Knoxville East High School Alumni Association

Hello East High School alumni,

     I am happy to report that the 2019 All-Class Reunion was another great success for all those who attended.  Fourteen of the 17 classes were represented.  We missed many of you who have joined us in the past, but we hope to give you another opportunity next year.  The secret – stay healthy for one more year!

     I would also like to congratulate the six new members of the East High School Hall of Fame.  You will be able to read about them later in the Blue and Gray, but it is an impressive group.  Military service, foster care and adoption, and entrepreneurship were some of the main characteristics of these inductees.  Unfortunately, three of the six were given posthumously. 

     We had a special recognition at the reunion for one of our own – Frank Hall.  Frank was one of the first students at East High when it opened in 1952, is a 1953 alumni with both football and basketball awards.  He returned as an assistant football and basketball coach after college, became Head Basketball Coach in 1961, and led two teams to the state tournaments in Nashville.  Several of his players were present at the reunion to honor Frank as student, player, coach, teacher, legend and friend.

     We have a new “memory” to tell everyone.  Thanks to Lucile Heap Martin (’53) for submitting this.  Now, send us your “memory”, so we will have others to tell in the future.

     I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who worked so hard to make our all-class reunion such a success: Gail, Carolyn, Helen, Wanda, Wilma, Cheryl, Lucile, and Larry.  A special thanks goes to Loretta and her tireless husband Mike.

     In addition to sending us one of your “memories”, I would like to encourage you to tell us what you would like to see in future Blue & Gray’s, on the web site, or at the 2020 reunion.  This is an alumni organization for all 17 classes and we are all getting older. Don’t wait to do something!

Best regards, Bill

    A note from Bill Black, President (from early 2019)

Hello fellow East High Alumni!  I am not sure if I should thank the Nominating Committee for pushing me for President of our Association for the next two years or use a Donald Trump tactic and “Fire them”.  But, since I actually like these individuals, I will do my best to fill this role. Help from all of you will be needed, of course, in order to accomplish keeping KEHSAA alive and viable.

Margie LeCoultre is our Education Committee Chairperson and you will see an article by her in this issue.  Margie is excited about one of our current scholarship recipients. As you will see, this young person is very appreciative of how we have helped in her quest for higher education.

Tommy Green is our Benevolence Committee Chairman and he has the unfortunate task of keeping us all informed about the passing of our fellow classmates.  Tommy does an excellent job of this, and his workload will continue to increase as the years go by.  Father Time waits for no one.

Gail Ingram has accepted the job of being our Membership Committee Chairperson and has a huge challenge in front of her – unless, of course, you want to help by sending in your membership fee.  Gail also offers to help our Executive Committee and Board of Directors in many other ways.

All the other elected members of the Association (Loretta Crowder, Carolyn Cottrell, Helen Mills, Wanda Majors, Wilma Loy, Larry Leibowitz and Lorry Ruth) are dedicated to working together to make the memories of East High School stay in our minds as long as we have one.

One of our prime goals this year will be to build stronger relationships between all 17 of our classes.  Having an all-class reunion in early August this year is something we will be working on and hopefully you will be able to join us in celebrating the eighth anniversary of KEHSAA.  Last year we did not have a Hall of Fame induction ceremony at our reunion at the Foundry, but enough requests have been made to include this again this year as part of our all-class reunion.  You will see more about this also in this publication of the Blue & Gray.

One of the things I would like to see this year is to have articles by more of our alumni published in the Blue & Gray.  For instance, what memories do you have that would perhaps enlighten and/or entertain some of your fellow alumni whether they know you or not.  Since I have the privilege of writing this opening article, I will go first with this “memory thing”.  Actually I have memories of Ruby Bird (I will tell this story as it brings a smile and laugh to me), Librarian Miss Bennett (I will not tell this story as it is embarrassing, brings a smile and tears to my face, but does have a happy ending), Coach Frank Hall’s car (loaded with four basketball players and four females), and a crush I had on two older cheerleaders whom I also took a class with (no, I will not write about Carol and Janie).

