On behalf of all Reunion Committee members, let me welcome you and thank you for coming to this 40th reunion of our graduation from Murrah High School. We are tonight, and forever will be the “Class of ‘63”.
Let’s look at how this came to be—for many of us it began in the fall of 1957 as we came together in the seventh grade at Bailey Junior High. We came from Duling, Boyd, Power, Watkins and other elementary schools in the city—a few of us came to Bailey from other towns, but we were all together as seventh-graders—wide-eyed and a little scared and a little nervous. From these small elementaries we were thrust together and began to form the bonds of friendships that have continued and are manifest in this gathering tonight—some 46 years later!
Kids that continued to move to Jackson swelled our ranks and along the way we lost a few mates as families moved away, but the core remained and we grew together as junior high years rolled by—rolled by until the summer of ’59 when our class was split apart by the opening of Chastain Junior High. We were separated for one school year but in the fall of 1960 we came together once again as a class reunited and whole, again.
As we entered the halls of Murrah, together again, we welcomed even more newcomers that would be with us for the next three years, or at least for some of those years—some that moved away have chosen to remain a part of the Class of ’63 and we welcome them back to this class gathering tonight.
Tenth-Graders! -What a collision of mixed feelings and thoughts—the girls were surrounded by “the older guys” and the boys were hopeful and dreamy about the “older girls” I must say the girls fared better on this front.
For the guys there was a certain amount of anxiety about the long-steeped tradition of hazing from the older guys—well, it wasn’t so bad and was, after all, one of the rights of passage.
There were some real considerations---the teachers and the classes. We had heard about who was “hard” and tough and we anxiously awaited our subject and class assignments. Little did we know that we had just entered a hot house of learning and excellence that was overseen by a professional and accomplished administration and faculty. A faculty that was, by today’s popular jargon, a graying faculty—I think the term is misapplied in this case—I prefer to think of them as a caring faculty—a dedicated faculty-and in some cases, a loving faculty. By that I don’t mean that they loved us individually, but rather they loved what we represented—the generation of the future—America’s youth- the ones that would take over leadership roles in business, government, medicine, the law, politics and perhaps the most important job of all—parenting the next generation. In short they loved what they were doing—preparing us for the future.
And prepare us they did! When you have a chance to read your re-issued RESUME read between the lines and you’ll see how our classmates have excelled as business men and women, teachers, educators, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs and the list goes on. As a class we have done well—we have impacted the lives of thousands of others—we have made life better in the many communities we live in and importantly we have raised a new generation of children who are taught in the right way to be good citizens and human beings and to go on to lead they way in continuing excellence in the careers they pursue and the neighborhoods they live in.
We owe a great debt to the coaches and teachers we had the privilege of learning under at Murrah High School. I was blessed by the gene pool (which we did not know about at the time) by above average size—for that time, so I played football. Jack Carlisle came to Murrah after we did, and he introduced a whole new wave of athletic excellence. We thought Coach Carlisle was teaching us how to block, tackle, kick, run and hit; and he was—the teaching paid off in many Mustang victories. In truth, he was teaching us about life and how to excel.
Other faculty members taught us the basics of course material but they also gave us a greater thirst for knowledge and excellence—we were being prepared for the next level-college and university life—career decisions and the stuff that life is made of. How can we ever thank these people for the impact on our lives?
We have heard a lot of good old music form the 60’s during this week-end, and we’ll hear more later. Why has the committee made the music such a part of this celebration? Very simple answer—the music formed the backdrop for our teen years. Rock’N’Roll had its beginnings in 1954 and by 1955 was a national phenomenon, and guess what? There we were in the front row as this music grew and flourished. So a lot of our life milestones were reached while this music played on our jukeboxes, record players and radios.
We experienced many of our firsts with the music always in the background—first kiss-first real puppy love—first solo drives and first single date. For those few and very fortunate—that first car of our own! To expand the list first prom, movie date and first beer at the Dutch Bar or Shamrock, or Walker’s and let’s not forget—The Cherokee. There were other personal firsts acted out to the music, but it is not our purpose here, tonight to expound on these…Your other firsts are yours to ponder, but the point is made—the music was an important part of our development and so it is reunited with us all on this occasion.
As we celebrate class achievements and memories we must also note that as a class, we are diminished by the loss of some of our classmates as you saw in the video presentation. As we looked on those faces we each had recall of good friends and good times shared. But those people have gone on before us and we are left with the memory of what they meant to each of us and how we fondly remember them.
As I read through all of the mini-biographies you submitted for the RESUME, I was struck by how we are diminished in other ways. Many of us have lost mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, spouses and the most painful loss of all—our children. So as we reflect over the past this week-end, thoughts of these others come to us. For many of us, we have now become the highest living limb on the family tree and thus have assumed a different mantle of leadership and position.
We are also dimished by the loss of many of our beloved teachers and coaches. We are most pleased to be joined by these individuals who taught us and influenced our lives. We may never be able to repay what you gave us, but we are happy to acknowledge the roles you played and the influences wrought. Please join me in thanking these life-lesson teachers.
A wise and seasoned head master told me once that when the academic excellence cup at a high school runneth over, then the benefits expand into the other components of school life and learning. The spill over impacts the arts and athletics, the drama and the music—all fabrics that weave together to form a complete and enriched experience.
All of us are certainly the beneficiaries of the over-filled cup of excellence that we were fortunate to drink from at Murrah High School.
As suddenly we were thrust together at Bailey in 1957, it was time to say good bye and scatter to all the points on the compass as our Murrah years came to a close in the late spring and early summer of 1963. And scatter we did-we live in 30 states, with one classmate in Canada and one in France, but the miles melted away for many of us as the call went out to gather once again to celebrate a period in our lives that was so crucial to the rest of our lives. Why do we come back? We are drawn to this place and time through our experiences, our friendships and memories of those wonderful years that went by so quickly, but were so super-charged with experiences and lessons.
So as we scatter again, thanks to the many people who have influenced, us taught us and prepared us. Thank you for once again being a part of the Class of ’63 and for coming back to celebrate the people and the times.
We are all enlarged and enriched by what we have experienced and learned. The young seedlings that we were entering the hot house at Murrah, have grown, matured, borne fruit and made the contributions that were expected…our challenge is to repeat the process for those behind us. May their lives and memories be as rich and full as ours.
Thank you, all----
Wallace