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"I don't know what it is with this particular reunion.. but this is the most exciting one yet."
Langston High School alumni spokesperson Barbara (Bobbie) Waterson has seen most of Langston's alumni get-togethers every two years. Going into them, she says, often the reunion committee doesn't really know how many people are coming.
2014 was different. The excitement level was higher.
And nobody knows why.
"This one has been so much different," she says. "Everybody is so jubilant, so keyed up.. they've been buying Langston souvenirs like crazy.. they seem so full of school spirit. Anything with Langston on it. I don't know what caused it. Everybody has been wanting to do something, wanting to get in on it.. what do you need done.. what help do you need, what can I do. I'm liking it, but I'm a little amazed."
"You'd think it was the first reunion."
The key to a successful reunion, Waterson says, is to get the alumni base energized.. get them geared up for what will be a good time.
"I tried to send out reunion letters that were upbeat and positive," she remembers. "I always talk about yesteryear and the Langston Spirit, and how we can't let that die. I try to tell them things that make them want to go 'yeah, I want to come back, I want to go there, I want to see what's going on. It's just been a different atmosphere in the whole thing this time. I can't put my finger on it, and I don't know what changed."
"Whatever it is," she laughed, "I like it."
As Langston alumni gathered at the Carver Recreational Center on July 5th to register and meet and greet each other, Kenneth "Herb" Greenlee was hard at work on a project to honor former classmates who were memorable in school activities. Many of them went on to achieve fortune and honor in their respective lives, while living up to the school motto of "entering to learn, departing to serve."
It's the Langston Wall of Fame, to be located just inside the Rec Center, in the Langston Memorabilia room.
"We talked about it several years ago, maybe 3 or 4 reunions ago," Greenlee says. "During those times, we started inducting people into the Wall of Fame. Whether they did sports or music or some type of club, from 1892 all the way up to 1965 when the school closed, we want to give them some type of recognition and commemorate what they did while at Langston and beyond."
Greenlee says he's been working on the mechanics of the Wall for some time.
"I'm not a carpenter or a designer," he says, "but I wanted to at least get the ball rolling on the project and get our people recognized because we did decide to do it. Young people can come in and see the history of the folks who went to Langston. This exhibit will make them ask questions.. questions about their own heritage. It will also provoke conversation among people in Johnson City who did not attend Langston. This shows them that we, as alumni, are proud of the people who went here.. this is why we're proud of them. This is what they did, that stood out."
"Many of their families came to Johnson City to live," Greenlee says, "and they came to Langston to learn."
"We've got some wonderful, exciting things for them to do while here," says Watterson.
"This reunion will be just like a big homecoming, and we don't plan to let them get bored with nothing to do."
LET THE 2014 TOUR BEGIN!
MEMBERS OF THE LANGSTON ALUMNI GROUP TOURED SEVERAL PLACES, THAT ARE SPECIAL TO AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN JOHNSON CITY AND WASHINGTON COUNTY.
CLICK ON THE ALBUM NAME BELOW, AND AFTER THE SLIDESHOW, SEE THE OTHER STORIES THAT FOLLOW!
