In life, it ultimately leads to eternity

By Bettye J. Caldwell

This is a momentous occasion for each of us. It has been 55 years since we walked the halls of Patton Lane High School. For some of us, it has been 55 years since we have seen various members of our class, primarily because we moved on to various cities and towns to live our lives.

We began our lives in school taking the straight path. We remember greeting old friends and new classmates in 1965 at Patton Lane High. Some friends we had since first grade at various community elementary schools; others we met at West Side in 7^th grade when certain community schools consolidated in 1963; still others we met who had attended elementary school in the town of Batesville until we all joined together in the 9th grade at Patton Lane.

The straight path carried us through elementary school with inspiring teachers like Mr. Lester, Mr. Henderson, Mrs. Dugger, Mrs. Lowe,Mrs. Denson, Mrs.Cunningham Kirkwood and Mrs. Ellis Johnson to name a few. That straight path continued through high school with equally inspiring faculty, including Principal Hyde and teachers like Mr. Jackson, Ms. Logan, Ms. Brown, Ms. Atlas, Mrs. Mitchell Lloyd and Mr. Evans among many others -too many to name here. You will note that all the faculty I named here have gone on into eternity, gaining their crowns for the hard work they carried out instilling the value of an education to us and many students before and after our class. Let us not forget those faculty members still with us like Mr. and Mrs. Bruce, Mr. Kitchens, Mrs. Mattie Anthony Fox, Mr. Ivy, and of course, Mrs. Hyde. They and numerous other of their colleagues were and still are our role models.

Traveling that straight path through high school, we remember the good times as well as the struggles we endured to get a good education. Many of us were members of farming families who were ShareCroppers and could not attend school every day of the school year. All of us were about three generations or so from ancestors who were enslaved. Some of us chopped and picked cotton in that hot sun to help our families provide food, shelter and clothing including some who lived in town but still were hired out to make money to buy new school clothes and/or to help their families subsist. Many of our books were used when we got them; but we cherished every book, pencil, pen and piece of paper because we knew, even at an early age, the value of an education taught by our parents, our teachers and our churches. We are not ashamed of our past. It helped make us who we are today and helped us strive and provide for a better future for our children.

Those of us who were bused enjoyed the ride in the morning on the way to school and in the late afternoon on the way home. This was our time to laugh and talk to each other and to discuss what took place during the day at school. Some of our bus drivers in our 11^th and 12^th grade years were our Classmates. In addition, it was during lunch time that we also got a chance to laugh and talk with our friends. We remember Jack and William Lamberth coming to the table where a group of us girls sat eating lunch. 

Jack and William told hilarious jokes as well as some that were kind of gross in efforts to put us off our food. They succeeded, and got to eat our healthy lunches especially on Fridays, our favorite time where the wonderful cafeteria staff excelled in their craft.

We enjoyed the assemblies, plays and talent shows where we participated. We took the requirements to graduate as well as electives and extracurricular activities. Some joined the choir and sang our hearts out or rather our lungs out; others joined our high stepping band and still others became cheerleaders, basketball and football players as well as those who joined various school clubs and academic organizations and teams.

When we left high school, some continued the straight path while others began taking the winding road in life. Some of us went to college full or part time and to trade schools with part time jobs helping to finance our education. Others went to work full time, marrying high school classmates. Still others joined the military; and one classmate we will always remember as a young basketball player is Willie Clyde Kuykendall who lost his life in the Vietnam War and was among our first classmates to die at a young age.

As we traveled that winding road to eternity, we became teachers, professors, lawyers, nurses, ministers, government officials, writers, business owners and other entrepreneurs. Now many of us are retired but have continued to give back to help educate the succeeding generations. Many of us have lived the American Dream and have fought and continued to fight to keep that dream alive and made manifest for our succeeding generations. Having lived through the Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Era, we know what freedom means. We still remember being in the assembly hall in 1968 when we heard of Dr. King’s assassination and knowing we had to continue the fight for freedom, justice and liberty. As we sit here today, we recognize our fight for freedom and human rights is not over but now our children and grandchildren are in this fight with us. We have taught them the lessons of our past, so they understand what is at stake.

Finally, as our road grows ever so closely to eternity, this may be the last class reunion for some of us.  Still, we will leave this occasion joyful and thankful for our successes, and grateful to our parents and teachers for helping us fulfill our dreams. We are thankful for having gone through school with such good friends, many who have remained valued friends to this day. We will dance the night away just like we did as teenagers, or at least try to do that. Yet, we will always remember so many of our classmates who have gone on to eternity and will say their names tonight and hold our visions of them as classmates in our minds and in our hearts for as long as we live. Let us pay tribute by saying their names once again.

• September 14, 2024