Fall 2005 Minden High We’ll always love you!
On a hot day in July the doors locked and the lights went out for the MHS “Old Building” built in1923-24. This Minden High School building will be torn down in 2005 and in its place a new and shinning building of learning will replace the old and decaying and much loved “Old Building”. Since 1924 thru those old doors many feet have trod and many a young mind has absorbed a little bit of knowledge and many a lifetime friendship was formed and all will be cherished by those of us that remember! I choose not to take the final tour on that fateful Saturday. Many of the past graduates that had a special place in their heart for this place made the trip to Minden to once again go down the old hallways and into the once crowed and now empty classrooms.
I decided to not clutter my memories with this sad event and to keep the memories that I had filled with those 1973-1977 thoughts of what my high school days were about. Even now when I go to a football game and we all stand up and sing the MHS alma mater I get a lump in my throat and a tear or two in my eye. It’s not because I had a great time in high school but it reminds me of how fast time passes. High School is most everyone’s age of innocence. As my 1977 year book the GRIG states on the first page “Our yesterdays made today possible and tomorrow something to dream about”. That I guess is the way most people like to remember high school.
My high school days were not filled with trying to gain academic achievements but filled with how many classes I could skip and still pass! I think the class of 1977 probably skipped more than any other class in MHS history! We were Coach Huth’s and Carlton Prothro’s nightmare. We were either at Caney Lake by the 100’s or at Roger’s grocery store buying cigarettes for a nickel a piece. Mr. Huth and Mr. Prothro knew that if most of the school wasn’t in class a trip to Caney or Roger’s would soon round us up and head us back to campus!
My senior year I worked in the office and made money on the side by selling coke bottles back to Dixie Dandy and by selling counterfeit excuses with my perfected signature of Couch Huth! The class of 1977 had plenty of kids with more smarts than me but I still managed to graduate twelfth in my graduating class. Just think where I would be if I had applied myself! We had one of largest classes in MHS history and we may still even hold this record. I know we hold the record for the most classes missed! The class on 1977 was the last class that the 9th grade freshmen attended MHS. After 1974 the only grades were Sophomore, Junior, and Senior. We were the last classes to be hazed by the always dreaded Seniors! The familiar pop on a freshman head with a class ring was always something to fear.
Many people loved high school and if you look back on it you think you did too. But the truth for most of us is it is a painful learning experience. We aren’t adults and we aren’t babies but we are sometimes but in many adult situations. Teasing and taunting are a big part of school and the fight for being popular is always constant. I had my share of confusion back in the 70’s for sure. We were fashion nightmares and the bad part about that is now the 1970’s are back in style. My theory on this is that I have already done the 70’s and it didn’t look that good back then.
The 1970’s was a season of great change and strife for the country and for Minden. The thing that concerned us the most was the price of gas or the lack of gas. This put cruising the streets of Minden in jeopardy and this was our most important activity! You left your house early and you drove from the Dixie Cream to the Dairy Queen and parts in-between until you went home at your allotted curfew. Cars were not very gas efficient back then so the more people piled into your car the better to help with gas expenses for the night. I was not the luckiest, I had a 1951 Pontiac and that car had no air or power-steering. It may not get you far but it always made it the two blocks to the Dixie Cream to hitch a ride with someone else! It was more of a permanent fixture at the parking lot, than an actual way to go somewhere. We used that old car more like a covered bus stop. You never knew who may be sitting in the ’51 when you looped back through town.
I never thought graduation day would happen but it did. I remember that day like it was yesterday…the sights and sounds inside the MHS cafeteria, as we all gathered for that one last time before walking out onto that football field to face our future and our families both equally scary for many of us! I also remember the lack of clothes a few of the football team had on under the robes!
Many of the class of 1977 are very successful and many are just still making it day by day like the majority of the American population. Many 1977 graduates married right out of high school and now have grandchildren. This fact is so strange since I have never been married or had a child. As with most large groups of people, the Class of 1977 has lost many of it’s alumni due to tragedy and sickness. I think back on these people and wonder where they would be today if life had been different for them.
Touring the old building was something I didn’t have in me. I wanted to remember walking into the girl’s gym with Mrs. Barbara Nation waiting on us to get ready to play volleyball or walking to Academy Park to play tennis in our one-piece red and white gym suits. The old building was where we had Civics’ and Health class. It was where the designated smoking area was for the ones that smoked, it was a short hop to the Art Building where Mrs. McKinney had to keep a close watch on our art projects.
Minden High will always hold those special memories for everyone that ever walked in and out of its doors. So many good times and a few sad times but all of the times make up who and what we are today. The bad thing about me was that I didn’t turn 18 until the September after graduation. That left me out of some of the summer-after-MHS-activities… but not many of them! But this story is not about that it is about high school memories and missing a piece of Minden and all the special memories that each and every one of us that went to MHS have for the “Old Building”. We will cherish every memory of your dear old name! You will always be etched in our minds and in our hearts.
