SAHS
Proms and Friends
A
Visual Trip through my Years in Albany
First…the Proms. I didn’t go to all the proms. Heck…I’ll admit it…I couldn’t get dates all the time. But there were five memorable ladies that said “yes” instead of “no”. Here they are:
Susan Walker was
probably my first serious crush. Too bad she had no romantic interest
whatsoever in me. To this day, I have no idea why she went to the prom with me.
(This is Homecoming in 1978.) We had a good time, danced a bit of the “Oregon
Rag” and called it a night. I pined over her for months. She was blissfully
ignorant of that, however, and insisted on just being friends. Dang it. Heh.
She was a good friend though.
Okay, ladies…don’t
swoon. Yup. That sexy guy in that picture (oh so debonair) is me with Kelly
Lee. This is the Christmas Prom in 1978 and Kelly and I were good friends
through the Drama Club. We went out a few more times after this, but nothing
serious developed. (I’m fairly certain that my complete absence of style and
flair underwhelmed the poor gal.)
And here’s Christmas
in 1979. That’s Sue Smith there. Yup, there were two Sue Smith’s in the class,
but this is the only one I went out with. Sue and I dated a few times, but it
never really went anywhere. She was very quiet…and I was very loud. Not the
greatest of mixes. Heh.
Now we get a bit more
serious. Jeannie Mills and I went out together for quite a while. I believe
this picture is the Christmas Prom in 1980. Jeannie was a great gal and
probably would have been a good choice for long-term relationship, but I was
set on going to college and was afraid of commitment (remember…I was only 16
years old…oh wait…I’m still afraid of commitment…nevermind), so we broke
it off before the end of the year. I’m afraid I didn’t handle it very well
though…it took me 20 years to get around to apologizing at a Class Reunion.
And here we are at the
end of High School at the Senior Prom in 1980. This is Shannon Baylor. Shannon
was one of the dancers in the Southern Belles and probably one of the prettiest
ladies in high school (in my opinion). We got along great, had a bunch of
laughs, but lost track of each other after high school. More’s the pity…I
always thought she had it together.
Most of my friends
either came from the Drama group or from Band. Those two groups are where I spent
the vast bulk of my free time and they were all great folks. My high school
years were good largely due to the friendship of all these people.
The 1979 drama crew
was probably the tightest, best group of friends I ever had. Jeff, Andy,
Connie, Jim, Eric, Poopie, Wendy, Kelly, Marna, Connie (H), Dan and others made
it easy to look forward to lunch in Mr. Curley’s room, another day in the
theater together, and evenings doing nothing better than watching SNL or Monty
Python at someone’s house. Here’s the sock hop party pictures that I found
sandwiched in a book the other day.
From right to left:
Wendy Gardner, Jeff Heinkel, Sister-of-Poopie, Poopie (Patrice Nydigger), and
Jim Brock. I have no idea what the dog’s name is…sorry.
Kelly Lee looking VERY
surprised that I have a camera. ;)
Again left to right:
Poopie (from the front this time), Jeff Heinkel (that smug expression was his
natural expression…heh), and Wendy Gardner. Too bad I don’t have a picture of Andy
Reid handy. Jeff, Andy and I were the Tres Amigos for quite a long time. Great
guys. Remember those raft-building summers?
Eric Soderquist.
Definitely the best friend I had during my senior year of high school (1980).
I’ve always been annoyed that I allowed us to have a falling out after high
school that got us angry enough that we haven’t spoken since 1981. Eric’s a
great guy and we were inseparable back in those days. Remember driving over the
frozen lake, Eric? I about had a heart attack listening to the ice crack and
pop as we drove over it.
I’m fairly certain
this is the TP job we did at Sue Walker’s house. We were so proud of it that we
drove all the way to my house, grabbed my camera and came back to take flash
pictures of it. The snapshot here just doesn’t do it justice. It was a work of
art. ;)