Since the reunion I have received emails, phone calls, and snail mail telling what a good time everyone had at our 45th.  I have had several questions and comments about the opening remarks I gave and quite a few comments that expressed appreciation for the invocation I gave.  Several said they would like to hear the remarks again as they consolidated some thoughts that we all had.  Over the years, whenever I have had to do public speaking I have worked from a text and this was no different.  Since I have the text of the remarks, I am able to reproduce it here for you to read if you like.  I will also include the invocation.  I thought about this and decided there were several people that were unable to attend that might like to read this and take from it what they may.  So here are the opening comments and the invocation.

Charlie Nelson

 

September 21, 2013

 

Welcome to everyone gathered here.  What a special time this is for all of us who have come tonight.  This is the largest reunion we have ever had.  The number fluctuates by the minute, but I believe there to be at least 66 of our classmates here tonight.  Our goal was 68 because that's the year of our graduation, but a secondary goal was 63 because that's how old we all are.  Don't anybody try to pass for younger, because the rest of us know the truth.  I have heard any number of people say that attendance at high school reunions tends to dwindle over the years, the farther away you get from graduation.  Why is it different for us here tonight?  We each have our own personal reasons for making the effort to be here and we each have certain expectations of this evening.  But as Carol and I began putting this all together, we sensed a certain energy among all of you that carried this thing to where it is this evening.  I hope your expectations are exceeded.

Technology helps.  The website was an idea we thought would help the efforts to get some energy behind the reunion.  It took off in a manner we never expected.  We have 125 classmates and teachers who have created a profile.  I think you will all agree that it has been a lot of fun to reconnect with each other through it.  Since we created the site in December 2012, there have been 5685 hits.  Over the last few months there are between 15 and 20 hits a day and at least five of you trade messages through the site each day.

But it's not all about the technology.  It's about the need to reconnect, the need to see friends from many years ago.  It's about seeing the people you have a common bond with.  Most of you read remarks by Dee Bell Becker on the home page of the website last month, explaining why this is an important reunion for her.  She and Ernie Ward traveled 2270 miles to be here.  Jeff Jenkel came 2090 miles.  Kathy Robbins Arrington and Cathy Delong Hightower came almost 1000 miles.  Roland Schinbeckler came 750 miles and Dan Slaton and teacher, Tom Loyal, came over 500 miles from the Atlanta area.  Rachel Maxwell Johnson, Karleen Frakes Cole, and Kathy Trotter Kline made a trip of 400 miles.  And Linda Hayden Shockley made extraordinary efforts, at the last minute, to get here from North Carolina.  Why did they come all these miles?  Why did Bob Cushman come from Michigan and Rob and Nancy Coulter come from Nashville, Indiana, and Judy Case Mize come from Spencer?  Why was Bruce Jordan the first to call months ago and ask, "Where do I register?"

Keith Trent said this to me in an email a few months ago:  "You know Charlie, we have known a lot of great people in our lives.  Any number of people have influenced us over the years.  We love our spouses and our kids and our grandkids.  But what I think I now realize is that some of the best people we ever knew were the kids we grew up with and went through school with."

In some fashion, we all helped shape one another.  We were influenced by each other.  By no means were we the only influences, but certainly we were some of the first influences on one another as many of us began preschool and kindergarten together.  To the point of the influences we had on one another, let me tell you a personal story that I have told to many people over the years, but I'm not sure I have ever told it to anybody in this class.

I never considered myself much of a student in high school.  Certainly, none of the teachers considered me much of astudent.  I did enough to get by.  My grades weren't awful but they did not reflect any particular effort to be a good student.  I had been on Student Council and spoke fluent Latin.  But mostly I just hung around with Raymond Veith, Bill Smith, Randy Sims, and Gregg Rogers and had fun doing whatever we did, none of which contributed much to the fabric of society.

Toward the end of our senior year, questionnaires went out asking us to vote for various things like Best Athlete, Most Likely to Succeed, Best Personality, etc.  I was among the group tabulating the results.   As I sifted through the ballots I called out the names of Most LIkely to Succeed while somebody else made stick figures on a sheet of paper:  Larry Cohen, Linda Hayden, Danny Slaton, Larry Cohen, Keith Trent, Linda Hayden, Larry Cohen, Rachel Maxwell, Kathy Robbins, Linda Hayden, Larry Cohen .......and so it went.  All of a sudden -- Charlie Nelson.  What!!??  Yes, on his ballot, Junior Rose (Gerald B. Rose, Jr.) had voted me most likely to succeed.

I have gotten tears in my eyes at times when I have recalled that moment.  But I want to tell you the truth -- that motivated me in the years to come.  Someone saw something in me that I had never seen in myself.  It caused me to reflect on success, who I was, and what it would take to be successful.  And, I never wanted to disappoint Junior.  If any of you judge me to be successful, you're gonna give Junior Rose partial credit because he got me started that direction.  That's why at each of our reunions, even though until now I had never told him that story, I seek him out and give him the man-embrace and a handshake.  It's always really good to see him.  Thanks Junior!

