NORPHLET — Norphlet High School alumni and Mayor Jim Crotty have been preparing for a citywide class reunion to include Leopards who graduated between 1940 and 2015.
“We’ve had a lot volunteers come out and help, but (it) … takes a lot of work. We hope to have everyone come out. All teachers, coaches and students who attended Norphlet schools are welcome,” Crotty said.
Norphlet High School graduating classes ranged between 25 to 50 students. Because the Norphlet School District consolidated with the Smackover School District two years ago, it’s seldom that NHS alums reconnect. Leopards from the district’s earlier years have responded positively to the event, the mayor said.
“We’ll never have another Norphlet homecoming … I want to have something celebrating 75 years of school, remembering and have alumni come back and reminisce,” he said. “A lot of individual classes have them … two or three years at a time.”
He said that the reunion will be a “come-and-go” event, where alumni can reunite, eat finger food and look through old editions of The Leopard, the school’s yearbook.
“We don’t know if we’ll have 200 people or 600, but it’s very informal. At 10 a.m., we’re going to welcome everybody. We’re going to have a prayer, sing the school song and that’s it. Then there’s tables that’s going to have annuals from every year,” he said. “It’s a time where our alumni can come back and see each other. One of the oldest ones we have is a graduate of 1941. He’s 93 years old and he’s coming in. We’re excited about it.”
Smackover-Norphlet School District still uses the Norphlet elementary and high school buildings. The latter hosts classes for middle school students in grades sixth through eighth. Crotty said former students can walk through the buildings during the reunion.
“They can go down there and go see where they were on the playground or ate lunch. Some of the older pictures are still hanging on the walls in the original high school,” he said.
The Norphlet Class Reunion will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow at the First Baptist Church of Norphlet Family Life Center, located at 201 S. Main St.
Brittany Williams may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter and like her on Facebook @BWilliamsEDNT for updates on Union County school news.