On October 18th, retirees from the Oxford City School System met for their semi-annual luncheon at the Oxford Western Sizzlin. A total of 21 people, including retirees, their spouses and other family members, attended the luncheon. The meetings are held on the third Thursday in April and October of each year.

In 1986, a group of retired employees got together and formed an organization for the Oxford City and Calhoun County Retirees. This group was composed of people who had worked under former high school Principal H. T. Stanford. In 2000, the group was given the name Oxford School System Retirees and all retirees were welcomed to attend the luncheon whether they had worked for Stanford or not.

The people attending the organizational meeting in 1986 included Eugenia Mann, Elizabeth Lamar, Ruth Brown, Elizabeth Clark, Willie Mae Nabors, Daisy Roberts, Mary Coalson, Fan Hatzel, Sarah Lynn Weldon, Sue and Paul Boozer, Gladys Hanson, Rubye Hamric, Betty Cofield, Bernice Forrester, Juanita Rice, Sarah Otwell, Bester Adams Jr., Mary Snow, and Dixie Roberts.

Several retirees were attending their very first luncheon. They included: Patsy Hutcheson who taught at Oxford High School for 30 years, Judy Hanvey, who had been a secretary at Coldwater Elementary for 28 years, Mary Haynes, who had been a custodian at Oxford High School, and Charlotte Young Hubbard, who had been the principal at Oxford Middle School.

Many regulars were in attendance at the luncheon including Pearlie Allen who had worked as a custodian at Oxford High School for 14 years. “I enjoy coming to the luncheons to catch up on what has been going on with the other retirees since we last met,” Allen said.

Jack Grizzard who had spend 36 years in the Oxford school system as a math teacher, coach and marketing education coordinator said, “I come to most of the meetings. I enjoy seeing everyone and catching up on what has happened to everyone in the last six months.”

Linda Crow taught for 31 years at the high school. “I graduated from Oxford in 1968 and then came back to teach. I like to see and talk to my former colleagues and find out who is sick and who is well.”

June Land Reaves, who taught at Oxford High for 27 years, helped call the retirees, along with Katie Phillips and Rhetta Russell (Hendon), to remind them of the luncheon.

Danny is the author of several books of fiction and non-fiction, and he is a free-lance writer.