Marvell High School

Reunion of Classes

P.O. Box 52, Marvell, Arkansas 72366

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Welcome to the Marvell High School
Reunion of Classes website!

Last Update:  February 8, 2010

REUNION OF CLASSES
MARVELL HIGH SCHOOL  
P. O. Box 52, Marvell, AR  72366-0052
Webpage:  www.marvellreunion.com
Email:  committee@marvellreunion.com

February 4, 2010

Dear Classmates:

             Once again, the classes from 1932 through 1977, & beyond, are having a combined Reunion of Classes.  Saturday, April 17, 2010, is the date.  The reunion is from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the old MHS building on College Street.  The Bar-B-Que and dance is from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.  Is it necessary that you graduated from MHS; absolutely not.  Everyone who attended MHS for at least one day is invited to participate because we consider you a member of the MHS student body.

 It is very important that you check in at the registration booth when you arrive.  If you would like to come early and help with the set up, that will be great please.  We will start on Friday.

             Each class is encouraged to plan its own activities for the rest of the weekend.  Send us an email or a letter if you have some ideas for your class and we will put you in touch with your classmates via email.  The committee has a list of names & addresses for your class.  Other than the 9:30 to 5:00 reunion hours, the only other organized gathering will be the Saturday night Bar-B-Que and dance (6:00 to 11:00) to be held at the old High School  Cafeteria -- just like in the old day.  A live band will be playing 1950’s and 1960’s dance music.

             There is no registration fee.  We do ask for a donation of $25.00 per person (maximum of $50.00 for you and your immediate family) to defray the cost of the reunion and to provide a fund to help maintain the old MHS building.  Food and soft drinks will be provided during the day’s activities and the evening’s social. 

 We want to explain why making the donation of $25.00 is so important.  The majority of the money made from the reunion is given to the Marvell Civic Club for the exclusive purpose of maintaining the old MHS building.  Neither the city nor the state gives the Civic Club any money to maintain the building.    Every extra cent the reunion makes is given to the Civic Club for this purpose. 

             Please visit the Marvell Reunion of Classes website for more and updated information.  We will not be able to send out another letter because of the cost factor, so please make use of the web page for updated information.  Please send us any student email addresses you have.

             The reunion is your reunion.  One way to make it the best it can be is for each of you to get involved to some degree.  We ask that each of you commit to contact ten of your friends to encourage them to join with you in the reunion.

 Since the 2008 Reunion of Classes, we have lost over thirty (30) MHS students.  We hope you will use the 2010 reunion as a chance to reconnect with old friends.

            We hope to see you on April 17^th.

             The Reunion of Classes committee

            Hotel information:  Helena-West Helena:  Best Western: 870-842-7438 Motel 6: 870-572-7915, Isle of Capri Casino: 800-789-5825; Forrest City: Holiday Inn: 870-633-6300, America’s Best Value Inn: 870-633-0042, Days Inn: 870-633-0777, Best Western: 870-633-0870, Hampton Inn: 870-630-9000; Brinkley: America’s Best Value Inn: 870-734-1650. 

          There will be a supper event at the Methodist Church on Friday night.  The price will be reasonable.  Please check the web page for updated information.  

The class of 1960 will celebrate its 50^th year reunion on Friday night.  Please contact Sylvia Wooten Hindsley at 501-412-6279, for more details.

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Registration

            We would like to have some idea of your interest in this reunion.  Please fill out this page and return it, along with your donation, to Reunion of Classes, P.O. Box 52, Marvell, AR 72366-0052, as soon as you have the chance. 

            We will post the names of those who are interested in attending on the MHS web page.  This information comes from the registration form you return to us.  This allows everyone to know who is planning to attend. 

Name: __________________________________________________   Class of:  ___________

Address: _____________________________________________________________________

                        Street or P.O. Box                                         City                 State          Zip Code  

 Phone #: _________________________   

Email add: ________________________________           

             __________ I will try to attend.

             __________ I will not be able to attend but keep me informed.

             __________ I am not interested in this reunion.  Do not send me additional information.

             If you have the addresses of some of our classmates, please send them to us.  We have many addresses; however, we do not have them all & some of the ones we have are incorrect. 

              If you have some thoughts about anything you would like for your class to plan, please let us know.

 Please send us the names of all MHS veterans you know, including their branch of service and during what period they served.  Please let us know if they died during the war.  Thanks.