A memory:  Either my Junior or Senior year (I think Junior) I had just finished the basketball season when my Modern History teacher, Ruby Bird, told me I was going to be in her play, “Life with Father”.  Yes, that is correct, she told me!  The play had been in rehearsal for over a month already and evidently Miss Bird (a female Donald Trump) had a falling out with the lead actor playing Father and fired him.  The play was to be preformed in two weeks.  The night of the play I had notes taped to the top of every table on the stage and my fellow Thespians clued in to whisper my lines to me when I seemed lost. There was one part of the play when I was standing at the back of the stage, at the top of a four or five step entranceway from the outside.  The play was written for Father to say, “Damn, Damn, Damnation”, twice with a short pause in between, as he was upset over something.  Well, Miss Bird had me rehearsing with “Darn, Darn, Darnation”. I guess I was feeling my oats that night so I decided to use the words written for the play.  As soon as I said these words the first time, she immediately said to me from just behind the curtain, “Bill Black if you say those words again I will come out there and drag you off the stage”.  I am sure the folks in the first few rows heard her.  One thing for sure, I followed her orders the rest of the night.  And I am proud to say, I got an “A-“ in Modern History.  Without that one slip up I probably could have gotten an “A”.

Ok, that’s my story. We expect to get a lot of stories from many of you to print in future Blue & Grays.

     It is a small world:  In 1985 I changed jobs and moved my family from Toledo, Ohio, to Shelbyville, Indiana, a small town south of Indianapolis.  We started going to the local Presbyterian church.  The church pastor’s wife was Margaret Ann Keith, class of 1959, I think. She was the head cheerleader when I was a freshman, and her brother, Bobby, was in the 1963 class. Unfortunately Margaret Ann developed cancer several years later and passed away.  We had opportunities to share memories of East High many times.  I guess that was another story, but not about school days.

Recognizing groups:  As I was going to bed the night after my first meeting as President, my wife asked how I felt the meeting had gone.  I told her ok and that we were planning an all-class reunion.  She then suggested that it would be good to recognize various groups at the different reunions – such as all who had been teachers and in the education field.  I thought this was an excellent idea, and we came up with other groups – first responders, elected government employees, and military personnel.  I then told her to remind me in the morning about this discussion so I could write it down.  She did, and I did.  So you may be asked to stand up at the gathering this coming August.

Now, I have one more story to tell and it is an important one.  A couple of years ago I attended a fundraiser for the Lakeway Fellowship of Christian Athletes at First Baptist in Morristown.  There were about 300 of us in the banquet room that night and the speaker was Jerry Granville, ex coach of the Houston Oilers and a NASCAR race driver. He told some amazing stories, including a miraculous one about surviving an awful, fiery crash while racing.  But the one that touched all of us there was about a tape measure.  He held up the tape measure and moved it out to reveal eight feet.  He explained that when you are born, you have about this much of tape for your life.  Then he moved it down to where there was six feet in length sticking out.  He explained there were student athletes in the audience who were around 20 years old, and they had that much of tape to make something out of their life and to touch others in a positive way.  Then he moved the tape back to where only three feet remained.  When he then talked to the 50 year olds in the audience, you could begin to feel what was going to happen next.  Yes, he moved the tape to where only one foot remained sticking out.  He then talked to those of us gray-haired or bald folks. All of us are in this latter group. We still have a chance to show love to everybody we come in contact with – the bag person at the grocery store, the post office clerk, the person that delivers your newspaper, the convenience store attendant, your children, your grandchildren, your spouse, and, of course, your fellow classmates.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have an eternal reunion?

Thanks for reading, peace to you, and love, Bill

A New MEMORY to Post:  Submitted by Anita McGuire Melia, Class of 1966

There were always rumors and legends about most of our teachers.  One that I remember was Mr. Van Metre (Art & Civics).  It was rumored that once he met a student, he would always remember their name.

SEEKING NEW MEMBERS AND INPUT