2005 Picnic Thoughts

Once again, Bill Elliott has put down in words some of the events that occurred on the 3rd Saturday in October, 2005. He gives us a wonderful perspective on what “renewing friendships” is all about. Bill has a wonderful gift for description and narrative. Please plan on joining us every 3rd Saturday in October at his ranch.

Bob Rowland, web-master

And, now – here’s Bill.

Recollections of the October 2005 Reunion
The SHS-66 reunion for October 2005 was held in our typical gorgeous autumn afternoon at “Journey’s End Ranch” on Saturday, October 15, 2005 . Perhaps a tradition has commenced, in that the range of conversation ranged farther, delved deeper into issues of the day and more was discovered about each other than ever before. You had to have been there to believe it.

You might recall the Lewis & Clark expedition. On February 28, 1803 , President Thomas Jefferson won approval from Congress for a visionary project, an endeavor that would become one of America ’s greatest stories of adventure. A small expeditionary group was formed whose mission was to explore the uncharted West. Jefferson called the group the Corps of Discovery. It would be led by Jefferson ’s secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and Lewis’ friend, William Clark. Over the next four years, the Corps of Discovery would travel thousands of miles, experiencing lands, rivers and peoples that no Americans ever had before.

In a similar vein, the SHS-66 October 2005 Class Reunion resulted in a number of discoveries. Perhaps, we can say that our class is, in of itself, a Class of Discovery.

Before revealing the discoveries, though, a few important housekeeping items:

The first class member arrived at 9:45 am . The last left at 8:45 pm . Everyone demonstrated impressive endurance.

The Reunion Committee met in the morning to review the arrangements for the 40th reunion in 2006. Although a couple of statutes were violated concerning when liquor can be legally served, the Committee kept its focus. Attending the committee meeting were Bettye Medlin Mullins, Alice Presley Agee, Bob Starnes , Bob Rowland , and last, but not least, Billy Goodwin (Danny Jeter was the official observer and representative of the public interest) and yours truly. Most of the committee meeting was taken up with Bettye reading the detailed and copious minutes of the last Reunion Committee. I’ve never know such detailed minute recording. Also, the most remarkable facet of Bettye’s reading of the minutes of the last meeting was the laughter. You might wonder how the reading of minutes could be funny, and I doubt I could convey adequately the reasons, suffice to say that the Reunion Committee could not get to the important decision-making for laughing while Bettye kept on reading the minutes, and reading, and reading. Bob Starnes , thankfully, kept the Committee on focus.

With a nod to democracy, decisions were made over the critical issues. Under the leadership of Bob Rowland , the caterer was decided upon. Believe me when I say that we will all enjoy the food at the reunion.

Second, after a brief discussion about gender bias, Bob Starnes and Bob Rowland lead a spirited, but short, discussion of the decorations. The Committee decided to have centerpieces in the school colors. A slight diversion occurred when one of the Committee members, who was violating the liquor laws at that point, wanted to highlight the decision making differences of males versus females. The over-all tone was vigorous laughter.

The third major issue was the music. The parameters were having quality music of the time, the level of loudness must allow for conversation, and the Coachman have to be allowed to play somewhat. The Fabulous Chevelles of Austin, Texas were approved. Having heard them recently, I can confidently say that everyone will be pleased. One fact about The Fabulous Chevelles is that they were playing in 1966 and have remained constant all through the years. Even Bob Rowland could be heard to ask, “Weren’t they playing in Austin in the 1960s?” Many of you might know that Bob passed through Austin , Texas during his pursuit of a college education. We are all pleased that among his many remembrances was that The Fabulous Chevelles were a leading band back then. Thank you Bob.

