50-Year Reunion

50 Years: To Parrots of '67, That's a BFD (Big Feathered Deal)

On August 5, 2017 members of the Poly High School class of 1967 marked a milestone that few of us had given much thought to a half-century ago.

More than 150 people attended our fifty-year reunion. The bottom photo, by Lisa Barksdale, shows just some of the classmates in attendance.

This photo by Eileen Pillers has a slightly wider view of the group pose.

The reunion was held at Ridglea Country Club.

Among the early arrivers was Barbara Spurrier Black, checked in by Gloria Townsend Ayars and Sue Waltrip Setzekorn.

Martha Wilkerson Mattison and Bill Ayars at the check-in tables. (Photo by Larry Barksdale.)

But after dinner was served, it was every Parrot for him/herself.

Rising to the occasion for "the big one" was Gloria Townsend Ayars, who has organized our reunions every five years and our summer dinners every year. Steve Lefler again donated 1967 ball caps for the reunion. And Cheryl Williams donated T-shirts. Larry Barksdale designed the T-shirt logo and compiled and played the recorded music for the night.

Roy Lowry manned the mic and organized a golf tournament (see photos below).

June Gipson Bates presented awards. For example, Larry and Cathy Hardisty Roberts were recognized for traveling the longest distance to the reunion (from Alaska).

Tommy and Judy Weeks Kirby were recognized for having the longest marriage.

Bill Foster and Kristy Libotte Keener were voted the least changed.

The spirit of Mr. T assigned two teachers--Daisianne Davis Younger and Carolyn Teague--to attend in order to ensure that there would be two adults in the room at all times.

Suzanne Penneston Hardin provided the larger-than-life parrot.

Herding cats (otherwise known as getting everyone together for elementary class photos): Mike Nichols, Sye Keene, Ray Kelley, Jerry Martin, Steve Black, and Jeanine Shaffer Brown. (Photo by Larry Barksdale.)

The Glen Crest Elementary Mafia: Gay Weeks Angel, Jane Ann Smith Cassidy, Barbara Banner Grenier, Roy Lowry, Steve Burris, Tim Thomas, Nancy Barksdale Bates, Gary Pillers, Janean Subke Breaux, Al Reader, Jerry Martin, John Wier, Don Dowdy, Steve Lefler. (Photo by Larry Barksdale.)

Eastland Elementary: Bill Foster, Stan Stevens, Carolyn Lynch Schlee, Kenny Goolsby, Sue Waltrip Setzekorn, Cheryl Williams, Cathy Hardisty Roberts, Jeanine Shaffer Brown, Gloria Townsend Ayars, Linda Elliott Prince, Ray Kelley. Present but not pictured: Vikki Pulido Scroggs and Cheryl Floyd Smith.

D. McRae Elementary: David Tarrant, Ken Smith, Joy (Shirley Losli) Mason, Laura Briscoe Somoge, Mike Nichols, Diane Miller Foster McKinzie, Rick Lawlis, Marianne Stubbe McGinnis, James Anderson, Ken Zielinski, Jerald Nelson. Present but not pictured: Jane Miller Marcott and Jerry Stewart (but see below). (Photo by Susan Smith.)

Glen Park Elementary: Pat Findley, Jana Beers, Barbara Spurrier Black, Grace Harvey, Carol Walker Findley, Donna Reid Martin, Gary Gibson, James Hollenbach, Linda Hazzard Johnson. Present but not pictured: Falah Benton Crouch, Sherry Ennis Morris, Ramona Cearley Austin, Diana Mobley Jones, Martha Wilkerson Mattison, and Steve Burris.

Jerry Stewart, who no doubt was off telling some whoppers when he should have been posing for the D. McRae photo, bombed the Glen Park photo, aided and abetted by fellow D. McRaer David Tarrant, who made a cameo appearance in the rear.

Our elementary and junior high class photos (below the links to the yearbook pages).

