There is one thing the vast majority of us all have in common—our high school experience.
Good, bad or ugly, we all had one and for most of us there are a lot of memories there.
This past weekend in Slidell I got to see dozens of the friends and fellow grads from my own days at Slidell High—I graduated in 1972—as two different local events were held to bring alumni back together.
For the seventh year in a row the Slidell-Salmen Alumni Golf Tournament was held (coverage of that will be in next week’s paper) and over 40 guys came to town to have lots of fun, and get re-acquainted with former grads.
One surprise was seeing Mark Gomez, a fellow ’72 grad at Slidell High, who I remember as a good friend from the days when he was an exceptional athlete for the Tigers, playing practically every sport they offered. Even though superstar athletic guys like Mark, Kevin Fogg and Clay Gay all treat me like I was one of the players on the teams back then, the fact is that I was far from it.
I was actually the guy who kept the statistics, although that was ALMOST as important since I was a big stat guy and could always tell them what their batting average was, or the pitching ERA, or what their scoring average was in basketball. So for that, I got treated like one of the guys and even though Mark was one of the biggest players physically for the Tigers—and the “big man on campus” athlete type—he always treated me like I was a good friend.
That’s one of those memories.
Later on Saturday night there was a very interesting second reunion of high school alumni. Gran and Billie Semmes hosted a reunion aimed at the Class of 1971—the 50th reunion this year—but the generous spirit of these two longtime Slidellians was evident when Billie told me to write up the stories in the paper and “open it up to anyone in a class near 1971.”
That’s what I did, and I believe she publicized it in other ways on Social Media, so the night turned out wonderfully with Slidell High grads from 1968 to 1974.
My wife and I attended the reunion, naturally with me still playing newspaper guy, but we both got to have many nice conversations with so many people who, like us, were happy to see many old faces. Well, guess I shouldn’t say “old,” but when you are anywhere near your 50th reunion, I guess we have to admit the “old” word will come up a few times!
Overall it was a great weekend and I wanted to give you a little glimpse into it as incentive to not shy away from attending your reunions, especially those of us many years beyond the day we walked across the stage.
They are more fun than you might expect, and you certainly will not regret the opportunity to see old friends, and make new ones from folks who have the same memories you had in high school.
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A slightly younger attendee at the Slidell High reunion was the daughter of Gran and Billie, Elsie Semmes.
I did a feature story on Elsie a number of year ago after attending a party at their house and seeing some fabulous paintings on their walls. Turns out, it was Elsie’s work and she is truly talented.
Elsie was at the reunion—I guess she crashed the party—so it reminded me about her art and I went online to look it up this week.
Trust me, you would find Elsie’s ability remarkable in that she specializes in doing portrait paintings, and at least in my view, they are really fabulous.
If you would like to see her work it can be found online at: easemmes.com.
But also, if you ever thought of having a portrait done of a loved one or someone you care about, this is the girl to talk to. Her portraits are so very lifelike, and something you would treasure to have on the wall in your house.
You can contact her at 985-640-6563 or e-mail her at: elsie.semmes@aol.com
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Got a last minute e-mail from my friend Chuck Sabadie who is looking for golfers to enter the Legion of Mars golf tournament in New Orleans at Bayou Oaks at City Park. It is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 14 and best of all, it is a benefit for veterans since the Legionnaires organization is all about raising money for veteran causes.
If you would like to support what is a great event, contact Mike Turner at 504-458-1443 or go online to:
thecincinnatiusclub@gmail.com
Kevin Chiri can be reached by e-mail at kevinchiri@gmail.com.