North Carolina School for the Deaf - Clock Tower Yearbook (Morganton, NC)

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Class P tophecy Glenn Patterson In the year of 1985 my wife and I were living on a large ranch in Montana. I was raising fine Arabian horses and experimenting with a new breed of sheep. One spring morning I was checking some of the horses and sheep for market when I began to think of my old classmates. I decid- ed to ask my wife if she would like to go with me to visit them and to see what they were doing. That evening after work I told her about my idea and she was delighted with the pian. I told her that while I was waiting for dinner, I would map out our route to Cali- fornia as we had Benny Mann’s address there. I got the road maps and settled back in my easy chair to make the plans for the trip. The first step of the journey was to get packed up. We loaded the station wagon and started for California. We had heard about Benny’s strange and beautiful house and we were eager to see it. We reached Benny’s late one afternoon and we were truly amazed at his house. It was odd and different looking but very beautiful. I asked him how he did it. He told me a fanastic story. A few years after he was graduated, he decided to fly to Venus in a rocket ship. While there he was married to a girl on that planet. When his wife came in, I was surprised at her beauty. She was the world’s most beautiful woman. Their house was modeled after the homes on Venus. I asked Benny how he reached Venus. I was very much excited to hear that Robert De- Venny had helped him with the rocket ship. I asked him where I could find Robert. He said that Robert had homes in different places but at that time he was living in the Sahara Desert- I first felt I did not want to go to such a hot land but I wanted to see Robert so badly that we decided to make the trip. We flew to New York and took a ship for Casa- blanca where Robert met us. He was very glad to see us and we flew in his plane to the desert. We dreaded staying there as the heat was like an oven. I asked him how he could stand living in such a hot place. He said that the part of the house he lived in was air con- ditioned, but that the part his wife used was not. That seemed strange and when he saw how puzzled I was, he told me that his wife came from Mercury and that she liked a hot climate. It was also a surprise that a person from Mercury could live on our earth and I was most anxious to meet her. I wondered how she would look and I could hardly wait to see her. Again, | was amazed as she looked like any American girl. After we had eaten a meal of exotic foods, Robert took me to his factory where he made rocket ships. He show- ed us the blue print of the first one he had built. He said that he could not have succeed- ed if Ted McBride had not invented a strong but light metal. He said that Ted had mines in Siberia. I teld Robert that I’d like to see Ted but it was too long a trip. He offered to send me in one of his rocket ships. After thinking it over, we decided to go. We bade him goodbye and started for Siberia. Zcoming along at a tremendous rate of speed, { became frightened and asked the operator to slow down. It took us only a short time to reach Ted’s mines. Ted was delighted to see us and he showed us his machine shops. I told him how frightened I had been in the rocket. He explained that Morris West had greatly improving the formula for gas so that it caused the rocket to go faster than ever. I saw a fat, cheerful looking secretary in his office and I thought her face was familiar, but I decided I was mistaken. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was Sally Brown. She told me that she loved working there as it was a very easy life. Ted told us that Grady Reeves, Clyde Chambers and Johnny james had a factory in Switzerland. We climbed into the plane to fly to Switzer- land. I stumped my toe when I missed a step and it was quite painful. The pilot soon reach- ed the Alps but he had a hard time landing. At last we reached the factory where the three boys were experimenting on a very hard, last- ing finish for metal used in cars and planes. As we were going through the factory, they

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Johnny James, a vocational senior, hails from Grifton where he was born on March 26, 1937. His first teacher was Mrs. Horton. He has been interested in sports. He hopes to find work in a dry cleaning shop. Faye Johnston, an academic senior, was born on January 2, 1936 in Martinsville, Virginia. Her parents moved to North Car- lina in time for her to start to school here in 1941. Mis Bowers was her first teacher. She was the football queen at the homecoming game in October 1955. She has been a member of the Fepha Club and of the pep squad. Sewing is her favorite subject. She may get a job as a typist. Benny Mann, an academic senior, is a native of Mooresville where he was born on October 27, 1934. He came to school in 1941 and Miss Gordon was his teacher. He has been a member of the Sterling Honor Socitey. He plans to get work in a printing shop. Ted McBride, a vocational senior, attended public school for five years before coming here in 1947. He was born at Mt. Airy on November 29, 1934. He has been an outsand- ing athlete. He hopes to get a job as a printer after graduation. Glenn Patterson, an academic senior, lives in Henderson where he was born on May 7, 1936. He started to school in 1944 with Miss Bowers as his teacher. His favorite sport is basketball and he made All-America in 1955. He has done excellent work in the wood working shop. He hopes to enter Gallaudet College in the fall. Grady Reeves, a vocational senior, is a native of North Wilkesboro where he was born on January 26, 1936. At the age of seven he started to school and Miss Watrous was his teacher. He plans to get work as a Carpenter. John Robinson, a vocational Charlotte, was born January 3, 1936. Miss Bowers was his first teacher. He hopes to get work in Charlotte. Gene Smith, an academic senior, had Miss Gordon as his teacher when he entered school in 1942. He has been active in scouting. He became an Eagle Scout in May. He was born on April 25, 1935 in Columbus, Georgia but now lives in Cullowhee. He hopes to senior of work as a linotype operator. Herman Spencer, an academic senior, en- te.ed school in 1942 with Mrs. Horton as his teacher. He has been active in the Christian Endeavor Society for many years and has been the president for two years. He was born on January 26, 1935 at Conover where he still lives. He will be a linotype operator. Billy Stephens, a vocational graduate, enterd school in 1944. Mrs. Crutchfield was his teacher. He has been a member of the Photo Club. He was born August 9, 1936 in Yanceyville. He will work in Virginia. Bobby Taylor, a vocational senior, was born on December 20, 1935 in Deep Gap. He entered school in 1942 and Mrs. Horton was his teacher. He has been a member of the Honor Society for several years. He hopes to find work in a dry cleaning shop. Ann Weaver an academic senior, entered school in 1942. She had Miss Gordon as her teacher. She was born in Bessemer City on June 10, 1936. She has been active in sports.. She has been a member of the Honor Society and the president of the Pep Squad. She was the 1956 May Queen. She plans to go to college in the fall. Morris West, a vocational senior, was born on November 23, 1935 at Lumberton, His first teacher was Miss Bowers. He has always been interested in sports. He plans to work with his father at his filling station. Roy Yokeley, an academic senior, had Miss Gordon as his teacher when he came to school in 1942. He was born in Winston-Salem on December 11, 1935, but he now lives in Ra- leigh. He has been active in scouting. He be- came an Eagle Scout in May. He was a mem- ber of the Honor Society and a member of the football team. He plans to work as a linotype operator in Wake County. This is only a brief history of the members of the graduating class as space would not allow us to write more. The friendships form- ed, the hard work done, and the good times we have had will live on in our memories. We hope our lives will reflect credit on all those who through out the years have shown so much interest in us and have showered so much devotion on us.

