DECEASED NIFTY-FIFTY MEMBERS September 30, 2008

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NORA BROWN - MISS PEP

Grizzly - Oct 30, 1953
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BOB DAVIS

Robert G. “Bob” Davis, 76, died Monday, Sept. 22, 2008, in Fort Smith. Bob was born Feb. 1, 1932. He attended Fort Smith High School, Marion Institute Junior College and University of Arkansas, and was a retired construction estimator and project manager. Bob is survived by his wife, Joan Gutensohn Davis; two sons, Robert and Scott Davis, both of Fort Smith; and two grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to the Sebastian County Humane Society, 3800 Kelley Highway, Fort Smith, AR 72904 or First Presbyterian Church, 116 N. 12th St., Fort Smith, AR 72901.

CLASS OF 1966 HOMECOMING REUNION OCTOBER 17, 2008 (Click to Enlarge)

PAT DAY CASNER

Pat Day Casner died on September 28, 2007 in San Antonio, Texas. Pat was born on October 10, 1932 in Eden, Texas, graduated from Fort Smith High School (where she was elected vice president of the student body and head cheerleader) in 1950, and from Oklahoma State University, where she met and on August 14, 1953 married Keith Casner, her husband for 54 years. She was survived by her husband Keith of 9106 Fox Briar Lane, Boerne, Texas 78006-5594, and her four children: Kay Casner Overley and her husband Steve of Hondo, Texas; Richard Casner and his wife Penny of Lubbock, Texas; Steve Casner and his wife Carmen of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; and Amy Casner and her husband Gregg Cox of Austin, Texas. She had seven surviving grandchildren; her two surviving brothers, Dr. John Day of Boise, Idaho and Dr. Jim Day of Great Falls, Montana; and numerous nieces and nephews.

JOYCE FOX

Joyce Fox, beloved wife of our 1950's classmate Otis Fox, died suddenly on July 14, 2008. A Memorial Service celebrating Joyce's life was held at Dove Christian Ministries.
Joyce, who grew up in Texas, met Otis in 1951 when he was attending La Tourneau Technical College in Longview, Texas. After marrying in August of 1952, Otis finished college at Hardin Simmons University in Abilene. Otis spent 20 years as a church pastor and the last 30 years as a Christian Pastoral Counselor.
Otis and Joyce moved to California in 1955 and have lived in Oxnard, California since 1967.
Joyce was a graduate of Golden State Seminary. Their three children have presented them with five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Joyce was a woman of varied and unique interests. Otis knew one of her dreams was to own a Thunderbird automobile. On Mothers' Day 1988, Otis gave her the surprise of her life when he presented her with her own T-Bird. Traveling in the T-Bird became a special part of their fun together with the Gold Coast T-Bird Club. That was not the only traveling this couple enjoyed together. Their goal of visiting all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska, was achieved along with visits to Europe, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales!
Memorial gifts will be used to complete installation of windows in a Christian church in Nigeria, a project that was a special interest to Joyce, and an ongoing mission project of Otis and Joyce's church in California. Otis's telephone number is 805-240-3299. His email address is oejoya@aim.com
-- Rosemary Farnsworth Erickson

Combined 57th/58th Annual Reunion of FSHS 1950/51 Classes on Saturday, Sept 27, 2008

The combined 57th/58th Annual Reunion for the 1950 and 1951 FSHS Classes will be at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 27, 2008 at Fianna Hills Country Club, #1 Essex Place, Fort Smith. Dress is casual.

There will be a Cash Bar and a Heavy Hors d'oeuvres Buffet, including fresh veggies and fruit, assorted cheeses, deviled eggs, cocktail shrimp, Swedish meatballs, fried chicken filets, crab-stuffed mushrooms, egg rolls, petit quiche, carved beef with rolls and spreads and more. The cost will be $22.00 per person.

Reservations (including checks) for both classes should be made not later than September 15, 2008 with Sue Epperson McGee, P. O. Box 3924, Fort Smith, AR 72913-3924. Checks for both classes should be payable to "Class of '51". Please indicate the names (including maiden name) of the class member and spouse/guest to place on name tags, together with class member's current home address, telephone number and email address.

Questions should be addressed to Sue Epperson McGee at 479-783-7864 or skmcgee@cox.net.

PHIL SNEDECOR [FSHS Class of 1951]

PHILLIP ALSTON SNEDECOR JR., born in Fort Smith, Arkansas on June 30, 1933, passed away May 24, 2008 after a long battle with Alzheimer's. His beloved and devoted wife Mary Ann was constantly at his side during his final days. Phil graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in electrical engineering. He was a member of the Kappa Sigma and Theta Tau fraternities. After graduation, Phil served as First Lieutenant in the Air Force. After his discharge, he went to work at Texas Instruments and later followed his passion for computers to Poughkeepsie, NY, where he worked for IBM. He later came back to Dallas, where he was instrumental during the 1970s and '80s in marketing innovative technologies such as the early ATM for a number of firms. He was active for many years in the Rotary Club and the Lion's Club. Phil loved his family, his many friends and business associates, and playing tennis and golf. He is survived by his wife of forty-nine years, Mary Ann, his son Phil (III) and wife Jan, grandchildren Erin and Jim of Crofton, MD, his son Mark and wife Ingrid, grandchildren Ben, Luke, and Cate of Granite Bay, CA, and stepdaughter Lynne Weber, grandchildren Michael and Hope Hagar of Dallas, TX., and his sister Frances Vestal of Dripping Springs, TX. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, May 29 at 10:30 A.M. at Cox Chapel, Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, TX. Burial at 2:00 pm at Dallas Ft. Worth National Cemetery. Memorials my be made to the Alzheimer's Association. Ted Dickey West Funeral Home 8011 Frankford Rd, Dallas, TX 214-356-0472 [from the Dallas Morning News, May 28, 2008]

