NATCHEZ &045; More than 60 alumni and former faculty of Jefferson College, a military academy that closed its doors in 1964, gathered on the school’s grounds Saturday for their annual reunion.

The reunion was started in 1980 when, using word of mouth and the few records that have been kept from the school, a few alumni assembled a list of about 500 former students. And those who gathered under the site’s towering trees for a barbecue lunch Saturday wouldn’t miss the annual event for the world. That’s because many of them count the memories they made at Jefferson College among the best memories of their lives.

&uot;It’s like a brotherhood,&uot; Mike Gemmell of Natchez, a member of the school’s last class, who came there as a student when his father moved to Latin America. &uot;A lot of us came here because of family situations. But the faculty were like parents to us Š very nurturing and supporting.&uot;

While many are proud of the education they received at the school, Gemmell said the faculty went beyond teaching educational basics. &uot;They taught us a lot of the skills we’d need in life, so we were ahead of the curve when it came to social and coping skills, in discipline Š in knowing how to cooperate and get along,&uot; he said.

But the students also excelled in other skills necessary for teenagers to master, such as how to meet girls, as Gemmell &045; how danced in the then-Confederate Pageant for four Pilgrimages during his time at the school &045; can attest.

&uot;I went to dancing class every Saturday,&uot; Gemmell said. &uot;Some called it sissy, but we were smart &045; that’s how you met the girls.&uot;

Jimmy Smith of West Monroe, La., Class of 1960, recalled two instances when he had to exhibit some fancy footwork of a different kind.

The first was when a local teen called the college’s one public telephone and, thinking Smith was someone else, challenged him to a fight.

Smith met the boy on the Mississippi River levee, trading a few missed punches before one from the boy grazed Smith’s ear. Smith paid him back with a return punch, but apparently there were no hard feelings. &uot;I rode with him in the car to the hospital,&uot; Smith said with a hearty laugh.

Gemmell told of a time when, to get his fellow student riled up for a pep rally, Smith dressed up as a student from rival school Chamberlain-Hunt and sauntered across the grounds. &uot;Somebody yelled ‘Get him!’&uot; Gemmell said. Apparently, the ruse worked &045; Smith had to run pretty fast to get away.

For Oscar Price, Class of 1945, some of the most vivid memories included sleeping four to a room in other dorms for months on end after Raymond Hall burned. Others included getting to know students from Latin America, some sent by their parents from Cuba before Fidel Castro took over.

&uot;And of course, I enjoyed the dances and parties, when they’d bring girls from Natchez by the busload,&uot; said Price, now of Pell City, Ala.

Price liked his time at the school so much he returned to teach from 1954 to 1956.

Sterling Bryant Sr. of Tallahassee, Fla., who served as a teacher and then as the school’s superintendent in the 1950s, remembered that Gen. Douglas McArthur once drove through the grounds to &uot;review the troops.&uot; He also remembered that a group of students were invited to take part in the Louisiana Purchase anniversary ceremony in New Orleans in 1953.

But mostly, Bryant and Price remembered working to give students a solid education and instill in them such things as discipline and teamwork skills.

And they remembered that, for the most part, they had very few discipline problems among the students. Gemmell also said most students were at the school because of family situations and learning disabilities, not preexisting discipline problems.

And he said those fellow students were among some of the best friends he has ever had. &uot;There was such friendship, such camaraderie,&uot; he said.