Never the ones to miss a chance to get together!

The folks in our class are NEVER the ones to miss a chance to get together. Here are some of them gathering at Salute' before the main party for our 53rd reunion. It looks like they were doing a good job of catching up on old times.



Pictured above are Linda Scott, Red Phillips, Ruth Ann (Gauthe) Black, Marilyn (Sisson) Hammet and Buddy Hammet.

Pictured above are (L-R) Barbara and Mike Stewart, Joanne, Dudley Davis. Dexter Patterson and Nancy Fant are in the foreground with back the camera.



Above are Nancy Fant, Dexter Patterson and Jack Stevens, husband of Cynthia Dabney.

Pictured here are Dexter Patterson, Jack Stevens, Cynthia (Dabney) Stevens and Betsy (Rouse) Matthews. Standing is Linda Scott.

Many thanks to John Davis for the photographs!

1956 Homecoming Parade

Again we have our parents to thank. This photo was taken by Anna Gayle's mother as the parade passed by the Greyhound bus station at the corner of 24th and 14th. That's the Markham Hotel in the background. If you click on the photo you will get a larger image and you can make out some of your classmates. I recognized two.


Anna Gayle is shown in the car and Ronald Broussard is the drum major. If you recognize any more leave a comment. Just click on the word "Comments" below and sign in and post your comment with the names of anyone you might have identified.

Ah, The times we had!

A night to remember at the "Pink Pony." It took me a moment or two to remember where it was. Do You? Hint -- It was not on the beach.



Pictured above are Dickie Waters, Anna Gayle Davidson and Emery Davis (L-R).

Now here is another mystery -- who was the person taking the picture?

Thanks to Anna Gayle for finding the shoe box this one was hidden in.

At the Ball

Victor Wimpee and Anna Gayle Davidson at the 1956 Homecoming Dance. You can see a bit of Dexter Patterson behind Victor. He escorted Frances Head.

And here are a few comments from Anna Gayle --
Other pictures of 1956 Homecoming Court are already on the blog but here is a new one. It is of Victor Wimpee and myself being introduced at the dance that night. The thing that is so cute about it -- his nose was smashed in the football game and you can see his war injury. Because he was my date and he was a football player -- he could not escort me on the field at the half time. Therefore, dear, dear Roger Bailey was my escort for the game and Victor was for the dance. A few other gals had to do this, too.

On the Beach

Here are a few postcards from the past. Most of you will recognize these places. If you have a few pictures or postcards let us know so we can put them up as well.

If you haven't visited: http://ltc4940.blogspot.com/2008/11/gulfport-ms.html
you might want to for additional old photos of Gulfport.


The Friendship House which was located at the corner of Debuys Road and the service drive of Hwy 90, is where many families ate their favorite meals for many years. It was severely damaged during Camille and later demolished and replaced with The Olive Garden. The Olive Garden was completely wiped out by Katrina and there is nothing at the location now but a slab.

The Embassy Club, also known as the Merry Mansion. If I recall correctly it was a victim of Hurricane Camille.

Colonial Cottage and Seawall Café. What is interesting about this photo postcard is it shows the seawall prior to the sand being pumped up in 1956. Most people think there are two or three steps in the seawall when in reality there are 10 to 12 but most are buried by the pumped in sand.

This is a view of the cottages at Colonial Inn. Note the white painted trunks of the trees.
The Gulfport U.S.O. Building.

Falk's Waffle Shop was the first building north of the railroad tracks. Think that one of his sons was a classmate of our's -- either a year or two ahead or behind us.

Great Southern Country Club just to the east of GCMA. Isn't this where we had our graduation ball?

1956 Homecoming Parade

Again we have one of our parents to thank. This photo was taken by Anna Gayle's mother as the parade passed by the Greyhound bus station at the corner of 24th and 14th. That's the Markham Hotel in the background. If you click on the photo you will get a larger image and you can make out some of your classmates. I recognized two.

