Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By: Sue Staton

What has previously taken a year and a half to plan is now going to be finalized in only a month and half. I am referring to a class reunion of the 1966 graduating class of the George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester, Ky. Luckily, Carlean Burkhead has kept our class mate roster updated with help from others.

The first scheduled planning meeting was held at the Southwind Golf Course, a location that in 1966 was a field. There was no new Boonesboro Road.

A lot of changes have taken place since 1966. We had a bustling down town but like most towns across the U.S. shopping has expanded to the outskirts of town.

I have to say some of the biggest changes have taken place within the school system. Most of my classmates came from a plethora of elementary schools scattered throughout our county. For some it would be the first time many would see a lot of their new classmates according to the area of the county where they resided. It often made a difference as to how close they lived to a neighboring town as to how often they visited Winchester.

My classmates were to see a huge change as they entered their freshman year of school. As freshmen, the class of ‘66 spent their first year of high school at two completely different buildings. They attended the old Clark County High School on Lexington Avenue across from the very old Clark County Hospital. They would also be transported by a bus that would go hourly taking students to the old Winchester High School on Belmont Avenue. This was the first year the two schools had merged to be one school. It was a strange year to say the least. I know because I experienced it.

Now, a beautiful library stands where the Winchester High School had once stood and only a marker shows where the old Clark County High School stood. The telephone company took up residence there. The old hospital I could see across the street from some of my classes was torn down. Another one, nicer and newer was built on down the road but it too, was torn down and Legacy Park was built there. Another newer, larger, and nicer hospital was built on down the road where only fields were in 1966.

Many of our grandchildren now attend high school at the very latest George Rogers Clark High School. My first visit to the new school had me in awe of this wonderful facility. I can not even imagine what the schools of the future might look like and be. I hope the students going there now are as proud of that school as I was of the last three years I spent at the new G.R. C. school fifty-five years ago.

The old Jerry’s, Frisch’s and Osborne’s Steak House are now just memories that linger on certain days. Winchester has definitely changed and the list could go on and on of the ways it has.

Not only has the town changed but the class of 1966 has definitely changed. It has

taken 55 years for the class of 1966 to turn 73. We will all have done that by December of 2021 or be older according to what age you started first grade. Most of my classmates never attended kindergarten before first grade. I would guess about 85 per cent of the class never attended kindergarten.

A quote by a man by the name of Blasbergen said of his class reunion: “A lot has changed and who we were then, isn’t who you are now. The same is true for everyone else.” I could not help but think how true that statement is.

As soon as our reunion is finalized, the information will be included in the Community calendar of events in the Winchester Sun newspaper. As of right now, the date is August 28th, 2021 or September 04, 2021. Please set these dates aside and begin making plans if you are a graduate to attend our upcoming reunion. As Don Bartolonc said, “A trip to nostalgia now and then is good for the spirit.” This quote was taken from reunion wisdom. I agree with this statement.