___________________________________

and enjoy great fellow-

ship as well as some terri-

fic giveaways. We are

going to feast on beef

tenderloin, roasted red

potatoes, vegetable med-

ley, salad bar, rolls, peach

cobbler with cookies and

tea, water and coffee.

Weather forecast

calls for clear, but cool

(40’s) with no threat of

inclement weather. So

grab your favorite person

and come on out for a

simply wonderful day!

February is upon

us and Spring certainly

can not be far behind

now. Valentines and

Blue Jays, what a perfect

combination of beautiful

images they can make!

Lunch Bunch is

back this month after tak-

ing a brief break during

January and not only do

we have a new place to

gather, but we have a

wonderful new menu for

lunch as well.

Come join us at

First Presbyterian

Church, 4815 Franklin

Pike, here in Nashville

(across from Overton

High School and Judson

Baptist Church) at 11:15,

Thursday, February 12th

VALENTINES AND BLUE JAYS

NEWSLETTER FOR WEST END H IGH ALUMNI

7 FEBRUARY 2015 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

WEST W IND

SPECIAL POINTS OF

INTEREST:

Shakespeare Comes to West

Lunch Bunch Facts

Remember When?

Future Blue Jay Night

INSIDE THIS ISSUE :

WEST HISTORY 2

SHIRTS FOR SALE 3

CALENDAR 4

BLUEJAY DEATHS 3

BOOK ORDER 5

MISSION 8

LET ’S TALK 8

“I’m looking Over a Four Leaf Clover. . .”

Shakespeare Comes to West End High

WHIT STOKES ,

CLASS OF 1954,

WILL OFFER US A

REGULAR LOOK

INTO THE

HISTORY OF

WEST

PAGE 2 WEST W IND

One of the greatest fears many people have is a fear of public speaking. It is impossible to deter-mine how many stu-dents at West End High School overcame that fear by taking speech classes taught by two remarkable teachers—Inez Alder and William Gehres. Mrs. Alder was there when the school opened in 1937 and taught Speech and Drama until her retire-ment in 1955. Students will remember her turning her back to the stage and walking to the rear of the audito-rium occasionally say-ing “I can’t hear you.” Mr. Gehres arrived the year she retired and was at West the remain-ing years the school was a high school. He would often rearrange seats in his classroom so students would face one another, an unob-trusive way to facilitate communication. Both instructors demon-strated that you taught

speech by students speaking to one an-other rather than be-ing lectured to and in the process hopefully overcoming a fear of public speaking.

But, the two teachers also produced and directed over sixty student plays in addi-tion to teaching classes. Several were done more than once – Our Town, Charley’s Aunt—but none was more ambitious than the performance of Hamlet in 1953. As a student Kent Cathcart began lobbying for the play when he arrived at West as a sopho-more in the fall of 1951. The reluctant Mrs. Alder agreed, but imposed two condi-tions on Kent, who wanted to do the play and perform the lead-ing role as well. He had to (1) take fencing lessons and (2) try out for the football team. The first condition made sense because swordplay is an essen-

tial element in the play and can be dangerous if done improperly. Or if done ineptly it will make the play appear amateurish. But, foot-ball ? Maybe it was a way to convince the eager student that it was not worth the ef-fort after all, or per-haps it was an attempt to show him the the value of teamwork. In any event he struggled through a lackluster season of B-team foot-ball, took fencing les-sons, and the show went on.

Cathcart was not the only teenage thespian eager to per-form the challenging work. Bill Greer who went on to a career in movies and television (as William Cort) would play Polonius. John Kepler later be-came a recognizable face in many commer-cials was cast as Hora-tio. The large cast had a few football players and others who had never been in a play of

Shakespeare Comes to West End High

PAGE 3 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

BLUE JAY

DEATHS

Bill Rowan - Class of

1951

Ted Tarpley—Class of

1959 or ‘61

Virginia Tate Martin—

Class of 1940

Mary Allen Bynum—

Class of 1947

Jimbo Reese—Class of

1968

Tom Bumpas—Class of

1953

any kind before. The large set was a mixture of carpentry and paper mache construction so students who had never heard of Shakespeare, but could handle a ham-mer and a saw got in-volved. And Mrs. Alder was notorious for find-ing students who were not doing anything and showing them how to wet newspapers and drape them over the emerging set. As one student remarked at a reunion years later, “was there anyone who was not involved in that play in some way.”

But, the play’s the thing as the script says and when it was time to perform the set was finished, the actors knew their lines, the swordplay was profi-cient, and the play earned a favorable re-view, not just in the West Wind, but the Tennessean. Cathcart never played Hamlet again, but he did enjoy a long career as a teacher at McGavock

High School in Nash-ville. It is not known if he ever required any of his students to play football.

The following

year Shakespeare

again arrived at West,

but this time it was in

the form of Andy

Griffith. This was sev-

eral years before

Sheriff Andy Taylor

patrolled Mayberry

or Matlock prowled

the courtroom. In

those days Griffith

performed several

stand-up routines and

that day he did “what

it was, was Shake-

speare,” a parody of

Romeo and Juliet. He

enlisted students

Betty Jane Maples

and Bobby Johnson to

aid him and the routine

delighted the students.

The faculty was split

however with Anne

Dempsky denouncing

the charade, while Doc

Yarbrough said it was

“the first time he ever

understood that play.”

(Whit has written

two books about the

school, All The Way For

Doc and The Transition

Years. The Transition

Years traces the history of

the school under Principal

John Oliver from 1955-

1968. You can get order-

ing information about the

Transition Years on Page

5 of this issue of West

Wind)

GOLF SHIRTS AND T’S

We have a new order of Golf shirts and T-shirts in stock, but quantities are lim-ited . To order download the order form by clicking below and mailing in:

Order Form

women were included and

today make up roughly half of

all attendees each month.

