A Fifty-Year Reunion

By Joe Rector

In 1970, I graduated from Karns High School. Four years later, I received a B.S. degree from my favorite university, Tennessee Tech. Those who are trained in the simple mathematical operations can quickly see that both of these graduations occurred over 50 years ago.

My teaching career began in 1974 when Mildred Doyle saved me and offered me a job at Doyle High School for the coming year. This job materialized only a few days before the school year was to begin, and I’ve always been thankful for the ways things turned out.

A few years into my career, I realized that living on a teacher’s salary would put a financial strain on my family, so I left the teaching ranks in February and began a job as a fundraiser who recruited schools to use subscriptions to raise cash. The idea seemed to be a solid one that helped both the schools and me. As it turned out, I felt guilty sending small children out to sell items to their families, friends and neighbors. I spent small fortunes on rewards for sales by students until I just couldn’t take it anymore.

I left the company and found a new position as an engineering recruiter (“head hunter”) and part-time job director for Dunhill. My skills of persuasion were weak, so convincing engineers to pick up their lives and move to another state or city only happened a couple of times. Heading the light industrial division of part-time jobs drove me nuts. Too often, people failed to show up at jobs, and that left me hustling to find a replacement before shifts started.

This week, I was scrolling through Facebook and came across an interesting post. Pam Ketron Greer posted a list of names of former Doyle classmates. As it turns out, this class is having a special reunion. The class of 1975 will gather to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their graduation. Congratulations to you.

This bunch is the first graduating class from my teaching career. They broke me in as a teacher and yanked my chain as a rookie in the classroom. In those days, paddling was still allowed, and I applied a board to a few behinds.

Most of all, I remember how special those students were. The oldest one was the same age as my wife. Others had personalities so large that I couldn’t help but love them. A few didn’t like me one bit, and I don’t blame them. They were looking for ways to graduate and get on with life, and I was still “wet behind the ears” as I choked them with writing compositions while using correct grammar. One boy did nothing for the entire second semester, and his parents brought a lawyer to school with the threat of suing me if I didn’t pass him. Their plan failed.

So, I’ve invited myself to this big event if and when it happens. Thank you, Pam, for saying it would be alright if I attended. I want to see what’s become of the first graduating class of my career. My one mistake was not buying a yearbook because I don’t remember names as well as I used to. Those of you whom I see, be kind and patient if I don’t recognize you. I can’t wait to meet again and catch up on the last 50 years. Just understand that I might not recognize you, nor might you recognize me. By the way, thank you for the best first year of teaching that anyone ever could have had. Go Doyle High Pioneers!