Fair Park Student Handbook

Do you remember getting a booklet titled “Indian Customs - Student Handbook” when you entered Fair Park? If your memory needs a little jump start the image to the right is a scanned copy Mickey Phillips made of the booklet cover. This booklet is about 50 pages long and covers a multitude of topics. It has a history section covering Fair Park’s early years, maps of each floor with the class room numbers, the cost of locker rentals for a year, the cost of a Sequoyah, the cost of a ticket for a football game, how you should park your car in certain parking areas, and on and on it goes covering numerous aspects of student life at Fair Park High.

Note added 3/2/2013 - A copy of the Handbook is available by clicking HERE.

Senior Photos Now Online

A copy of the 1961 Sequoyah was scanned by Mickey Phillips and is now online. Just click HERE to go to it.

Class Photos Online

For a long time I have wanted to post our senior class pictures to the class website. But there was a wee little problem. I don't have a Sequoyah to do it from. Looks like that is no longer a problem. Classmate Mickey Phillips has agreed to scan the needed pages and send them to me so that I can upload them to the class website. It will be another week or so before the project is completed, but its underway. If you no longer have your Sequoyah, or even if you do, this will be an great way to walk down memory lane. Thanks Mickey. We owe you big time.

Death of Terry Dean in 1999

Thanks to Henry Pharis of the FP Class of '62 for letting me know he had heard that '61 "missing" classmate Terry Dean had died some time ago. I found information in the Social Security Database that indicated Terry had died in September 1999. Jackie Johnny Jones confirmed this info for me by locating a copy of Terry's obituary from the archives at the Shreve Memorial Library. Terry's obituary has been added to the Memorial webpage of our class website.

In Memory of . . .

Wiley Hilburn teaches at Louisiana Tech in Ruston. I have excerpted the following tribute from a piece he recently wrote for the Shreveport Times. I think it will speak to the hearts of most folks who grew up in our generation.

---

It was appropriate that my eldest son, Greg Hilburn, called from his vacation in Hot Springs, Ark., to give me the message.

"Barney died, Dad," Greg said. He was referring, of course, to the incomparable comedian, Don Knotts, dead last month at 81.

Knotts famously played the insecure, rubber-faced deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show" in a five-year, Emmy-winning tenure in the 1960s.

Greg and our family laughed so hard at Barney's antics that we literally fell on the floor, out of breath. Knotts, or Barn, was a member of our family. We couldn't wait for the next episode. If Barney wasn't in it, we were mad.

Completing the circle, my 94-year-old mother and I were watching Barney reruns, including a marathon, only last week. Knotts was still making mother and me laugh. Barney Fife was a member of the Hilburn family, of the human family.

Reruns took Knotts, the ultimate Everyman, into the generations after "The Andy Griffith Show" called it quits. In the 1980s, in front of a smart creative class at Louisiana Tech, I horribly mispronounced a sensitive word. The class held its breath in suspended laughter. Red-faced, I said, "I feel like Barney Fife." The students cracked up. They all knew Barn as well as I did.

We saw the fumbling deputy in ourselves, and then we did that hardest thing -- we laughed at ourselves.

"If only we could see ourselves as others see us," poet Robert Burns wrote. The few people I knew who didn't like Knotts were dumb and blind to who they were. I won't name names, but they were not perceptive people.

There is a lot of Barney in all of us. Deputy Fife made us feel more comfortable with our foibles and faults.

My favorite episode was when Opie's puppy got lost. At first, typically, Barney was a rock. But when a storm rolled in, cracking thunder, Barney lost his bravado.

"He's a trembler," Barney said of the lost puppy. Then Fife said that dogs are a lot better than giraffes. "Giraffes only think about number one," Barney said.

Knotts went on from the Barney character to movies and extended TV career. I don't know why, but Knotts in any other similar role than Barney Fife was chalk on a blackboard to me -- a caricature of the character.

Mayberry, U.S.A. with Barney, Andy, Opie and Aunt Bee took us back to a safer, sweeter time in the rural American South. Mayberry was small town U.S.A. until methamphetamine invaded. But that's only the nostalgic aspect of the show.

A classic is a rare role, book or movie that is relevant to generation after generation. We haven't lost Barney. That's the good thing. We've gained a classic.

Classics never seem irrelevant or dated or even regional. Don Knotts, or Barney Fife, is a classic. And classics don't die.

Let's Chat

Have you ever been to Glenn Hardaway’s website for Fair Park Alumni from 1933-1990's? One of the things I have noticed when I have been there is that no one ever seems to be using the chatroom capabilities Glenn has built into his website. If you ever want to give it a try let me know and I’ll meet you there at a designated time and we’ll see how it works. Or, if you had rather give it a try with someone else let me know how it worked for you. To go there just click on the link to the website shown on this page under the Links section.

Reading Online

Do you ever read newspaper and magazine articles online? If so, you know its not always easy to do with all the graphics and special formatting they use. Here is a tip that will make reading those articles a little easier. Many such articles have a link titled “Printer Friendly,” or something similar. Even if you have no intention of printing the article, click on that link and it will remove the graphics and special formatting and make the article easier to read.