Fifty years later, an encore by the Choke Sisters (Ardeth Copeland Bennett and Cheryl Williams) (video by June Gipson Bates).

Cheryl Williams, Pat Findley, Jane Ann Smith Cassidy and Bill Cassidy. (Photo by Larry Barksdale.)

Nancy Barksdale Bates and Bill Sims. (Photo by Larry Barksdale.)

Karen and Gary Gibson. (Photo by Larry Barksdale.)

Lisa Barksdale and Glenda Holcomb Worden Stallard. (Photo by Larry Barksdale.)

Jane Ann Smith Cassidy and Bill Cassidy. (Photo by Larry Barksdale.)

Diane Miller Foster McKinzie (back to camera), Nancy Barksdale Bates, Pat and Karen Walker Findley, Glenda Holcomb Worden Stallard, Sherry Ennis Morris, Cheryl Williams, and Ardeth Copeland Bennett. (Photo by Larry Barksdale.)

Diane Miller Foster McKinzie (front to camera). (Photo by Larry Barksdale.)

Bill Sims, Ray Kelley, Steve Lefler. (Photo by Larry Barksdale.)

Glen Park ladies: Linda Hazzard Johnson, Karen Walker Findley, Grace Harvey, Donna Reid Martin, Sherry Ennis Morris, Barbara Spurrier Black. (Photo by Larry Barksdale.)

Parrots really can fly. Gary and Eileen Pillers flew up from Cypress, Texas.

Jane Ann Smith Cassidy and Doug and Janean Subke Breaux.

Steve and Barbara Spurrier Black.

Phil Daenzer, Roger Ray, Glenda Holcomb Worden Stallard, and Rick Poteet.

Jerry Martin and Tim Thomas.

Ray Kelley and Donna Little Hedgpeth-Jurica.

Chuck O'Toole, Marion Richeson, and Larry Roberts.

Larry and Cathy Hardisty Roberts, Mike Nichols, Kristy Libotte Keener, and Joy (Shirley Losli) Mason. (Photo by Ken Keener).

Pat Findley and David Tarrant.

Joy (Shirley Losli) Mason.

Cathy Hardisty Roberts and Missy Fricks Tarrant.

Ken and Barbara Goolsby.

Dueling cameras: Larry Barksdale and Mike Nichols.

Roy Lowry organized a golf tournament on August 5 at Ridglea Country Club. Back row, Pat Hunter, Phil Daenzer, Bob Allen, Tommy Kirby, Danny Yorek. Center row, Jerry Martin, Larry Barksdale, Roy Lowry, Rick Poteet, Joe Wylie, Steve Burris, Bill Sims, Larry Sanders. Front row, Jeanine Shaffer Brown, June Gipson Bates and Brad Bates. (Golf photos by Larry Barksdale.)

Al Reader, Jeanine Shaffer Brown and Ray Brown, Roy Lowry.

Brad and June Gipson Bates, Larry Barksdale, Mike Spurlock (class of 1966).

Tommy Kirby, Steve Burris, Bill Sims, Larry Sanders.

Tommy Kirby, Bill Sims.

Jerry Martin, Bob Allen, Pat Hunter.

Jerry Martin, Danny Yorek, Rick Poteet.

1967: "Those Were the Days, My Friend"

June 1, 1967. Seems like just yesterday, doesn't it? Actually 18,328 yesterdays had passed between the night we graduated from Poly High School and the night we celebrated our fifty-year reunion on August 5 at Ridglea Country Club.

According to the Star-Telegram story and our yearbook, 467 Parrots graduated that night in 1967. A half-century later 150-plus people attended the reunion--an impressive turnout of classmates and their guests and Poly grads of other years.
But for many of us, our graduation year is only part of our personal Poly story. Many of our 1967 classmates--some of them present at the reunion--we have known since kindergarten or elementary school. We knew them long before Poly High School as patrol boys, hall monitors, spelling bee and relay race contestants. We lived on the same street, attended the same church, were members of the same Little League or Gra-Y team or Cub Scout or Brownie troop.
But four hundred sixty-seven graduates and fifty years is a combination that inevitably has brought sad news as over this half-century we have lost classmates. Some, such as David Dykes, John Goodman, and David Foster, didn't live to attend even our ten-year reunion.

