Central High School Archives

June 28, 2010July 31, 2015

Tour of “Old” Central High School

When the reunion organizers proposed a tour of the “new” Central High School, there was a clamor for a tour of the “old” Central High School, because that’s where we built our memories. The Class of 66 scheduled a breakfast in the cafeteria at 9 Saturday morning. They and the other classes got to prowl the school later.

Table-dancing skills prove useful

Vicky Seabaugh asked me to shoot a photo of the Class of 66 after breakfast.

Some of the students are partially hidden because they didn’t heed my admonition, “If you can’t see ME, my camera can’t see YOU.” Some of the folks with apparent prior table dancing experience used their skills to become more visible. (No hips were broken in the making of this photograph.)

That’s my locker

Bill Stone said he was lucky enough to share a locker with a small-time local hoodlum. “Nobody messed with MY locker,” he said. Our old tan lockers have been replaced by spiffy orange ones.

Auditorium seats have been recovered

I don’t know if these folks are looking for their initials or what. The auditorium looked as serviceable as ever.

Terry Hopkins shows his prowess

I kept telling Terry Hopkins that I needed him to do one more rep to make sure I got a good picture, but he finally wised up.

We got to walk across the gym floor

Walking across the gym floor was taboo when we were in school. You just didn’t do it. Not more than once, at least.

Standards must have been relaxed, because Terry Kitchen led us right on to it. (Go here to here Terry’s account of the Ghosts of the Trophy Case.) He’s the fellow in the orange and white shoes at left.

The ADA brings elevators to CHS

Janet Zickfield had to depend on other students to carry her up and down the many stairs at Central High School when we were there. Today’s students can use an elevator.

Photo Gallery of CHS tour

Here’s a photo gallery of our tour. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left of right side of the photo to move through the gallery. We’re not done yet. More photos are coming.

June 27, 2010April 1, 2021

Central High’s 60’s Reunion, Day 1

The Central High School 60’s Decade Reunion is over. These pictures are from Friday’s events. I’ll have photos from Saturday’s tour of the high school on Monday. I may post more pictures from other Saturday activities on Tuesday. Then we’re done for at least another five years.

It was better than expected

Friday night was spent wandering around trying to read name tags to see if you recognized anyone. Frequent contributors Bill East (blue shirt) and Terry Hopkins (bleep-eating grin) are here.

I have to admit that I wasn’t sure I was looking forward to the reunion. I haven’t kept in touch with my old classmates, and I hadn’t enjoyed the two reunions I had attended.

People at the 20th were still trying to impress each other. (OK, I was guilty of that, too.) The 2005 reunion had music that was played so loudly that it was almost impossible to talk, and everyone was packed so tightly together that it was hard to mingle.

What you need for a great reunion

The organizers this year told the DJ to keep the volume at a reasonable level.
The tables were far enough apart that you could maneuver around them.
There were interesting displays around the outside of the room.
The event wasn’t bogged down with a program and lots of announcements.

Because of the setup of the room, it was possible to have more, longer conversations with classmates than ever before. I had the feeling that we’re all hitting the age where we’re interesting in connecting with each other and our pasts more than in previous years.

Here’s what I look like

My wife took this and insisted that I put in at least one shot of me if I was going to show how gray everyone else had turned. That’s Sherry Huff Swanson in the middle and Joe Snell on the right.

Sherry just about induced a heart attack when she pulled me over to the side and said we should go outside to her convertible where she’d take her top down. Holy Cow! I missed the 10th reunion where skinny dipping was alleged, but the 2010 reunion sounded like it might be memorable.

Turned out my hearing is slipping. We went out to her convertible, but it was the CAR that had the top down. And, all she had in mind was being photographed IN the car. Alone.

My favorite reunion photo

I ran this as a placeholder yesterday, but it’s my favorite reunion photo so far. It captures the spirit of our decade. We may have some miles on the odometer, but we can still rev it up when we need to.

Photo Gallery

Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the right or left side of the photo to move through the gallery.

June 27, 2010

Central High School 60s Reunion Rel. 1

If the path to Hell is paved with good intentions, I must be about half-way to Heck. I had hoped to get Friday’s 60s’ Decade class reunion photos up on Saturday, then follow up with Saturday’s activities on Sunday.

As it turned out, I stayed later at the high school tour than I thought I would. (When Linda Stone and Tricia Tipton invite you for a literal walk down memory lane – OK, Themis Street – I’d have been a fool to turn them down. Then, I had a great conversation with Gerald Love over lunch, so IT went long.

Nap magnet strikes

I started editing the first couple hundred photos when the nap magnet reached out, grabbed me by the arm and flung me flat on my back. I learned a long time ago that fighting the nap magnet only tires you out more and is counterproductive, so I played dead until it released me.

This is just a long way of saying that this is all you’re going to see until Sunday. It’s almost 1 a.m. and I’m tired and retired.

After all, what are you folks gonna do, fire me?

June 22, 2010October 23, 2011

Terry Kitchen and The Ghosts of Central High School

Terry Kitchen, Class of 1970, and athletic director of Central Junior High School (our OLD Central High School) was one of my stops when I toured the school last fall.

Kitchen was a standout athlete at Central in his day and went on to play baseball at SEMO. He’s been with the Cape school system for more than three decades.

Some of those trophies just didn’t want to leave

I have to admit that I was just going through the motions when I talked with Kitchen. I nodded politely when he went through a litany of athletes who had passed through the school. Then he mentioned the Ghosts of Central and my ears perked up.

With little prodding, he launched into a tale that sounded like something Mississippi story-teller Jerry Clowers would cook up, including the Southern drawl and the speech cadence of a tent revival preacher.

I immediately kicked myself for not being in a better position. Kitchen was severely backlit, so a lot of detail is lost in the shadows. Still, this is one of those stories that doesn’t need visuals. (That’s a tough admission for a photographer.) Kitchen’s voice carries the account.

Watch the video to see what I mean.

Terry Kitchen’s Ghostly Encounter

Gallery of team photos

Here are a gallery of photos that Kitchen rescued from the trash when the school was being transformed from Central High School to Central Junior High school.