Fort Scott all-school reunion

"Anticipation is greater than realization." It must be true, because for a week before we came down to Fort Scott for the all-school reunion, I was like a kid counting the days before Christmas.

Friends of ours were going to Lamar, Mo., to visit relatives and said they would drop us off in Fort Scott and pick us up on their way home. The trip seemed like forever, I was like a kid saying, "Are we there yet?" When we finally arrived in Fort Scott we stopped at that little café I think it is in what used to be Belltown, maybe the Wayside Inn? Anyway we had biscuits and sausage gravy and hash browns. What a feast.

After enjoying the very last crumb, we headed out to our friends, Varrell and Shirley Forgey, where we were to stay. They were the host with the most. We didn't know that we would be coming down until it was too late to find a room. They very graciously offered us their guest room which was more like a bed and breakfast. We would have stayed at my sister Darlene's, but she and husband Ray had sold their home and moved into a senior citizen duplex and there was no room at the inn.

Let me tell you folks, this time the realization was greater than the anticipation, if that is possible. It was Friday the 24th of June around noon, and I could hardly wait to get down to the high school to get registered and see all of our classmates. We stopped by Darlene's to say 'hi' before embarking on our great adventure.

Upon arriving at the high school, we both got registered and then began to make the rounds to the other classes. What fun. It had been seven years since we had visited Fort Scott or attended a school reunion. Time seemed to go into reverse and we were once again care free school kids having the time of our lives.

Very reluctantly, we left the high school and drove to Eugene Ware School where the class of '47, '48 and '49 were to have their reunion get-together all together for three glorious days. I hadn't been inside Eugene Ware for many a moon, and as soon as I walked into the auditorium, memories came flooding back when I attended grade school there.

I walked the halls and spent a lot of time just looking around the auditorium remembering eating lunches there, watching plays up on the stage, remembering the upper level where I think the sixth graders got to sit, whispering, giggling, chewing gum, as I remember I got detention for chewing gum more times than I would care to count. It was quite a moving experience remembering those long ago days.

As I encountered various classmates, there were hugs, (lots of them) laughter, a tear or two; lots of catching up on everyone's kids, grandkids and yes, great-grandkids. I was hoping that just for a spell, time would stand still, but that wasn't to be.

Before we knew it, it was time to go back to our "bed and breakfast" and freshen up to get ready for the evening. Our supper was to be Speck Dennis' New York hotdogs, potato salad and all the trimmings which was catered by he and his daughter Holly. It was a fine meal. The evening was spent by various classmates reading some of the letters that had been in my column written by classmates of various classes. Also a song by Speck Dennis (he still has a wonderful voice.) Much laughter and reminiscing, the key here was just being together.

This column will be continued next week.