Remember the world of the year we graduated? Sure you do. Nineteen sixty-seven was the year that . . . Elvis Aaron Presley married Priscilla Ann Beaulieu; the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox in the World Series; the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl I. Jack Nicklaus was named PGA player of the year; Kathy Whitworth was named LPGA player of the year. Thousands of young people protested the Vietnam War; Detroit was rocked by race riots. Navy Lieutenant Commander John McCain was shot down over North Vietnam and captured. Raquel Welch toured Vietnam with Bob Hope's USO show. USC had a running back named Orenthal James Simpson. The FCC ordered that cigarette ads and commercials must include a warning about the health risks of smoking. The Doors released their debut album, including the single "Light My Fire"; the Jimi Hendrix Experience released their debut album, Are You Experienced?; Pink Floyd released their debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn. The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Israel fought Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in the Six-Day War. Pamela Anderson, Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Harry Connick Jr., Will Ferrell, and Faith Hill were born. Woodie Guthrie, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, and Otis Redding died. American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell was assassinated; Jayne Mansfield was killed.

In 1967 we watched the final episode of The Fugitive and the pilot episode of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was founded.
On June 1, 1967, even though the big news of the day was that 467 Poly Parrots were graduating, our local TV stations counter-programmed with Star Trek, Rawhide, That Girl, and My Three Sons.

Meanwhile, Mark Stevens was at KFJZ; Bill Mack was at KBUY.

Nineteen sixty-seven sounded a bit like this.

Rolling Stone magazine was founded, featuring John Lennon on the first cover. The musical Hair opened off-Broadway. The counterculture phenomenon known as the "Summer of Love," with 1960 Poly grad Chet Helms among its leaders, began in San Francisco.

Billboard magazine's no. 1 hit for the week we graduated was "Respect." Other hit songs of the year included "To Sir with Love," "Incense and Peppermints," "Daydream Believer," "Ode to Billie Joe," and "Ruby Tuesday."

Popular movies included Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Cool Hand Luke, Casino Royale, Valley of the Dolls, and The Producers. On 7th Street's Show Row downtown, movies showing the night we graduated were The War Wagon at the Worth, 8 on the Lam at the Palace, and Triple Cross at the Hollywood.

Look at those prices. A new Mustang was $2,249 at Charlie Hillard, a new Volkswagen $1,719. What cost $1 in 1967 would cost $7.30 today. Put another way, what cost $1 today cost fourteen cents a half-century ago.

A summer dress was $5.97 in the 1967 Sears catalog.
So much for what was going on in the outside world. But Polytechnic was its own little world. In addition to being able to attend public school and college in our own neighborhood, we could get almost every product and service we needed nearby, especially on Rosedale Street and Vaughn Boulevard: the Clover and Westerner drive-in restaurants, Poly Grill, Big Top, Italian Inn, Griff's, the Mansfield, Twin, and Meadowbrook drive-in theaters, the Varsity and Poly theaters, Berry Bowl, Golfland, Del Murray Field, Cobb and Sycamore parks, Sycamore Creek, Buddie's supermarkets and many small corner grocery stores, Atlantic Mills, Spartan's, and Clark's discount stores, Mott's dime store, Ray Cloud's and L&H Rexall drugstores, Poly and Burge hardware stores, Ward's Plaza and Martin's department store, and Panther Hall. There were doctors and dentists. If they couldn't help you, there were Meissner's Funeral Home and Poly Cemetery.

And central to our world in 1967, of course, was Poly, our "own dear high school."

In 1965 our sophomore class was the last to know Mr. T.

Mr. T. was principal of Poly for twenty-two years.

His advice--"Remember who you are and where you're from"--has served us well for a half-century now.