Is there anything in the world better than High School. No way. We are usually at the height of our power. The best in terms of physically we'll ever be. Of course, we don't know any of this in High School. It is looking back that we grasp what a carefree time this truly was.


Recently, I was looking at my granddaughter's yearbook and she said, "Opa, did you have yearbooks when you were in school. Why yes, we called them Annuals and I drapped mine out. She devoured it for over an hour. Remarkably, even in the dark ages we signed them, wrote comments, just as they did in hers. She was intrigued. And, so was I.

As I leafed through it, memories kept flooding back. There were my buddies, many that I had kept in contact with. Some more than others. And, the pictures of some who have transitioned from this life: Horace, Larry Godwin, Robert Lucas and others. For a few, I had lost contact with but we knew roughtly where they were.

What do I remember about High School? For me, it was simply a terrific time. I lived on a farm, about three miles from town. Our little town was always supportive of us as I remember. We would hang out, play sports, do many of the things that kids do. We had best friends, several friends, girl friends. School was a big part of life and sports was king. It was Friday night football, the Junior Senior, Wow, High School was a carefree time.

I'm sure that all of us have our different memories but for the life of me, I can't remember a big tragedy, a traumatic event that happened. There were some historical times I remember. I think the biggest one was the announcement of the intergration of the schools. I was sitting in Mrs. Barefoot's class and the announcement came over the loud speaker. In a sense, we didn't have a clue what it meant but I'm sure the teachers did. Amazingly, for the next five years, our school was never integrated.

Were we racist. Probably but living in the times. For us it was Harnett High where blacks went and we were Dunn High. For most of us, we had absolutely no contact with the black community nor did it impact our school. In some ways today, I am amazed.