More pictures.....
Still Flying High!
I just got through looking at all the pictures of our reunion, again. Everytime I look at them I get a warm fuzzy feeling of love for all of you. I think we had the luck to grow up in the most unusual town ever. There were so many stories shared about childhood antics, some very dangerous. Sylvia Sigala Allen told about her and some of her "boy" friends crawling through the ruins by the football field. They crawled so far into the caves that they were lying flat to get into some of the spaces. God was watching over them and I'm sure all of us at some point or another as we grew up in Morenci. As much as I played on the mountains behind my house, I never saw a rattlesnake. That's strange to me now.
I love looking through the pictures and seeing people so glad to see each other and visit. It doesn't matter if our dads were big shots or little shots, most of us never thought about the "class" of people we grew up with. We were all the same. Being raised as teens in the 1960's when riots were rampant throughout the country, we were all nationalities that were raised together. Our parents knew each other and when there was tragedy in Morenci we gathered together to carry each other through the hard times. I remember several sad times that we mourned as a community. I remember the sirens going off at odd times and knowing that someone's house was on fire or there was a mining accident. We sat by the phones hoping it wasn't our family or friends.
We are a unique group of people. Because of our lives in Morenci I think that each of us have a depth and understanding that most don't have. Even though Morenci in the 21st century isn't anything like we remember in the 60's, the memories are still fresh and no one can take those away from us.
Some of my warm memories were running "uptown" at noon to get a seat at the Copper Kettle, crisp nights when Friday night meant the whole town would be at the football game, Thursday nights going to the field to watch and hear the band rehearse - their music echoing off the mountains, assemblies in our beautiful auditorium and each class screaming their class yell, Christmas concerts, Santa on the fire truck then at the big tree in the park, waking up to snow and knowing there would be no school, slumber parties and playing with the Ouija board, dates, long evenings waiting for a special boy to call, being bored in the summers, Walt Disney movies at the Royal Theater and being lined up to the park, squeeky wood floors in the PD store, Morenci sweaters on display and being so excited when we finally got one, Charlie's Five and Dime, Tortilla Shop, parking at table top, Guthrie, drive-in, corrals (we weren't choosy). I can go on and on and I know my memories are different than yours. Whatever they are, I think we made some new ones to add to our "treasure box" at our reunion. I had wonderful conversations with classmates I had never chatted with before. How I wish now I could have "known" all of you.
Well, enough sentimental thoughts. I would love to know some of your precious memories.
Do you know I'm already looking forward to the next reunion? I can't wait! Being with all of you is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. I love being with a group that understands the bond of being a Morenci-ite! I especially love getting to know you and your spouses and knowing that my group of friends has been multiplied.
OK, like I said.....enough of my sentimental journey. I just want you to know that Randy and I think of all of you very often and hope to see you all very soon.
Forever a Wildcat...................Vicki O'Neal Hedrick
CLASS OF 1969
1st row: Joe Castaneda & Myrna Bull LaHaie - 2nd row: Becky Hernandez Dyer, Chris Serna Corn, Teresa Montoya, Vicki O'Neal Hedrick, Steve Benevidez, Melinda Nunez Schemerhorn, LaDell Parkhill Hoffman - 3rd & 4th row: John Peshlakai, Gloria Flores Trujillo, Gary Rains, Linda Glassgow, Melinda Armijo Patrick, Diane Castillo Nabor, Jacque White, Chan Farrington, Katie Pelusi Osborne, Georgeanne Griffith, Patti Forsythe Knoll, Max Nabor, John Hunt, Jack Bradford, Joel Godbey, John Sigala
CLASSMATES
Mike Esparza (1967), Jodi Pelusi, Dolores (Perez) Benevidez (1970), Leslie (White) Cox, Sylvia (Easley) Stogner (1970), Anne (Mahan) Romer (1971), Randy Hedrick (1967)
Even more pictures..
