In May of 1959, 114 seniors graduated from Clinton High School. The ceremony was held in the auditorium of the old high school, a three-story brick building that stood on the corner of 3rd and Franklin.
The 114 seniors were the last class to graduate from the building, which was used as the junior high school for a while, then torn down.
In June, the cornerstone of the old high school, laid in 1911, and stones from the top of the gymnasium will be incorporated into the landscape of the new high school as gift from the last class that graduated from school on 3rd.
Called a Memory Walk, it will include a bench inscribed with the names of all the students who received diplomas in 1959. Of the 114, 45 graduates survive, many of whom are joining to fund the Memory Walk, estimated to cost between $20,000 to $25,000.
“We already have $3,000 and are hoping the funds will come from members of our class,” Linda Griffiths said.
Linda is one the class members who moved away, but came back to Clinton when her husband, Tom, who was the head ranger at Denali National Park, retired. Tom is an honorary member of the Class of ’59, which has its 65th reunion this year.
It was five years ago at its 60th reunion, Linda said, that the class began discussing the idea of a gift that would memorialize the history of their high school.
She and classmate Martha Lowe have been working with the current school administration on the project, noting that Brian Wishard, school district superintendent, has been very helpful. The Memory Walk will be installed on a concrete pad already in place in front of the current high school. It will include four bronze plaques with the names of the 1959 school board members and other history of the old high school. In the middle will be a metal statue of a cardinal, which the class has commissioned from an artist in Eldon.
Many class of ’59 members still live in Clinton, either never having moved away or returned. They include two former mayors, Dr. Gus Wetzel and G.R. Lowe, and G.R.’s spouse, Martha Lowe. J.C. Smith, a long-time Scoutmaster to whom the Main Street Park is dedicated, was also a member of the class of 1959, Linda said. Smith passed away three years ago .
“He would be in the middle of it if he were here,” Linda said.
The classmates plan to have the Memory Walk completed by July 6. On that day, they are going to meet at the D-X station on 3rd and Green, which G.R. Lowe has restored. They will ride in ‘50s convertibles and Gus’ Model T in the Olde Glory Days Parade, Linda said, then go up to the new high school for a dedication ceremony of the Memory Walk. Afterwards they’ll caravan back to the Malt Shop behind the D-X station for a class reunion dinner.
A group of women classmates also meet regularly for lunch, Linda Wilson said.
“We call ourselves the ’59ers,” she said.
The classmates don’t remember throwing their caps in the air after graduating, but think they probably did. They recall it was the school district superintendent who handed them their diplomas. Martha Lowe remembers the dress she wore under her graduation gown, and that she didn’t need a coat, so it must have been a nice day.
Linda Wilson of Urich, who grew up in Clinton and lived near the old high school, remembers walking to school and coming home for lunch.
Others rode a school bus into town, which triggered memories for Linda Griffiths and classmate Bill Dulaban of the blue panel bus they rode to school when they were younger. The bus had no windows, Bill said, and students sat on wooden benches down the side.
Kathy Keith Wood is one of eight Class of ’59 members who wrote farewells to the old high school for the Clinton Daily Democrat’s May 21,1959 issue. Lee Ann Jerry also wrote a farewell, remembering the parties, the play, the junior-senior banquet, and when she was underclassman, looking up to the seniors.
“And now here I am practically walking down the aisle at Last Chapel,” she wrote.
Mary Lee Crowder, George Caldwell, Gerald M. Ross, Fred Eberting and Ted Epple also expressed their nostalgia for their high school days and the friends they made.
The Class of ‘60 attended classes in what is now the middle school on Clinton Street. The current high school, at 1106 S. 2nd St., opened in December of 2009,. Last Sunday, 142 seniors graduated in the Class of 2024 at the 151st commencement ceremony, held in the school gymnasium.
The Class of ’59 Project Fund has been set up for donations to the Memory Walk, and are tax-deductible. Send checks made out to the Education Fund for Clinton Students, Inc., marked “Class of 1959,” to Dan Wallace, E.F.C.S., 701 S. Eighth St. Clinton, MO 64735.
To make reservations for the class reunion dinner on July 6, contact Linda Griffiths at LKgriff41@gmail.com.
