dunnhighclassof58 - Recently Updated Pages

Bob Nordan

dunnhighclassof58 — Sat, 03 May 2008 14:43:29 CDT

Bobby and I were taking algebra from, I can't remember; anyway, there was no way that we could pass the exam. We hardly studied at all and somehow just could not get it as much as we tried which was not much. We did show up in class, however. Those were days when you went to class or it was going to be tough on you because the teacher called your parents. We came up with the idea of stealing the exam. We figured they ran them off on the old memograph machine. Rememer those? They all had this blue ink and you turned this handle and cranked them out. All we had to do was get in the copying room. So, at night we came over back of the school, found a ladder, conveniently laying around, climbed into the second floor. Sure enough there they were: the algebra exams, all two pages. We are homefree.

The exam was the next day and we could go for it. One page was a bunch of questions that we could look up in the back of the book: I think this was Algebra one and the first page had to do with rules. The second page was made up of nothing but problems that had to be worked. Help! We stayed up all night and looked up the first page in the back of the book where the answers were. We couldn't work the problems even though we had the book. What to do?

Time for school. Well, we at least could get half of it right. On the questions page, we got all of them right and missed all the second page because we couldn't work the problems. Guess what? We failed under a cloud of suspicion.

Home

dunnhighclassof58 — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:51:32 CDT

This site is to collect memories of our class of 1958 at Dunn High School. We are a very unique and quite colorful if I do say so myself. Over the years, we've remained close and we want to record many of the really funny stories that we've shared over the years about our class. Also, we want to have them as a momento for our 50th reunion which will be in the summer of 2008. Jim Tart is holding our feet to the fire in getting the event rolling. For those who are not into these blasted machines as one of our classmates called them, we'll collect the stories verbally or anyway we can and then get them on this "blasted machine". The great thing about this site is that any can log on and write away.

Well, the Reunion has come and gone. It was great and I cannot think of enough accolades to truly say how great it was. This is a thought that occurred to me several times: looking at our group, the wonder of the directions we have taken. And, yet here were at our fiftieth reunion. Amazing.

The Annual

dunnhighclassof58 — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:41:37 CDT

My grand daughter, Lupe, age, 11, just finished the 5th grade. It is an all girl's school and they had a yearbook. Well, they did the same things in a way that we did. I was surprised. She has her friends to sign and they write notes, etc. Very interesting. So, in the process, she wants to know if we had yearbooks when I was in school. She didn't say it but she meant, "the dark ages." Why yes and I get out my Annual, as I explained, we called them. It was so funny as she was looking through, many funny things but one was that she constantly read the notes and the things by our pictures. Lupe could hardly believe it; her Opa.

What is equally fascinating to me is that we wrote such poignant things and had such insight. I think one of the fabulous things about getting older are the memories and how to preserve them and in this case, share them. ja

COMMENTS FROM JERRY WILKINS

My first car was a 1958 Ford red and white convertible and we sure did have some great times in that car. Remember Larry Godwin and I left the ECU campus the first week-end we did not have football practice and were headed to Greensboro to see Betsy Sue and her roommate and had a wreck outside of Wendell NC as a Lady was passing a car on a hill and we had a head on collision and totaled the car: the lady was killed. Larry and I wound up in the hospital in Raleigh for a couple of days.

Our Varsity Football team was playing at Lenoir Ryne that week-end and of course as freshmen we were restricted to campus and this trip took place as an unapproved road trip. Coach Boone heard that we had this wreck and came by the hospital on Sunday morning and after finding out we were not seriously hurt he explained that the wreck was not going to be bad as it was going to be for us to earn his trust again and I can not even begin to tell you how many laps we ran after practice that next week after the doctors said we could practice again. Oh, one other fact he took our meal books so we had to earn them back. I always thought that was why Larry decided to give up football and marry Carolyn. Not a bad way to end a very bad situation....thought you would like hear that story. You may have already known it any way.......... Jerry Wilkins

RUNNING AND DODGING

dunnhighclassof58 — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:37:04 CDT

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High School As A Bubble

dunnhighclassof58 — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:54:52 CDT

There really is nothing that out does High School I think. I remember reading some sort of article about High School where we are truly the most free we'll ever be. And, for us, I think that was right and for me, I've often thought of the heavy issues that we face in life, i. e., racial issues, etc., still we were pretty removed from it and life was good. I love the memories.

