Reflections from the Class of 1979

My high school class will gather this week-end on Tybee Island for our thirtieth class reunion. It doesn’t seem like it has been thirty years since the Tattnall Square Academy Class of 1979 walked across the stage on a hot June night in Macon receiving high school diplomas. Some of you might be wondering why we are gathering outside of Savannah for our high school reunion since we are graduates of a school in Macon. The answer to that is simple. Macon doesn’t have an ocean.

I am looking forward to the reunion. It will be nice to see folks that I rarely have the opportunity to see. From all reports our class has been fairly successful. Our class cranked out an attorney or two. We also have a few folks that own their own business. One of us is an air traffic controller while another is a speech pathologist. There are quite a few teachers among my class mates. Some have climbed the corporate ladder. One of us became a software designer and another is a tennis pro. One of us even became United Methodist minister.

Honesty compels me to say that the Class of 1979 has had its ups and downs as well. There have been some folks who have hit some bumps in the road in their professional lives and in their personal lives. We have even had class member that took his own life.

Of course it will be fun to see if any of the folks are any grayer on top than I am. I have even heard that one of us has actually become a grandparent even though I am not old enough to have anyone in my graduating that is a grandparent.

As I have anticipated the upcoming reunion I also thought about those folks who dedicated their lives to laying our educational foundation. I don’t know what they were paid but I don’t believe any of them got rich teaching us.

I fondly remember Ms. Shows, Ms. Jenkins and Ms. Watson, English teachers who instilled in me a deep appreciation for the written word. There was Ms. Struby, Ms. Brown, Ms. Cohen, and Mr. Studstill, who tried to teach me math even though I was not interested. There was Mr. Bulter and Mr. Magnan who encouraged my love of history. Ms. Rogers put up with my antics in her science class and Mr. Batson endured my carelessness with hydrochloric acid in the chemistry lab.

I am surprised how relevant Mr. Coley’s Latin class remains and a lot of folks could still use Ms. Balian’s economics lessons. I imagine my old football coach, Gary Faulkner, could still tell me to drop in give him twenty-five push-ups and I would at least try to give him twenty-five push ups. I can still hear the laughter of Coach Tucker. I am sure that to this day he still laughs with that same high pitched giggle that was somehow oddly melodious. Of course I remember my headmaster, Dr. Joe Hill, who was a man of great wisdom.

I won’t claim to have had the perfect high school experience but I will say I would trade nothing for it. Our lives are the sum of our experiences and today as I look at my life I consider myself blessed and my high school days were certainly a part of that.

In our community the seniors of Jasper County High School and Piedmont Academy are moving towards their graduations. I am sure they are in a hurry to be done and are looking forward to getting their diplomas so that they may move on to a new chapter in their lives. That is understandable.

Yet, as the days tick down to their graduations I hope all of them will take time to reflect on the importance of the friends they have made. I pray that all of them will take the time to say thank you to those dedicated men and women who have given of themselves to help them grow both academically and as a total person.

This week-end as the Class of ’79 listens to the waves as they crash into the shore and devours pound upon pound of fresh seafood, we will remember those days and be thankful. There will be laughter and maybe even a tear or two as we think back on the days that we walked the halls, sat in the classrooms, and played sports on the fields and courts of good ole Tattnall Square. We might not say it our loud but we will thank God for the friends we made and the knowledge we received and as we head home on Sunday we will all realize how truly blessed we have been.