Mark KennedyThe Class of 1955 at Soddy-Daisy High School had no yearbook, just a black-and-white class photo.
There were 93 souls in the class -- Mabel, Nancy, Arnold, Otis and the others.
The girls had short hair -- pageboys and poodle cuts -- and they wore demure dresses that buttoned up to the neck. The boys had flat-top haircuts. A few wore bow ties for picture day.
They were the post-Great Depression children of coal miners, farmers and factory workers. It was a time when you were more likely to stand out for having nice clothes than for wearing the same pair of overalls three days in a row.
"Everybody was poor," remembers W.V. Roberson.
"We never had a car," says Don Lasley, class president.
"We had TP&W," adds Howard Winters. "Two ponies and a wagon."
"A lot of kids hitchhiked home," said Glenn Mayberry, salutatorian.
Today, the remaining members of the Soddy-Daisy Class of 1955 are in their late 70s. Thirty-three have died, according to class records, including 14 in the past five years.
Still, the Class of 1955 reunion committee meets once a month these days at the Soddy-Daisy First Baptist Church, planning a 60-year celebration for the ever-dwindling group. The reunion will be June 2 at Aris' Harbor Light Restaurant on Hixson Pike. There will be hamburger steak, chicken and catfish.
Today, high school graduation is nearly universal, and class reunions are largely seen as a quaint, 20th-century custom. Still, it's touching to see that bonds of friendship and community forged in the middle of the last century are still alive and well in Soddy-Daisy.
"We were all close to each other," says Roberson of the Class of '55. "And we still are 60 years later."
"There's not many of them I don't like," quips Lasley, a minister.
Earlier this week, we sat down with members of the Class of 1955 to talk about their memories and the value of high school reunions.
First, please know these folks are not toiling on Facebook searching for long-lost classmates. Each member of the reunion committee works from paper records. Small towns such as Soddy-Daisy are so closely knit you don't need Google to find Gertie. You just need a legal pad and a good memory for siblings and cousins.
"We've pretty much found them all," says Roberson. "We'll miss one or two at the most."
While lots of Soddy-Daisy High School graduates stayed in Southeast Tennessee and went on to careers at places like the nearby Dupont plant, the reunion committee can tick off classmates in California, Texas, Florida and Kansas.
Once you open the lid on high-school memories, good feelings flood the room.
Winters remembers that when he broke his leg playing football, his high-school history teacher stopped by his house every day after school to deliver his homework.
"Our teachers were committed," he says.
Lasley, who was captain of the football team, remembers winning the Tennessee Valley Conference and shutting out seven opponents.
Roberson was on the Soddy-Daisy basketball team, which played with such an up-tempo style that the officials would sometimes ask them to slow things down, he says.
Mayberry, the class salutatorian, has been around long enough to watch three of his grandchildren attend Soddy-Daisy High School, including one grandson who graduated 50 years after his grandfather.
There is talk about having a reunion of the Class of 1955 every two years now, as the longevity of classmates takes on a new urgency.
Fifty-seven classmates attended the 55th reunion in 2010. This summer, breaking 40 attendees will be a chore.
A bright spot: Google 70-year high school reunions and hundreds of events across the United States appear.
Message: Save the date for 2025.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645.
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