On a hot day in July the doors locked and the lights went out for the MHS “Old Building” built in1923-24. This Minden High School building will be torn down in 2005 and in its place a new and shinning building of learning will replace the old and decaying and much loved “Old Building”. Since 1924 thru those old doors many feet have trod and many a young mind has absorbed a little bit of knowledge and many a lifetime friendship was formed and all will be cherished by those of us that remember! I choose not to take the final tour on that fateful Saturday. Many of the past graduates that had a special place in their heart for this place made the trip to Minden to once again go down the old hallways and into the once crowed and now empty classrooms.
I decided to not clutter my memories with this sad event and to keep the memories that I had filled with those 1973-1977 thoughts of what my high school days were about. Even now when I go to a football game and we all stand up and sing the MHS alma mater I get a lump in my throat and a tear or two in my eye. It’s not because I had a great time in high school but it reminds me of how fast time passes. High School is most everyone’s age of innocence. As my 1977 year book the GRIG states on the first page “Our yesterdays made today possible and tomorrow something to dream about”. That I guess is the way most people like to remember high school.
My high school days were not filled with trying to gain academic achievements but filled with how many classes I could skip and still pass! I think the class of 1977 probably skipped more than any other class in MHS history! We were Coach Huth’s and Carlton Prothro’s nightmare. We were either at Caney Lake by the 100’s or at Roger’s grocery store buying cigarettes for a nickel a piece. Mr. Huth and Mr. Prothro knew that if most of the school wasn’t in class a trip to Caney or Roger’s would soon round us up and head us back to campus!
My senior year I worked in the office and made money on the side by selling coke bottles back to Dixie Dandy and by selling counterfeit excuses with my perfected signature of Couch Huth! The class of 1977 had plenty of kids with more smarts than me but I still managed to graduate twelfth in my graduating class. Just think where I would be if I had applied myself! We had one of largest classes in MHS history and we may still even hold this record. I know we hold the record for the most classes missed! The class on 1977 was the last class that the 9th grade freshmen attended MHS. After 1974 the only grades were Sophomore, Junior, and Senior. We were the last classes to be hazed by the always dreaded Seniors! The familiar pop on a freshman head with a class ring was always something to fear.
Many people loved high school and if you look back on it you think you did too. But the truth for most of us is it is a painful learning experience. We aren’t adults and we aren’t babies but we are sometimes but in many adult situations. Teasing and taunting are a big part of school and the fight for being popular is always constant. I had my share of confusion back in the 70’s for sure. We were fashion nightmares and the bad part about that is now the 1970’s are back in style. My theory on this is that I have already done the 70’s and it didn’t look that good back then.
The 1970’s was a season of great change and strife for the country and for Minden. The thing that concerned us the most was the price of gas or the lack of gas. This put cruising the streets of Minden in jeopardy and this was our most important activity! You left your house early and you drove from the Dixie Cream to the Dairy Queen and parts in-between until you went home at your allotted curfew. Cars were not very gas efficient back then so the more people piled into your car the better to help with gas expenses for the night. I was not the luckiest, I had a 1951 Pontiac and that car had no air or power-steering. It may not get you far but it always made it the two blocks to the Dixie Cream to hitch a ride with someone else! It was more of a permanent fixture at the parking lot, than an actual way to go somewhere. We used that old car more like a covered bus stop. You never knew who may be sitting in the ’51 when you looped back through town.
I never thought graduation day would happen but it did. I remember that day like it was yesterday…the sights and sounds inside the MHS cafeteria, as we all gathered for that one last time before walking out onto that football field to face our future and our families both equally scary for many of us! I also remember the lack of clothes a few of the football team had on under the robes!
Many of the class of 1977 are very successful and many are just still making it day by day like the majority of the American population. Many 1977 graduates married right out of high school and now have grandchildren. This fact is so strange since I have never been married or had a child. As with most large groups of people, the Class of 1977 has lost many of it’s alumni due to tragedy and sickness. I think back on these people and wonder where they would be today if life had been different for them.
Touring the old building was something I didn’t have in me. I wanted to remember walking into the girl’s gym with Mrs. Barbara Nation waiting on us to get ready to play volleyball or walking to Academy Park to play tennis in our one-piece red and white gym suits. The old building was where we had Civics’ and Health class. It was where the designated smoking area was for the ones that smoked, it was a short hop to the Art Building where Mrs. McKinney had to keep a close watch on our art projects.
Minden High will always hold those special memories for everyone that ever walked in and out of its doors. So many good times and a few sad times but all of the times make up who and what we are today. The bad thing about me was that I didn’t turn 18 until the September after graduation. That left me out of some of the summer-after-MHS-activities… but not many of them! But this story is not about that it is about high school memories and missing a piece of Minden and all the special memories that each and every one of us that went to MHS have for the “Old Building”. We will cherish every memory of your dear old name! You will always be etched in our minds and in our hearts.