The point being, we have all influenced each other in some way and at some level we're here tonight to celebrate that.

We set this reunion up to be a wash financially.  Carol has been a very good steward of your money.  The reunion will pay for itself through the registration fees.  In addition, many of you donated money over and above those fees to the amount of $1730.00.  Thank you many times over for that.  We are going to keep a little back to help maintain the website, but with what is left over we are going to make a substantial donation to the high school.  Carol has been in touch with the social worker at the high school and there is a need in four specific areas:

     1.  Students who qualify for show choir but can't afford the wardrobe

     2.  Students who qualify for athletic teams but can't afford the footwear or other protective equipment

   3. Homeless students who can't afford many of the tools necessary for academic success, like computers, even clothing and meals

     4.  Students who can't afford to purchase their cap and gown for graduation ceremonies

As Carol was talking to the school about this, the social worker said that this was unprecedented.  No class has ever done this and the needs of the students have become greater with each passing year.  The Class of '68 sets the bar high.  Hopefully other classes will follow our lead.  One of our classmates, when learning of this opportunity to donate, made a substantial contribution and said to Carol, "Carol, I was one of those students back in the mid 60's."

We want to raise a little more money toward this end and throughout the evening you will have an opportunity to buy tickets for a 50/50 raffle.  Buy 7 tickets for $5 with a chance to win half the pot.  The proceed will go entirely toward the school fund I just described.  

Thanks are due to many.  Let me start with Carol Wendt.  She's the engine that powered this truck and came up with all the good ideas.  I was merely her faithful sidekick.  But, please express your thanks to her.

Raymond Veith has taken care of a lot of this setup tonight for the musicians, gotten equipment, lugged it around in his trailer, etc.  In addition, thank the musicians themselves:  Dee, Rachel, Kathy, Raymond, Allan, Tom Johnson, Dave and Roland.  And from other PHS classes, TIm Hayden, Tom Dick, Jim Pierson, and Scott Wilcox.

Thanks to Karleen, Rachel, Kathy, Judy, Susie, Jane, and Janet for their work on flowers, registration, decorations and setting up the entertaining program that we will enjoy a little later.

Finally, and not least, thanks go to the trailblazers, Elaine McFall Chance, Diane Davis Sharpes, Susie Sutherlin Leming, Cheryl Hadley Moles, Paula Hayes Jines, and John Hall for all their work on previous reunions that made putting this one together a lot easier.  They kept us together all these years with their splendid efforts.  

Okay, some somber stuff.  I am going to read the names of our classmates that are deceased.  After I have read the names, we will pause for a moment and I will give an invocation and then dinner will be served.  As I read, remember them however you will.  And remember that just as all of us here have influenced each other in some way, so it is true for those that have departed this earthly life.  We have fourteen classmates and twelve teachers that we know of that have died.

Classmates

Max Sanders (1972),  Anne Rosemary Sherwood (1976), Raymond Kennedy (1976), Sylvia Brown (1981), Norman Mathis (1992), Donna White Bowen (1997), Karen Everhart Nolan (2008), Don Casselman (2009), Steve Bishop (2009), Steve Goens (2010), Becky Carter Visor (2010), Diane Patterson Smeelink (2010), Jim Boesch (2013), Carol Jane Gieselman (2013)

Teachers

Howard Pike (1970), Grenda Watson (1978), Ivan Albright (1986), Harold Grosskreutz (1995), Melba Haines (1997), Ruth Newlin (1999), Ruth Craig (2000), Linda Smith (2005), Jane Snider (2006), Edith McCorkle (2008), Mary Slaton (2009), Basil Sfreddo (2010)

Pause to Remember

Invocation

Dear God:

We are grateful that we have the opportunity to gather this evening to celebrate 45 years of life after high school.  Our lives have followed many paths over these years.  There have been twists and turns.  We have celebrated great joys in our individual lives.  And we have suffered great pain.  Through it all we are grateful for the partnership we have with a loving God and that your grace has been available to us in times of celebration and in times of trial.

We give thanks that you have endowed us with loving hearts that are so appreciative of each other.  At our impromptu gathering last night there was pure joy on the faces of classmates as they saw other faces they had not seen for many years. Thank you for being the great mediator of these experiences.

Please know that we miss the classmates that could not be here.  We are aware that some have special hardships and we ask you to be with them and surround them with your love and grace.

For those that we just remembered, our rational minds believe that they died too young.  But we rejoice that the mysteries of life have been revealed to them through you.

Grant continued safe travels to all that have gathered here.  Bless this food of which we are about to partake and bless us to Thy service.

Amen