REMINISCENCES

A step into the past....

My husband and I recently went to his high school reunion in West Virginia. It was a great trip. The weather was perfect--beyond the heat and stifling humidity of a West Virginia summer. The days were mild and sunny. Couldn't ask for a better backdrop for the activities.

Louis got to visit with friends from long ago, and I got to see first hand some of the places and people he has talked about over the years. 

 First was a get-reacquainted afternoon with goodies from all the favorite high school hangout places like pizza from the joint across the street from the school and cookies from their favorite bakery, among other treats.

There was a Friday night football game that was a squeaker, with a great half-time performance by the band, the cheerleaders and the flag twirlers. I especially liked the outfits for the cheerleaders and the flag twirlers. They were modest and yet comfortable enough for the girls to do their routines. (I am so sick of seeing half naked girls prancing around while they are strutting their stuff for the crowd.) Louis told me it was because they are in the conservative South. I don't know what the requirements to participate are, but I LIKED the dress code.

Saturday morning was a tour of the high school given by one of the administrators who also graduated from that high school. It was impressive! True to Louis' description, it was more like a college building than a high school. A little background: West Virginia had a law on the books that no school could exceed three acres in size. But in 1917 a school official approached the state about this beautiful 27 acre tract of land and proposed that Parkersburg be allowed to purchase it and build a new high school. And so that's one reason for the size and the Tudor style influence. It was the only high school in the city until its population was about 3,000 and the 1965 graduating class numbered 1,137!  It remains the largest high school campus in the state of West Virginia.  Louis' class had 750 graduates. That number fell over the years to a low of 300+ last year, but the graduating classes coming up are slated for 400-500. 

 But it's not just the outside, the inside also exhibits some classy architectural highlights. There is a plaster bas relief mural that runs throughout a large part of the auditorium and some of the hallways. The auditorium itself is spacious with a full-sized stage and velvet curtains for all kinds of productions, including special events for the whole city like concerts, etc. Beautiful wood wainscoting is also incorporated into the design. The school is huge, with east and west wings. It is conceivable that a student might not have to even leave one wing during the school day. All classes and activities could be centered in just one wing.  There have been other additions, too, including a planetarium and a data processing center--both after Louis graduated.  Still impressive, though. 

 Unfortunately, the pictures of track, basketball, football, gymnastics and other teams with any records and awards for each no longer line the halls--that is the years before 2000. At some point the school decided to remove all those memories prior to 2000 and just display the teams, scores, and awards from 2000 forward. OOPS! There went the pictures of Louis on the track team, the records he broke, and his pictures on the gymnastics team and as a cheerleadeer. They were still up about 10 years ago when he took his kids to his grandmother's funeral. Alas, I didn't get to see all that.

Saturday evening we had a tasty buffet dinner at a swanky restaurant accomanied by the usual awards ceremony for who traveled the fartherest, number of kids, etc. One other class member had come from Colorado--Eagle. But the fartherest was San Diego. Most of the rest were either current residents of Parkersburg or from neighboring states like North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. At least a few from Florida.

We have ten children in our blended family. Another couple in a blended family had twelve. They won. But Louis called out, "How about grandchildren? We have 18." The emcee said he wasn't to that part of the list yet, and put on another record to continue the dance. By 10 pm, people were pretty much into the realm of "one too many drinks", and we had to get up early the next morning to leave for home.   So we exited the party, before the rest of the contests were decided, amid goodbyes and keep in touch sentiments. (Louis found out later on Facebook we would have won the grandchildren contest--the winners only had 10. DANG!)

And THAT was the sum total of the reunion part of the weekend. Another thing I thought was great about it was that it didn't spill over into Sunday like my high school reunions have done.

Here are some other highlights: 

During the time we had which wasn't scheduled, Louis took me all over the places he had swum in the Ohio and Little Kanawha Rivers, the roads he ran between Parkersburg and the surrounding towns in Ohio.  We visited the cemetery where his parents are buried. We saw the Ohio Amish driving their horse-drawn buggies on the highways. And we got a snack at his memory-laden White Castle Burgers.

One unfortunate circumstance for our trip was Louis' sister, husband, and married son all were tested positive for COVID just days before we got there. So there was no opportunity to visit with them and other family members. 

But there was something really great that happened, too.  Louis' cheerleading partner Amy had died earlier that week of a massive heart attack. Her funeral was the morning of the day we arrived.  The night we went to the football game, a woman came up to us and introduced herself as Amy's sister.  She had been telling some of her friends at the ballgame about her sister's funeral and showing them pictures of Amy when she was in high school.  One was of Louis and Amy.  The other one was the whole gymnastics team in formation for one of their routines.  Someone she had been talking to interrupted her and said, "There he goes now!"  He had spotted Louis!  So, she came over to tell Louis about Amy and show us some pictures.  It was great for him to see the pictures and for me, too, as I hadn't seen these particular pictures.  I had Louis forward these two to me so I could share them with my kids, as they have heard him talk about his being a cheerleader in high school (and later at West Virginia University).

Louis and his partner Amy

    

Louis and his cheerleading squad

Now here are the highlights and reminiscences special for me....

We landed in Cincinnati the first day and spent some time that afternoon perusing some of their great museums before driving along the Appalacian Highway to Parkersburg.  

The day seemed perfect.  The view was spectacular.  The weather was mild.  Suddenly, I got thinking about our trip from Denver to Virginia when we moved there in the fall of 1979 for my first husband Ross' work with Ball Corporation.  I remember leaving Indianapolis, driving to Cincinnati and taking a break at a beautiful rest stop on our way to West Virginia.  I realized we had to have taken that exact same route between Cincinnati and West Virginia along the Appalacian Highway.  We drove through Louis' hometown of Parkersburg!  Who would have thought I would be driving along the same route  years later....  

It was almost the exact same day of September and everything looked precisely the same as it did 42 years ago.  I spent a wonderful couple of hours thinking about that time in my life and that leg of the trip we took over the scenic Appalacian Highway headed to our new home in Virginia.  

After the reunion we left early Sunday morning for the same drive back to Cincinnati where we met my son Schuyler and his family at Church and then spent a couple of hours with them before flying back to Denver. 

Truthfully, I was apprehensive about the whole trip, flying as a passenger, meeting so many new people.  Retirement has made me kind of timid about some of the constants of my former life with United Airlines.  But  the days we spent on this mini vacation were both fun and fulfilling.  

I'm glad I went....