This may come as a surprise to many but I have no recollection of the Baccalaureate. The only memory I have of that day is that my aunt passed away. Was there family kerflubawoozie?* Did I not go? Did I go and my little mind was elsewhere? There is also a blank when it comes to Senior Night. I can think of a lot of things that could have happened during Senior Night with the Class of 64 that I would not put down in print. If anyone remembers anything about Senior Night, please feel free to fill in my blanks.
Much to my dismay the Class Day remains as a vivid memory. That was the day we all sat in the high school gym with parents in the bleachers while all the awards and scholarships were given out. Back in those days schools were not air conditioned especially ones that were verging on being sixty years old. It was going to be a warm afternoon in the high school gym.
Ah - the days of madras. I have noticed in the stores lately that it is making a return to popularity. I wonder if it still fades with the least amount of dampness? Since it was going to be a warm day and we had to wear our cap and gown I decided to wear my cool madras shorts. Even the thought of wearing shorts to school was forbidden, but who would know under the graduation robe? Everything would have been just fine if they had not called my name to come up to the stage and receive a certificate for my scholarship to Stephens College. Naturally there was a circle of many colors on the back of the robe almost an early tie-dye look. A quick exit from the gym after the program and a heavy foot on the car gas pedal prevented any teacher from catching me. By the next time I appeared in the graduation robe again I could bat my eyelashes when asked about the strange color from the day before and say "what?". It only took every cleaning agent my Mother could find and an evening of scrubbing (and the usual"what were you thinking" from her) to be rid of all of the strange color.
One event that was not listed on the Senior Week schedule was the Senior assembly which consisted of the program This Is Your Life B.L.Wertz. Mr. Wertz was our principal at Muskogee Central High School and was retiring with the graduation of our class. Hopefully he was retiring because he had been the principle since 1947 and not because he could not face another year with students like us. I wrote a story about Mr. Wertz and all of the great things he brought to our high school. You can read it by going to Senior Year II dated June 1st. It is well worth a look back to see what an outstanding job he did. At this assembly people who had graduated under his tutelage came back to visit and applaud him. It was one of the nicest things our class ever did.
Our Graduation took place at Indian Bowl, site of all the sports activities back then and is still used to this day. It took place on a beautiful evening with all of the stands filled. There were five hundred and two names on the insert in the program with the disclaimer that the list did not indicate all requirements of the students had been met for graduation. I think the talk was that four hundred and ninety nine actually did graduate. We had reached what we thought was the summit in learning and in growing up. Square graduation hats thrown in the air marked the freedom of twelve years of having to be in a certain place at a certain time and doing what we were told to do. Little did we know when we all thought we knew so much.
The big production number at the conclusion of the movie Grease is the song, We Will Always Be Together. I am not sure that was the thought of many of the new graduates. Some wanted to get as far away from Muskogee as they could. For others there was the excitement of going off to college or getting that first job. The boys had the threat of the draft hanging over their head. We had basically one summer to still be all together before we fanned out all over the country.
There was actually something very special about those twelve years that has taken me a lot of years to really understand. I have written a lot about high school in the last few weeks and fully realize that everyone does not remember those days with a lot of pleasant thoughts.
Growing up in the fifties and sixties was a lot more innocent than in later generations. Fun was hanging out at the local hamburger or hot dog place, sneaking people into the drive-in, the football games and the dances all under the supervision of parents who kept a watchful eye over us. But underneath all the laughter and the shenanigans there were all the insecurities, the desire to be liked and to fit in with all of our peers.
The great part of growing up in a pretty neat town, even though I cringed when that song about it first came out, is that ability to talk with my classmates after all these years as if a day had never passed since we all went our separate ways. There are not too many friends you make through out your life that you have so many shared memories with.
*Mary Poppins made up Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious so I made up kerflubawoozie. Mine is easier to spell!
No comments:
Post a Comment