Friday came early this week

Even though I'm almost completely retired now, Mondays still seem like MONDAYS to me.

But, there are exceptions. Like today for example!

Two things turned this Monday morning into a "Friday" kind of day for me:

First, there was a nice note from Mitzi complimenting me on a couple of stories I wrote, then I received this email from Frank Clontz, class of '55:

"As I sit at my wife's computer early every morning because the two in my office are too far away from the TV News and it's usually colder in there. I click on Mozilla and my first stop is the Charlotte Observer because I’ve lived here most of my life. Next, I click on the Miami Herald as I lived there five years, leaving Charlotte in the middle of the 5th grade and returning in the middle of the 9th grade. 

Those years were spent recovering from the Polio I had at a younger age. After reading the Miami Herald, I go to the Asheville Citizen's Times to check on events in Western North Carolina as my current wife of 53 years is from Swain County, and the Asheville paper usually carries major events from there. 

Then, I go to your website and find that it is more enjoyable to read, not only because most hometown papers have lost the "Home-Town" flavor years ago and only report crime, crooked politics, and city payouts for lawsuits against the police and reprint articles from the New York Times, Washington Post and anywhere else McClatchy either owns or can buy articles on the cheap.


Your website continues to brighten my mornings and keeps me informed of those that I knew and loved so very much from the class of 54 and lets me know of any loss of the members of your class as many moved away from the area very soon after growing their wings, ending up all across the US and many other places around the world. 

So many in the class of 54’ were so great and helpful to me at a time, as a young man with remnants of having had polio some years earlier, found it difficult to make friends due to my insecurity, however, you and many others were there to help and share your time and energy with me. One good example was Harry Joyner helping me learn to speak Spanish as we made short time-lapsed film in his dad’s garage as he was beginning his venture into the world of movie making and there are many others that were a great help, including you during your stint at WGIV doing remote broadcast from Parker-Garner Music Store, allowing me to play piano over the great airwaves of the past. Others of the class of 54 were my mentors and many, my dream girls.


As we grow just a little bit older and a little less important to the world around us, it is comforting to be able to stay informed of the well being of those we knew many years ago. With that in mind, we look to the future and the continued ability to log on the chs54 for up-to-date events of the great class of Central High School, Class of 1954"


Frank Clontz
Class of 55'

I remember those radio remotes at Parker Gardner very well. I was supposed to ad lib interviews with customers in the store.  Most of them didn't want to talk to me....and frankly, those that did found that I ran out of questions rather quickly......at which point I would say "...back to you, Frank for another tune."

Many years, and many broadcasts later, there were still times during interviews when the "interviewee" was answering my questions  with "yes" or "no"...... I would think to myself, "Where are you Frank, now that I need you again?"  -Ed