  MHS REUNION SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -
April 17, 2010

(Times are approximate – Events subject to change)

 9:00 a.m.        Registration begins.  (If you will help with registration, lunch, or any of the events, please let someone at the registration booth know.  We need help.) 

 8:30 a.m.        Music – Gospel Express (Joe Kemmer’s band).

 9:30 a.m.        Official Welcome – Alma Mater; Pledge of Allegiance; Prayer; Words from teachers, coaches, principals, and others.

 10:00 a.m.      Stage – Entertainment

 10:30 a.m.      Honor of our Veterans – Veterans who were killed during the wars, Veterans of WWII, Korean, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, all conflicts, Peacetime soldiers, Reserve and National Guard soldiers will be honored.  Not limited to MHS students.  See web page for a list of those we know to honor.  If you know of more, let us know as soon as possible so that we can make plans.

 11:00 p.m.      Lunch is provided as part of the registration fee.   See reverse for further explanation.

 1:00 p.m.        Entertainment in auditorium -- Showcase of Talent.

 2:00 p.m.        Field events  -- On the Field of Honor (next to Home Economics Bldg.):

                        1.  Lawn mower races -- We need smart drivers and spouses/companions who are smarter and love to give directions (ones who excel as backseat drivers – usually the females).

2.  Tug of war Competition – The Class of 1967, reigning champions, has agreed to take the challenge of the class of ‘66.  Other class teams are invited, if brave.

3.  Athletic events – Punt, Pass, & Kick; Basketball free throws (Please let us know if you are interested so that we can plan accordingly)

 5:00 p.m.        Close

 6:00 p.m.        Bar-B-Que at old High School cafeteria

 7:00 p.m.        Dance at the old High School cafeteria  -- Cypress Creek Band

Note:  Weather will dictate whether events/programs are held inside or outside.

                                   ALMA MATER

________________________________________________________________

                                                          LUNCH NOTES

           The registration fee of $25.00 per person ($50.00 maximum per immediate family) entitles you and your immediate family to enjoy the day’s activities including lunch.  For example, if you bring your spouse and two children, the maximum you pay is $50.00.            

_______________________________________________________________

BAR-B-QUE AND DANCE SITE
 

Old High School Cafeteria (behind the Library building)

Bar-b-que will be served there and the dance will
be held there.  Bar-b-que at 6:00 p.m. with the
dance to begin at about 7:00 p.m.

(This is a change since the last posting of this information.)

     Tri-County Genealogical Society -- what it means to Marvell and Marvell High School. 

     The Tri-County Genealogical Society is dedicated to preserving written and oral materials regarding our parents, grandparents, and forefathers.  The society's existence is completely dependent on annual dues.  Without the service provided by the society, records of our past will be lost on the local level.  Sure, some of the written materials will be available from other sources, but not like they are from this local source. 

     I started to email all MHS students for whom I have email addresses; however, a self-imposed pledge, that I would never use the email list to solicit funds for any reason other than directly for the MHS reunions, prohibits me from doing so.

    The society does not know I am making this pitch; it is all my idea.  I ask that you consider joining the Tri-County  Genealogy Society for a year to find out if it is something in which you are interested.  The individual dues are $15.00 and family dues are $20.00.   Any amount of donation if not dues, would be appreciated, I am certain.  The address is P.O. Box 580, Marvell, AR, 72366.

     Thank you for your consideration of this note.

     Ben Story

  Reunion Report for 2008

 

The Daily World
417 York
Helena-West Helena, Arkansas   72342

Dear Editor:

     So we gathered from all over for a Homecoming at Marvell High School on Saturday, April 26.  It was time again for the Reunion of Classes on that perfect day only God can create…… spring-like blue skies, cool and crisp, with little purple and gold flowers abloom.  Heavy rain, thunder and lightning came, but only after midnight as in Camelot.  All the work of the Reunion Committee paid off with a large crowd of Marvell High alumni……Camille Brown and Chuck Phillips flew in from California.  Linda McElroy and David Hill didn’t pull their trailer from Arizona this year—they flew coach.  Glenn and Debbie Hosey were there from the D.C. environs.  Rosanne Wilson and Skip George were down from Minnesota. The three Davis girls—Beverly, Francis and Ludie--came in from Hawaii, California and Hot Springs.  And the four Paschal brothers came in from Texas and Oregon.  Senior citizen alums, Jane Pope Glass and Irene Bonner Foree, joined in the festivities.  Marvell’s oldest and biggest alumna, Suzanne McElroy Bratcher, showed off her girlish high-school figure again after losing 60 pounds for the Reunion. 