Memories of DuVal School

Memories of DuVal School
Fort Smith, Arkansas
by Rosemary Farnsworth Erickson

April 8, 2008

DuVal was a very important part of my childhood years. Until I was seven years old, we lived on 13th Street only a block from the school which was on the corner of North 14th and L Streets. It became the personal playground of the two Farnsworth girls and all our neighborhood friends, too. I started to DuVal first grade in 1938. My sister Patricia, who was one year older naturally began first grade before I did. It seems I was very lonely at home without her, and sometimes went to school with her and sat in Miss Lola Allen's first grade room, too. It is amazing that she allowed that. I could hardly wait to get to start school, and I loved every year! No wonder I became an elementary teacher.
DuVal was an impressive building built in 1888 and rebuilt in 1 911 after a fire. A very wide cement walkway led up to the front door and a wide stairway of about 7 or 8 steps took you to the big double front doors. Over the doors was ornamental concrete work which added to its imposing appearance. It definitely was an attractive entrance with the school name above the doors. To my sorrow, DuVal was demolished in 1984. When a friend told me that DuVal would soon be gone and there would be an auction, I asked her to try to buy a child's chair for me, or perhaps a teacher's chair. She did go to the auction, but there were no children's chairs left, so she bought what she thought was a teacher's chair. It was definitely not the large desk chair I remembered from my teaching days, but was actually probably from the school kitchen. She shipped it to me, all paint stripped and repaired.... a cute old chair with criss cross wire bracing
underneath. I later painted it and had trailing ivy painted on it
and it proudly sits in my ivy papered kitchen. It is a precious DuVal reminder I get to live with every day.
DuVal was a red brick rectangular shaped building with three floors and a basement. The front door faced west and was on North 14th Street. I attended DuVal from first through 6th grades and then after graduating from the University of Arkansas in 1954, I taught first grade there for one year. That no doubt accounts for why I remember the building so well. Some of the same wonderful teachers who had taught me were still teaching there. Not surprisingly, the most important teacher who was still teaching there was first grade teacher Lola Allen. After a very "progressive" type teacher training at the University of Arkansas, Miss Allen literally taught me how to teach. I am forever grateful!
DuVal had a very wide central hall with classrooms on both sides, interior stairways on both the north side and south side in the center, and a stairway also at the east end of the hall. The staircases went from basement to third floor, but by the time I began first grade, the third floor was not in use. I remember just once going up there with a teacher to get something out of storage. It was spooky. I have always wondered why it was not used and if it was considered unsafe. Certainly in the 1940's when our classes were HUGE...sometimes as many as 50 students in a class, the teachers needed the extra space. The large enrollment came because of the influx of WWII military families at Camp Chaffee. Sunnymede housing development on O Street brought many new students to DuVal.
The classrooms were very large and each one had a 'cloak hall' beside it with hooks for our coats. Being banished to the cloak hall was a very common form of punishment. Sometimes spankings were administered by the teacher in the cloak hall, too. Classroom windows were huge and let in lots of light. Everything was bright and cheery inside because of those big windows. Most of the teachers had lots of plants growing in pots along the windows. The first floor had two large classrooms and the office complex on the north side, and three classrooms on the south side. At the east end behind the stairway was the teachers' lunch room and rest room. Upstairs the entire west side was one long large room with the school library in the south half and classroom seating with a stage on the north side. There were four more classrooms on that second floor. The stairways were wide and spacious. In fact everything was wide and spacious!
The basement at Duval School had the boys' restroom on one side and the girls' restroom on the other. The cafeteria and kitchen were on the southeast corner. The northeast corner had a large cement floored room where we had indoor games, square dancing and folk dancing where (eek) we had to dance with boys, and other bad weather group activities. I remember playing dodge ball in that room. All the mechanical equipment and heating boilers, etc. were in the basement on the north side of the building and it always looked VERY scary in there because you could feel the heat and see flames in the furnace. A 1984 news account of the school demolishing tells that the original boiler was still operational when the school came down. Outside access to the basement was from large double doors on the north and south sides where the stairways were..... and at the east end at ground level near the cafeteria where delivery trucks came and went.
The "Girls Side" play area was on the South, and the "Boys' Side" was on the North. In the 1940's and 50's each side had swings. climbing bars, teeter totters, and a baseball diamond area with a back stop. There were plenty of large trees for shade and a wide sidewalk around the south side of the building where we played jacks and jump rope. The boys played marbles, but we girls never did. We girls also never ventured on to the boys side. I remember playing Red Rover, Red Rover, let someone (name here) come over. That person tried to crash through our clasped hands. We also played 'Mother May I', Follow the Leader, etc.
The teachers had a yard duty schedule and there was always someone around to keep order and stop occasional fights. We did not have a scheduled recess time. School was serious business but we did have a PE period each day. Our other play time was at noon and before and after school. The playground was not fenced, so occasional neighborhood dogs would be roaming around for us to play with. The school faculty in the late 1930's and 1940's was a remarkable group of bright dedicated women. I do not remember the principal, but I believe one was named Spencer. I think the principal changed several times in those years because it was war time. The truth is, I know that the staff ran the school.... and did it very well. Our dear family friend, Coach Frank Jones was the principal in 1954 when I graduated from college and taught first grade at DuVal.
