I never dreamed when I graduated from Hewitt High School in Trussville, AL, in May 1950, that I would live to experience my 60th class reunion.
There were 80 of us who graduated in 1950. However, 21 of my classmates are now deceased.
I had heard about the new campus that was built in 2008 at a cost of $74 million dollars.The school has a new name, Hewitt-Trussville High School. It is located at Deerfoot Parkway in Trussville. It looks like a major college or university campus with everything you would ever want in facilities. It is one of the premiere high schools in the nation.
The year I graduated our baseball team won the State High School Championship.
Hewitt-Trussville High School has turned out some outstanding athletes. Let me name a few:
Mike Mordecai, a right-handed hitting infielder in Major League Baseball who most recently played for the Florida Marlins.
Jay Barker, former quarterback for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team. Helped win the 1992 National Championship vs. Miami. Also started for the CFL team, the Toronto Argonauts. Married to country singer Sara Evans.
Brandon Cox, former quarterback for the Auburn Tigers football team.
My alma mater has turned out some outstanding pastors, evangelists, and missionaries. Let me name one that comes readliy to mind:
Mike Gray, the new Bishop and Superintendent of the Alpha (Alabama) Conference. I am so very proud of Mike.
The leadership of our 60th reunion asked me to write a memorial ceremony to honor our deceased classmates. I did so, and I think everyone appreciated the wording of the ceremony and the spirit in which it was presented. I read the ceremony. One of my classmates who was our high school queen in 1950, prepared the table with a white tablecloth with an empty chair. Other objects served as symbols of their lives: a red rose, a slice of lemon on a bread plate, a pinch of salt, the Bible, a wine glass turned upside down, a yellow ribbon and a lit candle.
Two of my classmates alternated in reading the names of our deceased classmates. We had a moment of silent prayer, and then I prayed this closing prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, we come to You in the strong Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Who is the Resurrection and the Life. We thank You for the life You have given to all of us.
In the face of the reality of death we acknowledge that our lives here on earth are for a brief moment of time. Help us to see death as You see it, not as the end, but as the beginning, not a wall but a doorway, not a dark road but a path that leads to eternal light and life.
We greatly miss those of our graduating class of 1950, but we thank You for the wonderful memories we have of them. May our minds and hearts be filled with the enduring recollections of the past as we commit them to You.
In the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray. Amen.
I was deeply moved by conversations I was privileged to have with my classmates. Many of them have come to know Jesus Christ, and several have been baptized with the Holy Spirit. One of our finest athletes who played all sports was one of the best shortstops I have ever seen. He was recruited by the New York Yankees, but he made a wise decision to turn down a lucrative offer, and worked at American Cast Iron Pipe Company, and raised his family. Today, he has several children and grandchildren. I want to salute Hoyt Hale.
On Saturday morning, Melvine and I had brunch with two former deacons and their wives of our church in Birmingham, Good Shepherd Pentecostal Holiness Church. They are Lee and Laverne Airhart and Harold and Marie Kelley. Lee is retired from U. S. Pipe as one of their top executives. Harold retired from Sears as one of their top managers and supervisors. He is now an ordained minister at Metro Church of God in Riverchase, and is the director of pastoral care. He loves it. Harold is an exceptional cook and gardener. He made a quart of Pear Jam and gave it to us. He brought a smaller jar of the jam to the brunch, and I spread some of the jam on the pancakes I had ordered at Cracker Barrel. It was absolutely out of this world. It will make your tongue slap your tonsils, put diamonds in your smile, or glitter in your grin.
The wives of these two deacons, Laverne Airhart and Marie Kelley, are outstanding wives, mothers, grandmothers, and leaders. It is little wonder their husbands were successful. They both married up.
Saturday evening we had supper with Joyce McKay a faithful and loyal member of our church. She taught our children, Greg and Stephanie in Bible Quiz. That one ministry has made a great impact upon the spiritual life and character development of all who were in the Bible Quiz team.
On Friday evening, we dined with my oldest niece, Marsha McDuff Flurry. My sister, Mary Evelyn, was sick and could not join us. What a delight Marsha is. Every parent would love to have her as a daughter or daughter-in-law. She works for the Southern Company, the parent company of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, and Mississippi Power. She is the secretary for one of the officials of the company.
I am a blessed man. In October, my graduating class from Furman University in Greenville, SC, will have our 50th class reunion.
Posted on
Thu, September 2, 2010
by Hugh Morgan