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

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be lass GZ. oft he cy By Eddie Gobble Since I am a free lance journalist as well as a member of the Class of 1961 at the North Carolina School for the Deaf, the editor of The Bugler asked me to do a write-up of our 25th anniversary class reunion held at our alma mater on June 1 and 2, 1986. This is the article that appeared in the July issue of that publication: The Class of 1961 is the largest one ever to graduate from N.C.S.D. The registration period started at 3:00 p.m. on June first. Everyone was glad to see his former class- mates. It seemed that everyone had changed a lot, especially around the middle! The next day Mr. X, the present superin- tendent, invited us all to his house for lunch. The food was elegant and it was nice of him to entertain such a mob. That night we had a banquet in the ultra-modern dining room in the new girls’ dormitory, Frances Davis Hall. Our class president, Wayne Furr, was the toastmaster. Our superintendent emer- itus, Dr. Hoffmeyer, gave an interesting talk on the progress of our school. The rev- ered septuagenarian was certainly in fine fettle and we were so pleased to see him looking so well and feeling exubérant. The campus has certainly grown since our time; it now extends all the way to Interstate 40. Here is a thumbnail sketch of the mem- pers Om nam Glass sono Wayne Furr is a foreman in the linotype “department of The New York Times, is married and has raised five kids. Our class veep, Carrie Long, is a million- aire’s wife and lives in California. I don’t know about her progeny, if any. She does not communicate with us plebeians! Don Zimmerman is now printing instruc- tor at N.C.S.D. Still unmarried, girls. Hal Wright is a mathematics genius work- ing at Cape Canaveral. He is noted for his solid fuel formulas. His better half is the former Bobbie Poole. Knox Riddle is a tobacco farmer at Wilson. He and his wife, Marie Pegram Riddle, only recently returned from Russia where they made a tour of the agricultural areas of that country. Nancy Setzer (still available, boys! ) works for the Tremblechin Company in Kroy Wen, Venus, as a secretary. J. W. Bradley, an electrical engineer, and his wife Martha, nee Whitesides, dwell in Hendersonville and have three cute little girls. Frank Schiretz. a promotor of basketball games, is still on the St. Louis Hawks’ pay- roll. Mrs. Schiretz, nee Dessie Moose, was not able to attend the reunion. Had to stay home with the kids. Mrs. Bobby Ollis, the former Martha Helms, is a mathematics professor at Mass- achusetts Institute of Technology. Yes, it is the same Martha who hated mathematics so she burned her algebra workbook her senior year. Philip Hailey is one of the veeps at Field- crest Mills. Still a bachelor. Doug Boone now holds a position with Burnsville Daily Herald. He is married and his only son is now at West Point. Gene Hull, the oldest linebacker in pro football today, and still with the New York Giants, makes his off-season home at Tex- arkana, Texas. He married his high school sweetheart and all of their four children are grown now. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks Patterson now reside in Chicago, Illinois. Mrs. Patterson was once plump Barbara Mullis, but she is a stream- lined pach now, working in a reducing salon. Garland Handy, the second man on the totem pole in one of the 150 plants of Burlington Mills, came to the reunion with his wife all the way from Portland, Oregon.