These are the teachers I remember well:
First grade - Lola Allen
Second grade - Minnie Hubbard
Third grade - Fredericka Upchurch
Fourth grade - _Ina(?) McCarroll
Fifth grade - Vera Heard
Sixth grade - Lois Dorcas and Rena Arnold
Library and "Auditorium" - Mrs. Mildred Mayo
I remember a Miss Martha Youmans who perhaps taught PE.
SPECIAL MEMORIES
Armistice Day, November 11, was always a special observance at DuVal. I remember the entire student body gathered in the big central hall and a patriotic program was presented on the west stairway. We had the flag salute, and always sang several patriotic songs like America the Beautiful and My Country 'Tis of Thee. At 11 AM, we observed several moments of silence because that was the exact time that the Armistice of WWI was signed.
Valentines Day was a favorite day for me! I remember making Valentines for days ahead and each teacher had a large decorated Valentine box in her room.....usually made out of a hat box I suspect. Paper doilies and crepe paper were key ingredients. There are many aspects of those celebrations that I am now uncomfortable with. I did not give a Valentine to everyone in my class.... and I don't think very many children did. It really became a popularity contest as I recall. The teacher took the Valentines out... one by one... read the name aloud and we went to the front to get our Valentines. Did some children receive no Valentines? I actually do not remember, but it is very possible. The number of Valentines received was the important part to selfish little me, and I remember going home and my sister and I would compare Valentines to see who had the most. A Valentine from a special boy with perhaps a lolly pop attached was a big thrill!
Miss Heard's 5th grade class was truly memorable because she was very very artistically creative in unusual ways. The things we did in that classroom could NEVER take place in any elementary school today! Miss Heard had two small power saws in her room, and when our class work was finished, we could saw and build things with hammer and nails and paint them, too! Can't you imagine the fear of lawsuits in this day and age? She also taught us to weave baskets in several different ways. These were skills I used years later as a Girl Scout leader and parent, too. What a marvelous year that was!
Miss Upchurch's third grade class was also special. She was very 'modern' in her teaching techniques for that day and age. I'll never forget our outstanding study of George Washington Carver. I still remember details of his life....all learned in the third grade. Because Carver introduced the cultivation of peanuts to the poor blacks in the deep south, we visited a Fort Smith peanut butter factory. That is the only field trip I ever remember taking in elementary school, and it was so exciting. Then we used the school cafeteria and made peanut butter cookies one day. Oh yes.... Miss Upchurch was very progressive, but she was totally traditional in the teaching of the core subjects. I remember spelling bees, and memorizing all the state capitols, too, and lots and lots of quizzes. Being a good student but really quite shy, I think I remember these because I could show off a bit.
Miss Allen's first grade classroom had a large child size playhouse, well furnished with little dishes, and dolls, etc. Again, when our work was finished, we were allowed to play quietly in the play house. We also got to do that when the weather was too bad to be outside. Miss Allen taught us to read by letter sounds, later called phonics. I am eternally grateful that I learned that way. She had made up a story about Tommy Brown for every letter sound, and the soft and hard sounds of the vowels. When I taught with her years later, I typed up all her stories and used them when I taught first grade in California. She was a creative innovator, and those stories and her methods should have been published.
Second grade with Miss Hubbard was a relaxing gentle year it seems. Maybe because Miss Hubbard read aloud to us every day! What a treat that was! We sat at tables and I recall putting my head on the table after lunch and listening to the Bobsey Twins, the Box Car Children, etc. She was a lovely lady and was the aunt of my best friend Sally Savage. Sally and her mother lived with Miss Hubbard and I sometimes played at her house on 15th Street.
Mrs. Mayo was a beautiful teacher who presided over the school library and small 'auditorium' stage area. In first through third grades we stayed in our classroom with the same teacher all day. In fourth grade, we "traveled". This meant we had a home room for half the day for basic subjects, and the other part of the day we went for other subjects in other rooms. Several days a week we got to be in the library to read. I don't even remember doing homework there or research, but perhaps we did. In the auditorium part of the huge room we had mock meetings and learned Roberts Rules of Order, had little debates and sometimes an educational movie. I thought Mrs. Mayo had the ideal job! One year, Mrs. Mayo introduced a project that had a huge impact on my later life as well as my sister's teaching career, too. She decided that we should make "puppets". What we actually made were marionettes. She gave us patterns and we did most of the work at home, but we did sew and stuff, and paint faces at school. We could make any sort of 'puppet' we wanted, and then we put on a show for the entire school.... and perhaps parents, too. Our father was a teacher at Junior High, and that school had a wonderful large marionette stage with real velvet curtains, footlights, etc. Daddy loaned DuVal the stage and so we puppeteers put on a marionette variety show. Patricia and I had made lady puppets in lovely pastel silk dresses, and to the strains of "Blue Danube", played on the piano by our friend
Sally Tisdale, the two puppets did a graceful dance. I am delighted to say, we were judged the best of the show..... or somehow I definitely remember we were the best. That began a hobby for us that carried over immediately into our Girl Scout troop and a group of us started a little business in high school. We were paid to put on 'puppet shows' for school carnivals, church events, birthday parties, etc. Later, in California with my daughter's Girl Scout troop we did the same thing with great success for years. Sister Patricia taught 5th grade in Pennsylvania and every year in the spring her class created puppets, wrote, produced and presented original marionette shows. Thank you Miss Mildred Mayo!

