Crab Orchard Class of 1968 returns for 50-year reunion
Published 1:47 pm Friday, July 20, 2018
THE MEMBERS OF the Crab Orchard High School Class of 1968 on hand for their 50-year reunion were: front row - Arthur Brenda, Jenny Bandy Brummett, Judy Dyehouse Hammons, Geneva Baker Vaughn, Carolyn Newcomb Guest, Charlene Jackson Archer and Raymond Brenda; and back row - Ronnie Estep, Ralph Mullins, Patricia Hoskins Bratcher, Nona Harness Griffin, Karen Hoskins Smith, Linda Ball Wilson, Donna Smith Estep, Lowell Lay and Cletus Todd.
JUNE ROUNDTREE, left, receives the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumnus award from Barbara Reynolds.
STANFORD — Sixteen members of the Crab Orchard High School Class of 1968 gathered together on June 9 to celebrate their 50th-year reunion during the 44th annual Crab Orchard High School Alumni Association banquet.
The honored class was just a small part of the dozens of former students, graduates, teachers and friends on hand for the annual banquet held at Lincoln County High School.
Jean Morris, Alumni Association president, presided over the banquet, which is held each year to honor every graduate of the former Crab Orchard High School. Barbara Reynolds and June Roundtree assisted at the event.
The old Crab Orchard school closed its doors at the end of the 1973-74 school year and has since been razed.
The 16 members of the Class of 1968 returning for their 50th anniversary reunion were: Charlene Jackson Archer, Patty Hoskins Bratcher, Arthur Brenda, Raymond Brenda, Jenny Bandy Brummett, Donna Smith Estep, Ronnie Estep, Nona Harness Griffin, Carolyn Newcomb Guest, Judy Dyehouse Hammons, Lowell Lay, Ralph Mullins, Karen Hoskins Smith, Cletus Todd, Geneva Baker Vaughn and Linda Ball Wilson.
The Class of 1968 has lost 10 of its 58-member class roll with Billy Belcher, Regina Smith Carter, Johnny Chappell, Linda Lake, Donnie Martin, Darlene Brown Mullins, David Newcomb, Roger Rice, Pam Sebastian and Larry Watson now deceased.
In addition to the honored class, there was one former graduate who was singled out for their dedication to the former school and the Crab Orchard Alumni Association.
June Pollard Roundtree, a 1961 graduate of Crab Orchard High School, was presented with the 2018 Distinguished Alumnus Award. Barbara Reynolds, who made the presentation of the award, said that Roundtree was synonymous with the Alumni Association.
“(She) has been involved in many aspects of the Association, including many money making efforts, banquet preparation and has served as the Alumni Association president,” noted Reynolds. “She has always been someone a person could count on and has been instrumental in the success of the Alumni Association.”
Reynolds added that Roundtree was a former employee at Crab Orchard Elementary School, that she had humbly served as a caregiver for a number of individuals and that she and her late husband were involved in a jail ministry for many years.
