CLASS OF 56 - THE BIG 50TH - Part One

Well, the big day finally came on July 1st, 2006: the 50th Reunion of the SHS Class of 1956. We held the do at Eagleview, just north of Searcy, on top of a hill with a great view from the back porch.

This was the front entrance to the party room. You'll note what looks like the remains of a body in one of the rocking chairs on the porch. That's not what it was.

Someone had preserved a pair of band coveralls from its 1952 trip to Dallas, where the band performed in the Cotton Bowl. Have no idea whose overalls they are .. but I'll bet you they don't fit the owner now. (LATE NOTE: Mary Kay tells me those belong to Larry James).

Herewith are some of the photos of the people present at the afternoon "all hands" get-together. They're in no particular order and, while I've named people, I'll also bet I get some of the names wrong, so check in later for both corrections, and more pictures. It's going to take several days to get them all posted ... and I don't even have Mary Kathryn Van Patten James' pictures yet!

Billy Barger (Class of '55, as I recall), there with his wife, Pat Merritt Barger.

When Tommy Henderson, ex-class clown and sort-of bad boy, reformed, he did it with a vengeance: he's not only been a minister most of his adult life, but he's a Bishop of his church. And I'm happy to report, he's got his sense of humor back.

Speaking of wild and crazy, that's Clifton Carson on the left, having a chat with Judy Palmer.

From Mary Kay:

Judy Owens Palmer is the widow of Darrel Max Palmer, who died in 2000. She attended school in Searcy for the first, second and third grade with the SHS graduating class of 1956; her cousin is the late Joe Phillips of the 1956 SHS class. She lived in the house on Race Street that is now “Midnight Oil.” She attended ASTC in Conway, where Darrel had also enrolled. Judy and Marianne Bennett were roommates their freshman year at ASTC.

Judy would visit her grandmother, Mrs. Phillips, who lived in one of the rock houses beside Dandy Don’s at Race Street and Highway 16. Her Grandmother rented the other two rock houses. If one was empty during Judy’s summer visits, she would invite a bunch of us over for a bunking party in the vacant house. This was during our teen-age years when we attended dances on Saturday nights at the Legion Hut. Judy met Darrel and other Searcy guys during her summer visits to Searcy.

And let's not forget Don Fulmer, either.

MORE COMING UP!