Three years ago the classes

from the sixties started turn-

ing out and now we are

pretty evenly split between

those from the sixties and

those from the forties and

fifties.

Our biggest lunch-

eons of the year are our

Christmas and Valentine’s

Day celebrations when we

regularly have more than 100

Did you know that

this month’s Lunch Bunch

celebration of Valentine’s

Day will be the 309th meet-

ing of this illustrious group?

Begun 30 years ago,

by a handful of men who had

lettered in sports at West and

in one of their backyards, this

group has become quite a

gathering of grads from the

classes of 1940 all the way

through to the class of 1968!

Along the

way (about 12 years ago)

in attendance and no speaker

to address, but lots of festivi-

ties with door prizes and fun.

Every other month

we have a speaker touching

on a variety of topics, with

something literally for every-

one.

So come out the

second Thursday of the

month at 11:15, renew old

friendships make some new

ones! You really will not

regret it!

LUNCH BUNCH FACTS !

PAGE 4 WEST W IND

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Thursday February 5th—Class of 1960 lunch at Carrabba’s in Green Hills at 11:30.

Thursday February 12th—Lunch Bunch, 11:15, First Presbyterian Church, Franklin Road, Nashville, TN 37220

FEBRUARY 2015

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Favorite food of Future Blue

Jays? PIZZA!!!!!!!!

The history of West End High School from 1954 to 1968 under Principal John Oliver.

This book is a sequel to Those Were The Glory Years written by West graduate Wal-lace Tyson (1948) and published in 1996. Tyson told the story of the school from its in-ception in 1937 to the final year (1954) W.H. Yarbrough (Doc) was principal. Whit Stokes (1954) has updated the story to the final year that West was a high school (1968). Copies can be ordered for $20.00 which includes mailing costs.

Whitworth Stokes

1500 Rufer Avenue

Louisville, KY 40204-1634

whitstok@aol.com

(502)583-5217

HOW TO ORDER WHIT ’S BOOK THE TRANSITION YEARS

PAGE 5 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

The most beautiful school in the city!

REMEMBER WHEN?

BLUE JAYS ROCKING OUT AT PRE-GAME PEP RALLY

FUTURE BLUE JAY NIGHT AT WEST

Tuesday night, February 3rd, was a magical night in the W. H. Yarbrough Gymnasium at the Middle School. The school and the PTSO hosted “Future Blue Jay Night” for all students of Eakin and Sylvan Park Elementary schools (feeder schools to West).

There were Blue Jay tattoos for the face, activities during half time involving teachers from West and the “future Blue Jays” as well as a great Girls and Boys game of bas-ketball.

Your fellow alumni—Larry and Mary Wilson, Charlene Tucker Eubank, David Henry and Burton Dietz manned the concessions, kept the goodies flowing and the gym filled with the great aroma of fresh popped popcorn

The kids were excited to be at such a warm, friendly and inviting place, got to see two fantastic ball games, got to meet some of the in-credible teachers and staff at the school and, of course, had some fabulous snacks that helped make the evening complete!

They are now ready to carry forward that great Blue Jay Spirit!

Goals for Alumni

Foster mutual support among the Alumni of West End

High School and West End Middle School, Nashville,

Tennessee including alumni gatherings, support for

those in ill health and passing of WESA participants.

Continue the preservation of the West End physical facil-

ity and grounds.

Support the ongoing educational program at West End

School by working with the Parent Teacher Student

Organization, faculty, students or other interested par-

ties in school activities, fund raising, and mentoring

students.

To set an example to all as to why “West is Best”.

P.O. Box 292731

Nashville, TN 37229-2731310

Phone; 615-310-4682

E-mail: Info@WestHighBluejays.com

WEST END HIGH SCHOOL

ALUMNI

Red roasted potatoes

Blended vegetables

Rolls

Salad bar

Peach Cobbler /cookies

Tea water and Coffee

The Class of 1960 has a lunch meeting of their own the first Thursday of every month at Carabba’s Grill in Greenl Hills and if you are a 1960 grad and haven’t made it out to one yet, you are truly missing something special.

The Class of 1964 is also meeting for lunch, though not monthly, so con-

It might still be winter here in Nashville, but the outlook for West End High School Alumni has never been better with lots of things coming up this year that will help friends reunite and introduce you to some mighty nice people you just might want to get to know.

Our Lunch Bunch is back after taking a brief sab-batical for January and this month’s is pretty spectacu-lar! We celebrate Valen-tine’s Day in a big way, with giveaways, a great new place to meet and a menu that is sure to please:

Beef tenderloin

tact Dolly Prenzel for more information as to where and when (also watch out in the newsletter, on the website and on our FaceBook page as well).

The Class of 1965 is planning a 50th Reunion (yep, I know it is hard to believe) and Bettye Rose Gregory Siemon and David Coleman are heading up that wonderful effort, contact them for more information or again watch out for infor-mation in all the regular places!

While this is not the year for an all class gathering in the summer, we will be

IS THAT LOVE IN THE AIR?!?!?

BLUEJAYS CARRYING FORWARD A

GREAT TRADITION!

Comments, suggestions and ideas for future issues are always welcome! The Blue Jay spirit will never die!

I T ’ S H ERE !

W ESTH IGHB LU EJAYS .COM

hosting quarterly dinners here in Nashville and might even try for another picnic this summer for any alum who can make it (we started a summer picnic four years ago to help fill the year between the BIG dinner and it has been a huge success with 100 turn-ing out for each one we have done.)

Thanks!

Burton