New Beginnings

     Looks like we are closing in on the finishing line, as the class of 1975 entered their last year of high school. It had been a long journey since entering school in 1963-64 to now. We were all excited. Graduating meant a rite of passage, freedom to make your own choices, some would choose college, some would go into the workforce and many like myself were really unsure of what we wanted to do.  1974 was the year that Patricia Hurst was kidnapped, President Nixon resigned. We had to watch it on TV, “because it was history being made” is what my parents said. At my house, any time the President came on TV we had to watch it. It didn’t matter if he was Democrat or Republican, he was the President, and so we watched. Then we had President Gerald Ford and, we all followed Susan Ford, because she was our age.  There were articles in Seventeen magazines that talked about taking a year off before entering college. Some took the year off. In my case it was six month...

     1973 was a good year for me. I had learned the halls of Woodrow Wilson High School and my 10th grade year was successful. September 1973 started with a crazy man on radio station WWNR. Larry Dale, he made mornings fun. He had good music, humor and SES “School Emergency Service” that is where you listened for school cancellations.  Larry Dale and Dan Blanney gave me my first break in radio in 1977. As a young impressionable 15 year old I really enjoyed Larry Dale; “This is Larry Dale saying this is Larry Dale”. I am not sure what prompted me to want to be in radio. My dad wanted me to go into nursing. His logic was that way I would always have a job; I should have listened.  What I listened to was Harry Chapin sing “I am the morning DJ at WOLD.”.      Halfway through the tenth grade, I wanted to try something new. I wore wigs from eighth grade until my senior year of high school, when I finally said enough is enough. I am wearing my natural ...

     In September of 1972, the class of 1975 started high school. Back then, the powers that be passed what was called “The Uniform School Rule” which meant school started the day after Labor Day and was finished by the first week in June. I am sure people wish that ruling was in effect this year. Some of the people that we went to Junior High with moved away. Once again, we had to make the adjustment to learn how to go to school with people that were once considered rivals, when we were in junior high:  Park vs Beckley, Beckley vs Stratton, Stratton vs Park etc. East Beckley kids verses East Park kids, church rivals Mt. Zion vs New Hope.      We all now went to one school. There were two buses that ran in our neighborhood bus 117 which was the early bus and bus 110 that came around 7:00AM. That meant getting up at 6AM for me. This would be a trend for the next 35 years, getting up early to go to school or to go to work, I rode bus 110.  Whi...

The Wonder Years I was eleven years old at the time I entered Park Junior High School. I tried to act older than I was. Seventh grade was horrible for me, but as I got older I realized that seventh graders are horrible people. I remember once someone thought it would be funny to put in the school paper under the cutest couple section me and someone named Robert Marsh. I didn't even know Robert, much less like him. I'm sure he got teased a lot about this. I used to teach them in Sunday school, and I thought "did we act like that?"  Looking back, we did. I went to Park Junior High, the principal was Mr. Thomas Evans, who looked at me in his office and said “your mother was such a good student, why didn’t you take after her?” I was going through being 12 or 13 at the time. I got in lots of trouble that year. I couldn’t fit in with the popular kids, so I started hanging out with the trouble makers. I cut classes, and smarted off with teacher because they treated me ...

The Class of 1975 When I heard about our 40th Class reunion, I decided to go to this one, simply because it has been 40 years since high school and a lot of us didn’t make it to see the 40th reunion.  This became apparently clear as I remembered that call I received on Saturday December 8, 2012, telling me that Randy Warden had died of a heart attack overnight. He was supposed to work at WJLS that day. He was 55. A very sobering moment and a reminder to us all that life is not promised to us. As I pondered the reunion; many memories came to mind, our hopes, our dreams and plans and I thought about this song “ The Class of 57” for a moment look at the word and change the numbers around: Tommy's selling used cars, Nancy's fixing hair Harvey runs a grocery store and Margaret doesn’t care Jerry drives a truck for sears and Charlotte’s on the make And Paul sells life insurance and part time real estate Helen is a hostess, Frank works at the mill Janet teaches gra...