July 6, 2009

Annual alumni event in Cedar Bluff always draws a crowd

By Roy Mitchell

CEDAR BLUFF — Every spring during Cedar Bluff High School's graduation ceremonies, joyous 18-year-olds serenade friends and family, evoking what must seem, at the time, a flippant pledge.

Cedar Bluff High School, Mother dear, to thee we make a vow.
That we will love thee forevermore as we do love thee now.


The ironic scene plays out at every school. Graduates pledge their undying love for the alma mater mere moments before leaving it forever, the class as a whole unlikely to ever assemble again.

As the years pass, ex-graduates yearning to recreate that sense of school pride and togetherness sometimes organize reunions. With graduates scattered across the map and interest often sparse, these events may fall short of expectations, especially for classes at diminutive, rural schools. But 23 years ago, the Cedar Bluff Alumni Association arrived at a solution that fills the void.

Every year on the Saturday before Liberty Day, the Cedar Bluff High School Reunion convenes; it is open to any former graduate, student, or teacher.
Though the event is sparsely attended by younger graduates, the number there far exceeds any individual class in the history of the school.

Sue Young, secretary of the Alumni Association and one of the event organizers, said 138 people attended the 2008 gathering. This year, the reunion had a bigger turnout and was forced to gather at Cedar Bluff Baptist Church.

“We've outgrown ourselves,” Young, herself a member of the Class of 1949, said. “That's good. We needed the space. Sometimes in the past, if you got up to mingle, you would lose your seat.”

At the annual event, Cedar Bluff alumni not only meet, greet, and eat, but honor deceased former students, grant a $500 scholarship to a recent graduate, donate money to the school library, and often have a guest speaker.

Billy Godfrey, Class of 1939, has spoken at the reunion, detailing distance Cedar Bluff School history. A former teacher and coach later elected to the school board, Godfrey recalled only having missed two reunions.
Godfrey shared his insight on the change of school colors around 1933. According to Godfrey, the school's athletic uniforms in the early 1930s were black and gold. With a close rival in Centre sporting the same shades, Cedar Bluff decided to change school colors.

“The principal was an Auburn man and was going to change it to their colors,” Godfrey said. But the members of the football team preferred the University of Alabama's colors, and secretly swayed much of the student body to vote the same.

“They done had it sewn up,” Godfrey said. “In chapel, Bill Brown moved that we change the colors to crimson and white. They voted, and a majority supported.”

The crimson and white of our school so bright makes us love truth and worth.
Alma Mater, we will sing thy praises o'er all the earth.


Young beams with community pride and marvels at the people the campus has produced over the years.

“We've had doctors, lawyers, and whatever,” she said. “Cedar Bluff's put out some of the smartest people of all.”


As a pioneer in your work, you've won for yourself a name.
 Your graduates carry on your work and help to spread your fame.


Ed Arnold, Jr., Class of 1952, a former teacher and coach and later county school superintendent, regularly attends the reunion.

“There are always a few that show up that you haven't seen for 15 or 20 years.” Arnold said. “That's obviously the most enjoyable part -- to meet and greet and shoot the bull.”

Current superintendent Brian Johnson is a member of the Class of 1985.
“I just enjoy seeing some of the people who have graduated in the past and hearing some of their stories,” he said.

He also enjoys looking through the scrapbooks meticulously prepared each year by Young.

“I was able to look up all the newspaper write-ups of all the old football games, and I could re-live them,” he said. “The scrapbooks are invaluable.”
Johnson points out the need for younger generations of Cedar Bluff graduates to carry on the reunion.

“We need to start encouraging our generation to start participating,” he said. “We don't need to let this die.”


So may we e'er be faithful to thee not matter what the task.
 We will answer when you call us to do what e'er you ask.