And, it will be great to see those who come to the reunion. I've stayed fairly committed to several or at least commoed over the years with them and travelled back to Dunn with a good bit of regularity. With our 50th, what is our future? Maybe we can stay in touch through email. I wish I could figure out a way to incorporate the comments from our Annual (The Echo).

I can report that the Reunion was absolutely fantastic. It could not have been better. Thanks to so many who made it happen.

HEAVEN IS SECOND TO HIGH SCHOOL

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:25:19 CDT

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.

e rmail messages

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:37:36 CDT

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Harry Green

dunnhighclassof58 — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 10:07:38 CDT

He was a couple of years ahead of us in school but for whatever reason, we were always friends and hung out at his house often. His Mom was an alcoholic and maybe that was it. She didn't supervise anybody and it was comfortable. Harry kind of raised himself. And, his life had not been good, never got a break so to speak. But, for those moments in time, he was great and a realization of how wonderful memories are.

Here's a memory. One night, we are in Harry's (we called him Sniff) Mom's big old 98 Olds. This is a story that is essentially told by Bobby Nordan. We are just "tooling" around and decided to go to Falcon. Falcon was the State or maybe National headquarters for the Pentecostal Church. We knew some girls and were always joking about the Camp Meetings. I guess we were being sacrilegious, whatever that is; but the shouting and speaking in tongues kind of intrigued us. Plus, there were lies rampant about the girls when they would shout or speak in tongues. Mainly it was our imagination but we were only fourteen or fifteen but Sniff was old enough to have his drivers' license which was heaven.

We are down at Falcon. I think that Bobby and I were in the back seat and Sherwood Lucas was in the front while Sniff was driving. We rode by the girl's houses but didn't have the courage to stop and asked. Bobby and I got to tussling in the back. Sniff turned around to look at us and the next thing we knew , we have crossed a ditch and knocked down a light pole. We caved the entire front of his Mom's Olds in: plus, suddenly the entire community of Falcon was plunged into darkness. Bobby looks at the car and takes off running down the street. Somehow we get turned around, find Bobby and take off back to town. It definitely is one of those "you had to be there" stories. I'm not sure how we passed the car off with a giant dent in the front but Bobby says we told that someone backed into us at the movies. And, poor Falcon didn't get their lights back for days.

Firecrackers

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 19:45:12 CDT

I'm a little unsure about writing about this. Can we be prosecuted? Just kidding. I don't remember all the circumstances surrounding the event. But, Jimmy Martin had a 53 Ford as I remember. One Sunday afternoon, I think, we hatched a plan that we would go to S. C. and buy and steal some firecrackers and bring them back and created a Little havoc.

I'm not sure if we had a target but for some reason, Mr. Johnson's house surfaced, that is if we ended up with firecrackers. So, we take off. It is Bobby Nordan, Harry Green, maybe J. W. Johnson or Murphy Taylor. Maybe Sherwood Lucas. Not sure. Anyway, we make it to South Carolina where they have all these firecrackers stands. Some of us buy a few while the others stuff their pockets. This is somewhat like an arsenal of firecrackers that we end up with. We high tail it back to Dunn.