Taira St. John Awarded Doctorate in Psychology

Taira St. John, formerly Floryce Martin, has been approved for her Doctor of Philosophy degree in the field of Psychology from Northcentral University in Arizona. Taira obtained her Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in California in 1992, obtained her license as a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT), practiced as a therapist in marriage and family therapy at the Clearlake Counseling Center in Lakeport, CA, and has been for a number of years the owner and clinical director of the center. Taira has also served for the past five years as manager of Family Court Services, mediating child custody and visitation disputes, during which time she helped launch the Domestic Violence Prevention Council. Taira has been invited to make a presentation at a Foundation for Mythological Studies conference on violence at Pacifica Graduate Institute's Ladera Campus on April 6, 2008. She produces and hosts a weekly talk-interview-call-in radio show, "Inside Out," on PKFZ-88.1 FM in Lake County, CA. Taira's mailing address is P.O. Box 716, Lakeport CA 95453, and her email address is stjohn@mchsi.com.

*** SELBY HAUPERT ***

Selby Alan Haupert, 79, of Fort Smith died Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008, in his home. Selby was a graduate of Cornell College and did post-graduate work at the Wharton School of Business. He was owner of Port Cities Oil Co. and a past president of the Arkansas Oil Marketers Association. Selby served on the Government Affairs Committee, the Motor Fuel Committee, the Long Range Marketer Planning Committee and the Research Planning Committee of the National Oil Jobbers Council. He received the Mr. Phil award from Phillips Petroleum Co. for his humanitarian service and was given the Outstanding Jobber of the Year in 1972. Selby was a Navy veteran, a Rotarian and a member of First Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, where he served as an elder. He served on the boards of the Sebastian County Red Cross, the Easter Seal Society, the Fort Smith Girls Club, Saint Edward Development Corp., Habitat for Humanity and the Fountain of Youth. He was a volunteer for Hospice and Meals on Wheels.
Selby is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Wolferman Haupert; one daughter, Lisa Jones Haupert and her husband, Lee Jones of Liverpool, England; one son, John Moulton Haupert and his partner, Bryan Allen Brooks of Dallas; two grandsons, David Andrew Haupert of Lille, France, and John Russell Haupert of Boston.
Memorial service will be Monday, Jan. 21, 2008, at 11 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Fort Smith. The family will greet friends in the Fellowship Hall following the service. Private burial arrangements are under the direction of Edwards Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Fountain of Youth, 2409 S. 56th St., Fort Smith, AR 72903: Peachtree Hospice, 4300 Rogers Ave., Suite 33, Fort Smith, AR 72903 or the First Presbyterian Church, 116 N. 12th St., Fort Smith, AR 72901.
To sign an online guest book, visit . . . http://www.edwardsfuneralhome.com/.

Otis and the Rose Parade

Greetings all my Nifty Fifty Friends,
Yesterday I received my annual Email update from our classmate Otis Fox. Otis has lived in the Oxnard, CA area for years, is a retired pastor, and ALWAYS works on floats for the Rose Parade. This activity begins days ahead of the parade and is almost totally done by volunteers. As of last year Otis was "promoted" and now runs a crew of volunteer decorators. This year he says he is working on the "Life Source" float. So, be sure to watch for this float and think about all the hours
of work that Otis has contributed to this beautiful parade tradition.
Since my husband and I have lived in Fresno since 1955, we have had several opportunities to see the parade.........and have visited several of the big warehouses to watch the floats being decorated.
If you ever have the opportunity, it is a wonderful sight to see!

