Memories of Enterprise: Class of 1968 reunion recalls old feelings

By Ricky Adams
Ledger Correspondent
Published: June 27, 2008

Suddenly, time has brought remnants of the Enterprise High School class of 1968 together again for a reunion. All of a sudden, tomorrow is today and it’s party time! Those involved with organizing this, the 10th such, gathering we’ve had, have been mystified by how time has absolutely flown by since we had our most recent reunion five years ago. Justifiably, we’ve also felt a sense of urgency about celebrating the 40 years that’ve disappeared since we walked those gone-but-not-forgotten red tile floors at EHS.
Last week, Huey Thomas, a beanpole as a lad who could hit a softball and run like the wind at City School 50 years ago, became our 34th class member – and the 12th since 2003 – to die. At least that’s how many we know for certain have gone ahead of the rest of us. Now, while we were the first EHS class to have 200 graduates – we had 204 – in actuality, we could’ve had closer to 400 had everyone who went to school with us one year or another stuck it out to May 27, 1968, the day the rains came and forced us indoors for our commencement exercises.
As has been the case since our 10-year reunion, when more than half of us endured the sweltering heat at Enterprise Country Club because the air conditioner broke the afternoon of the party, only a handful of us will be appearing here this weekend. Maybe we did something to hurt some feelings in 1978, or maybe many of our number feel like one dude in the EHS class of 1969 who explained to his classmate Bill Sellers why he wasn’t coming to one of their reunions, “I didn’t like y’all then, so why would I pay good money to see y’all now?”
As is typical with classes from every decade in these parts, most of the no-shows live within easy driving distance of the world famous Boll Weevil Monument or specifically for this weekend, Charles Carr’s farm and the M. N. “Jug” Brown Recreation Center, or as radio announcers used to promote the many Moose Hope Production dances we enjoyed throughout high school, “Live, this Saturday night at the giant, air-conditioned Enterprise Recreation Center, from Atlanta, Ga., ABC recording artists, The Tams!”
The Tams, of course, provided us with our official class anthem and the very credo by which many of us still live, “Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy.” We had one of the original Tams, Robert Lee Smith, who currently continues to perform in his late 60s, join us at the Country Club five years ago as a surprise for those in attendance at our 35th reunion. This year, we’re just going to have each other for entertainment… Well, there might be a small surprise or two…but little white peas aren’t among whatever surprises there might be.
For the record, this reunion came within a heartbeat of being cancelled a couple of weeks ago due to the paltry response at that point. But a phone call from seemingly long-lost classmate, Steve Mackey, from his California home changed the thinking around here. Steve is coming and must be excited about seeing how old others he knew a lifetime ago have become. Or maybe he’s got a lot of money he needed to spend on gas.