1951 was a long time ago, but . . .

A few weeks ago, I got together with three other members of the graduating class of 1951 from the now-defunct Divide High School near Sweetwater, Texas. Divide was a small school, with about 150 in the whole 12 grades. There were 14 in our senior class, seven girls, seven boys. Now, 60 years later, five women and five men are still living. So four of the five guys got together when my wife Pansy and I drove to Sweetwater. We had flown into the Dallas-Fort Worth airport a few days earlier and had visited with my brothers and sisters in the Waco-Waxahachie-Cleburne area. Then, on out to West Texas in a rental car.

Most of the other three men at the informal reunion, I had not seen since we graduated. It was heart-warming to see R. W. Porter, Earl Lewis, and Glenn Bennett. All three still live in the area: Glenn in town and R. W. and Earl out in the farming area where we went to school. Glenn's wife Lylia was at the get-together, so she and Pansy got acquainted while the "Four Brothers" laughed and recalled "the Good Old Days." Actually, we were unanimous in thinking the Good about the past is that they are the OLD days.

Our fifth surviving male alum, Morris Hartgraves, lives about 200 miles away, in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The meeting was rather hurriedly arranged, so I didn't even contact Morris. That would have been a long trip for him. None of the women in our class live in the Sweetwater area, so I didn't try to reach them.

We ate at Allen Family Style Meals on East Broadway, several blocks east of the courthouse. They had 10-12 side dishes along with two meats and peach cobbler. Everything I ate tasted good, and the young server women weren't bashful about refilling the dishes and our iced tea glasses.

I'm a bit late about it, but in the last couple of years, I've actively sought to reconnect with friends from high school and college. When I left Texas to go to Kentucky for seminary studies, it didn't occur to me that I was basically leaving Texas for good. But when I finished my theological studies, it was easier to find a ministry position in the Southeast than back in Texas. So I've spent most of the intervening 50-plus years on the east side of the continent: South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and even New York.

It's just not practical to travel back to Texas on a regular basis, so most of these re-connections will necessarily be by long-distance: phone calls, e-mail, and facebook. Yes, facebook. Some of the Over-the-Hill Gang know how to use the social networks.

I was surprised to see how Sweetwater has lost so many businesses. That happens in many small-to-medium-sized towns, but I was appalled to see lots of empty buildings close to the Square. We stayed in a fairly new Hampton Inn which is just off an I-20 exit, and we saw some other hotel-motel chains. So the town isn't exactly on its last leg. And my old high school mate Glenn continues in the real estate business.

It's difficult to verbalize what that visit with these three long-time friends meant in so many ways. But I was pleased to see that all three are strong Christians and faithful to their churches. And I pray that I can maintain semi-regular contact with them in the years the Lord lets us live.