The Class of 1975 Part 1- The Backgrounds and Beginning

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 grade school and prob’ly always will
Bob works for the city and Jack’s in lab research
And Peggy plays organ at the church

And the class of ‘57 had its dreams
Oh we all thought we’d change the world
With our great works and deeds
Or maybe we just thought the world
Would change to fit our needs
The class of ‘57 had its dreams

Betty runs a trailer park, Jan sells Tupperware
Randy’s on an insane ward and Mary’s on welfare
Charlie took a job with Ford, Joe took Freddie’s wife
Charlotte took a millionaire and Freddie took his life

John is big in cattle, Ray is deep in debt
Where Mavi’s finally wound up is anybody’s bet
Linda married Sonny, Brenda married me
And the class of all of us is just a part of history

And the class of ‘57 had its dreams
But living life day to day is never like it seems
Things get complicated when you get past eighteen
But the class of ‘57 had its dreams, oh the class of ‘57 had its dreams

The Class of 1975

The class of 1975 is part of the Baby Boom generation, we grew up on the cusp of integration, Woodstock, Apollo 13, Watergate, the oil embargo of 1973, disco, the Jesus movement, the fall of Saigon, and other history making events, We went to a school where the sons and daughter of coal miners, and housekeepers went to school with the sons and daughters of doctors and lawyers.  

Background Information

In the fall of 1969 many of us entered one of the three junior highs in Raleigh County. There was Park Junior. High, Stratton Junior High and Beckley Junior High. The way the school district was divided up didn’t make any sense. We had to pass by Stratton Junior High to catch a bus to go to Park Jr, High which was the old Woodrow Wilson High School. That was called progress, this move integrated the schools. For some of us it was the first time going to school with members of another race. It was an adjustment period for all concerned. Some made the transition quite well and some didn’t. I was eleven years old when I began the journey some called “The Wonder Years”. I think some of the things that went on made us wonder.

This is part one of the blog “ The Class of 1975”.

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