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Tribute to John Tyler High School
Not so long ago amidst the hallowed halls of John Tyler High School, we were
fortunate enough to have been tutored by diligent and passionate teachers
who were far wiser, far more creative, and fully committed to infusing in us the pursuit
of knowledge. They willingly shared with us the wisdom of the ages. They were sometimes hard, sometimes easy
and mostly kind, but they were bound to the judgment that we students, upon graduation, would begin useful,
productive lives unencumbered by ignorance. As young adults, we were naively unaware of that undertaking and
innocently oblivious to the consideration that knowledge was a formative value for our continued growth to
maturity and adulthood.
Our world was football, basketball, cheerleaders & majorettes, with merely a wisp of
academia. Lunch hours were exhausted in the arcade with intricate tales of whatnots and whodunits
before the dreaded bell rang us back to reality. Our ears bristled with the sounds of
the Beatles, The Bee Gees, Elvis Presley, Diana Ross, Roy Orbison, and the Four tops. Misbehavior often
profited a dreaded introduction to Assistant Principal Wood's paddle where we were sufficiently
counseled on the benefits of appropriate behavior. We cultivated and nourished valued friendships
that have endured all these past decades. We had Woodstock, riots, SDS, the death of a President, the draft,
and Vietnam, none of which affected the security we felt within the confines of those buildings. Regardless
of the world changing around us, the JTHS campus stood as a fortress against things of the world we did
not understand or could not embrace.
As adults at our age today, we wend our way forward slowly so that we may enjoy all that we have
accomplished. Although we have yet to learn all that we should have in this troubled world, the JTHS grads
of the 1960's can carry the memories of one exceptional architectural wonder that remains visible in our
minds and hearts, even if we are absent from its sight. So we set apart our greatest sentiments for the
enduring John Tyler High School campus so that we may on occasion revive those feelings and emotions we
encountered as young and optimistic schoolmates so long ago. What remains of the JTHS campus- the classroom
buildings, the gym, and the auditorium- stand collectively as venerable monuments to all that we learned,
felt or experienced "back in the day." We are all thankful they have been so carefully preserved, and
that their life has been extended even now for those seeking higher learning.
All hail the mighty John Tyler High School of Tyler, Texas of the 1960s. Though we stand today only in the
shadow of your distinguished tradition, we honor you even so. You will never be far away.
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