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Sixty years later, Class of ‘49 still in touch

By McLean Dobbins
Citizen Journalist

Through the years, Burke Holland and other members of the Garner High School Class of 1949 have done their best to refute the theory that they are hindered by their age.

Front row, seated (L-R): Joyce Cooper, Jewel Mangum, Mary Evelyn Upchurch and Peggy Goodwin. Second row (L-R): Oliver Banks, Janice Stephenson, Carol Marshall, Betty Monaco and Elsie Tedford. Back row (L-R):Bill Middleton, Joe Stephens, Macon Jefferys, James Mitchiner, Burke Holland and Royelle Mangum. Not pictured: Joyce J. Nixon. FELICIA MANGUM, CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

“Everyone thinks that we old folks are automatically senile,” Holland said.

See pictures of the Class of ‘49, then and now »

Brought together decades before the advent of cell phones, e-mail and Facebook, this group of GHS alumni has managed to stay in touch. Sixty years after their graduation, the group reunited at Clayton Steakhouse Saturday, April 25. Sixteen members of the class along with spouses and family members gathered in a dining room about the size of the classroom they once shared as classmates.

Each year for the past 20 years, members of the class of 1949 have met up to talk about years past. Some years, there have been more class members than other years.

The former classmates reminisced about their high school days at the steakhouse. In those days, the old Garner High School housed both high school and elementary school students. The elementary school occupied the first floor while high school classes were taught on the second floor, according to Class of 1949 and reunion committee member Jewel Mangum.

“All seniors had the same homeroom,” she said.

Classes included geography, history, English, French, mathematics and agriculture – something all too familiar for the many students who lived on farms around the area. For them, the end of the school day meant it was time to go home and attend to the farm work.

Same town, different look

Since they graduated, Garner doesn’t quite look the same. Some class members have moved away from Garner, coming back years later, but others never left.

“I’ve never lived more than seven miles from where I was born,” Jewel said. “I’ve always lived here. My mom and dad have always lived here.”

Jewel Mangum (née Poole) married her high school sweetheart, Royelle Mangum, the same year they graduated. Another 1949 class couple, Mary Evelyn Upchurch (née Buffaloe) and Furman Upchurch, also married.

During the reunion, class members shared memories of prom night, basketball games and their favorite teachers. At one point someone recalled that Furman Upchurch was the only member of the class to have a car – a Mercury coupe­ – in high school.

As the onetime classmates conversed excitedly, cracking jokes and laughing, it was just like old times, back inside the schoolroom in 1949.

But they’re a little older now, of course, and not all of them could make the reunion.

“We’ve lost 15,” Royelle said, referring to class members who have died. Furman, who passed away earlier this year, was their most recent loss.

The 1949 class had 47 seniors. Roughly one-third of that class is gone.

Royelle and fellow classmate Jimmy Mitchiner led a memorial service in honor of the deceased class members, lighting candles for each one of them as their names were read aloud.

Contact-ual agreement

The deaths seem to underline the importance of gatherings like this reunion. Mary Evelyn Upchurch and class member Bill Middleton have worked hard to maintain contact with their fellow classmates.

“They have been the instigators in keeping up with everyone and getting everyone together,” Jewel said.

At the steakhouse on Saturday, the former class members joined in as Bret and Ashley Mangum, son and granddaughter of Royelle and Jewel Mangum, sang songs from the 1940s.

At the end of “Cruising down the River,” a popular song in the ’40s, classmate Joyce Holder Cooper said, “I remember every word of it.”

Royelle also recalled singing the song to Jewel at a wiener roast for the school’s Monogram Club as if it had happened yesterday.

Their mental acuity and remembrance of times long past serve to disprove that absurd theory of senility.

Related articles:

• Class of ‘79 reunites
• Garner High School Class of ‘79 to hold reunion

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