HHS Class of 1989

1999 Reunion Review

The Class of 1989 had our ten year reunion the weekend of June 12, 1999. If you were unable to come, here's what you missed. First of all, I have a list of who was there. Beyond that, I'm going to try not to refer to specific people as I don't want anyone to get upset for putting personal information on the Internet.

Cocktail Party at Zydeco's

Friday, 11 June 1999, 6:30 p.m.-until

The party was held on the patio at this bar in Birmingham's Southside. We were lucky that the rain held off for us until late in the evening. This was the first look at many familiar faces for the first time in ten years for lots of us. Most of the faces hadn't changed much, but a few had changed dramatically. (I'm reluctant to mention specific names on the World Wide Web without consent.) One of the more striking things to me was how many alumni had married fellow alumni from the classes of '87, '88, and '89. (Were there any from the class of '90 there?)

Around 9:00 or 10:00 p.m., Mr. Dedrick showed up. He still remembered many names, particularly those he saw a lot as assistant principal. 8) I even heard a tale that at least one person hid his beer behind his back, despite being legal drinking age now. I guess old habits die hard.

Homewood Park Family Picnic

Saturday, 12 June 1999, 11:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

This was simply an opportunity for us all to show off our children to each other. I believe the oldest child was about four, while most were between zero and two. It went well, despite the threatening rain.

Homewood High School Tour

Saturday, 12 June 1999, 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

My, what a difference ten years makes! Homewood High School has undergone many changes since we were there. The current principal, Mr. Draper, was kind enough to give us a tour. I hope to add some photos here later.

The first thing you notice when coming in the front door is the new office. It has been moved from its old location to where the freshman lockers were. The center of the school, with the library and such, hasn't changed much. The lockers have all been repainted and the pods are no longer divided by grade, but by subject.

Walking through the school, one of the most striking things is the addition of doors on all the classrooms. Gone are the open doors into the pods. Next we came to the back hall, where once we were not allowed except during fire drills. Mr. Draper says it is a busy place now. There have been classrooms for foreign languages added, plus stairs to get downstairs to the gym, which was our next stop.

Well, actually we didn't stop, but walked through the old gym and to what used to be exterior doors to the band room and field house. There has been an additional gym added beside the old one, taking up part of where the parking lot used to be. The entire area is enclosed now, which just feels weird. We went up to the band room, where little has changed except the addition of a new, and badly needed, trophy case on the opposite wall from the original. We were told that Mrs. Burton even still handles the uniforms. Mr. Draper says they will be building a new band room next to the football field so the band can get to it from ground level. The band room will then be converted into a field house for the girl athletes.

Next was the home economics room. It has been extensively, and very nicely, remodeled. Then we saw what used to be the "small auditorium." It is now Bailey Theater, named after Mrs. Bailey who was the debate and drama teacher while we were there. It now has curtains by the stage and a lighting/sound area in back.

Finally, we came to the main auditorium. The auditorium itself hasn't changed, but the area downstairs and behind it has. It has been expanded and remodeled. It now contains the new dance room and Mr. Ussery's office. Oh, and there's an elevator and stairs around the south side of the auditorium lobby to allow easy access.

Dinner at The Club

Saturday, 12 June 1999, 6:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m.

Well, the evening began slowly, but eventually we had a large room full of people. We milled about, talking and catching up. Before sunset, they had us all pose for a class picture outside. Dinner of chicken cordon bleu was served around 7:30 p.m.

After dinner, Classic Reunions thanked us for letting us help them with our reunion. Then Tasha said some words. It turns out we had money left over from our senior prom ten years ago. A vote was held and the majority favored refunds of about $20 (vs. putting the money towards our 2009 reunion). Tasha will be sending checks to reunion attendees for the next several months, so please be patient. Then I said some words about the web page for those that didn't know about it. Finally, Tasha's husband, Scott, solicited a final round of applause for all of Tasha's hard work.

The rest of the evening was spent dancing to the DJ's tunes and talking some more. There obviously was not enough drinking going on as there weren't many people dancing. 8) The evening wound down and I believe the last of us left around 10:30 p.m. I'm looking forward to our next reunion in 2009, but let's all try to stay in touch in the meantime.