The song list from The Chevelles is:

ROCK AND ROLL

The Letter, The Boxtops
Brown Eyed Girl, Van Morrison
Pretty Woman, Roy Orbison
The Wanderer, Dion
Johnny B. Goode, Chuck Berry
Memphis , Chuck Berry
No Particular Place
To Go, Chuck Berry

Roll Over Beethoven, Chuck Berry
Great Balls Of Fire, Jerry Lee Lewis
Whole Lotta Shakin, Jerry Lee Lewis
Chantilly Lace, The Big Bopper
La Bamba, Richie Valens
Twist and Shout, Chubby Checker
Don’t Be Cruel, Elvis Presley
Little Sister, Elvis Presley
Wooly Bully, Sam The Sham
Tequilla, Champs
Gimme Some Lovin, Spencer Davis
Whammer Jammer, J. Giles
Low Rider, War
Lucille, Little Richard
Hey Baby, Bruce Channel
Rockin Robin, Joey Dee
One After 909, The Beatles
96 Tears, ? and The Mysterions
Come Go With Me, Del Vikings
Working For A Livning, Huey Lewis
Spooky, Classic Four
Black Is Black, Los Bravos
A Little Bit Of Soul, Music Explosion
Drift Away, Dobie Grey
Louie Louie, The Kingsmen
Wild Thing, The Troggs
Gloria, Them
Devil With A Blue Dress, Mitch Ryder
Good Golly Miss Molly, Mitch Ryder

R&B

Midnight Hour, Wilson Pickett
Mustang Sally, Wilson Pickett
634-5789, Wilson Pickett
I Feel Good, James Brown
Linda Lu, Ray Sharpe
Treat Her Right, Roy Head
Little Bit, Roy Head
What’d I Say, Ray Charles
Hootchie Cootchie Man, Muddy Waters
Green Onions, Booker T. & The MG’s
Cold Shot, Stevie Ray Vaughan
Kansas City , Wilbur Harrison
Hideaway, Freddie King
Sweet Home Chicago, Freddie King
Why Get Up, The Thunderbirds
Land Of A Thousand Dances, Sam and Dave
Little Bitty Pretty One, Bobby Day
Take Me To The River, Al Green
Poke Salad Annie, Tony Joe White
Reach Out, Four Tops
High Heeled Sneakers, Jimmie Reed
Bright Lights Big City, Jimmie Reed
You Got Me Runnin, Jimmie Reed
It’s Alright, Curtis Mayfield
Let The Good Times Roll, Bobby Blue Bland
Got You On My Mind, Cookie and The Cupcakes
Talk To Your Daughter, Robin Ford
She Caught The Katy, Taj Mahal

SLOW SONGS AND COUNTRY

Since I Fell For You, Al Jareau
My Girl, The Temptations
Under The Boardwalk, The Drifters
Dock Of The Bay, Otis Redding
Darling You Send Me, Sam Cooke
Bring It On Home, Sam Cooke
That Lovin Feelin, Righteous Brothers
Can’t Help Falling In Love, Elvis Presley
One Night With You, Elvis Presley
Stand By Me, Ben E. King
Georgia On My Mind, Ray Charles
Sleepwalk, Santo and Johnny
When A Man Loves A Woman, Percy Sledge
Mercy Mercy Mercy, The Buckinghams
Ain’t No Sunshine, Bill Withers
Time Is On My Side, The Rolling Stones
House Of The Rising Sun, The Animals
A Whiter Shade Of Pale, Procol Herum
Because, The Dave Clark Five
To Love Somebody, The Bee Gee’s
Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffet
Honky Tonk Man, Johnny Horton
Folsom Prison Blues, Johnny Cash
Last Date, Floyd Kramer
Singing The Blues, Marty Robbins
Elvira, The Oakridge Boys
I’m So Lonesome, B. J. Thomas
Waltz Across Texas , Earnest Tubb
Honky Tonk, Bill Dogget
Mathilda, Cookie and The Cupcakes
So Fine, The Falcon

The Fabulous Chevelles discusses the band more completely, if you wish to take a look. These guys are good, I’ll tell you.

The Reunion will be at the Municipal Ballroom on Saturday, July 1, 2005 . Other details will follow.

The Committee was served lunch by me (King Ranch Casserole, tossed salad, home made Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing, fresh tortillas) and we enjoyed a wonderful fresco meal overlooking the Red River. In the early afternoon, classmates started gathering. As usual, Alice Presley identified everyone when they first got out of their vehicle.