     The Methodist Youth served up a delicious Southern dinner on Friday night.  Later the Class of ’68 and their friends celebrated their 40^th Anniversary on into the night at the lovely home of Becky Glass and Clark Hall.  Saturday morning Ann Yancey and Al Faust and Ruth Helen Helen Ruth Remley Bullard and friends toasted the Class of ’68 again with a champagne brunch.

     Mid-morning came and everyone gathered under the Catawba trees on the campus of Marvell High School for the Welcome, Invocation, Pledge of Allegiance and Alma Mater.  Reunion Chairman Ben Story called to the front by name those veterans of war and other military veterans and recognized by name those killed in action, followed by those stirring, poignant lyrics “ . . . And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free.  And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.  And I gladly stand up, next to you and defend her still today ‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the USA.”    

     Once again, Joe Kemmer’s Gospel Express sang their hearts out!  Coaches and teachers from the past joined us for the Reunion.  We were all glad to see Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Davison and Mrs. Hall.  Mr. Haley, Coach and Mrs. Corkran,  Coach Daniels and Mrs. Cowsert traveled to Marvell to keep us in line.   There was lunch in the cafetorium, just like days of old.  Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Elvis sang their biggest hits.  Bill Turner drove a lawn mower obstacle course with wife Jo the back-seat driver, as did others.  DJ Tony Warner spun 50’s and 60’s Top 10.

     And then…………it was Barbecue and Rock ‘n’ Roll at Randy Gibbons’ hanger as Ben Story’s Cypress Creek Band turned out 60’s and 70’s ditties for alumni like Debbie Hosey and Bruce Hayes to dance the night away.  The honeys lined up for Texan Danny Blaine to swing them around the dance floor to a Texas Two-Step.  Eddie Bartlett and sister Georgia Bartlett beboped like no one else can.  Tom and Judy Reed’s cha cha was all over the dance floor.  And no one will forget Po Jackson and his daughter, Natalie, cutting a rug.  Of course, the night wasn’t over until Cypress Creek belted out “Proud Mary,” dedicated to Mary Bloesch, and “The Weight,” originally written for Anna Lee Williams Amsden.  It was just one of those days and nights we’ll all remember………….

     Thanks to the Reunion Committee of Ben Story, Mary Bloesch, Beverly Helmke, Pam and Allen Culp, Cindy Tschabold, Gloria Higginbotham, Richard Wooten, Nicky Alexander, and Nathan Patterson for all the hours of creative planning and hard work.  You pulled it off again!  Everyone had a fun and memorable weekend with our oldest and dearest friends at our shady Ole Alma Mater in sweet little Marvell, Arkansas, thanks to y’all!

Sincerely,

Mike Garner
Superior Senior of ‘66
Madison, Mississippi 

 

A BIT OF MARVELL HISTORY

 

     A short time ago, Kathy Jelks Clark (class of 1962) mentioned to us that she had been a member of the GOC during 1957-1958 at MHS.  We asked our MHS student body for their memories of the GOC and the following is what we learned.  We hope you enjoy this bit of Marvell and MHS history. 

    Joe Kemmer (Class of 1962) wrote: I was in the seventh or eighth grade in school. Erwin Wood was the leader. It lasted one or two years. Our Call Letters were Quebec Echo Zero Three Black. When we spotted an airplane, there was a telephone at the press box at the football field at the fairgrounds. We dialed the operator, and when we got an answer, we said, "Air Craft, Flash." We gave our call letters, and then we gave a description of the airplane and the direction it was flying. We had a book to identify aircraft by the different pictures. We also had a log book we filled out. In the summer time when school was out we went on a field trip to the air force base at Jacksonville, AR. There was a big room with a large plexiglass map where the position of the airplanes were plotted on the map. We each had a small time that we were on duty--one or two hours a week. I went after school, and sometimes on Saturday. I don't know how we were picked to do this. There was no radar then like we have now. Maybe an airplane would be lost that we could spot. Joe Kemmer received an award in school for his service.

