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1952
Senior Class Prophecy
It was June, 1972 and I
ha~
received my invitation to the annual Alumni
Banquet at Selma. We had to begin preparation for the trip early so we could
make arrangements for our 1,000 acre cattle ranch to be cared for while we
would be away.
We flew in our small plane to Selma the day before the banquet. The
airport was crowded and the town full of graduates of Selma High School.
My husband, children, and I were to meet Glenna, her husband and
family at the restaurant to have lunch and then see the city together. Glenna
and her husband both worked for the F. B. I., and lived in Washington D. C.
After lunch we took the children to the large modern nursery for the
afternoon. When we saw the name of the proprietor of the nursery on the door,
we stepped back in surprise. Could it be the same De Verne Smith who grad–
uated with us in 1952? We went inside to inquire and sure enough,
it
waa. He
said he'd been one of the first businessmen to start in Selma after
it
had
begun to grow so rapidly and had been very successful. He also said we might
enjoy meeting his head nurse. We had another shock when
it
turned out to be
Pat Garrett. She said she'd been doing work of this sort ever since ahe'd finish–
ed her nurses training and enjoyed it- a lot. De Verne said Pat was very famoua
in her llne of work and he was very lucky to be able to have her working for
him. Of course, we hac! to stay awhlle and talk over old times and Pat and
De Verne assured ua they would see ua again at the banquet. Aaaured that the
children were in good care, we went on to tour the city.
The first place we went was to aee the High School. Ita campus covered
almost as much territory
u
all of Selma once did, with large, fine buildings
and athletic fields. There were several groups looking over the famous high
school and our group guide looked strangely familiar. On second look, we saw
it was Lee Landrum. Surprisingly, he said he was still a bachelor and be was
coaching at Selma_ We began talking about some of the things we did and got
into trouble about in high school.
It was soon time to go to the hotel for the night. We had reservations at
the swankiest place ln town called Hoot's Hotel. Yes, you guessed
itt It
was
owned and operated by Richard Kunzman. He seemed surprised to see us and
introduced us to his wife and family. He had never left Selma and had gone
into the hotel business at the same time De Verne had started his nursery and
they had been the two most prominent businessmen ever since. Hoot gave us
the best rooms in the hotel and we retired early because tomorrow would be
another very busy day.
Jeanne Hughes
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