Volume 2005April Issue
40th Mustang Roundup Set for June 24 and 25 2005!
Friday Night: Get reacquainted at Hal & Mal’s. Light hors d’oeuvres, cash bar. 7 ’til.
Saturday Morning: Prayer Coffee. Christ United Methodist Church, 9:30 to 10:30.
Saturday Brunch: Keegan’s Restaurant, 11:00 to 1:00
Saturday Night: Social Hour at 6:30 w/cash bar. Seated Dinner at Jackson Country Club with welcoming comments followed by music by the “Hot Cats” – our own Scott Turner’s band. Cost $100 per person; contact Ann Ball Ingels, 325 LaSalle Court, Flowood, MS 39232. or email us at murrah65@jam.rr.com.
Tricia (May) Bradford heads Reunion Committee.
Under Tricia’s energetic leadership, your classmates have planned a memorable weekend.
As one pundit put it, “while we can still remember!” If you have anything to share,
old stories, pictures, etc., please let us know.
The Reunion is Coming – Ready or Not!
by Averyell Althaus Kessler
Last week I received a post card announcing that Murrah High School’s class of 1965 is planning its 40th reunion. Ouch! has it been forty years since I graduated? That was a long time ago – a really long time ago. We were still stinging from the Kennedy assassination and Lyndon Johnson had just been elected President on his own. That was before Viet Nam exploded, before Watergate, even before flower power. Mick Jagger was a brand new name, and we were still dancing to Wooly Bully and My Girl.
Still, I remember our graduation quite clearly. The Coliseum was new and shiny. We were all there in long grey robes, with crisp mortarboards and dangling tassels, the girls clutching sprays of red sweetheart roses (or were they carnations?), the boys with spit shined shoes and a dash of English Leather. The rising seats in front of us were filled with smiling mothers, proud fathers, rejoicing grandparents and a variety of extended family members. We were seated on the floor in a huge square of uncomfortable folding chairs with the garish white lights making our lips and hands look blue.
We were given advice by the “powers-that-be”, hailed as leaders of the future, and one by one we were called to the front, where we shook hands and received our diplomas as well as the thundering adulation of the crowd. Despite all the rumors, no one was yanked out of line for failing to graduate! Later, we emerged into the night, newly minted products of the Jackson Public School System, ready to take on the world – and ready for a really good party! For the life of me, I can’t remember where the dance was, but I do remember returning home at sun-up! It was a time for rejoicing!
The reunion is coming up. Don’t miss this one. It, too, will be a time for rejoicing! So, go up in the attic and pull out that pair of rah-rahs (if you don’t remember rah-rah’s, see the Mustang Trivia Test below!). If you can’t find them, Bass Weejuns will do. Also see if anything Madras is still lurking at the back of your closet. Ladies, it’s time to try on your coulotts – I promise the faculty will not send you home for more appropriate attire! We’re going to dance-it’s time to celebrate. Remember the cost of $100 is all inclusive so please come and join us.
Mustang Trivia Test
1. In February of 1965, our class presented what famous musical?
2. What was principal Merritt’s nickname?
3. Did we beat Provine?
4. If your parents allowed you and your friends (ha! fat chance!) to spend a weekend in
Florida, you would probably drive down to__________.
5. Gentlemen, your hair may have been cut to resemble what popular British singer?
6. Ladies, what did your dress look like for the Junior/Senior Prom? Extra points given if you
can describe your coursage.
7. After leaving school each day and heading north, the “speeding ticket hot spot” was_____.
8. What does TWIRP mean?
9. What were rah-rahs?
10. Which member of the faculty still remembers every on of our names without the slightest
prompt?
Answers
1. The Sound of Music, directed by Miss Emmy Lou Patton with the help of Miss Karen
Gilfoy as musical director.
2. Dobber Jim – those of you who invented this nickname need to come forth and show
yourselves!!
3. Yes. Not only did we beat Provine 14-0, but the Mustangs cut a wide swath through the
Big Eight and finished a record 9-0-1 season and a City Championship! We were invited
to the 25th Shrimp Bowl Classic in Biloxi and defeated Hattiesburg 27-7. Go Mustangs.
4. Panama City!
5. Ringo Starr- and that was before anyone thought of not cutting their hair at all!!
6. I have no idea what my prom dress looked like. I’ll ask WHK, he might remember.
But he did give me a beautiful white orchid wrist corsage!
7. Each day, the speed limit was strictly enforced by a pair of motorcycle cops hiding along a
perilous stretch of Riverside Drive next to the park.
8. The woman is required to pay. (This was still a novel concept in 1965!)
9. Rah-rahs, the latest greatest fad in the fall of 1964, were old-style saddle oxfords. They
could be purchased at Myron’s Shoe Store on Capitol Street for the astounding sum of $4.99.
10. Irene Breland. I see her frequently all around town steering a dark blue Chevy! She still calls me Averyell, I still call her Miss Breland! She still corrects my spelling and grammar!
Great Truths I’ve Learned in the Past 40 Years – Anonymous
Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree.
Families are like fudge…mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
Today’s mighty oak is just yesterday’s nut that held its ground.
Wrinkles don’t hurt.
As we age, God dims our vision so that we can’t see the wrinkles in our high school friends,
our wives, or husbands.
Laughing is good exercise. It’s like jogging on the inside!
Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.
Growing up is mandatory; growing old is optional!
I’m at the age that I get the same sensation from a rocking chair that I once got from a roller coaster.
If I fall down, I wonder what I can do while I’m down there.
Time may be a great healer, but it’s a lousy beautician.
40 years…we’ve come a long way. As I look over the accomplishments of this class, I believe that we have definitely lived up to the challenges set out for us on that May night in 1965. I’m very proud to be a part of it. “GO MUSTANGS!” – Ed
What’s up with you? We’re “Hoofbeating” again, so tell us anything you’d like to share with your classmates, i.e., Grandchildren! New careers! Retirement Plans! Pictures!! Events! EVERYthing. Email news, pictures, etc., to the Webmustang, Ed Douglass, ed@coffeenewsjackson.com
