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Chattanooga: Gathering gives nongrads a reunion
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| Catherine Walker Dodson | |
For students who didn’t graduate from high school, class reunions are a no-man’s-land.
Almost two decades ago, graduates of Lookout Junior High in Chattanooga offered a solution. For those who didn’t graduate from high school, they would have an all-classes junior high reunion.
More than 150 people recalled old times and remembered their years at the now-closed school in St. Elmo at the 17th such gettogether Saturday at Ben Miller Park.
“They were three of the happiest years of my life,” said Frances Carroll of Chattanooga, who graduated from Lookout Junior in 1941. “We had fabulous teachers, and we met new people.”
The annual all-classes junior high reunion, held in a park adjacent to the school, is the only such gathering in Chattanooga.
The first get-together was suggested by former Lookout Junior teacher Laurene Burgess in 1991 at an Alton Park old-timers reunion, according to event chairwoman Catherine Walker Dodson of East Ridge.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry -- Former Lookout Junior High School students congregate during the school’s 17th all-class reunion at Ben Miller Park at the former school site Saturday afternoon. Reunion activities included a band, raffle drawings, historical photographs, and the rekindling of old friendships.
“In the 1940s and 1950s, so many didn’t graduate and didn’t have a high school reunion to go to,” she said.
According to Census Bureau numbers, only 25 percent of United States students attained a high school degree in 1940 and only 34 percent in 1950.
Lookout Junior High opened in 1925, received building additions in 1926 and 1930 and closed in 1974.
It began as a Hamilton County school but became a city school in 1929 when Chattanooga annexed Alton Park and St. Elmo.
For many years, the building served as the central office for the city school system. Today, it houses several Hamilton County Schools program offices.
Former students recalled the vast school property, which included an auditorium, gymnasium, baseball field and tennis courts.
“I loved athletics,” said Mrs. Carroll, 82. “I played on the basketball team, though I’m only 5 feet tall. We had some advantages that other schools didn’t have.”
Jack Towns, 64, a retired teacher who graduated from the school in 1959, said “the highlight of his football career” came during his ninth-grade year when he knocked a pass out of the way to preserve the Bobcats’ first win over Brainerd Junior in school history.
Bobby Hubbard of Chattanooga, who graduated from Lookout Junior in 1957, said his gym teacher, Hubert F. Smith, was also the summer knothole baseball coach.
“He was really good to us,” he said. “I couldn’t play anything, but he let me play. I don’t know if I ever got a hit.”
Mr. Towns, a resident of Graysville, Ga., said Mr. Smith also ran the school’s afternoon and summer programs, when the school competed against other community centers in sports and activities such as horseshoes, marbles and kite flying.
“I didn’t realize until just recently that they were trying to keep me out of trouble,” he said.
Students also remembered spirited pep rallies, school skating parties, operettas, plays and Christmas movies.
Mrs. Carroll also recalled a snake show, which cost three pennies to attend.
“The more I thought about it, the more afraid I became,” she said.
Eventually, Mrs. Carroll said, she gave her money to Mildred White, an acquaintance in her seventh-grade homeroom.
“To this day, she is my best friend,” she said.
The school’s music program also was strong, said Mr. Towns, who played the trumpet.
“That led to the fact I am now music director at Graysville United Methodist Church,” he said.
Mr. Hubbard, 65, who lived in Alton Park, said he walked, took the South Central bus or rode his bike to the school.
“One day in the eighth grade, I started to ride my bike,” he said, “but my foot slipped. I didn’t feel anything, but I looked down and there was blood all over my leg. The pedal had broken. I had to go back and get my daddy. You had adventures like that.”
The students remembered kind but firm teachers.
“They took time with you in learning,” said Mrs. Dodson, 78. “It was not all hurry-up. It was a special time.”
Mrs. Carroll, 82, said she had only one gripe about Lookout Junior High.
“I always wanted to be a secretary,” she said, “and they didn’t have typewriters.”
Saturday’s reunion included a live band, refreshments, school tours, group picture, speakers, door prizes and a drawing.
First held at East Lake Park in 1992, the annual reunion moved to Ben Miller Park in 1998.
“It gets spread out,” said Mrs. Carroll. “People come from everywhere.”
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