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| 30 year class reunion 2001 |
I have always been in a hurry, just like my dad, but one of my deepest regrets is that I did not spend enough time with the class of '71 and '72. There were 56 classmates with a mix of the Grainola Grubbers who joined in the 9th grade plus Burbank and Kaw City who joined in the 10th.
Well what I can do is tell you some of the great stories of this class like the time Henry and Ester Vaden got lost and we all got out of school to help find them. Where else could you get out of school and ride horses looking for people most of the day. We had a lot of fun and Henry and Ester were found. Probably the funniest thing about that was Ester left Henry with the pickup and she took off walking with her prized posessions. She carried a bucket with a pop bottle, some money, and whatever else she thought was valuble as she walked for miles.
How about the time some of us got a coyote that was dead and ran it up the flagpole. That made the paper and I think the principal at the time was Louis Morris who thought it was funny. Today some liberal would be screaming about how crude it was. People just need to lighten up.
Then there was the time Jody Price was riding his new motor cycle and Johnny Payne, the One Armed Bandit, roped him off the bike. That should not be funny but since Jody was alright it was hilarious. It is still hard to believe Johnny got away with that.
Then there was the time in Pablo's Algebra class someone stole the grade book and changed the grades. Or what about the time someone cut out a hand signal (the finger) and put it on an overhead projector and Pablo got so mad. Time for confessions?
Joe Center and Pee Wee (the two smallest guys in the class but the fastest) kept things going all the time like the time in Mrs. Dozer's class when they took some Garret Sweet Snuff and threw it into the air. It smelled like someone had some serious gas and Mrs. Dozer cleared the room.
How about study hall when someone named Johnny put water into Mr. Morris's chair so that when he came back into the room we would all get a big laugh. The only problem was that when he got back he must have known and he had Johnny come up and sit in the chair. He got pretty mad about that because I think he was assuming there would be a confession before Johnny sat in the water. And then there was the time there was a green looking water on the floor which looked like urine. Or the time the poem was written on the board which described Mr. Morris, "No One speaks until the Beak Speaks". Mr. Morris was actually a very nice guy and we were just especially ornery. Mr. Morris worked at Grainola before coming to Shidler and I would have to say we drove him nuts there as well. Hugh Jones and I had a contest to shoot pencils at the ceiling and try to stick them there. We were not caught but Mr. Morris did not appreciate our competitive nature. Spit wads (paper chewed up and real juicy) were popular then and we stuck a lot of those to the ceiling in Shidler and Grainola. The strange thing about this is I really liked him and he was an excellent teacher and mentor. He loved Foraker and I remember going to his funeral which was out on the prairie in an old cementary near Foraker and the Methodist Church.
Steve Chrisco seemed to be able to do about anything. He could play the guitar and was a pretty good athlete but he would stir things up rather often especially the girls. I think he just enjoyed getting them mad at him. Like the time he was screaming obscenities at the girls in downtown Shidler just to irritate them. I am not going to say anything about how he drank or smoked.
One of my favorite stories which I think no one really knows but it meant a lot to me. That was when I got to Shidler I had always been very tall and heavy for my age and the smaller guys always wanted to fight me. Rick Cottle knew that I was just not a fighter and when one of those little guys came to a ballgame and wanted to fight me he stepped in and offered to let them fight someone their size. They did and I think that was the last time I had someone try to get me in a fight.
Now I will say there was one fight but it was prior to that one. Jay Snow and I wound up in a fight because Pee Wee kept going back and forth telling each of us what the other one said. None of it was true but Pee Wee thought it was funny. Well Jay and I scheduled a fight at David Howell's yard during lunch. I think the entire school came out for the festivities. Again I was bigger but Jay was faster. I kept throwing him on the ground and I hit him once. I don't remember him hitting me but he came at me over and over again. Finally once when I had him on the ground I said, "this is stupid. Why don't we quit". We went inside and David fixed us sandwiches and Jay became one of my favorite friends.
I know I made really good grades and better than most in school but I knew that our class was one of the smartest bunches around. A.J. Jacques, Rick Hill, Jon Tanny Olsen, Jim Heath, Pat Nelson, Jim Miller, Frank Ball, Linda Harding, Deborah Himbury, Cindy Hustead and many more were ever bit as smart or smarter than me. Jon Tanny could fix anything and Rick Hill and Jim Heath were the wittiest folks I ever knew. A.J. was always a class guy and a leader at an early age. Pat laughed at everyone's jokes and had to be the nicest guy ever. Linda was off the charts smart while Deborah was the top scholar in the class because she was a more serious student than everyone else. Cindy could read better than anyone I knew and I always thought she should have been an actress. Come to think of it she was because she could get out of trouble so fast. I am not going to mention when she borrowed the school car in Stillwater during a band trip.
Marilyn Bivins made me laugh the hardest and she laughed all the time. Jenny Eden was just dang pretty and she never got over it because she gets prettier all the time. Marsha Cannon was the first one in our class to pass away and she was quiet as a mouse and not to bad to look at ( that means she was pretty). As far as I can tell Fran Kelsey and Shelly Rowe were the sweetest persons in the class while Jeri Rash was probably the ring leader for the girls. Jeri was just always easy to get along with as was Shirley and Shelly and Kathy. I could go on and on about this group of folks but they all impacted my life in a positive way.
I think our class worked harder and played harder but got along better than almost any class I ever knew. We even let a few lower classmates run around with us like Dave Jacques and Dale Head and Jimmy Miller and more.
Well what do you learn when you grow up with these folks:
Good friends have your back covered, kinda like a marine (Hugh Allen Jones)
People are more important than animals, if you don't agree, get over it.
My Mom told me what is on the inside is more important than the outside , she was right
Don't judge folks by their looks but by their actions
Thanks for your time,
gary
http://thepioneerman.blogspot.com
glolson21@gmail.com
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