Anna Gayle, a member of the homecomming court, is shown in the car and Ronald Broussard is the drum major. If you recognize any more leave a comment. Just click on the word "Comments" below and sign in and post your comment with the names of anyone you might have identified. (And, again, many thanks Anna Gayle)

Marilyn's Reminder

Marilyn Sisson wanted to remind us how much BeBe made a difference to her. She sent the following:

"I would like to add something to Be Be's award statement. After the storm, it wasn't long before cool and cold weather set in. I can't remember exactly how I started this, but I went to stores trying to find what warm clothing I could find for children in schools. Long story short, Be Be sent me TON's of clothing, and even beautiful accessories for them. I received help from others also, but since we're honoring Be Be, I thought this should be included."

Fifty Third Reunion News

On September 4, 2009, the Class of 1956 held another successful reunion at Salute Restaurant in Gulfport. We had 37 classmates in attendance and a total of 65 people attending the celebration of our 53rd anniversary since graduation.

During the gathering a short presentation ceremony was held to give the following people a "Spirit of '56" award.

Anna Gayle (Davidson) McClure who could not be present, for her work on the Golden Commodores Blog.

Nancy “BeBe” (Jost) Ficken who was not in attendance. Nancy assisted many of her Classmates and other shortly after Hurricane Katrina by donating blankets and money to a Jane Stanley’s Church in the name of our class – GHS Class of 1956. She also provided an array of chocolate favors during our 50th Class reunion.

Joanne (Haluska) Edwards who has always opened her house for our get togethers. Once when we were low on funding and had a reunion planned for a Saturday night Joanne, not one to let a gathering go to waste, opened her house the Friday night before.

She lost her house during Katrina but has since rebuilt. Since rebuilding she has had several more great gatherings there.

Dexter Patterson, known and loved as the "Chef of the Class of '56" was also a reciepent of a "Spirit of '56" award. Dexter has often gone above and beyond in his dedication to getting some good foods on the table for our gatherings.

Mike Stewart was honored for his forethought in starting the blog you are now reading. He spent many hours getting the ball rolling and his efforts have proven to be time well spent.

Billy McGown received a "Spirit of '56" award for his recent contributions to maintaining the blog.

Shown below (left to right – Lionel Blum, Linda Scott, Joanne (Haluska) Edwards and Lynda (Caldwell) Gilmore. Standing in the rear are in the rear are Mike Stewart and Billy McGown. On the right taking photos is June McGown.







Shown from left to right Linda Scott presenter, Mike Stewart, recipient, Lynda (Caldwell) Gilmore presenter and Billy McGown recipient.



Our Friday night reunion was followed by a Combined Class Reunion Party of all the Classes of the 1950s on Saturday night at The DOCK restaurant on Gulfport Lake.

Flickr Testing

Now this is a little differrent. Lots of folks don't really want to see elevendy kigillion photos of folks at a party. So here is a way to post the photos easily so that those who want to see the whole batch may do so.

When you click on the photo in this post you will be taken to a Flickr web site. At some point you will see the option to "register" or "log in". If you alread have a Flickr account then login otherwise register. If you do not do this then you will not be allowed to post comments but you will still be able to see the pictures. Once on the Flickr site over the small photo on the right you will see "bayoubill1's photostream." If you click on that you will get a page that has ALL of the photos that I have for the 53rd reunion blast. Now that should keep the picture junkies among you 'fixed' for a while.

Remember if you have photos you would like to have posted just send them to Lionel.

Aug09 115 (Small)

We have Abe Kassis to thank for this one. Well, actually his mother. She saved everything dealing with Abe and amassed quite a scrapbook of clippings with mention of Abe and his brother. The scrapbook was much too valuable for Abe to lend it out for scanning but he said he will try to get some of the things in it scanned for us. But, as a teaser, Abe had a spare copy of the 1956 graduation booklet that he was willing to lend to me. And here it is.

(And remember to click on a image to make it larger)