Andrews With Cherokee County students going back to school this week, the Andrews High School Class of 1965 already took a trip back to the hallowed hall of the Andrews Recreation Center in mid-June.
The class reunion committee – consisting of “The GOAT,” aka Larry Dailey, Sally Henderson, Hal Mason and Frieda Rogers – began work putting together the seminal event early in 2025.
“We started in January, planning and contacting everyone for this important milestone. Most of us are 78 years old now, so we knew we had to have as many as we could to attend,” Henderson said.
“We’re still the largest class of Andrews High with 96, and we meet every 10 years. It’s a special group of folks. We’ve got 34 with us here today from our class, and we’re thankful for every one.”
Henderson said even though the class has lost 42 members through the years, there is a core local group that sees each other a few times a year and tries to keep up with each other and classmates.
Mason played disc jockey later in the afternoon, bringing CDs of “their music” from the class’ high school days. The committee had a table set up for remembrances, including newspaper clippings and yearbook photos.
Class member Howard Brown said he didn’t understand how he was “in a room with all of these old people.” Classmate Reid West echoed that sentiment, saying, “I thought I was going to a class reunion, but I must have come to the wrong place, because there’s nothing but old people here.”
While several in the crowd joked about age discrepancies between photos on the tables and the attendees, most said they were glad to “still be around” and how they were “doing pretty good for the shape we’re in.”
That sentiment was reiterated as the crew was gathering for a group picture, with many saying, “We’re still a pretty spirited bunch – just like we always were.” A few “It’s like herding cats” comments also rang out as the group tried to wrangle into formation.
Led in prayer by Dan Lunsford – who served as both yearbook and Wildcat newspaper editor, and whose father was noted local pastor Fred Lunsford – the group then enjoyed a catered lunch from Valley Smoke BBQ & Catering, which offered a buffet of pulled pork and Southern sides.
Lunsford remembered the care of Andrews High teachers and how that spurred him to pursue teaching as a career in which he served for 49 years, both in public education in Henderson County and private as both dean of the School of Education and president of Mars Hill University, which he also attended to obtain his degree in education.
Also in attendance, and the usual winner of the “Furthest Traveled” award having come from San Francisco, was class president Dan Kilpatrick, who has attended five of the six reunions and celebrated his birthday on the occasion.
Kilpatrick gave credit to the fine staff and teachers of Andrews High for making impressions on his class.
“We were a close-knit group since many of us had spent all 12 years of schooling together,” he said. “That’s a bond you can’t break.”
Kilpatrick’s trajectory from Andrews began as an art major at Berea College in Kentucky, and from there he went to New York City to work at the Museum of Modern Art. After almost eight years in NYC and two summers in Chicago, he lit out for the West Coast to accept a job with the University of California system with the School of Medicine, managing curriculum as an administrator.
“Art kept me happy, but that minor in economics kept me fed,” he said with a worldly grin while detailing his own work as an artist with a studio that he still uses and emphasized in his speech to the group.
“Drawing, painting, writing – I do a bit of everything and play piano as well. Creativity is something the community of Andrews nurtured, from parents to teachers. This town instilled confidence in us that we could make our way in the world.”
Making their way in the world also included walking across the train trestle each way to school for twins Ruby Hamilton of Murphy and Jane Hughes, who lives in Franklin today.
The two told how they would walk around the town to any event, not just each day’s classes and how theirs was the first class to attend the newly built school after a fire destroyed the former one during their junior year “when we had to attend classes at First Baptist Church and the Methodist church for periods of time.”
The twins spoke about how there were three sets of twins in their class, but they’re the only ones left, and how they try to keep in touch with other local classmates. They remarked about the special care given them by families and teachers and the town during that time.
Former Andrews High teacher Lillian Freel was on hand to enjoy the afternoon with her former students as well as “vouch for us, in both age and behavior,” Kilpatrick said with a smile.
The afternoon included remembrances of deceased classmates and teachers, along with honoring 25 veterans of the class, including Vietnam War heroes.
A class known for its “spirited spirit” and for cutting up, laughing and enjoying life – no matter where it took them, from their beginnings in this little Valleytown – the Class of 1965 is a rare breed able to look back at the changes and accomplishments with relish, while still looking ahead to paths yet traveled.