It was a big reunion weekend

The weekend of Friday, July 12, through Sunday, July 14, was a big reunion weekend for many of us Pea Ridgers.

My wife Nancy and her sisters, Linda Schooley and Peggy Greene, engineered a family reunion at Catfish John's on Friday evening. Then, on Saturday morning, about 200 Pea Ridge High School alums gathered at the High School cafeteria for our 13th All-Years Pea Ridge School Reunion. Finally, on Saturday evening, the graduating Class of 1958 met for a time of fellowship at the School Heritage Building on the downtown school campus, and went out for supper at the Pea Ridge Cafe. At the same time, the Patterson Family Reunion was under way at Derry and Sharon Camp's Auction Barn on East Pickens Road. There may have been other class reunions going on as well, but I am not aware of others myself. All in all, it was a big weekend of reunions, with both school and family gatherings.

Our Pea Ridge High School Alumni Association was officially organized at the All-Years Reunion held in July of 2007. Efforts had been going on throughout the 2006-2007 school year to organize as an Alumni Association and to raise funds for an Alumni Scholarship. That first Alumni Scholarship was awarded to Heather Marlow of the graduating Class of 2007. The Alumni Scholarship Program has grown through the years so that for the current year twelve (12) $1,000 Alumni Scholarships were awarded to members of the PRHS Graduating Class of 2019. The 2019 Alumni Scholarship recipients were: Makalya James, Nathan Wood, Devin Mathis, Meredith Mitchell, Mackenzie France, Macgwire Smith, Landon Allison, Carson Rhine, Hollyn Davis, Katelyn Swope and Justin Koon. Each scholarship grant provides $500 of assistance for the expenses of the student's first semester of college, and is renewable for a second semester, provided a satisfactory grade point is achieved.

The annual school reunion is an opportunity for Pea Ridge alums to reconnect, to reminisce about growing up experiences, to renew friendships and to make new acquaintances with Blackhawks from other years. I enjoyed getting to know several new people from 1970s classes, as well as old acquaintances from my 1950s years and my brothers' and sisters' 1960 years. I think probably the earliest graduating class represented at this year's gathering was the 1950 Graduating Class, with long-time Pea Ridge business man John Easley as the single representative. John's wife, June Stroud Easley, was present, representing the Class of 1951, as was Bernice Bigham Drymon and Billy Foster.

The most represented graduating class this year was apparently the Class of 1956, who may have had up to 10 of their class members present. I remember seeing, Charles Lee, Mary Lee Dent Miller, Jim O'Hara, Loyd Richardson, James Brown and wife Helen, Jane Foster Weiser, Johnny Garrison and his wife (all the way from Indianapolis, Ind.), and Charles Crabtree of the Class of 1956. I'm always hesitant to try to name names because of inadvertently leaving someone out.

The School Reunion also provides an opportunity for PRHS alums to be involved personally in boosting the Alumni Scholarship Fund. At Saturday's reunion, $328 was collected in the voluntary donation jars, $30 from the sale of Graduating Class Photo Books, $715 from the auctioning of a beautiful quilt which was donated by Charlotte and Ronnie Foster, and a fine bench made by Shannon Nobles, along with other valuable items donated by local Pea Ridge businesses. Also, $1,450 was received from membership dues from alums who attended the event or who responded to the general mailing which was sent out to many former PRHS students.

Although, business is not the main purpose of the School Reunion, one vital item each year is the election of a new class of members of the Alumni Association's Board of Directors. Members of the Board serve three-year terms, and the terms are staggered so that one group's term ends each year and a new election is held each year for three Board members. This year, Penny Schwitters (Class of 1971), Jerry Nichols (Class of 1957) and Robin Hudson (Class of 1978) were elected to serve terms from July 2019 until reunion time in 2022. Other current members of the Alumni Board of Directors are: Ron David ('67), Ronnie Foster ('58) and Jimmy Jobe ('64), serving the 2017 to 2020 term, and Barbara Owen ('64), Linda Schooley ('63) and Fayrene Jones ('68), serving the 2018 to 2021 term.

Meetings of the Board are held at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday evening of most months, in the School Heritage Building on the downtown Intermediate School campus. All PRHS alums are welcome and invited to attend the board meetings.

The next public event for the Alumni Association will be the Ham and Bean Dinner and Pie Auction, which is held in the fall. This years Ham & Bean Supper is expected to take place on a Saturday evening during September, at the Pea Ridge Middle School Cafeteria. Watch for further notices as the time approaches.

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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge and an award-winning columnist, is vice president of Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.