Now several months into action and building steam, a fearless and dedicated planning committee of individuals from the Natchez High School classes 1960 through 1969 has formed itself to bring us a ’60s reunion featuring The Dance of the Decades.

The committee has booked what is probably the most memorable landmark of the good times had by thousands while growing up in Natchez, the City Auditorium. And it has booked a nationally and internationally known band from the ’60s made up of original members from Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, the TAMS (acronym for the states). This group has played all over the world, focusing mostly on venues from its roots in the Deep South. The TAMS are booked to play from 8 to midnight.

Mark it down! It is May 24 and promises to be, well, a blast from the past and a howl for right now. Think, if you will, Sock Hop, Prom night without the girdle, Twist and Shout, Soul Train and all the songs and dances over the decades because all bets are off and the dance of the decades is on.

The Steering Committee, made up of two or three members of all 10 classes, including a few Cathedral High School counterparts, wants to locate lost, misplaced or missing in general classmates. If you have siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins friends, parents or, oh Lord, grandparents that came along during this time that have not been notified of the 1960s reunion, it is because we do not have their contact information.

We are imploring you please to pass along this information to them, and if you have any contact information at all, please call the number at the bottom of this message.

Each class has emailed a notification to its members that includes an attachment of the registration form. May we respectfully encourage you to fill it out and send it in as soon as possible? Thank you, thank you very much. If you would kindly do this by March 1 that will help us get a workable headcount.

Registration is $50 a person and includes the dance and assorted finger food. There is a cash bar or two, or three, do I hear four? Also there’s a big tent outside the auditorium for socializing.

At registration, you will get a color coded name tag to help you find your classmates.  Members of these classes may invite classmates from different decades at the same price.

A reception for early arrivals will be at The Briarvue, a fabulous event facility on the bluff beside The Briars, located behind what used to be the Ramada, now the Grand Soleil. It is May 23.

They will be serving complimentary hors d’ouevres with a cash bar. Briarvue offers a fabulous view of the Mississippi River, that one mighty muddy thing that, underneath everything else though we sometimes forget, but know quite deeply when we gaze at it from on high, makes us realize we are home.

Come on home. If you are already here, join in!

If you want more information, please leave a voice or text message on our ’60s reunion clearing house number: 601-392-6226. Remember to say which graduating class you are in so the right person gets the message. “If you get the choice to sit it out or dance, we hope you dance.”

Noteworthy: Emergency Med Techs will be nearby should a dance floor Gator injury occur.

 

Jack Kelly is a Natchez resident representing the NHS class of 1961.