     Pat Meek (Class of 1959) wrote: Paul Foree Jr, Jennings Strother and me were among the first members. I still see the book that we were "Issued" from time to time at flea markets. Mac and I went out to the old Yuma Prison in Arizona with our Aunt Polly McDonald Purvis ( Mother's sister) one night to watch for airplanes as she was in the GOC and we watched from one of the old guard towers. That was one spooky place. The old cells were still there. Some just had bars on top and no roof. They used a bucket for a toilet. I think that I still have my pin and ID card and a certificate that was given to me. That was about 50 years ago. The Ground Observer Corp. was important during the "Cold war"

    Tommy Guthrie (Class of 1961) wrote: I had not thought of that in years, and I remember being a part of that group, but had thought little of it through the years. I know for certain of a couple of others who were members. I am pretty sure that Montford and Manford Edgington were members. Their father was pastor of the Methodist Church for a couple of years about that time.

What I remember is that the organization was called "The Civil Air Patrol". I think the initials "GOC" stood for "Ground Observance Corps" of the Civil Air Patrol. I remember attending the first meeting (which was in the school cafeteria) when we all joined. It was an exciting time for me because I actually felt I was helping in the defense of our country against the old Soviet Union. I can remember calling in and repeating "Aircraft Flash" from the press box. The report went something like this: "One, bi-cargo jet, traveling west", or something like that. One was supposed to include anything unusual, too. I remember on one call I included that there were actually two aircrafts and the unusual thing was that one was being refueled in mid-air by the other. That was probably the first time I had ever seen such a thing.

I too remember the trip to Jacksonville Air Force Base including a tour of the control tower and the chapel, which I remember the guide saying that the chapel’s cost of construction was $250,000! In those days, that was a heap of dollar bills and sure was more elegant than anything I had seen around Marvell.

I also remember one Sunday afternoon as a reward for our faithful service, we were taken to the West Helena Airport where someone took us up in a small single-engine, two seat airplane. It took all afternoon to take us all up and then land to take on another passenger. The pilot spiraled upwards over the airport and then downwards. It was my first time to fly in an airplane. The spiraling was in such a tight pattern that it actually seemed the plane was spinning round-and-round, which made me someway dizzy.

I don’t know who originally reminded you of this group, but I sure have enjoyed recalling the memory. Thanks.

    Lee Ferguson (Class of 1960) wrote: I was a member of the Ground Observer Corps (GOC) along with Mac and JB. I thought the purpose was to spot possible enemy aircraft since the time period was during the beginning of the Cold War. As I remember most of the planes looked the same to me. The Marvell site was part of the network located all over the United States.

    Kay Jelks Clark (Class of 1962) wrote: The call letters were correct. Also, Joann DeShazo Haynes, and I think, Carolyn Ralph, were members also. I still have my Silver wings awarded in one of these unpacked boxes.

    Manford Edgington (Class of 1960) wrote: My brother and I were members of the GOC. Seems like I remember getting a pin and maybe a certificate for every so many hours served. It was Jennings Strother, I think, who invited Montford and me to join. Seems like Corky Launius was a member also. I was in on the trip to the AFB at Jacksonville, which was quite a day. I don't remember who else might have gone. Guess I need to look at an annual and maybe I'll remember some of the other folks involved.

    It seems the GOC was a very important part of the average U.S. citizen’s patriotism toward the Cold War. It was certainly not limited to Marvell, Phillips County, and the State of Arkansas. I heard from Rick Freeman, the husband of Janice Hickingbottom (class of 1966). I thought his recollection of the GOC was very interesting. Here it is:

    Ben, I am Rick Freeman, married to Janice Hickingbottom.  My mother belonged to the Ground Observer Corp in the fifties.  I grew up in South Florida. I would go with her and one of her friends to the water treatment plant in North Miami, that was the observation location in our area. This was '53-'57 time frame. We had all the identification books to use, the best part for me, as a little guy was to watch the jets, mostly F-9 Panthers and Cougars. Just west of where we lived were three jet bases, two navy and one marine, it was a fun time for me. My dad was in the air force reserve at Wilcox Field, today that is Miami International Airport. Airline travel was in its infancy but we would see DC-4s and DC-6s, Convair 440s, Martin 404s and maybe a Lockheed Costellation or a Boeing Stratocruiser.

Amelia Earhart Naval Air Station and Masters Field Marine Corp Air Station were closed in the late fifties. Opa Locka Naval Air Station was kept a civilian airfield. I learned to fly there in '65.

I didn't realize the GOC operated in Marvell, interesting, good memories of the cold war.

    I hope you enjoyed this ride down memory lane about something that most of us have never heard about.  I guess that it was that COLD WAR secret stuff.  Thanks to all those GOC members who took the time to do something for this country without expectations of recognition or reward.

 

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