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Carrollton High School |
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| Graduates Toast Carrollton High First all-class reunion draws 700 By Kathy Jakson CARROLLTON - While he hasn't escaped council meetings by crawling out a window, as he once did in a high school typing class, Mayor Milburn Gravley may have wanted to do just that Saturday night when his youthful exploits were discussed at the first all-class reunion of Carrollton High School. The school founded in 1902 was renamed R. L. Turner High School in 1962. Classes from as early as 1913 were represented at the affair, held at the Doubletree Hotel in Carrollton. About 700 alumni attended, most sporting nametags that bore pictures from school annuals. "There were many, many occasions when I had an opportunity to disturb my teachers," recalled Mr. Gravley, a 1948 graduate whose dates were forced to ride in his sea-sick green 1937 Chevrolet. Mr. Gravley said he often is remined of his shenanigans by former teachers who still live in Carrollton. Kent Adair, 1960 Carrollton High graduate who had the idea for the all-class reunion, said he began working on the project in 1986. In February of this year, the Carrollton High School Alumni Association formed a 15-member committee to spearhead the get-together. "We've never done this before," said Mr. Adair. "We're calling this "The Great Reunion.'" Those who attended the Friday night "ice-breaker" and Saturday reunion dinner included 93 year old Charlotte Good - the only remaining member of her five member graduating class of 1913. Mrs. Good, a member of a pioneer Carrollton family, was the oldest alumna at the reunion. Her graduation photo - which pictured only her and two other girls because the other two students weren't able to be present - was displayed in a glass case at the reunion, along with assorted letter jackets, annuals, and photographs. "When I heard about it (the reunion), I though "Oh, I hope I live to get to go,'" said Mrs. Good, who recently moved from the Carrollton home she had lived in since the 1930s to a Dallas retirement home. Paul Cabaniss, a 1957 graduate, was so thrilled about the reunion that he didn't mind footing the bill for roundtrip air fare from his home in Athens Greece, where he has lived for the last 23 years, teaching college-level English courses. Mr. Cabaniss was all smiles at the party despite his unglamorous high school career. "I was not a very popular kid," he said. I was very ugly, and no one would choose me for a friend." Mr. Cabaniss, who comes from a pioneer Farmers Branch family, said his personality didn't help. "I was a drummer in the band, and the band director kicked me out," he said. "I talked back, I was rude, and I was everything I shouldn't have been." Mr. Gravley said he, too, had run-ins with a band director, during his senior year when he played alto horn. Once, when the director asked band members to scoot their seats forward, Mr. Gravley did - setting his chair right under the director's nose. "The principal told me, 'If you'll stay out of his hair for the last four weeks, I'll see that you graduate,'" recalled Mr. Gravley, who spent the remaining weeks of the school year in study hall instead of band. Don Graham, a 1958 graduate who wrote a recently published biography of Audie Murphy, was scheduled to address the group during Saturday evening's program. While waiting to give his brief speech, Mr. Graham said he planned to talk about the meaning of reunions. "It's a way to celebrate survival," he said. "I don't think anybody wants to go back to high school, but it (attending a reunion) is a neat feeling. Mr. Graham, who said he was so shy in high school that he was afraid to ask questions in class, joked that he couldn't place the names and faces of some of his classmates whom he hasn't seen since 1958. "You write these things in the nnuals expressing undying love for people," he said. "And five years later you can't remember their names."
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January, 2012