Kay Family Reunion Aug 10, 2015

Hayter for August 10, 2025

 Kay's Family Reunion

            I’m through with high school reunions. I’ve been to three of them as a teacher. I went to those because a few students asked me to show up. The occasions were somewhat enjoyably awkward. I couldn’t remember names to save my rear.

“Hey, it’s Mr. Hayter. You look okay, sir, but you’ve aged a lot. The biggest reason I could remember faces is because everyone, but a handful of the students, changed quite a bit it by the time they reached middle age. Age had treated them, not as bad as me, but different. Time can sure do that. --“No duh, Mr. Hayter.” That’s what I would’ve been told had I brought it up at any of the reunions.

Speaking of which, as mentioned, I went to three reunions of students I taught, but I went to only one of my own. That happened during the first week of August in 1987 when I attended my own 20-year high school reunion. It was my first and last. I wrote an article about it a week or so after the reunion. I’ll now share some of it. I changed names to protect my rear. Here goes.

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            I told myself that I wouldn’t go to this thing, but I managed to talk Kay into going with me. In fact, I just asked if she would get us a couple of Cokes from the bar. Out of the senior class of 425, there were 150 people in attendance. Probably a large percentage of them brought their spouses with them.

            The first person I ran into that evening was Brenda. She was manning the registration desk… or more precisely, womaning it. I couldn’t believe it, the Brenda I remembered was less than elegant. But age had been kind to that girl. As soon as she saw me, she began telling people at the table what I’d said in government class that cracked everybody up. I don’t recall saying what she said, but I let it go because I was fairly quick-witted back then. 

            When Kay walked up with our Cokes, I was flabbergasted at the price. It cost me $50 to attend the thing, and now I have to pay $1.50 for a wineglass of Sprite! I don’t know why they didn’t plan the thing for the gym. I guess the class of ’67 didn’t pull much weight with Pasadena High. Or Brenda chose the hotel auditorium, so she could dress like a princess.

            Speaking of armed robbery, do you have any idea what George is doing for a living? You know, the guy who was the craziest, most unpredictable, Wildman in school? He’s a Houston police officer! If anyone were to ask who the last person who should be carrying a gun, it would be George. I didn’t know if he had changed, or if his Dad had become head of the Police force.

            While Kay was talking to one of the wives who had graduated from Sam Rayburn High with her, I started mingling. I managed to meet three of my friends who had become lawyers. Not a one of them was into criminal law. I can only imagine that there is no money in it. I ran across Ralph, who was someone on the football team who, unlike me, was good. He had played ball at Texas Tech and looked like The Hulk. He was a bit less Hulkish at the reunion. Why did I feel good about that?

            I got to talk to one of my teachers. Mr. Phillips. I didn’t expect him to remember me, and I ended up unsurprised. He was a great teacher and apparently retired. I surmised that after guessing his age was at least 70. I imagine he was coaxed to attend. A bit later, I ran into Wanda. She was among the most beautiful girls at school. When we were seniors, there was only one person who loved Wanda more than my friend Mike, and that was Wanda.

            I talked to James for a good while. We were fairly close. I asked him if he remembered the time we escaped from P.E. and dammed up the ditch along the football field, so we could flood the whole thing. Of course, time has added much to the extent of the flooding. James merely said, “Yes, Coach was really upset, wasn’t he?” I guess it wasn’t really a big deal to him. When I’m 80 years old, I’ll tell the story to my great-grand nephews and see if they’ll believe that we flooded the entire football field and the gym.  

            My biggest disappointment at the reunion was seeing Larry again. The guy was voted Class Clown. The guy was extremely funny and only marginally weird. Now he’s just weird. He said he got a PhD in Accounting. He told me that three times. I’m not sure Accounting even comes with a PhD.

            It’s a shame how everyone has changed. I’m sure they think the same of me, if they think anything at all. I had practically forced my best friend Johnny to show up at the reunion. He hated the thought but did attend. In fact, when Kay and I left, he was cutting up with a couple of our friends. Maybe it’s just me who can never go home.

End

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