Football, Technology, Character, and Tie-Dye at GHS

Last Friday night I saw the Garrett/Dekalb football game, first such in many, many years, and was very impressed. The kids were so spirited yet very well behaved and polite, and so cohesive. Sportsmanship was evident, and even the adults - so famous 50 years ago for their hostility to referees – behaved! 

Don’t know if you are aware of this, but the Garrett Schools are way ahead of Angola, Auburn, and most public schools nationally in teaching/enabling ‘technology’ [use of computers, digital info, etc]. I have heard much of this over the past few years, and it is not just hype - a classmate (John Ellis) who spent some recent years as director of the Indiana School Superintendants Association confirmed this to me, it is for real.

That is REALLY important, because there are so many socioeconomically deprived kids there these days - and not all, but certainly many now - who will succeed, but who might not have otherwise. In addition to the focus on technology, the school emphasizes ‘character’, and that was evident in the kids at the football game.

Finally, at the game the Garrett student body was a wave of tie-dye!

I thought it might have something to do with last year’s hugely successful GarrettSummer Sixties Music Fest, still not sure, but have reliable information that the tie-dye theme was initiated by the cheerleaders.

YES! Tie-dye forever!!

And Garrett won 24-21!

Original drum purchased in the 1920s when the 

first band was organized at Garrett High School

Open Letter to Anyone Undecided or Decided Against Attending a Class Reunion

This is an open letter to anyone who is yet undecided or has decided against attending a class reunion - I really hope you will give me just a couple minutes of your time and consideration... Especially if you are thinking “Why should I, we weren’t really friends then, so why now?”

First of all, it’s really about the class, not me, so if you are listening this far, forget about Stephen Rowe as you continue reading, and put what follows in a context more meaningful to you. For example, if I speak of Clyde Handshoe, or Les Walters, or Randy Bowmar, you might think of your own experience regarding X or Y or Z. So here it is:

Clyde, I sat beside you one year and behind you in another – remember you sketching different animal tracks when you were probably supposed to be working in your spelling book, but the tracks were so much more interesting, I’ve recollected them scores of times as winter came, though I’ve never myself hunted. We were friends for a short while, then moved in different directions, but I have never forgotten you or our early-year friendship, and have thought of you often.

Les, I had a great time sleeping out in your tent with you and Dan Yarde in the 3^rd or 4^th grade - and when you, Ed Schlotterback, Jim Burns, and I rode together on one of the long school bus trips to Chicago, or maybe it was somewhere else? Of course I wasn’t always a good friend, who can explain childhood? But while I never told you so, by the 9^th grade I recognized and admired your great personal strength, and have felt deep respect for you throughout the past 50 years. We should have been much better friends, but knowing you has made me more aware, humble, and thoughtful as an adult than I ever would have been otherwise. We are classmates forever, despite the far too little personal time we spent with each other.

Randy, we played together quite a bit when we were quite young, and I particularly remember carving initials into trees on the edge of the Boy Scout Woods near your house. Of course we drifted apart before long - neighborhoods change, and other interests, but still I have often remembered those times, thought about you, and hope to see you again.

These are just a few personal examples - there are so many more -  and the point is that YOU are better remembered by so many more other classmates than you begin to imagine. Even though you weren’t always close to X or Y or Z, YOU made an impression that has matured in the collective memory for at least forty-five years now. YOU are a significant part of US. And you BELONG at this reunion.

So I hope you will go, and so do many others.