Truman High School
Class of 1985

When I Was a Kid …

We were sexy. We were alive. We were the Class of 1985.

When we arrived at Truman High School, the building was 18 years old. Bad Bad LeRoy Brown was the only principal who had ever patrolled its halls. Ron Clemons was the only Journalism teacher the school had ever known. Now, both men have retired. And 3 or so principals and a couple journalism teachers have come and gone since we left.

In 1985, if you had Googled yourself in public you would have been arrested. Now you can Google yourself and your friends all day long without fear. A CD was something you bought at the bank … not recorded music on. A “web site” was a corner in the garage where a spider built her home. And if someone had to call your cell, it meant you were in jail.

In 1985, this room at the Hilton Garden Inn was a soybean field. Blue Springs had one high school. So did Lee’s Summit … not five (and growing) like the two of them combine to have now. We, the Class of 1985, have now lived longer after graduation than we did before it.

We learned to type on manual typewriters. We somehow existed without air conditioning in the school. Got by without sodas during school hours. And Todd Schannuth wrote in the yearbook that it looked like the things called computers in the main office may be here to stay.

We cruised Noland Rd. in Clark Ferree’s Beast. And John Clarke’s Big Red School Bus. In whatever cool car Amy K. had at the time. And Craig Tally always got busted for trying to go to McDonald’s for lunch.

We welcomed Geraldine Ferraro to our school. Saw Ronald Reagan elected for a second term. Tried to wonder what a Democrat was and what a Republican stood for. We elected Laura Stanke as Truman’s first ever female Student Council president. Today, one of our own is protecting the president of the United States. Lord help us.

Soccer made its debut as a varsity sport. The girls kicked ass in basketball and volleyball, winning Districts in one and placing 2^nd at State in the other. On the boys side, the basketball coach was making sure Joe Angotti cut his hair.

Our marching band was a cohesive group, and stuck to its traditional high step routine. “Exit the Body” was the Fall play. “Animals” was the theme for Pat Revue. And Jon Donald, Kent French, Susan Howard and Gaylord Salisbury represented us well in Concert Choir. In Men’s Choir, Robbie Knox slept all hour.

Minid Shank was Who Was Who. Kyle John was the academic star. Lori Lamberty and Danny Hauschel were the athletic heroes. Laura Stanke and Kelly Barry were crowned as queens. And the Quill & Scroll Society sold dead daffodils.

In closing the 1985 Heritage yearbook in a poem titled, “A Familiar Place,” Caroline Brady wrote:

Time goes so fast,
But the memories will last,
Thoughts of friends, lunch, a test,
It’s the familiar things we remember best.
The things we now ignore,
Will be with us forevermore,
A reminiscent smile on your face,
Truman High, a familiar place.

So, as we all near our 40^th birthdays, as we get fitted for reading glasses, as some of us change baby diapers of our children … while other classmates do it for their grandchildren, I close with these long-forgotten words that represent the common bond we all will share forever:

Hail Truman High School,
To you we are loyal and true,
We are the Patriots,
Red, White and Blue,
Firm and undaunted,
Always we stand
Hail to the school we love
Best in the land!