HOLLIS, OKLAHOMA

Across the Fence 



By Arvord Abernethy 

We slipped off again, this time we went to the 52nd Annual Alumni Meeting of the Hollis, Oklahoma school. I have attended several of these meetings throughout the years and they have always been very enjoyable affairs. 

There are between 300 and 350 ex-students who meet there each year to renew acquaintances and talk over old times. It is a little sobering when you get to visiting around and find that you are getting close to the top of the list in old graduates. There were two ladies present who were 90 years old and just a few others older than our class. 

Our class, the class of 1923, remained around Hollis or within driving distance possibly more than any other class. (Probably we were too timid to stray far from the nest.) We usually have the percentage of attendants of any one, considering our age. There were about 40 in our graduation class, and this year11 were present. Of course most have gone on. 

There are some advantages in getting a few years on you. For one thing, when you attend such a thing, you can go early and stay late as you have no work waiting for you. We were gone five days and what would the stock have done for feed or who would have seen about the combining of the grain had we still been on the ranch. 

Another advantage of “maturity” is that you have children and grandchildren to keep the conversation going. There was a fellow up there that grew up within a block of us and I hadn’t seen him in over 50 years. He is the type who likes to brag on his children and their successes, so I loaned him my ears. Retirement is beautiful.

Shared by Roy Ables