HOMECOMING 10/06/06

Mary Kathryn Van Patten James

I just called the principal's office at the high school. The Homecoming festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. and the game starts at 7:00 p.m. We will all want to be there in time for visiting and "grouping- up."

I am making a sign... ....Legal size, laminated, for 9 of us to hold. We need at least 9 people to show up! .... 1956 - 2006... each letter will be separate, so we will need to sit together and hold up our "card.".....Bring your camera.

I spoke with Jimmy Fortune at Bill Chambless' visitation on Tuesday night this week. He said he will be there wearing his SHS Football tie.

Homer and Margie Wilson said JoAnn Swain Gregory will be coming !

Spread the word... :)

I know my sister's class will be wearing red T-shirts.

I plan to wear a black turtle neck and a red jacket....

See you there. .... I have heard from some of you and know you will not be able to attend this....

One of These Days This Might Be You!

One of these days ............

When an old lady died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital nearDundee, Scotland,
it was believed that she had nothing left of any value.

Later, when the nurses were going through her meager possessions,they found this poem.
Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.

One nurse took her copy to Ireland. The old lady's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the North Ireland Association for Mental Health.

A slide presentation has also been made based on her simple, but eloquent, poem. And this little old Scottish lady, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this "anonymous" poem .

Crabby Old Woman

What do you see, nurses ........What do you see?
What are you thinking ..........When you're looking at me?
A crabby old woman .............Not very wise,
Uncertain of habit,............ With faraway eyes?

Who dribbles her food ..........And makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice, ....."I do wish you' d try!"
Who seems not to notice ........The things that you do,
And forever is losing ..........A stocking or shoe?

Who, resisting or not, ..........Lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, .......The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking? ...Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse,.......You're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am ..........As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding,........ As I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of ten ........With a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters ...........Who love one another.

A young girl of sixteen .........With wings on her feet
Dreaming that soon now . ........A lover she'll meet.
A bride soon at ! twenty, .........My heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows ...........That I promised to keep.

At twenty-five now, ............ I have young of my own,
Who need me to guide ........... And a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty, ..............My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other ............With ties that should last.

At forty, my young sons ......... Have grown and are gone,
But my man's beside me ...........To see I don't mourn
At fifty once more, ..............Babies play round my knee,
Again we know children, .........My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me, ...........My husband is dead,
I look at the future, ............I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing .....Young of their own,
And I think of the years ........And the love that I've known.

I'm now an old woman..............And nature is cruel;
Tis jest to make old age .........Look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles, .......... Grace and vigor depart,
There is now a stone ............ Where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass ..... A young girl still dwells,
And now and again, ...............My battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, ............ I remember the pain,
And I'm loving and living .......Life over again.

I think of the years .............All too few, gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact ........That nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people, .......Open and see,
Not a crabby old woman; .........Look closer....see, ME !!

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person
who you might otherwise brush aside without looking at the
young soul within..........we will all, one day, be there, too!

Make a difference in an older life, this poem is for you.

BUSINESS IS BOOMING

Tom Pry

Just a brief business note ...

Once upon a time, back in the 50s, the SHS crowd frequently hung out at Dairy Queen, you know, just east of The Park.

Then they built a new one out on East Race and, not long thereafter, a Domino's Pizza moved into the building. Then Domino's disappeared and, today, our old hangout is a pawn shop.

As for Domino's, they just disappeared ... until a few short months ago, when a new one popped up in a strip mall on the Race Street end of the Wal-Mart parking lot.

With Mazzio's, Little Caesar's, Pizza Pro and others here in town, you'd think we didn't need another pizza joint. Not true. A weekend ago, Domino's had to lock the door and stop answering the phone. No, they weren't out of business. It was just that, it being a Harding weekend, they had over a hundred orders in the pipeline and decided they couldn't take any more orders for the evening.

Thought you'd like to know that SOMEONE has got money for pizza here in Searcy.

ALL’S FAIR

Tom Pry

Editor Emeritus

For the benefit of you out-of-towners, a brief photographic look the 2006 White County Fair, which wrapped up its run last night. It was the last one under the long-time tutelage of Buddy Phillips (Class of 54, if I remember correctly).

The show actually got off to a bad start. First, it had been decided to move the horse show to the Saturday evening preceding the Fair proper. That meant a small audience, because the equine event was poorly publicized (and poo on you, whoever the broad was from the Saddle Club who called me at home and bitched me out for mentioning that sad fact in print).

But they held the horse show and the crowd, while small, was very vocal, especially about the selection of 16-year-old Suzanne Snyder of Rose Bud as the horse show queen.

Then came Monday, the official Fair kick-off day. It rained. Boy, did it rain, as a cold front came through dumping not just a lot of water, but lightning and thunder to go with it.

Finally, fifteen minutes before retiring County Judge Bob Parish was to lead off the pack as Honorary Grand Marshal, Buddy Phillips called it off. The lightning alone would’ve been enough, said Phillips later, but there was also danger to the horses from the wet streets.

“I’ve been involved in the Fair since 1952,” said Phillips. “This is only the second time I can remember weather canceling the parade. The other time,” he muses, “was in the sixties, when the Sheriff’s office had that great 25-member Mounted Posse. Two of the Posse members, the late Tom Henderson and Wallace Bell, walked their horses the entire length of the parade, in the driving rain, just the two of them, just to say that there HAD been a parade.”

When asked if the Parade would be re-scheduled, Phillips said, “Yep. In 2007.”

By six o’clock, though, the skies had cleared, and it was time for the Fair Queen Beauty Contest. AETN/KSSN personality Chuck Dovish emceed and, when the smoke cleared, here were the winners:

(Left to right, Queen Callie Mahoney of Beebe, 1^st Runner-up Anna-Marie Coats, also of Beebe, 2^nd Runner-up Kristalee Spurlin of Searcy (who, incidentally, is a homeschooler).

Wonderful weather the rest of the week. Even the temperature managed to stay mostly in the 80s for the two-night rodeo, the bull-riding competition, the concerts, the demolition derby, the buildings full of exhibits, and all the stock judging.

Sorry you couldn’t be here for it. Me, I’m going to go soak my feet and try not to think of all that walking next year.

SOME NAMES GO MISSING

For those of you readers who live far from the environs of Searcy, there’ll be a couple of well-known names missing the next time you come to town: Bolton-Vaughan and (gasp!) Truman Baker.

The set-up comes in a copyrighted story in Sunday’s Citizen, in part:

It’s not exactly the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys, but a trio of Searcy auto dealerships recently experienced the equivalent of an NFL three-team trade.

The principal players in the deal are Gregg Orr, Jim Tarkington and the soon-to-be-retired Roger Vaughan.

Orr, a car dealer based in Texarkana, purchased the established Searcy dealerships Truman Baker Chevrolet/Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep and Bolton-Vaughan GMC/Cadillac.

In the process, Orr moved his existing Toyota dealership in Searcy from its headquarters on Race Avenue to the former Bolton-Vaughan lot on Poplar Street. Orr also hung his shingle across the Hwy 67/167 expressway at the Truman Baker lot.

Jim Tarkington , formerly of Truman-Baker, moved into the spot vacated by Orr on Race Street to form Tarkington Lincoln/Mercury/Mazda.

More of our past is gone.

Tom Pry

REUNION: Class of 86

Stacy (Pemberton) Wright is asking her classmates to contact her at boydstacylauren@msn.com and make plans to attend the class of 86 reunion on 9-22-06 / 9-23-06.