This past Saturday, June 20, 2009, the Bradley High School Class of 1969 came together for a class reunion on the 40th anniversary of their graduation. Below is a photo of those present, with the exception of one person who arrived after the photo was taken.
From left to right: Johnny Craig, Danny Maness, Ricky Powell, Dennis McEachern, Jan Allen Segrest, Curtis Thompson, Betty Carol Endsley Stanley, Penny Dreher Lyons, Delores Maness Grimes, Linda Goodwin Elledge, Barbara Price McGuffie, Carroll Collier (partially obscured), Jean Starling Burnett, John Bishop, Billy Bynum, Vicky Powell Paige, Bobby Works, Buddy Stevenson, Earl Vickers, Susie Cochran Hargis, Jimmy Ray Dickerson, Peggy Wilson Cook, and Ronnie Hill. Mary Adams Garner is not shown.
Faces in the above photo are obviously difficult to discern, so here are some zoomed-in photos of the participants.
Above are, from left to right: Johnny Craig, Danny Maness, Ricky Powell, Dennis McEachern, Jan Allen Segrest and Curtis Thompson.
Above are, from left to right: Curtis Thompson, Betty Carol Endsley Stanley, Penny Dreher Lyons, Linda Goodwin Elledge, Delores Maness Grimes, Jean Starling Burnett, John Bishop, Billy Bynum, Vicky Powell Paige, Bobby Works and Buddy Stevenson.
Above are, from left to right: Carroll Collier, Billy Bynum, Vicky Powell Paige, Bobby Works, Buddy Stevenson, Earl Vickers, Susie Cochran Hargis, Jimmy Ray Dickerson, Peggy Wilson Cook, and Ronnie Hill.
In the above photo of the middle group, one person is obscured, so here’s another photo.
That’s Barbara Price McGuffie behind Linda Goodwin Elledge and Jean Starling Burnett. Carroll Collier, Billy Bynum and John Bishop are obviously preoccupied with something besides the camera.
Three faculty members from the 1960’s also attended the reunion.
From left to right: Coach Leo Johnson, Janiece Rogers Blount, and Jimmy Gray.
Class members who were unable to attend were Bobby Adams, Larry Adams, Tommy Harvey, Glenda Knott Givens, Rebecca Knott Fricks, Don McDonald and Bobby Earl Steed.
The Class of 1969 also paid tribute to the five deceased members of their class with a memory board of photographs. Those class members are Fred G. Berry, Jr. (1949–1992), Billy D. “Butch” Bland, Jr. (1951–2002), Fred H. Dreher III (1951–2008), Gary Dale Pickett (1951–1991) and Rose Hinds Thompson (1950–1996).
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It’s probably trite to say that a good time was had by all, but the class members seemed to me to genuinely enjoy each other’s company.
On a personal note, I very much enjoyed visiting with Coach Leo Johnson, who is a veritable walking encyclopedia of happenings in the Bradley schools from the mid-1950’s to the late 1960’s. Two bits of trivia from our conversation:
Coach Johnson’s paddle/strap was well known throughout the student body, both by students who had felt its sting and those who did not. Coach Johnson told me that any “paddle-able” offense, no matter how heinous, always drew a set number of “licks” (8).
Some of us remember watching Coach Johnson during games and thinking he was quite intense. In 17 years of coaching basketball (not all at Bradley), how many technical fouls did he get called for? (Answer: 3).
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Summer is class reunion time and if any other classes which are reuniting will furnish a photo(s), or a short article on their affair, I’ll be glad to post them.
