Celebrating 60 years after high school

Earlier this year, the realization began to dawn on some of us who graduated from Pea Ridge High School in 1957 that this year is our 60th year since graduation. It came as a bit of a surprise to us, since we only celebrated our 50th year a couple of years ago. Actually, 2007 was 10 years ago, of course, but it seems only two or three years ago.

I remember that our school principal, E.G. Howard, told me in 1957 that, Jerry, your life will go faster now that you are finishing high school. I have certainly found that to be true. It took me almost 50 years to get through school, so it seemed, and now, 10 years later, I am 77 years old and it was 60 years ago that we finished high school. Life can go slowly when you look at it hour to hour and day to day, but looking back, time passes so quickly!

In 1957, we were a graduating class of 15 seniors. Our class size had been a bit larger in the earlier years, but with some moving away and some taking a job before graduating, we were only 15 in our last year in high school. Our group was: James Blaylock, Jerry Nichols, Grace Williamson, Cathy Nick, Shirley Cloyd, James Harris, Mary Jo Coker, Bill Roberts, J.W. Jordan, Joann Henson, Wayne Hileman, Nancy Hall, Wendell Reynolds, JoAnn Putman and Vivian Relethford.

Commencement exercises during the later 1950s were always held in the old 1930s gymnasium, located at the northwest corner of the school grounds, now the intersection of North Curtis and Pike St. The "gym," as we called it, was both our athletic facility and auditorium. The school hot lunch room stood just beside it on the east side, and when we had assemblies such as graduations, we boys would be allowed out of class to go carry chairs from the lunch room to the gym for seating the audience. Today, in 2017, our old lunch room is now our School Heritage Building and headquarters of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. Several of us started in first grade at Pea Ridge back in 1945 or 1946, and did all of our grade school and high school at Pea Ridge. As I recall, that included J.W. Jordan, Shirley Cloyd, Joann Henson, JoAnn Putman, Bill Roberts, Jerry Nichols, Nancy Hall and Wayne Hileman. Back when we were beginning, the school building, which had been built in 1930, accommodated all 12 grades in seven rooms, plus the school auditorium across the center front of the building. So several classrooms had more than one grade. The whole school totaled about 120 students in the 12 grades. Today, it is remarkable to realize that each grade in Pea Ridge Schools is larger than was our whole school back in the day.

We decided to hold our 60th year reunion on the original school campus downtown, where all our schooling had taken place, and on Friday evening, July 7, we met at the old lunch room for a banquet catered by Darla Nix's Cannonball Cafe. Since two of us are married to members of the Class of 1958, J.W. Jordan ('57) married Nancy Lea Patton ('58) and Jerry Nichols ('57) married Nancy Patterson ('58), we decided to hold our reunion jointly with the Class of 1958. This made for a happy situation, since during our school days we knew everyone in the whole school and shared many experiences in common.

Members of the Class of 1957 attending, were J.W. Jordan with his wife Nancy Lea, of Pea Ridge; James Blaylock and wife Lee, now of Cassville, Mo.; Jerry Nichols and wife Nancy, of Pea Ridge; Grace Hansen and husband Don, of Gretna, Neb.; Vivian Mahurin, of Garfield; Nancy Hall Moore of Rogers; and Jimmy Lee Jones, of Centerton. Six members of the 1957 Class are deceased, Bill Roberts, JoAnn Putman Boggs, James Harris, Joann Henson Ray, Wayne Hileman and Wendell Reynolds.

Some sentimental recollections included our School Glee Club, led by a retired music teacher whose name we couldn't remember, and music teacher Louise Little, who taught several of our schoolmates piano, accordion and guitar. Grace Williamson Hansen, who had studied accordion with Ms. Little, brought her accordion to the reunion, and led everybody in singing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" and "O Beautiful for Spacious Skies." In our school days, we had no school band. In the earlier days of Pea Ridge Schools, before the Great Depression of the 1930s, Pea Ridge Schools had had fine bands. But it would be the 1970s before the Pea Ridge School Band program could be reorganized and revived.

Class of '58 friends who joined in the reunion included, Ronnie and Charlotte Foster, Eddie Wayne Morgan, Pat and Sharon Webb, Rebecca Laughlin Lynch, Elizabeth Ford King and niece Jean Ann (daughter of Elizabeth's sister Margaret), Lyndol and Shirley Thomas, Dean and Minta Messer, Billy Clark, and Marilyn and Mac Hardy. Also attending as guests were Jennifer Caldwell of Pea Ridge and Jeff Nichols and his wife Mary, of Boone, Iowa. Jennifer's and Jeff's parents are Jerry and Nancy Nichols.

Both classes, 1957 and 1958, seem greatly to enjoy getting together, and all are considering having an annual reunion in future years, probably in coordination with the All-Years Reunion at the High School. Many members of both classes also attended Saturday's Alumni Day festivities at the High School on July 8. Saturday's Alumni Day gathering was also well attended.

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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history, member of the Pea Ridge Alumni Association and vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. Opinions expressed are those of the writer. He can be contacted by email at [email protected], or call 621-1621.