butch announced that next year's (2005 and our 52nd) reunion will return to Pin Oak Lodge on April 15th and 16th.

Mavis (Barnes) Johnson reported that Gene Shanks was recovering nicely, and Joyce (Conyers) is doing really good while taking good care of him.

Nancy (Hilliard) Fullerton reported that Mrs. Thompson was doing fine but did not feel like coming to our reunion.

Donald (Roark) and Mavis (Barnes) jointly announced that Mrs. Martha Thompson's birthday was soon (in this month of April). Everyone signed a card for her. Nancy (Hilliard) will find out the exact date of her birthday and forward the card on to Mrs. Thompson to arrive on/about the approximate date.

Then during the business portion of our Sat. night Class Meeting:

Roy (Smith) brought to our attention that - just as we do with sending flowers in remembrance of a classmate who dies - flowers should also be sent from the Class upon the death of any classmate's spouse. A motion was made to that effect ... it was voted upon and approved.

George Parish spoke to the class about the need for most every member to update his/her bio. George pointed out that some or most of the bios had not been updated in about four years. He encouraged each one to check their own bio and update it where needed. Also, for those for whom he had not ever received a bio, he asked that we send them to him. (Please Note: Our entire class would love to read your bio and love to be kept informed about the important happenings in your life. George has done a remarkable job on our bios. The booklet which he prepared - from the very beginning, is outstanding. So, we, as a class, would like to see all of our bios kept current.) Please send updates or "completely new ones" to George at his address, either snail mail or email. You will find both of these addresses for George on the "Correspond with Classmates" link that you'll find on the Class web site.

The Turners invited everyone to their house for another cookout this coming fall on Saturday, October 9th. Time will be announced as plans are finalized. (SideNOTE: Maybe we will get to enjoy some of that good ol' "Harvey Turner" barbeque again - just like last fall .......)

Larry (Williams) suggested that: For our next scheduled "Quarterly Class Get Together" (June 26, 2004), we should go to Montgomery Bell State Park Restaurant and encourage our Nashville classmates to join us there for lunch at 12:00 noon. This was agreed upon and plans call for us to congregate at the restaurant at 11:00 AM in order to do a little socializing first ... and also, in that way, all of us can eat together for our noon meal.

Donald (Roark) suggested that - since our Class meets for what we call this "Quarterly Get Together" - once each quarter of the year - and that it is normally on a Saturday - then perhaps we should set a particular Saturday during each quarter of the year to meet for THESE Quarterlies. Doing this should make it easier to remember - since all of us need as much "help" as we can get to remember routines - such as this. So, here are the possibilities for coordinating the weeks in the quarter with a particular quarter of the year. For instance, we could set it per some pattern such as the following examples:

1st Sat. of each 1st month of each quarter ...
[Next year during 2005, (if this one were selected),
the corresponding 1st Saturday's would fall on:
Jan. 1st
April 2nd
July 2nd
Oct. 1st]
Or ... 2nd Sat. of each 2nd month of each quarter ...
[Next year during 2005, (if this one were selected),
the corresponding 2nd Saturday's would fall on:
Feb. 12th
May 14th
August 13th
Nov. 12th]
Or ... 3rd Sat. of each 3rd month of each quarter ...
[Next year during 2005, (if this one were selected),
the corresponding 3rd Saturday's would fall on:
March 19th
June 18th
Sept. 17th
Dec. 17th]
Please consider this or some other algorithm that will help us remember - during our "senior moments" ... **sigh**. It could even be a combination such as 3-2 meaning the 3th month of each quarter, 2nd Saturday; or 3-1 (3rd month, 1st Sat.) or 2-4 (2nd month, 4th Sat.). Of course, it would not be "written in stone" and could be changed at any time that the group felt that there was a conflict on a particular date. However, unless a change was agreed to beforetime, then we'd all begin to get used to our "Class Quarterly" being a certain combination of month/week(or Sat). Hopefully this combination would begin to become so special to us that it would be easy for all of us to remember.
We will discuss this and then, perhaps, we can set some sort of pattern - during our Quarterly at Montgomery Bell State Park Restaurant on June 26th

After the meeting adjourned, Harvey (Turner) auctioned off the DVD disc (of previous reunions) that we had viewed on Friday night. Afterwards, everyone mingled and enjoyed the camaraderie that this class always finds - when together.