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a a ass s i hi By Wayne Furr We, the Class of 1961, being of sound mind and body, do hereby declare this to be our last will and testament. Be- fore our departure we wish to bestow our most cherished and valuable pos- sessions on our beloved faculty and underclassmen. These gifts are given with the wholehearted affection of the class. To our superintendent, Board of Directors, principal and assistant prin- cipal, faculty and household stair, we leave the peace and quiet which we are sure will follow after we are gone. We also bequeath to each of them a place in our hearts. To the juniors, we leave our well- earnned senior privileges, our places in the senior class room, and our places in Mrs. Starrett’s mind and conscience. Peggy Autrey bequeaths to Bobbie Poole her love of drinking Cokes. William Barrett leaves his “Kookie” habit of combing his hair to Cecil Cooper. J.W. Bradley leaves his flattop hair- eut to Bob Scarboro. Doug Boone leaves Sylvia Adkins his habit of getting up late in the morning. David Elliott gives his pleasure in assembling and working on hot rods to Fred Shook. Wayne Furr leaves his habit of chew- ing gum to Barney Williamson. Eddie Gobble leaves his football uniform to Charles Williams, who is the only one it would fit. Betty Gibbs bequeaths her love of writing love letters to her boy friend to Yvette Smith. Richard Howell gives his habit of bragging about his hair-raising adven- tures in a car to anyone who will bel- lieve him. Martha Helms leaves her love for listening to records to Mary Webb. Garland Handy leaves his excellence at operating all types of movie pro- jectors to Bobby Cook. Carrie Long leaves her ability to understand and to secure the love of the little girls at Goodwin Hall to Mary Frances Keeling. Janice Leonard leaves her love of napping to James Jackson. Floyd London surrenders his beaten path to Main Building to meet his girl friend to Larry Helms. Shelba Moss bequeaths her loud mouth) to! Pat Piva: Barbara Mullis leaves her quiet ways to Lucille Waldrup. Nancy Setzer leaves her diligence in her studies to Georganne Brown. Philip Hailey wills to Mike Triplett his love of listening to records. Betty Lou Stepp leaves her shoe size to Ruth Caudle. To Joe Wood, Gene Hull leaves his habit of hogging the food. Gilbert Smoot bequeaths his habit of keeping his shoes beautifully shined to anybody who will accept this tedious duty. Donnie Stewart bequeaths to Ray Lockamy his pass catching ability. Knox Riddle leaves his love of watch- ing T.V. to Clemientailirc: Frank Schiretz gives away his habit of staying home after vacation expires to Pat Stuckey. Maurice Ray leaves his mischievious ways to Tony Hawley. Brooks Patterson leaves his habit of being such a “stick in the mud” to Bertha Pierce. Harold Johnson passes on his “Wilt the Stilt” physique to Billy Bledsoe. Martha Whitesides leaves her love of reading to Sue Williams. Hal Wright bequeaths to Lanny Steg- all his love of eating peanuts. Hayward Wright gives his routine of trudging over to the Upper School to buy the Greensboro Daily News to Russell Lockamy. Dewey Umphlett leaves his love of talking about girls to Joey Hall. Don Zimmerman bequeaths his ex- cellence as a student counselor to Sam McCord. In witness thereof, we affix our seal to this, our original and only, will and testament. Witnessed by : Mrs. Jack Starrett Mr. Erwin Mayfield Signed by: The Class of 1961

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Dewey Umphlett now lives in Texas. He owns a big (to me ) 8,000 square acre ranch. which he calls small. He was dressed in the Texas manner — ten-gallon hat, boots with spurs, etc. Remember the red-headed gal back in the golden days? He’s married to her. David Elliot, a shoe repairman by trade, is making his home in New Orleans, Louis- iana. Gals, he is eligible! Maurice Ray runs a jewerly shop in Phil- adelphia. He is also on the board of trustees of a famous dress designing company. He is married and is active in the social ci rcles. As I read over this article. I feel that the members of the Class of 1961 are all doing well for themselves. We haven’t supplied our country with a president yet but neither have we supplied any vrisons with non- paying guests. Ricky Howell, a hot rod enthusiast during high school days, is a test pilot for the General Motors Corporation, Rocket Div- ision . He is still unmarried! Bill Barrett works in a textile mill in Yelnats, Mars. He married a Martian but did not bring her with him because of much red tape connected with getting her passport,etc. Harold Johnson lives in his same old home, North Wilkesboro. He has a problem; three men are trying to get the government to give them a patent on a brand new brandy. Harold claims he made the originial and his oldest son, who is a lawyer, will defend his claim. is Floyd London and his wife Carolyn drove all the way from Oklahoma where he teaches shoe repairing in the school for the deaf there. Mrs. Larry Snipes, nee Peggy Autrey, is making her home in Ayden, North Carolina. Her girls’ basketball team has won three straight state tournaments. Hayward Wright recently returned from a lecture tour of Europe. He is, as you know, a well-known philatelist. His wife is his interpreter. Mr. and Mrs. Donnie Stewart of Las Vegas, Nevada, own and operate several gambling halls. Every old grad will recall the sweet, romantic courtship of this couple. ( They quarreled nineteen times a day! ) Janice Leonard, a typist at the Solufiz Company in Ogacihe, Mars, parked her rocket in front of Underhill Gym. It was tal- ler than the tower of Main Building. To everybody’s amazement, Gilbert Smoot is now a husky six-foot man. The govern- ment has been using him as a guinea pig in their research work dealing with the regulation of physical characteristics in human beings. Mrs. Bill Sparks (everyone remembers when Betty Gibbs announced her engagment to Bill back in her senior year ) dwells in New York City where her husband is a world famous artist. He frequently uses Betty for a model and people say he is another Michelangelo.