If you ever want to save a copy of the "printer friendly" article hold down the Ctrl key and press the “A” key to highlight the entire article. Then hold down the Ctrl key and press the “C” key to copy the entire article. Open a new document in your word processor and locate your cursor where you want the article to appear in the new document. Then hold down the Ctrl key and press the “V” key to paste the article into the document. Finally, save the file to a directory of your choice.

This is how the process works using Windows XP. Even if you use a different operating system try it to see if it works for you.

March 2006 Update

February was a time of sadness for several classmates. Alan Stone lost his Mom, Wanda Pool Lafitte lost her husband Buck, and Francine Camp McCormack lost her daughter Susan. By this time in life most of us have learned that the death of a loved one is a very difficult time and that the sorrow can linger for a long time. If you wish to express your condolences to any of these classmates, it’s not too late. I’m sure your kindness would be much appreciated.

I received several photos during February for posting on our class website. RD and Betty Molcany Barber sent several snapshots they made in the Rocky Mountain National Park on New Years Eve 2005 and Longmont, CO on New Years Day 2006. Johnnie Ross McKinney and Don and Shirley Baldwin Chandler are also in the photos. To see these photos go to our Photos webpage and click on the link to the photos server. The photos are in Album 02. By way of reminder, the slideshow feature now works for both dial up and high speed internet connections. The slideshow view is probably the best way to view photos. You can either let the show run in a completely automated mode, or you can manually control the show with the buttons at the top of the page. If you use Internet Explorer as your web browser don’t forget to press the F11 key on your keyboard to maximize the size of the viewing area on your monitor.

With our 45^th year reunion looming on the horizon Kay Burford Murphy sent a reunion poem that offers a humorous look at reunions. To read the poem, go to the What’s New web page and click on the “45^th Reunion” box in the Table of Contents. Before you do that I want to make it clear that none of the satire in the poem applies to anyone in any Fair Park class. It is about “other” classes in “other” schools. J

Camilla has prepared an update about planning efforts for the reunion. I am pasting her message into this document.

---

Dear Classmates,

Mark your calendar for our big 45^th reunion celebration on Saturday, August 5th, 2006. The place is Holiday Inn Financial Plaza Airport, Shreveport, Louisiana --- same as our 40^th --- more details as to time, etc. later. Ten double and ten king rooms have been assigned to our class --- we can get more if needed --- the rate I negotiated is $76.00 --- you need to call the hotel (318) 688-3000 and mention our class to make a reservation to receive this rate --- these rooms will be held until July 17, 2006. The hotel does immediately charge your credit card --- so if you feel that you will cancel, just book closer in to our date. If you book through AARP or some other organization, please make sure that I receive your confirmation number and I can still get you the class rate. Okay, that's all about that to say right now --- more to follow.

Just be sure to come for all of the fun, food, fellowship, surprises, and old friends --- the cost to you has not been finalized as of this date, but I will be getting back to you as soon as possible with the exact cost and times.

My extreme thanks have to go out to a group of folks who have been there to help get this started --- please know you are greatly appreciated --- Bucky, Jerry, Hollis, Bill, Linda, Pat, Carolyn, Carrol, Betty, Kay and Clark, Shirley, Mary and anyone I may have forgotten.

Come one come all to our reunion --- 8/5/06

---

If you need to get in touch with Camilla her email address is in your Quick Email Directory. Of course, so are the email addresses for all our classmates that have provided their email address for inclusion in the QED. Don’t forget to keep each month’s QED handy as a quick reference for all the email addresses currently available.

Two classmates provided updated email addresses for the directory this month -- Bill Roberts and Gloria DeSoto Eubanks. You may remember from the February Update that Bill recently moved from Shreveport to FL. Gloria already lives in FL but is now back in Shreveport for an extended period to help care for her Mother who is in failing health. I also received a note this month from Lloyd Wallace. As of March 1^st Lloyd is leaving CA to move to the Hot Springs, AR area. He said he would provide a new email and home address when he gets settled in Hot Springs, but noted that it may be a couple of months before he is settled in. John Cole has also moved back to the Fort Worth area. However, he told me he still divides his time between Shreveport and Fort Worth.

We were able to remove two classmates from the “missing” list in February. Jerry Cook sent a note that home addresses for Charlotte Boston Fox and Phillip Verderaime were located. Both classmates still live in Shreveport. No word on whether either classmate has email.

I received some good news/bad news during February from Eugene Blake. Eugene said the good news is his doctor has released him from the heart rehab program. The bad news according to Eugene is he now has to go back to work. He also said he really appreciated the prayers and thoughts that were offered up for him after his heart attack and during his recovery.

Well that’s it for this month. If you have any comments on this month’s update just click on the Comments link below. If you want to first review the process for adding comments read the article titled “Adding Comments to a Blog Article.” It can be found on the left side of this page in the list of previous articles.