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

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23 oe IN we

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CLASS PROPHECY By John Williamson In the year 1995, I returned to my alma mater for the Homecoming celebration of the 100th Anniversary. After I was graduated from N.C.S.D., the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was asking for volunteers to work at the new colony which was in the process of being built on the moon. I was interviewed, accepted, and sent to Houston, Texas, to be trained for service on U.S. Lunar Colony I as a teletype operator. Two years later I was sent to the moon; there- fore I had seen none of my old classmates since June of 1971. I hoped that all of my former friends would be at the celebration. I was eager to learn where they were all living and what they were all doing. When I arrived in Morganton, I was amazed at how the place had grown and I wondered if I would find a lot of changes at N.C.S.D. I asked a policeman if the school had facilities for park- ing miniplanes and he replied, ‘‘Are you kid- ding? Of course it has! That place is really up- to-date!”’ I flew out and, sure enough, there was a huge parking area simply covered with planes of all kinds. I thought to myself that it was a good thing that all planes could now land and take off vertically. I landed in a vacant spot and got out of my miniplane. To my surprise I saw four familiar people get out of a midiplane parked next to me. They turned out to be Christine Sher- rill, Horace Jones, Corrine Brown, and Loretta Moore. When asked where I’d been and what I’d been doing, I told them about my work and about the challenges and the problems which confront lunar pioneers. Horace replied that his work wasn’t very exciting, but that his privately-owned print- ing establishment had earned for him a modest fortune; consequently he was able to pay Chris- tine, Corrine, and Loretta very good salaries. They were all quite happy with their occupations. We had been walking in the direction of Main Building and we decided all of a sudden that we were very hungry. We began to look around to see if we could spot the Parents’ Association tent. We remembered the delicious food they had al- ways served, and we also thought we’d probably see a lot of our old classmates there. We were nearing the outer edge of the enormous parking lot when we saw a large building which was new to us. A flashing neon sign told us that this was the Parents’ Association Building. This immense structure was certainly a radical change from the green tent of old! When we went in, we saw hundreds of people, most of them familiar. There were waves, hand- shakes, hugs, and all kinds of greetings. This is an exceedingly spacious center. In addition to a very large dining room, capable of seating a thousand, we saw the kitchen with all the most modern appliances, and the booths where many interesting souvenirs were for sale. As I had hoped, all the members of the Class of ’71 were present. We all gathered together and sat at adjoining tables so that we could exchange information about one another. I shan’t go into detail about all of the thrill- ing events and interesting conversations of that memorable day, but I shall list all of the pertinent facts concerning each of the members of the Class of 1971. Quite a few of my classmates are involved in work aimed at helping their fellowman. Joyce Boyd and Alfred Deuel, brother of Mr. Harold Deuel who was one of Joyce’s former teachers, are married and are stationed on the ship Hope: Shirley Starling married a minister and these two are doing a fine job of rehabilitat- ing delinquent teenagers in New York City; Pat Gaither married a Gallaudet College classmate and they have recently established a community college for the deaf outside of Greensboro; Buster Bowman is in charge of a health farm devoted to helping drug addicts; and Mary Lane now interprets N.C.S.D. - T.V. stories and cartoon shows for the Rankin and Joiner Hall students. There are quite a few ‘‘firsts’’ in the Class of 1971. Billy Cobb was the first deaf boxer ever to win the world’s heavyweight title, Tonda Gilmore was the first deaf Miss America, Larry Merritt is the first deaf manager of a pro foot- ball team, the Dallas Cowboys, (All of the players are now required to learn the language of signs.) ; and Bruce Harlan became the first deaf jet air- plane pilot. Among the members of the Class of “71 who are in business for themselves are Roger Jones, who is managing editor and owner of a news- paper in Marion, N.C.; Steve Power, who is a famous architect; David Bouthot, who owns and operates a large upholstering business; Buddy Goen, who is a highly successful photo- grapher; Joe Snyder, who has made a fortune through a chain of dry cleaning establishments; Steve Lancaster, who is the owner and publisher of a magazine entitled The Numismatical Jour- nal; Ella Mae Foust, who is the owner of a well-known beauty shop in Chicago; Vicki Dover who, with her husband, has a roadside restaurant catering to truck drivers; and Helen Purcell, who has a large pet shop in Atlanta. Helen Greene has lost 50 pounds since I last saw her, and is a hostess in a night spot in Las Vegas. Jim Collins has a position as supervisor in a large electronics plant. He and Eva Mae Bruce are very happily married and have two chil- dren. Gary Duncan is the foreman of the welding department of a Naval shipyard in California. Betty Hughes is a celebrated motorcycle racer who has participated in races all over the world. David Jones has been supervisor for the Department of Sanitation in Raleigh for a number of years now. Remember when all David Frye could think about or talk about was roaches? He is now a biologist, renowned for his collection of rare insects. Remember, too, when the walls of Wayne Snow’s room at Hoffmeyer Hall were covered with pictures of Liz Taylor? Wayne married one of Liz’s daughters, and does she lead him around by the nose. Flying to Cane Kennedy to be ready to blast off to the moon, I began to reminisce about my school days and my classmates. It wasn’t really too surprising that they’d all turned out as well as they had. There was not a single rotten apple in the Class of 1971 barrel!

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24 SECRETARY TO THE SUPERINTENDENT Mrs. Jan Hutchins SUPERINTENDENT Mr. Rance Henderson