Happy New Year to all...........and a special toast to Otis!
Rosemary Farnsworth Erickson

Dale Pogue's First Fight at School

I only had one fight during all of elementary school. Rooster fights don't count! I have no idea what it was about but it was a dramatic production befitting Ali. The two fighters paraded across the school yard to the gravel road at the side of the school. We then marched on to OUR property! A safe haven. No one could touch us there! A circle was made by all the boys and the two contestants moved to the center of the ring. . We sparred a bit, never really getting in a good punch, when someone said, "Here comes Miss Lovett!". Smugly I said, "We're safe here. This is my property!". Apparently Miss Lovett did not understand private property rights for she marched across the gravel road and as the onlookers scattered, she came up and took us both by our ears.(We had perfectly good hands) Holding firmly to our ears she led us into our empty classroom.(It was recess). She bent us over the front desk and with her wooden paddle she gave us three solid licks. They hurt, but not nearly so bad as the thought that this woman beating me was the love of my life! I loved Miss Lovett. The entire legal scheme collapsed later that day when Miss Lovett informed my parents of her action. Instead of hiring a lawyer like any good parent would, my dad found a rather heavy belt and applied some more impressions to my wounded ego. Not a good day, but a memorable one.

For more wit and wisdom of Dale Pogue, go to Dale's website: http://dalepogue.com/

Nifty Fifties Article in Fort Smith Times Record

Classmates Kivel L. Weaver, from left, Dixie E. Weaver and Doris Neihouse enjoy chatting before lunch. They are members of the Nifty Fifties group, which includes dozens of 1950 graduates from Fort Smith High School, family members and friends from other graduating classes. The group meets monthly for lunch and hosts an annual reunion in Fort Smith. [Carrol Copeland - Times Record]

Monday, October 15, 2007
Fort Smith High School Classmates Stay in Touch After All These Years ... By Scott Smith

