Class of 65 song

The Class of 65

Heard Peter, Paul, and Mary singing “Blowin' in the Wind”
George and Ringo, John and Paul “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
Faulker won a Pulitzer, Steinbeck the Nobel Prize
Back when we were in high school, The Class of Sixty-Five

God sped John Glenn in Freedom Seven safely round the earth
Gregory Peck was someone special in “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Malcolm X in New York City; Mississippi Freedom Rides
Back when we were in high school, The Class of Sixty-Five

Cassius Clay became the Champ then Muhammad Ali
While Martin Luther King told everyone about his dream
One cold day in November the President was shot, we cried
Back when we were in high school, The Class of Sixty-Five

Doctors Strangelove and Zhivago, Arafat first in the news
Julie Andrews was Maria, she was Mary Poppins, too
Danke Schoen, Moon River, Hello Dolly, Hard Days Night
Back when we were in high school, The Class of Sixty-Five

The Cuban Missile Crisis, the Olympics in Japan
The Poll Tax was abolished sent Marines to Vietnam
Happiness was a warm puppy, least through Charlie Brown's eyes
Back when we were in high school, the Class of Sixty-Five

So many things are different now while so much is the same
War, movies, music, politics, exploring outer space
We will always be connected to those lives and to those times
Back when we were in high school, the Class of Sixty-Five

To the Class of Sixty-Five,

The song is meant as a tribute to special people and a unique time-and dedicated to those no longer with us-it is something to look at those experiences from the perspective of forty years later-with this reunion a chance to remember and be remembered-to wonder what happened to the years and how our classmates got so old-to shrug at where the hair went and the extra weight came from-to get together with those who knew us when-or even before when-back before the day-back to where we learned to drive or tried to dance and when nothing was more important than the game on Friday night or hanging out with the right people on Saturday-
High school was the last time we were all sort of tossed together based only on geography-our senior year being Abe Parker's last as Principal-his 40th at LC-back when he appeared ancient and forty years seemed forever-it was Mr. Toev's last year and Coach Bartlett's last season-and we were the last senior class before Ferris divided up the South Side-
The world as we knew it appeared to close behind as we graduated-Vietnam became a shadow over our lives and part of the evening news for the next decade-in short order Dylan went electric-cities burned-we lost a King and another Kennedy as well as faith in our government; reaching a zenith with something known as Watergate-during those same years we wondered out loud about the common good-seriously discussing Civil Rights-Women's Rights-Environmental Rights-Gay Rights-(An African American kid would no longer automatically be told to “think about technical school” after graduation-and a high school girl could-for the most part-throw a ball as hard and run as fast and dream as big as she wanted without being laughed at by other kids.)
Life didn't turn out the way I thought it would forty years ago- knowing myself proved more difficult-mistakes more costly-losses more painful-and genuine connections made more meaningful-
Thank you for the connections to that special time that launched each of us toward what became our lives-thanks for remembering now-thanks to those who did the work and made this reunion possible-and thanks, too, for not laughing that hard as you look at the face and then the name tag-

Fondly,
Mark Pearson, Lewis and Clark, Class of 65