The first part of the reunion was spent trying to identify all those missing from our list. Bert Bond and Bettye led everyone through that discussion. A couple of our members who have been shown to be deceased were actually determined to be alive and well. After a spirited discussion, these persons were moved back to the living column. The spirited nature of the conversation went something like this: “Was so and so dead? No, I saw him in the grocery store a couple of week ago. Are you sure? Yeah, I talked to him over by the green beans. How did he look? He looked a little puny actually”

While a bit embarrassing and our apologies extended, actually, it is not our fault. Some of our classmates have been a little out of touch.

The spouses of our classmates played an important role this year. For example, Billy Goodwin’s wife Gail brought down the house in describing Billy’s tendencies to run out of gas in his Harley Davidson. Billy apparently has a reluctance to fill up. Billy and his wife were traveling through the Northwest Territory , in the middle of nowhere, when Billy kept bending over to look down into the gas tank, while traveling at 65 mph. His wife finally asked what in the world he was doing. Billy replied, “I think we’re about to run out of gas.” Of course, the last town was 30 miles back. The other instance was Billy running out less than three blocks from his house in Denison . Amidst the laughter, I think I heard Billy offering some lame excuse about Harley gas gauges being defective or something like that.

Ted Coffey sat on one of my wooden slatted benches and broke the wood slats. Again, amidst the laughter, Ted was explaining why it wasn’t his fault.

A great deal of productive time was spent discussing those not at the reunion. Be advised, the best protection from being talked about is to attend the reunions. It might be my imagination, but I would say that the girls in our class were discussed more than the boys. There is insufficient space, nor do I have the time, to recount this part of the discussion. The common denominator, as usual, was laughter.

Now, for the Class of Discovery. Everything was proceeding normally, as you might gather from the above discussion, until Becky Larkin arrived. The entire atmosphere changed. There were the greetings and so on. After a few minutes to get settled, I had this faint memory of something that I needed to ask about. My question went something like, “Does anyone remember one of our classmates living in a nudist colony?” Then all hell broke lose.

Becky responded first, “It was not a nudist colony. We call it a naturalist camp.” So much for figuring out who was there.

The questions started pouring out of the group. Becky handled all questions with great humor and aplomb. Actually, everyone was laughing so hard, it was a little hard to hear all of Becky’s answers. Yes, you read that correct, it was a little hard to hear Becky’s answers.

Bob Rowland was certain that the first 30 minutes of attending the nudist (sorry, naturalist camp) would be the most difficult for the men. There was a small (no pun intended) diversion while Danny Jeter and Bob recounted their testosterone levels in high school. Becky announced for all concerned that her levels were pretty high in high school too. Again, great laughter.

Bettye and Becky then discussed whether you actually get tired to looking at those “things.” Becky assured all of us that you get over your inhibitions in about ten minutes or less. That is a great irony, I would say, for Becky Larkin to talk about getting over inhibitions.

Various words were uttered by some of the ladies to describe those “things.” I couldn’t write down all of the names fast enough. If you are interested, go read Lonesome Dove. Larry McMurtry covers most of the common expressions for the “thing.” You would be amazed at how some of the more restrained ladies were the quickest out with common expressions. More laughter.

To be balanced, from a gender perspective, Becky then proceeded to describe the females drooping and sagging that were present. Bob Rowland couldn’t help but mention a topless beach he attended recently and attempted to be relevant by comparing his observations of drooping and sagging with Becky’s descriptions. More laughter.

I had to step in my ranch house for a few minutes, and missed some of the remainder of the conversation, but I could hear screaming and hooting from outside. If you are curious, then please contact Becky Larkin.

There is a pattern developing here of personal discovery. Future reunions will have to go some to exceed the level of discussion of this fabulous reunion. The day was terrifically fun for everyone.

As a final note, Mark and Beverly Wright arrived just as everyone was leaving. We talked into the evening and had a good time. The entire day was wonderful.