A broken leg, a concussion and initial confusion failed to slow down these football helmet-wearing females.They proudly participated in the only girls football game ever to be played at Fort Smith High School, keeping their sense of humor and knack for pranks intact, even though injuries and inexperience waved a wicked finger.Many of those who played in that match now are members of the Nifty Fifties group, which includes high school graduates from the 1950s who meet for lunch on the first Tuesday of each month at area restaurants. With memories as sharp as swords, they fondly look back on that Nov. 8, 1949, game, which they organized and played as members of the Fort Smith High School Pep Club. The legendary game was an exhibition staged as a fundraiser for the pep club, which made up both teams. Even the women’s male classmates got in on the twist, dressing up as female attendants for a gender-switching homecoming ceremony.“All those boys, you know, they were trained to play football,” said 75-year-old Catherine Graham Crosland, a 1950 graduate and director for the Nifty Fifties group. “We girls just came out onto the field and we played because back in those days, a girl didn’t really know how to throw a football. Things were a little different back then. Girls just didn’t play many sports at that time.”
Crosland smiled while discussing the game, which cost 50 cents for people to attend. She was a quarterback for that famous girls’ game, and even though she lacked the throwing arm of Joe Montana, Crosland held her own.“Oh, it was rough,” she said with a laugh. “I didn’t throw a touchdown pass — heavens no — but it was so much fun. And I didn’t get hurt. I stayed out of the way, but poor Connie (Lichty Smith), she was knocked out.”Joan Davis, 75, remembers the football game as if it happened last week.“Yeah, I was one of the girls who tackled Connie, but I don’t know if she knows I was one of them,” she said in a shy tone. “But there were other girls who did it, too. I just can’t remember who.“But I do remember one girl who caught the ball and ran to the wrong goal posts,” Davis added. “Someone got their shoulder broken, too, so they banned having a girls’ football team there forever, which probably was a good thing.”That unpredictable game is one of the countless stories members of the Nifty Fifties group share with each other over sandwiches, hamburgers, salads and dessert. Comprised mostly of graduates of the class of 1950, the group started meeting in the middle 1970s as a way for females to play catch-up with each other on a regular basis. Don C. Holmes, a 77-year-old graduate from the class of ’50, crashed those plans for an all-girl group.“They used to meet out at Central Mall, and Don saw them over there and became interested,” said Holmes’ wife of 57 years, Mary Holmes. “He said he wanted to know what they were doing, so he went over there and talked with them. He said, ‘I’m going to see if I can join them.’ Then he became part of the group.”Several male classmates quickly followed Don Holmes’ lead, making the monthly get-togethers truly a co-ed affair. Even classmates from the late 1940s got in on the sentimental fun, boosting the attendance number to about 35 each month. Some graduates thrive on burning up the highway to make the luncheons, driving from as far away as Houston, Oklahoma City and Broken Arrow, Okla.“It’s great that we have people from other classes who meet, too,” said Sue McGee, a 1951 graduate. “You can see everybody talks and likes each other, and we have a good time. Plus, I just graduated, you know. I’m still young.”The group recently held a combined reunion for the classes of 1950 and 1951 and is hosting its annual Christmas party on Dec. 14 at the Lighthouse Inn.“We’ve all been friends since high school; that is the best part about all of this,” Crosland said. “Some of these friendships started out in grade school.”The lively hum of conversation never dipped during the group’s Oct. 9 meeting at Goodson’s on Greenwood. Their enthusiasm for discussion and a friendly debate never wanes, and they bond over the memories they have of the 85 classmates from 1950 who have died over the years.“I married Steve Crosland, who was also a graduate of 1950,” said Crosland. “We married in 1960 and he died in 2001. Yeah, we waited to get married after high school. I was having too much fun in high school to get married. But we ended up together and were together for a long time.”The chemistry found within the Nifty Fifties group appears infectious. Goodson’s staff members smiled from afar as the former students told jokes and funny stories.“Everybody really does like each other, and no one really has changed since high school,” said Crosland with a sparkle in her eye.Don Holmes agreed.“No one’s personality has changed since school,” he said with a gradual grin. “That’s why we still have this togetherness. It’s a great closeness we share.”So close that Peggy Boatright Putnam, Paul Gean and their Nifty Fifties fellow members hold annual class reunions. Their 50th reunion, held in 2000, drew 172 people to The Oaks by Goodson’s.“We used to have a Christmas dance every year, but now we’re just going to meet and visit for Christmas,” Crosland said.With each tale told at their luncheon, the Nifty Fifties group slowly peels back the “Leave-it-to-Beaver” misconception of the 1950s. They were — and still are — good, caring people, but many harbored a constant appetite for in-class pranks and after-class adventure, Crosland said.“We had some good times in school,” she said. “It was a wonderful, wonderful time back then.”One day in school, several future Nifty Fifties group members momentarily shoved their books aside to make a small bomb to be placed in the boys’ restroom. The contraption caused more of a scare and gossip than injuries, Crosland said. Another teenager was expelled from Fort Smith High School after masterminding a prank involving a four-legged animal, she said.“One guy dropped an opossum into Miss Edna Earle Massey’s piano, and when she played the piano, the possum ran out,” Crosland said. “And then Miss Massey ran out screaming. Then the kids ran down the hall screaming.”After his banishment, the guilty student tried his luck at St. Anne’s Academy, she said.“Well, the sisters at St. Anne’s asked the boy if he played ball, because they needed someone to play,” Crosland said. “He said that he did, so they asked his name. He told them his name and they suddenly said, ‘We have no room for you here.’ Just like that.”Cruising, or as Crosland and her friends called it, “Dragging the Gut,” was a favorite past-time of dozens of Fort Smith High School students, whether they rode in a convertible or in a vehicle with a hard top.“Oh yes, every Friday and Saturday night, we’d cruise Garrison Avenue,” Crosland said. “We’d go to the 22 Drive-in on Highway 22 and to the Sky View Drive-in up by Midland Boulevard to watch movies.”Sometimes, Crosland’s classmates felt like they existed inside a movie.“One time, we were driving by what is now First National Bank by the mall,” Crosland said. “Gene Boone was driving and we heard there was a gang fight in Van Buren, and we wanted to go over there and see what was happening.”Crosland then paused, as if she wasn’t going to finish the story.“Well, we took the corner there by where the bank is, and all I remember is seeing the car seats up in the air and I was sitting on the car’s ceiling,” she said. “I saw the lights turn over, and we had flipped. Thank goodness we all walked away from that OK, except I lost my shoe. My shoe must have flown out the window. We never found it.”Crosland made sure she wore shoes when she and her high school peers participated in impromptu jitter-bug challenges at the Branding Iron.“We loved to dance, and they had live bands play there for those dances; it was exciting,” she said. “It was a great time, and the owners of the Branding Iron even came to our wedding.”Jerry Hendrix remembers the sunny afternoon when his track coach busted him for skipping class.“Me and some friends — pretty much all of the starters on the track team — skipped and went to Waterfall Park, between Van Buren and Alma, to swim,” said the 76-year-old Greenwood resident. “We later tried to get back in time for practice. Well, we came back and coach Thompson was standing by the gate, watching. He said, ‘If I hadn’t made plans already for the track meet in Missouri, I’d cancel.’ So we had to report to Sunshine Study Hall for a week.”One of Jackie Bell DuPree’s most vivid memories is the girls’ football game. She played a tailback, and in her mind, the bruises, sore muscles and small ponds of blood on the field were worth the effort.“It was fun and we made quite a bit of money for the pep club,” DuPree said. “And we got to see the men as the queen and attendants. That was funny.”John Baker, and his wife, Peggy, like to reminisce about their first couple of dates in high school that led to an on-again, off-again relationship for about three years.“We took our time getting married — 47 years,” he said. “We knew each other in school and then met again in 1998, and we got married in 2000. Both of us lost our spouses before.”Bill Etzkorn is glad the Nifty Fifties members have an open-door mentality for potential friends. A 1947 graduate from St. Anne’s Academy, he pledged his love and faithfulness to Fort Smith High School student Margaret Breedlove and, in his words, “married into” the group.“My favorite thought of all this is, I’m just glad I’m out of high school,” Bill Etzkorn said as his classmates erupted into laughter.“I think the main thing is, we all graduated,” Don Holmes added.Unlike the spirit of the Nifty Fifties group, Fort Smith has changed drastically over the last 30 years, he said.“When they first opened Central Mall here, I said, ‘What are you doing?’ Don Holmes said with a laugh. “When it started, it was out in the country. In Fort Smith, you could drive three blocks back then and be out in the country. The city is so different now.”“Yes, it is different,” Crosland added. “Back then, there was no gum-chewing, no hand-holding and no running in the school halls. These days, it’s no sex, no drugs and no guns in school. These are different times.”The Nifty Fifties group was created as a way to celebrate the past and the present, despite the world being a more serious place now, she said.“Getting together is a highlight for us each month — we are uptown here,” Crosland said with a laugh. “But there really is no organization here. If you can make the lunch, we are glad you are here. If you can’t make it, it’s OK. We’ll miss you, but we’ll see you the next time.”

