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Class of 1954
Informal Luncheon
We
are planning a luncheon at Colettas Italian restaurant
on Wednesday November 2nd for an informal gathering of
classmates. If anyone from out of town will be here please
let us know. Leann MacDonald Barber will be in town from
Wichita Falls, Texas and will be glad to see old friends. We
plan to gather around 11:30 AM and order around 12:00. We
will order individually and have separate checks.
Please
RSVP to harry423@yahoo.com
or phone 901/377-8405 if you would like to make a
reservation for the luncheon. If you know of classmates
who do not have email, please pass the word about the
gathering.
Thanks,
Harry Murchison
___________________________________________
2011
at a glance
My
2011 resolution was to stay in closer touch with friends
and classmates this year. Four months later, I admit that
my good intentions haven't been kept. As the year moves
forward, hopefully there will be more news to report and
more to share with you folks.
Note
about Facebook
Since
initially signing on to Facebook a few years ago, I have
resisted posting personal information on it – this
was partly the result of being asked to be "friend"s
with people whose identity escaped me but they had several
hundred "friends" in their account.
From
time-to-time, I have reluctantly acknowledged requests
from classmates, old friends and family members by responding
on FB like last week when my 75th came around.
To
me, it is much more fulfilling to write a personal note
directly to people who wish to be in contact. My email
address is available to most people reading this website
and is also posted on the gmail account.
Since
I maintain this and five other websites (mostly as a volunteer
these days), I try to be especially careful with where
and when I send out information and from whom it is received.
This policy has served me well for the past 20+ years
when communicating online.
Drop
me a note and I'll get back to you ASAP.
Frank
Some
Important Information
Recently,
we learned from Harry what many of you had already found
out:
Dear
Classmates,
Some weeks ago our central5404@yahoo.com database of addresses
and emails was hijacked and all the addresses and emails
were deleted. You probably received an email from
supposedly me in Scotland and that I was ill and
requested that you send money so that I could get home.
I was not in Scotland and didn't need any money.
Luckily Jo (Cammack) Cain realized what had happened
and she called me to verify that it was a SCAM and
she forwarded an Email to you letting you know that it
was not me. I did have a Backup of the Address file
but Yahoo has changed their simple procedures for Importing
a saved database. So after a few weeks trying to restore
the Database, I just created a new one on GMAIL.
The new one is central5404@gmail.com.
If
you need to contact me, you can Email me at central5404@gmail.com
or harry423@yahoo.com.
For those of you who aren't aware, Frank Land is
still continuing to maintain our memphischs1954.com Website.
He would love to here news from you to put on the Website.
There is also information on six or eight other classes.
He had recently received news from Charles Rodney Lee
and Don Johnson. Check it out! You can email
Frank at frankland@mac.com.
Harry
Thanks
for the reminder about the website. Last night, I did
hear from classmate Sol Kirschner who shared this "funny"
story:
Frank,
A few years ago I was in Memphis to see some friends and
was staying at the Hampton Inn off Poplar. The motel has
free transportation to the airport. On the day I left,
I took it and on the way, the driver and I started to
talk. He asked me where I was going and I told him. As
we were talking, I told him that I once lived in Memphis
and when I was very young, we lived at 902 N. Evergreen.
He looked at me and pulled out his drivers license....it
said 902 N. Evergreen. That is where he has lived for
many years. It was something to meet someone who lives
in the same house that I lived in sixty five years ago.
Sol
Kirschner
April
Meeting in Memphis
A joyful occasion recently occurred in Memphis when our
class mentor, Harry Murchison,
returned to action after months of fighting a
serious health problem that began last summer.
Thankfully,
Harry is back at it again having organized another gathering
of '54 classmates in Memphis.
According
to Dot (Adams) Watts,
“Harry
organized a luncheon for CHS luncheon for those that
could make it....we have not had one since his health
problems started. Boy, was it great to see him! It was
held on Tuesday, April 26th at Jim's Place East.
The food and fellowship was so great, we all stayed
a couple of hours!”
Those
attending included:
Sam Cole, Mark Coleman,
Claire Tansey Coleman, Cynthia Baine De Maagd, Alice
Greenberg Drake, Jim Eason, Peggy Salky Evensky (&
husband, Sidney), Glenda
Condrey Hartmann (&
husband, Jim), Milton
Knowlton, Sara Hamilton Morris, Harry Murchison
(& wife, Vivian)
and Dot Adams Watts (with husband, Frank).
As
Dot relayed, "Sorry you don't live close enough
to be a part of these get togethers!" That goes
for a whole lot of people (both far and near) they'd like
to see on a regular basis.
Keeping
in touch with Rev. Don Johnson
During the holidays, Don
Johnson shared a Christmas remembrance
with us and in February, an article about President Reagan.
A little late, in March, I thanked him., He followed up
with a link to LifeChoices,
a website which tells about a story about a special
ministry
that
he helped start 25 years ago in Memphis ....one that is
really worth looking up..
Congratulations,
Don, on this wonderful mission!
You
can hear more regularly from Don – he is the producer
and host of Afterglow,
a weekly half-hour music production. In 2002, he received
the National Religious Broadcasters ‘Milestone
Award.’
An Unlikely Conversation
Last
month, an email came in from Dan French who assists the
webmaster of the Memphis Tech High website. He asked about
the source of an illustration of
Memphis in the early 1900's
used on this website.
I
called him in Atlanta and we talked for over an hour about
a lot of things – mostly about the Tech website
which I really hadn't looked at in a long time. As he
walked me through the pages, it was incredible all the
information that Gene Gill, 1951, the webmaster, has placed
on the site. Not only does it cover Tech throughout its
history, but there are interesting historical sections
on other Memphis high schools including CHS as well as
on Memphis itself. It was kind of embarrassing that they
have done so much on various subjects while we struggle
for any kind of news.
After
thinking about the phone call and what Dan asked about,
it occurred to me that he may have been researching the
illustration which came from Dr. William Miller's (formerly
of M-S) book on Memphis during the Progressive Era
– 1900 - 1918 as additional evidence that Tech
High has been around as long as Central. I reminded him
that the illustration was most likely drawn in the mid-50's
when Miller was writing his book and it was of questionable
historical value.
What
really struck me, as Central grads, we should all care
so much about our old High School and its history as well
as its progress today.
Tell
then you like them
As
we entered 2011, my resolution was to stay in closer touch
with my friends and family....and to our classmates. Too
often in the years past, this has been something I promised
myself only to have it slip by the wayside and forget
about after a few weeks, months, years.
In
the past couple of years, our class has seen a continued
loss of valued friends....ones that may have crossed our
way at one of the last reunions, but were kind of forgotten
recently. After all, some of us haven't been "close"
since way back in 1954 when we crossed the stage at Ellis
Auditorium. That doesn't mean that they weren't friends.
After all, some of them had followed us all the way through
Vollentine, Snowden, Fairview and Bellevue. And some went
on with us to M-S or other colleges and other universities
afterwards.
The
important message is this: when I hear that someone in
our class has left us, without my having a chance to say
goodbye and it was someone that I really liked knowing,
it is a personal loss that I really regret....and hope
that you do, too. It would help if I'd told them that
they were "special."
So,
this year, it is my resolution to tell people that I really
like them and it was fun to know them back when. That
will be a much richer experience than mourning their loss
after they are gone....believe me.
FL
A
Response
Funny thing
since writing this....I actually heard from someone in
our class. Old friend and college fraternity brother,
Charles Rodney Lee, aka, "Rod" Lee, responded
the next day: with an update on what he has been doing,
even including a terrific short
story he wrote for a flying magazine
which you will enjoy(
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