2025.10.09 THROW BACK THURSDAY - LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY
THROW BACK THURSDAY - LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY
PLUS CLASS NEWS
Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot, before the days of Dylan or the dawn of Camelot, there lived a race of innocents,
and they were you and me. For Ike was in the White House in that land where we were born, where navels were for oranges, and
Peyton Place was porn. We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince, Eddie Fisher married Liz, and no one's seen
him since. We danced to 'Little Darlin', and sang to 'Stagger Lee' and cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me, Me. Only
girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many, and only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney. And only in our
wildest dreams did we expect to see a boy named George with Lipstick in the Land That Made Me, Me. We fell for Frankie Avalon,
Annette was oh, so nice, and when they made a movie, they never made it twice. We didn't have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two
and Three, or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me. Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp, and
Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp. We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T, and Oprah couldn't talk yet, in the Land
That Made Me, Me. We had our share of heroes, we never thought they'd go, at least not Bobby Darin or Marilyn Monroe. For youth
was still eternal, and life was yet to be, and Elvis was forever in the Land That Made Me, Me. We'd never seen the rock band that was
Grateful to be Dead, and Airplanes weren't named Jefferson and Zeppelins were not Led. And Beatles lived in gardens then, and Monkees
lived in trees, Madonnna was Mary in the Land That Made Me, Me. We'd never heard of Microwaves, or telephones in cars, and babies
might be bottle-fed, but they were not grown in jars. And pumping iron got wrinkles out, and 'gay" meant fancy-free, and dorms were
never co-ed in the Land that Made Me, Me. We haven't seen enough of jets to talk about the lag, and microchips were what was left at
the bottom of the bag. And hardware was a box of nails, and bytes came from a flea, and rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made
Me, Me. T-Birds came with portholes, and side shows came with freaks, and bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.
And Coke came just in bottles, and skitrs below the knee, and Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me, Me. We had no Crest
with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues, We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions
in the Land That Made Me, Me. There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill, and fish were not called Wanda, and cats were not called Bill.
And middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three, and ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me, Me. But all things have a season,
or so we've heard them say, and now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A. They send us invitations to join AARP. We've come a long
way, baby, from the Land That Made Me, Me. So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans, and wonder why they're using
smaller print in magazines. And we tell our children's children of the way it used to be, long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.
If you didn't grow up in the 50's, you missed the greatest time in history.
1956 CLASS NEWS
Janis McAtee Mercer, bottom of each picture, came from Oregon to visit one of her four sons who happens to live near by.
Betty Lou "Betsy" Wright Dobbs drove over from Annapolis, MD to join us. We had big plans for an over night pajama party.
Thought about Carol Lee Tucker, but timing was difficult and short. Managed one full day talking about good times and making
ears ring in LR. It was fun just being together. Besty went home late afternoon Janis heads back to Portland, Oregon Wednesday.
Normal life starts again. What a wonderful day.
Hi to everyone.
Jo Lynn Hill VanWert
We started this get together in Virginia or Maryland or DC several years ago. When we began, there were about 10 or 12 of us who
lived or had lived in the DC area and we would get together during the summer and at Christmas time when I made my two treks
to visit my children and grandchildren. It was one of the most rewarding things I did. When we would get together, it was like all
those years just melted away. I'm looking forward already for my Christmas visit. But here's the REALLY good news. We can see
ALL of them next April at our 70th Reunion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So glad Joe Crow and I made a visit to Tony Owens last week. Just found out he is in the hospital right now. Hopefully he'll be home
soon. UTI's seem to get a lot of us. Drink that water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jane Huggins, Edwina Keith and me would sunbake all day at the Fair Park Pool. I guess the baby oil with iodine protected us..ha
Nancy Bostic Diffee
1955 CLASS NEWS
Marylou, you have given us such a gift in this newsletter. Thanks for helping us remember what a great life we’ve had. Life was simple but so
special and look at all the great folks we had and have as friends. Grateful!
Jane Parkin McMullan
THANKS, JANE! It is truly a labor of love!!!!!
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1966 Arkansas license plate. Arkansas license plates from this era used numerical prefixes to indicate the county of registration. In this case, "26" was the code assigned to Madison County. Jefferson was 2, Mississippi was 3, Sebastian was 4, Washington was 5. Crsighead was 8. Anyone remember number given to Pulaski. I'm guessing "1".
Gary Robinson, Brooks' "little" brother, and Jerry Jones are in this picture. They are still together.
On January 1, 1965, Arkansas defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers 10-7 in the Cotton Bowl. Afterwards, Arkansas was awarded the National Championship.
Who has had their cheese dip?
ML