141013 October 13, 2014

Reunion Ramblings #2

Looking for Closure

by Tommy Towery

LHS '64

    Those of you who live in the South could not escape hearing about the missing Holly Bobo, who disappeared back in 2011. Her body was finally found last month, and most of the reporters commented on how the family finally had closure because they now know for sure what happened to her. She was no longer just missing.

    In my writings I have often written about closure myself, primarily about the ending of relationships or sometimes friendships. According to the dictionary closure in the psychological meaning is the sense of finality and coming to terms with an experience, felt or experienced over time.

    The lack of my personal sense of closure came to me again as I was working on the memorial presentation for the 50th Reunion of the Class of ’64. In my presentation, I tried to pay tribute to all of the members of that class who have passed away. These are the names included:

Leonard Askew

John Beauregard

Sallye Black

Bill Boone

Venita Boyd

Marcella Brooks

Robert Byrd

Roy Neill Cox

Richard Flournoy

David France

Pat Grubis

Phillip Hall

Allen Harrison

Charlotte Hunt

Elaine Kemp

Dwight Kephart

Frankie Kennedy

Glenn Kennedy

Ronnie Landman

Dawn Larson

Vern Lucas

Don Marks

Carolyn McCutcheon

Jackie Montgomery

Faye Patterson

Terry Preston

John Purdy

Steve Roberson

Douglas Snead

James Storm

Nancy Taylor

Harold Tuck

“Sonny” Turner

Terry Vandiver

Bob Walker

Billy White

Diane Wilbourn

Corky Williams

Kent Wood

        One of the things that bothered me most is that I have to feel these 40 classmates which we honored is not an accurate true count of those we have actually lost. Over the years I have heard rumors of other classmates who have died, but have never been able to find any documentation of their passing. Even after this reunion I had someone come up and tell me about two classmates who she said were not included but she had heard they had died.

        Despite all searches on the internet, I was unable to find any concrete evidence of their passing, so they were added to my own personal list of people with which I have no sense of closure. I have always avoided listing anyone as passing unless I can find something written or at least two or more people with the same information.

        I was happy to speak with one classmate at the reunion and to find out his brother, who someone had told me had died, was in fact alive and well. I am glad I never listed him as being otherwise. But, this week I am going to do something I have never allowed myself to do before, which is to give you a list of those who I have heard about yet cannot substantiate their passing. I do this to see if any of you can affirm or deny the passing of these classmates. Some of the missing ones are people I have been asked about over the years though various methods such as emails, Facebook messages, or personal calls. Others are names I feel have disappeared because of their failure to keep in contact after years of being actively involved with Lee get-togethers, reunions, or Traveller interaction.

        Please look at this list and if you have some information about the death of any of these classmates, please let me know.

        From the Class of 1964 these are the ones I am looking for closure with:

Judith Keel

Annette McCraney

Eugene Oliver

Gene Bryson

        All of these have been reported to me, in one way or another, as having passed. Despite hours of internet searchs of sites such as the Huntsville obits, Ancestry.com, findagrave.com, and the social security death index, I cannot find any mention of their deaths.

        Please help me if you can.