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noticed I was limping. I told them I had hurt my toe. They said their nurse could cure it instantly. They called her and she put some medicine on my toe. She smiled at me and I saw at once it was Virginia Hines. She was busy helping people who were sick or injured. Virg.nia icld us that Herman Spencer, Gene Smith and Roy Yokeley had a print shop at the South Pole. I could hardly wait to get there to find out what those three were up to. We leit immediately, but before we reached Antarctica we began to worry about not hav- ing warm clothes to wear. The pilot told us not to worry. Just as we landed, there were Gene, Herman, and Roy loaded with fur coats, gloves, caps and boots. We were amazed and we asked them how they knew we were com- ing. They asked if we did not know about mental telepathy. They took us to their shops and explained that to do the beautiful print- ing they did required that it be frozen for a long time. Their secretaries were Janice Bea- mon and Nancy Bulla and they were very busy keeping up with the office work. I asked them if they weren’t lonely so far from their friends, but they assured me they were not. When they wanted to visit friends they hop- ped into their plane and took off. They had just returned from a visit to Rome. We were enioying our stay so much that we hated to say good bye and start to the States. Our next stop was at Salem, North Caro- Ina which was a famous art colony in charge of Eugene Hensley. His helpers were Donald Hill and Owen Bass. Famous people from all over the world came to have their portraits painted. The little settlement had changed into a booming city. Eugene told us that Faye Johnston and Howard Carpenter had married and they were living on Burkemont. We bor- rowed a car and went to see them. My wife knocked on the door and when we went in, I could tell that she and Howard had been fussing. They each blamed the other for the quarrel. We teased them and told them they were acting like children. They laughed and made up. We had lunch with them and it was delicious for Faye was a marvelous cook. Our next stop was at our Alma Mater, the North Carolina School for the Deaf. Mr. Hoffmeyer looked the same except his hair was snow white. We saw many of our old teachers and met the new ones. The buildings were new and very different from the ones we remembered. We found out that Wilie Brower was a fisherman in the Indian Ocean. Again we zoomed across the ocean and landed on Willie’s fishing boat. It was run by radar and every thing was convenient and comfortable. Billie Stephens and Bobby Tay- lor worked for him and they all seemed very happy. After spending several pleasant days on Willie’s boat, we flew back to New York and en to Michigan where Edna Brinkley was op- e1ating a successful beauty salon. We were met by a beautiful slim girl. It was Shirley Beamon. We asked her how she kept so lovely and thin. She told us that Edna had invented some pills which kept one young and beauti- ful. Edna had become very wealthy from the sale of her product. Her chauffeur was John Robinscn. Edna’s home was built back in a large hill similiar to a cave. It was very, very modern and fine but not homelike. We were glad to bid her adieu and start on the last lap of our journey. We headed for the desert near Sun Valley to see Morris West and Ann Weaver. They had both become billionaires from their oil wells. We saw a woman in a very odd looking car. She waving and yelling excitedly. When we got nearer, we realized it was Ann. She was elated because another well had come in. Morris and Ann seemed pleased to see us and each insisted that we stay at his home. At last we decided to divide our time between them. The strange thing about their oil wells was that the oil from each well was a different color. It seemed to be a fad to buy oil the color of one’s car, or at least that is what Ann told us. I was getting very tired by this time and longed to get home where things were plain and old-fashioned. I didn’t envy my class- mates in spite of all their exotic ways of living. Suddenly the road seemed rough and bumpy, and on opening my eyes I was surprised to find my wife shaking me and trying to wake me up to eat dinner. Oh! how relieved I was to realize that all of this had been a fantastic dream. All this time I had been napping in my easy chair. Then and there I decided home was best. We decided not to take the trip, and to this day I don’t know what my class- mates are doing.