Who remembers Mr. CJ. Bemisderfer? He was principal of Green Creek High School in 1953. A surprising number of the students who attended OCHS at that time are still living in this area now (many of them came back to their Alma Mater last month to enjoy the 14th Annual Green Creek Heritage Festival).

I was excited when Linda Cantrell gave me, among other things, a copy of the graduation program, dated May 18, 1953. Many of you will recognize the following members of the Senior Class that year. They were Elaine Arledge, Dean Blackwell, Peggy Jean Brown, Barbara Champion, Fred Eaton, Jr., Paul Eplee, Marvetta Chitwood, Shirley Chitwood, Billy K. Fagan, Jerry Home, Patricia Goode, Jeanetta Johnson, Ray McEntire, Marlene McSwain, Ann Murrey, Kermit Nichols, Calvin Owens, Mary Jo Owens, Barbara Jean Smith, Anne Powell, Billie Whiteside, Norman Skipper and Robert Louis Wilkins. Kermit Nichols was the Valedictorian and Billie Dove Whiteside was Salutatorian in 1953.

Our sympathies go out to the family of Lexi Levine from Sandy Plains, the 22-year-old college senior who was killed on Interstate 26 recently. Also, please remember three other bereaved families. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of Jerri Brown, Joe Searcy, and Ead Foy. All three were very special people, and will be missed by many in our community.

Birthday wishes go out to another very special person, Sarah Egerton, who recently celebrated her 97th birthday. Happy Birthday too, to Joshua McEntire, Noah Frazier, Allen Kykendall, David Pittman, Merlene Page, and Chuck Brown. Among those celebrating wedding anniversaries are Arthur and Corine Scoggins, and Billy and&bsp; Debbie Price. Congratulations to all of you!

As usual, the Green Creek Heritage Festival was a huge success. Throughout the day, I heard from many people that this was definitely the best festival ever! Im so proud of the hundreds of people who worked so hard to make sure that everything was perfect! Each year, on the Saturday after Labor Day, I am amazed as I watch the Green Creek community come together to give their gift to all festival visitors. Part of that gift is the southern hospitality that I heard so much about that day, but it also includes months of planning and preparation, weeks of intense organization and physical work, and a day starting around 6 a.m. This day doesnt end until every tent, table and chair is down and every item is packed up. And this has to be done after long hours of serving visitors with a smile! Since all work is done by hundreds of volunteers, the Green Creek Community Center is able to make enough money on food and drink sales to operate the Community Center all year. All this is possible because area residents join together to give their time, energy and expertise to provide a wonderful day of fellowship and family fun for so many people! Hats off to each of you who volunteered!

At the Heritage Festival, quite a few people mentioned that they had missed reading my column in the Tryon Daily Bulletin, so I thought I should mention that, health wise, this last year has been a nightmare for me.

After months of illness, last November, a brilliant and talented heart surgeon, Dr. Layland, saved my life when he replaced my aortic valve with a horse valve that he had made. Rehab followed, but before I had recovered from that surgery, I had a number of visits to cardiologists and emergency rooms before they discovered cancer. That cancer surgery was harder for me than the heart surgery was! However, the surgeon believes that he removed all the cancer. I do have to go for tests often, but Im so thankful that the prognosis is good.

If you have news of this area, please call me at 863-2437.