SUMTER, S.C. — The 50th-year class reunion is what Sumter High School alums are celebrating starting Friday night and all through the weekend. The class of 1973 is traveling to Sumter to reunite and reminisce on the school that taught notable community members like solicitor Ernest Finney and Sumter probate judge Dale Atkinson.
1973 graduates like Barbara Martin are repping blue and gold this weekend
"It's just amazing," Martin said, smiling. "I mean, I feel like we have a solid part of Sumter history and a proud part of it."
Martin said she's proud of her graduating class, whose students started school together right when the school district made integration mandatory.
"To all of a sudden have to meet new people, people that are just as resistant to this change as you are?" Martin said. "It's a struggle, but I can give credit to the teachers."
Laura Milton James said this transition was difficult as Edmunds High School and Lincoln High School were merged under the new name, Sumter High.
"What I remember is the unity yet we were, you know, we were experiencing a difference, but we still became friends," James said.
Martin said that growing up, she had planned to become a bulldog by going to Lincoln High School. Then, Martin said she found out it would combine with Edmunds High in February.
Martin explains that the underclassmen attended school at Lincoln, and the upperclassmen had classes at Edmunds. However, she said all the students were under the same new umbrella school known as Sumter High.
"Combining the schools and stuff was really the love that the class of 1973 had for each other," 1973 graduate John Matthews said. "We didn't downgrade no one; no one was better than the other. Everyone was equal to one. And that's what I can really remember about Sumter High School. We really showed the love for each other."
As for the mascots and the colors, Martin said Sumter High adopted Edmunds' gamecocks and took Lincoln's blue and gold.
As for the current day Sumter High School building, Martin said it was "built 10 years after I came out of high school."
"It was a transition, but it was a beautiful transition," Martin said. "You know, it had its challenges. But overall, it was a blessing for everybody. And I am so proud to be a part of the class of 1973. So proud. So very proud."
"It was a very different experience because I saw how other folks did things, how they think, and what they knew about me as an individual," John Spencer said.
Spencer lives in Augusta now but said he enjoys returning to his hometown when he can.
"Sumter has really, really grown," Spencer said. "The brewery, J.O. Grady's, places like that. Wonderful places."
Matthews agrees.
"I've been to the bigger cities. And I always catch myself, 'I'd be glad when I get back to Sumter, little small Sumter," Matthews said. "But when I got back, things have changed. It has really grown but the spirit and the love still here."
A love that more than 200 Sumter High alums will be celebrating.
The reunion will kick off Friday with an event tonight from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Hyatt Place downtown. On Saturday, there's a banquet at the American Legion building from 6 to 10 p.m. Then Sunday, there will be a church service at Mulberry Mission Baptist Church starting at 9:30 a.m.
For members of the reunion committee like Martin, the anticipation to see longtime friends has been building as this weekend draws near.
"To have met people in the 60s and now be able to sit with them to eat with them, to fellowship with them, to just see them again, you know? And there's so many things we can reminisce about from the very beginning. Some of us go back to the first grade, some of us go back to the ninth grade. Some of us go back to middle school," Martin said. "It's so many names that we can call that have been so successful. Through business, through churches, we have a lot of pastors. We have folks from all walks of life, every entity that you can think of that are a part of the Sumter community and the surrounding areas. We've got folks in Seattle, we got folks in California, Texas, who are very successful, have their own business and are doing great."
"We always pretty much stayed in contact with each other, and we pretty much tried to love everyone," Class President Sallie R. Oxendine added. "So we want everyone to come out and partake in this event. The ones that we miss, we want them to get in contact with us because we're looking for an exciting time. The Lord has truly blessed us to be able to say these words, and I thank Him for that. So we're looking for a good time and a joyous time in the Lord as well, and we're going to have fun."