By Staff
Dec. 2, 2001
David Christian and David Johnson are Episcopal priests. Bobby Clark practices nephrology. Bobby Pilgrim is budget director for Mississippi Medicaid. Link Hall teaches English to gifted students in Louisiana.
Jacquelyn Bryant manages a business software program for Raytheon in Dallas. Lavon Fluker is superintendent of education in Aberdeen. Donna Wall teaches first graders at Hillcrest Christian School in Jackson. Bettye Calmese works on African-American cultural issues for a non-profit in Starkville.
Mike Maples is a heart surgeon in Jackson. Sonny Rush is a surgeon in Meridian. Jack Price is an anesthesiologist in Nashville. Archie McDonnell runs a bank in Meridian. Lester Williamson practices law in Meridian. Marshall McMullen is general counsel for a medical center in West Virginia. Mac Barnes is a coach and educator in Meridian. Everett Randall lives in Pennsylvania, writing texts and giving exams to people trying to earn professional designations in insurance. Paul Entrekin is an independent insurance agent in Meridian.
Katherine Baier is a free-lance writer in Southaven. Rosemary Sutter is a medical professor in Alabama. Lissa Beers is a computer programmer for IBM in New York. Virginia Cooper teaches elementary gifted students in the Jackson public schools. Dancy Dabbs is a banker in Meridian. Jennie Nause works in biochemistry and bacterial studies when she's not writing plays. Josephine Davidson teaches fourth graders in Mesa, Ariz. Lisa Davidson is a circuit court judge in Florida. Sandra Davis is a paralegal for a New Orleans law firm. Anne Gray teaches high school chemistry in Tennessee. Toni Jones is involved in community activities in Woodville. Sidney Shaw graces the stage at Meridian Little Theatre and still has the best sense of humor of the bunch.
Clay DuQuesnay is a financial adviser in New Orleans. Enzio Powell works for the Federal Aviation Administration in Charlotte, N.C.
This is a snapshot of some members of the Meridian High School Class of 1970, but it doesn't begin to tell the whole story. Space would never permit the telling of the whole story of a class of young students who made desegregation work in Meridian.
This was the first full class of black and white students to attend a single Meridian high school, created by the consolidation of T.J. Harris High and Meridian High in January 1970.
Suffice it to say, we are also wives and husbands, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, engineers and plumbers, nurses, business owners and managers and workers. We work the land. We live from coast to coast. We are people who shared an incredible moment in time, a senior year in high school that undoubtedly helped shape our futures.
It was more than a social experiment.
It's interesting what happened when members of the Class of 1970 gathered the other night for their 31st reunion. Beyond the good food whipped up by Kay and Charlie Joiner at their Howard Johnson's in Meridian, and a little music, there was a whole lot of catching up.
My wife, Sandy, noticed it, as did others. Most of the former students gathered in a large hallway outside the ballroom, while our spouses and significant others sat inside at tables. This was probably rude behavior on our parts, although none of us had hesitated to introduce the spouses with whom we share our lives.
But the opportunity to share a little chat with people once so important in your life was not to be passed up. There were stories of inventions and children making their own way in life. There were stories of health problems and deaths in the family.
There were stories that almost always started with the words, "Do you remember that time …"
Buddy Bynum is editor of The Meridian Star. Call him at 693-1551, ext. 3213, or e-mail him at bbynum@themeridianstar.com.