Class of 1966 will celebrate 50 years since graduation

My high school class — South Panola’s Class of 1966 — will hold its 50th reunion this weekend at Arena One.
If the event itself is as relaxed and enjoyable as the planning meetings have been, it will have been a successful effort. I’m not sure when those planning meetings began. Classmates have been gathering occasionally for dinner at Como Steakhouse since our last reunion in 2006.
Lately those planning meetings have become slightly more structured with a committee of whoever shows up. We’ve been hosted in the homes of Becky Meacham, Jerry Lightsey and Phyllis Floyd.åTwenty-four from our class of 120-something have died. That number took several of us aback recently when we first heard it, but when we looked at a list that Phyllis had carefully compiled we could not find a name to remove.
We have attempted to contact class members by mail, phone, email and Facebook, but we are not sure we have been entirely successful. Gerald Dye dutifully mailed invitations to every class member he had an address for and, after what seemed to be a reasonable time, assumed they had reached their intended destination. Not so, he learned later when the post office sent him back all at one time a small batch of envelopes stamped “Addressee Unknown.” Or some such.
One of our classmates called the newspaper office for information. She had lived in the Carolinas for many years, she said, and has been recently widowed. As she asked questions about when and where, I could detect the excitement in her voice as she anticipated seeing classmates, some of whom she had not seen since graduation.
Reunions are like that — the further they are removed from the year of graduation, the greater is the anticipation, especially among classmates who moved away many years ago.
There are several local classmates we’ve never seen at a reunion. As  I’ve written before, that’s okay, but if you knew how much all of your classmates and especially these folks who are coming distances would really like to see you, you would not hold back.
If you are a class member who has not yet decided about this weekend, come join us. Call Phyllis at 662-934-0081 to let her know. Or just come to Arena One, starting at 5 p.m. Saturday. Dinner will begin around 6:30 p.m. For class members who want to attend Friday’s homecoming game at South Panola, call Jerry Lightsey for ticket info, 662-934-3356.