By this time, it is close to midnight. We park the car over at Sniff's (Harry) house and then we go over to just down from the school and put firecrackers around Mr. Johnson's house and maybe a couple of others. Then we light them and take off back across the railroad tracks and the firecrackers go off. It is like a bomb, the sky is lit up everywhere. Lights start coming on and suddenly there is about three police cars. By this time, we are back in Harry's house hiding. Lights off. Finally, things return to normal and then for some reason, it's like the middle of the night and we start through town and you guessed it, the police stop us.They think we are the culprits. They search the car, everything. Nothing. We are all proclaiming innocent to the degree that we don't know what they're talking about. What are we doing out so late. Can't remember what we said. They tell us to go home and come back in the next day. We do and they question us but we remain resolute. We never own up.

Murphy Taylor

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:45:09 CDT

Murphy Taylor died April 30, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was a beloved member of the Dunn High School Class of 1958.

During his years at Dunn High School, Murphy played baseball, basketball, and football. He was Vice-President of his senior class. In his senior year book, he was described as likeable, cutest, and Senior Superlative.

We will miss you, Murphy Taylor. Our condolences to your son, Jason, and extended family.
Dear Fellow Classmates,

I am sorry to have to bring you sad news. I heard from Becky Pope and Jule Mann yesterday that Murphy Taylor had died. Our classmates had lost contact with him until this spring when S B did some excellent detective work and sent me a possible phone # in Las Vegas. After that, I actually talked to Murphy. He was enjoying his work in a security business and seemed genuinely glad to re-connect with us, especially JW. He was making plans to attend our 50th reunion next June. I am sure that he and JW would have had some mischief in store for us.

Join me in remembering our old friend.

Jim

so sad about murphy......so glad jimmy was able to talk to him recently...probably really "made" murphy's day ! what I remember about him most is the "reverse mohawk" haircut that some guys gave him.....the evidence was still visible in his senior picture...

sb

Murphy was a little of an oddity in a way but we all liked him. And, he was like greased lighting in football. He had that quickness and agility that made Friday night football pretty excited.

I'm not sure anybody remembers exactly how Murphy came to live with me. He just showed up.(Murphy grew up in an orphanage.) I think that living with Coach Brown was a little restrictive if you get my drift. Anyway, I'll never forget the look on my Mom's face when I introduced him, "Mom, I want you to meet my new brother."

Over the years, I've kept up with Murphy. He worked for me for awhile and then kind of disappeared off the radar screen. Years went by and he would surface usually with a phone call.

Not sure that our classmates know that Murphy had diabetes and had been sick for awhile. Also, he was caring for his twin brother who had slipped into dementia. Another brother had committed suicide as I remember. The reason I'm sharing this is it fits the pattern of Murphy as the survivor. In some ways, he's still Murphy looking for a home.

I'm sad and glad his suffering is over. He has a son, Jason, who is making arrangements.

JW

I'll never forget the first time I saw Murphy. It was at football practice. And, when you are a high school boy playing football everybody is a rival, especially if you don't know them. I mean, here is a new guy that might threaten my place on the football team; and, of course, football when you are in High School is life- Friday night lights. But, Murphy turned out to be no threat, only an addition and really a gutsy and fast halfback as I remember. He could scoot around the ends, dodge, dart, make it all exciting.

Of course, in High School, you don't know what end is up, but Murphy was a good athlete in all sports. He integrated into the environment and was part of the fabric. I'm sorry I lost contact with him but briefly heard of his exploits over the years. I would always ask JW when we got together; it was Las Vegas, Reno, some distant spot.

When I talked to J. W. a few days ago, he told me that Murphy had been in the military. I didn't remember. And, there was something that struck a cord, apparently, he had originally tried to join up, but they rejected him.

Then for some odd reason, at 28, the military scarfed him up and sent him to Vietnam. J. W. says that he thinks he didn't even have any training. I don't know how that could be, but stranger things have happened.

What it appears is that Murphy was what we call, McNamara's 100,000(this was a despicable program of the LBJ era where the military lowered the standards and took those who previously could not get in and made "cannon fodder" out of them). Murphy, I think, was probably one of them. He is lucky to have survived. But, then again, are any of us surprised? Murphy Taylor was a survivor.

JA