Memories of the Class of '61

Memories of the Class of '61 by Robert M. Culp, Principal 1957 - 1968

Campbell High: Class of Sixty-One
What happened to the class of sixty one?
Lets go back and take a look. Come with me
I'ts Friday, eight a.m. I can hear them, see them.
Like Banquo's ghost they walk the halls again.

Class of sixty-one, three hundred and fifty strong,
Talking, calling, flirting, making dates for tonight's game
Down the inside halls and past the Dean's office.
Crawford standing there giving out class admits.

Miss Bull directing a freshman to class
Hey! Does Bill Tarr still lock the door after the bell?
Virginia Jenning's class reading Shakespeare.
Shylock and is pound of flesh made real.

Marotti recalling past coaching glories
To his Driver's Ed. Class. The girls are bored.
Bryan Misselbrook teaching English, college level,
McDermott reminds class, "No homework tonight,
It's football, Morton's pitching touchdowns."

Len Scroggins, "Scrog," to all his swimmers.
He thinks he owns the pool. Hey, he does! So what?
Remember Yearbook meetings, HI Y, Girls League?
School Assemblies every Monday. "Hey! You're in my seat!"

Block C initiations. The administration never found out.
Those Friday night parties, parties, parties!
"Remember we toilet-papered Culp's new house."
Bill Perkins and the best marching band in the Valley.
(We lost Mr. Perkins a few years ago. God bless him.)

Adolescent fever with all it's false sophistications.
Senior girls flaunting their social cliques and
Senior boys Hi Y clubs competing for recognition,.
Like wild ponies, unbridled, free, while
Exploring the sounds and thrills of youth..

"Buy hey we're here now to renew old friendships.
There's Craig, Leroy, Penny, Ruth, Kay all the rest.
"Is that really Pee Wee Whitewing?"
They're talking, flirting, hugging, reminiscing
How those unkind years have taken their toll.

Some classmates gone, perhaps forgotten.

Bill, Eugene, Evelyn, Bob, Jack and others,
Classmates all - but really not forgotten.
"Hey! Is that really you? No kidding, Seven kids!"
Some hesitant, not sure but others never stopping.

Eyes searching, misty and aglow with anticipation.
The true sense of urgency now spent.
Sad and empty, dulled through dissipation.

Hey! We are Campbell High School's class of nineteen hundred sixty-one.
We're back again, talking, acting like seventeen,
Updating lives, fortunes, families and achievements.
The true meaning of love grown older and wiser.

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