From Jim Purvis, ’45

I heard that our Howe High School was holding an open house on Sunday, May 16, and I asked Jinny Pfeifer Duckworth to go with me. We entered the building through a new entrance (not the one that passed under the Tower.) In the lobby of the Stirling Auditorium we met Frank Tout, a past principal of Howe, and Mrs. Stephanie Nixon, the current principal. Danny Wilson, Howe’s athletic director, volunteered to escort us through the three sections of the building. We started with the new main office and the new gymnasium. We passed from the newest section into the third addition (mostly classrooms) and then into the halls of the original Howe we both knew 65 years ago. I recognized the old library and I am sure I saw my old locker. I saw Jinny go toward another locker that was where the office used to be. I swear Mr. Sharp was there talking to Virginia Childers (Moore) and Mrs. (Ruth) Reed. Our trek continued through the old cafeteria (now a room filled with exotic bodybuilding equipment) and then up the stairs to the old gym with the bleachers pressed to the wall waiting to be pulled out for a game with Buck Buchanan, Bob Houk, Johnny Elliott, and probably Ed Locklear playing their hearts out. Danny asked if we would like to see the Tower, which stirred the memories of rumors and offers of tickets to the fictitious elevator. We were then led into the hallowed Tower and I think I saw a copy of The Howe Tower lying on a desk. Did you know that there was an attic in this building? There is and we got to go into this area that runs the whole length of the original building. We patrolled the lower, second, and third floors and memories were restored at each room and nook. My thanks to Danny Wilson for a walk down memory lane 75 years later.