15 Minutes of Fame...Maybe

This past week Scott Smith, a reporter for the Southwest Times Record, emailed me about a letter he'd received from Joan Gutensohn Davis about our upcoming class reunion. He wanted to do a story about it. Since it was after the fact, I emailed him about the Nifty Fifties monthly lunches instead and gave him Catherine Graham Crosland's name as a contact.

Long story short: He will be coming to the Nifty Fifties lunch on Tuesday, October 9, at Goodson's on Old Greenwood Road to get a story for the paper.

'50-'51 Reunion Dinner

Eighty-five people attended the reunion dinner at the Lighthouse Inn on Saturday, September 29. The occasion marked the 56th reunion for the class of 1951 and the 57th reunion for the class of 1950. Attendance was about evenly divided between the two classes with a few from the classes of '48, '49, '52, and '53.

Buddy Moore welcomed everyone and Paul Gean gave the blessing. Most of those who attended live in Arkansas, but there were quite a few from Oklahoma and Texas; and one each from Georgia and Florida. The "prize" for traveling the farthest, however, would go to Otis and Joyce Fox who flew in from Oxnard, California.

MOLLY BREWER CROCKETT

Mollie Brewer Crockett, 74, of Fort Smith passed
away Sunday, Sept 9, 2007. She was born in Fort
Smith to Hugh H. & Christine Brewer. She was a retired
mechanical engineer. She attended Ft. Smith High School;
graduated from University of Ark School of Mechanical
Engineering and a member of Society.

A Memorial service was held September 12 at Oak Cemetery
Pavillion.

She is survived by two daughters, Betsy Blake Berrier of
Fayetteville and Nancy Blake Gollier of Mansfield, TX;
two sons, Carlton Blake of Burbank, CA., and Kelly Blake of
Ft. Smith; one brother, Hugh Brewer of Fayetteville; eight
grandchildren and four great-granchildren.

To place online tributes, please visit www. edwardsfuneralhome.com

Question: Senior Ditch Day

Hi Nifty Fifties,
For the last few months I have been "in the loop" of my younger brother Justin's exchange of nostalgic Emails with his high school friends. What a fun and crazy time it has been. He occasionally had to defer to me to clarify some memory, and that's how I got in the loop.
I think we could have just as much fun if we post a few questions to each other to see what each of us remembers about our unique school days in Fort Smith. I truly know and believe that we grew up in a "charmed" era and in a very unique place that provided us wonderful opportunities but highly unusual freedom, compared to today.
But all that is for another day.
I am trying to remember where so many of went on our senior ditch day. Was it Lee's Creek?
I remember a rope swing..........maybe a bridge you brave guys jumped off of?
What do you recall?
Rosemary

