This Saturday I will be attending my 35 year class reunion. Ouch! Thirty-five years since I graduated from Sylvania High School. How is that even possible? But it will be nice to see all the old faces again.
The weird thing is, I don’t really know what I’ve done with my life in those 35 years, but I remember the 12 years spent at Sylvania quite vividly. I remember Mrs. Highfield being my Head Start teacher and me always forgetting to bring a blanket or towel to nap on.
I remember Miss Garmany in first grade not loving snakes as much as I do. I still have my first grade report card and her hand written note that reads, “Neal is an excellent student except for the occasional snake.” And I remember playing the Mayor of Mouseville in our first grade play.
Mrs. Milligan and Mrs. Shankles were two of the sweetest teachers ever. Their punishment was hitting your palms with a ruler, and it always hurt them more than it did you. Mr. Holt and Miss Edwards were awesome elementary teachers too.
We were blessed with great teachers, coaches, principals, and staff at Sylvania. I remember all my teachers very well. I remember teachers like Mrs. Niblett telling me if I put my mind to it, I could move mountains, and teachers like Mr. Pierce telling me I would never amount to a hill of beans. I think the verdict’s still out on that one.
I remember Mr. Niblett’s science experiments and pet snakes, Mr. Lee’s green paddle, Coach Drinkard’s joke he told in the fieldhouse before our first football game, and Mr. Gilbert, our Driver’s Ed teacher, saying, “There’s no such critter as an accident.”
I remember Mr. Parrish, our principal, being a human lie detector and Mr. Wilson, our vice principle, giving you two licks with his paddle whether you were guilty or not. When you proclaimed your innocence, he would simply say, “But you’ve probably gotten away with something that deserves a paddling.” I couldn’t argue with that logic.
I remember all the lunchroom ladies being wonderful. I actually loved the lunches, especially on Fridays when we had burgers, hotdogs, or rectangular pizza. And every time they served vegetable soup or chili, it came with a peanut butter sandwich. To this day I can’t eat vegetable soup or chili without that.
So if you’re reading this and you went to school with the class of 1983, whether you graduated with us or not, come on out to Limon’s in Henagar Saturday May 12 from 4pm – 7pm. Don’t say you can’t make it or I’ll channel Mr. Noble and say, “Hockey Puck.”