Murphy – For a few hours on July 14, Main Street USA Diner downtown went back in time to celebrate the graduates from the Class of 1956.
Former Murphy High School students gathered over lunch to reminisce about the years gone by and what a hoot it was for the returning Bulldogs. Laughter was heard as old friends reunited over roast beef, ham, green beans, corn and peach cobbler.
The reunion has occurred about every five years until COVID-19 interrupted the timeline. Friday’s group of about 27 graduates was a bit bittersweet, as many previous classmates were unable to attend – including the class president, Bill Hughes, a former mayor of Murphy and retired Murphy Elementary School principal.
Alice Lovingood Chastain brought Sonny Hughes from a different class year as her guest. She appeared to handle the reunion activities well with her petite frame and mighty voice.
Chastain’s friend and former classmate, Ken Ledford came to the reunion from Idaho. He just showed up in her yard recently, asking, “Do you remember me?” to which Chastain replied, “Lord have mercy, no.” It wasn’t long before the two were laughing and sharing fond memories as if no time had passed.
Chastain recalled that she loved basketball and was the No. 1 player at the time. She even went to college on a scholarship for about a year.
When asked why only a year, she said with laughter, “I went crazy and got married.” Back then, her = tuition was about $500 a year.
Chastain said of the reunion prior to its start, “I’m excited; it’s been a long time.”
Sue Hubbard didn’t date much in her high school years because she had eyes for only one guy. She and Jim fell in love early and were married in high school.
She had their baby girl between her 10th and 11th grades. The two married 71 years ago and are still in love today.
Hubbard liked history, but hated shorthand. She took the shorthand class only because a teacher told her she’d pass her if she took the class.
“There’s a lot of people in this room that are very dear to me,” Hubbard said of the reunion. “I love them all.”
Ledford played basketball and football. He recalled an eighth-grade memory of a student who had been expelled for causing the loss of a couple of teeth from a teacher. In order to return to school, the expelled student had to dig up a tree stump during recess.
Local residents who didn’t care for the teacher or the student having to dig up the stump, provided and showed the youngster how to blow it up with dynamite. The class looked on at recess as the tree stump blew out of the ground. Ledford laughed while telling the story; he still has his class ring and yearbook after all these years.
Fred Martin Jr. didn’t participate in any sports after school back then because he lived in Unaka, and there weren’t many cars around or folks to drive him to and from school in order to do extracurricular activities.
“My father kept me busy,” Martin said. “He kept us out of trouble with hard work.”
Roma Graham recalled a mock election in high school between herself and another girl who were pretending to be run for president of the United States. Graham played Eisenhower and won. Their civics teacher, Ann Ward took the third-period class to her home to watch the actual inauguration of Eisenhower in January 1953.
Anna Palmer loved school and was a student assistant in the superintendent’s office in her senior year. After graduation, she was employed as secretary for Murphy High before moving on to become administrative assistant to the superintendent of Cherokee County Schools. In 1988, she retired as the school system’s finance officer.
For a short period of time, everyone was back in school. They laughed, chatted and told stories – until they meet again in another five years.