"Comin' outta Chute Five on Firefly .................." -- by Justin Farnsworth

This isn't much of a story. Just a little relaxing possibility on the couch of FS memories for a short spell.
Everybody has some kind of memory of the Ark-Okla Rodeo, either loving the carnival rides on the Hammer or not liking the smell of the manure trapesing through the livestock halls looking at the heifers with blue ribbon prizes and weight/height stats, wondering, since we were really Big City people, in a relative sense, and could not divine why one heifer was "better" than another.
Like with women, the Rodeo was a big deal, and it's charms varied and changed as you grew older. Earliest memories were probably cotton candy and the ferris wheel. A year or two later it was hanging around the aforementioned Hammer hoping to find a quarter that fell out of some loose-pocketed boy who took so much effort to get his date on the infernal ride to make her scream.
Somewhere in the age spectrum you wanted to see the freak show Hairy Lady from the Amazon, later show off your pitching arm knocking five metal milk bottles off a stand with three miserably soft baggy "baseballs", hoping for a stuffed panda, ending up with a plastic token with Roy Rogers in bas relief.
No matter what, it was exotic to us City Dwellers, we had our nice superiority complex all in place over the rural dwellers, although, we felt we somehow had to pay respect to our antecedents and heritage, the truth of which was much more real to us when watching Hopalong Cassidy serials at the New or grand panoramas of Randolph Scott riding across the range, later in life found out to be nothing but a few square miles of space in the Chatsworth Hills.
And beribboned jars of elderberry jelly, heck, what was the big deal? Grandmother did all that stuff anyway.
And the core of it all, also with a bit of displaced excitement, the rodeo itself, getting splinters in your butt while watching Buck Somebody comin' out of chute five on Firefly. Heck, again, Buck Somebody was announced as bein' from Agua Frio, Texas or Whitlock, Arizona, someplace you never heard of and could not identify with.
The City Elders really promoted the Rodeo, I guess there was closer enjoyment to their past, and the Rodeo Parade was a big deal, getting a few thousand people down on Garrison and the spin off of accidentally wandering into Tilles and seeing a dress that was needed, or a sack of Kresses popcorn for little Jimmie, he needed that while waiting for the Camp Chaffee part, they were going to have a halftrack this year with the commanding officer. And lots of horses and riders that some people seemed to know, The Queen, wow, and afterwards, road apples on Garrison that would last for a week until they were squashed to apple sauce and burned up in the sun to dust, possibly washed away by a June thunderstorm.
My strongest Rodeo memory was a parallel thing, only happened once, which was the promotional two day Rodeo Tour. It was a big deal for me, my junior year of high school.
By that time it was known that I could sing Kawliga, I was cheap, and so I was invited to go on the promotional tour. I was to sing at every stop they set up. The Tour consisted of maybe twenty cars of men, a couple of pickups, and a Camp Chaffee 6x6, the most interesting aspect, for me, as a sergeant and a private drove it and in the back was a 30 caliber machine gun.
We would go into a town, find the town center, easy if it was a county seat as that would mean the square and the courthouse. The soldiers would drag the 30 caliber out of the 6x6 and set it up with a belt of blanks. Somebody set up the audio system and mike, all run by a car battery pack, the cars of men would disperse into the gathering crowd to hand out leaflets and schedules. The soldiers would fire off a belt of blanks to attract everybody and anybody out of the stores, barbershops, and lawyers offices. Then somebody would start telling the good citizens that they had to come to Fort Smith for the Ark-Okla Rodeo. At some point little Justin would sing Kawliga, Quinton Somebody would ride his unicycle around, more talk and pleading to come to the Really Big Event in Fort Smith.
Now we wandered down hwy 22, zigzaged down to hwy 10, and and all the ladder rung roads in between, on the way to Hot Springs to overnight. I must have sung twenty times in every hamlet over 1,000 in the swath between Fort Smith and Hot Springs.
Only later, I wondered about some things. We stayed at the Arlington, they put me in a room with some nice old gentleman. BUT, the twenty cars of men, they transformed into boys in Hot Springs. That destination was chosen, I am sure, with odd logic during the planning. I have to admit that I was a bit shocked at what I saw, er, how the pillars of Fort Smith, drunk in the halls at 3 AM, brown paper bags of Four Feathers discarded, a floozy or two, incoherent conversations on the floor all night about how much money they won or lost, and general behaviour that Mizz Thorworth, my Sunday School teacher, would not have approved of.
So, it was an occasion, when our men became boys, and probably a lot of memories that could only be shared with very few, or else they would be in deep kimshee with wifey. We will never know. But after that trip, I guess I became a little wiser about the ways of boy-men, when they were allowed to come out of chute five on Firefly, in the Arlington Hotel, in the den of iniquity of Hot Springs.
I am sure more people from Sallisaw came to the Rodeo than Hot Springs...

LADONNA COFFMAN

Ladonna Coffman departed this earthly life on July 23, 2007, after a long battle with cancer. She was born June 2, 1934, in Clinton to Cora and John Hale. Ladonna was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Odie Hale of Clinton. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Edwin Coffman of Fort Smith; son, Phillip Coffman and his wife, Jane, and granddaughter, Kristin, all of Los Angeles; son, David Coffman and his wife, Beth, and grandchildren, Matt and Carol Ann, all of Tulsa; son, Dr. John Coffman and granddaughters Erin and Hannah, all of Fort Smith; sister, Zenobia Peacock and her husband, Clarence of Nashville, Tenn.; and brother, Sanford Hale and his wife, Judy of Tulsa; as well as many caring nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Ladonna was a retired nurse, a member of the Sparks Guild and the Nifty Fifties. She was a devoted wife and loving mother as well as a giving friend to so many. She loved visiting her hometown of Clinton, keeping in touch with friends on trips and fun excursions and taking care of her home. Ladonna also enjoyed tremendously the years she spent as den mother to her Boy Scout troop and over the years taught probably 50-plus kids to water ski on Lake Ouachita. Ladonna always thought of others before herself, was interested in everyone she met and will be missed by all who knew her for years or if they had just been introduced. Memorial service will be 11 a.m. Thursday, July 26, 2007, at Goddard United Methodist Church with a private family committal at the U.S. National Cemetery under the direction of Edwards Funeral Home. Family will greet friends from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight at Edwards Funeral Home. Pallbearers will be Mitch Jones, Bryan Whitaker, Bryan Mason, Kenny Irwin, Danny Johnson and Johnny Johnson. Honorary pallbearers will be Nifty Fifties, retired members of Medical Society, Jim Selig, Roger Robertson and Ben Lockerd. In lieu of flowers, memorials would be greatly appreciated by the following organizations: Peachtree Hospice, 4300 Rogers Ave., Fort Smith, AR 72901; Goddard Methodist Church, 1922 Dodson Ave., Fort Smith, AR 72901; Sebastian County Humane Society, P.O. Box 10953, Fort Smith, AR 72917; or a charity of one’s choice. To place an online tribute, please visit http://www.edwardsfuneralhome.com/.