Gallery · Photographs & memories

Memory Lane

An alumni scrapbook of school days, friendships and life in Lyons.

Class pictures, familiar faces and stories shared across generations. Take a little time to browse the LHS scrapbook.

A photographic memoir

A Treasure Trove of Memories →

Browse Larry Griggers’s school album, from the canteen and classrooms to trips, plays and graduation.

Four voices remembering

Remembering Billy Yarbrough →

A tribute to William Penn “Billy” Yarbrough, Jr., through the memories of Robert, Becky, Billy III and Patsy.

Early Class Photographs

The 1928 LHS graduating class — 1928 LHS Graduating Class: (L-R): Bess Oliver, Beverly Brantley, India Stanley, Farle Spell, Kate McLain, Minnie Bowen, Wilber Gibbs, -?-Wooten, -?-Corbett, Herschel Lynn, Mr. Suddath, Bob Brown, Mrs. Suddath, Miss Brem, Ernest Odum, Lela Bell Partin, Vivian Brown, Mary Summer, Lucy McNatt, Mary Elma Aaron, Veda Clark, Ollie Mae Brannen, Geraldine Pope is the little girl in the center.

The 1932 LHS tenth grade — 1932 LHS 10th Grade: (front row) Sidney Dickerson, Corley, Harry Talley, Marie Bowen, David Brown, Janette Parker, Unknown, Unknown. (second row) Woodrow Wilson, Ruth Baker, Bill McNatt, Orvelle Gibbs, W.J. Findley, Cash, Jack Aaron, Ruth Norris, Unknown (third row) Iris Thompson, Marion Winge, Josephine Winge, Loyd Jordan, Johnnie Will Winge, Sammie Mann, Argris Cobb, Joe Snell, Mildred New Kitchens (back row) Louise Thompson, Kenneth Tomlin, Berma Tomlin, Wallace Henderson, Annie Vera Odom, George McBride, Vera Mae Findley, Roderick Wilkes, Ethel Stanley

Agricultural students posed on the school steps, 1935 — 1935 Agricultural students: (front row L-R) Jack Higgs, Edwin Stephens (second row L-R) Don Roy Grinstead, Thomas Sapp, Vince Swinson, Howard Winge, Lafayette Flanders, Wilmer Collins, Woodrow Spell, (unknown) (third row L-R) W. J. Culberson (teacher), Glynn James, Pib Craft, J. B. Flanders, Edwin Winge, Paul Braddy, Durwood Moseley, William Partin, Ernest (Pig) Thompson, (unknown), A. D. Mayo, Otis Rinehart (top row) Buddy Moore, Hubert Rollison, Ernest Campbell, Clifford Drake, Kenneth Talley, W. O. Talley, T. L. Drake, Curtis Rinehart, Earl Swinson, Garland Lentile, Herbert Collins, Mr. Floyd (superintendent)

The 1938 senior trip group — 1938 Senior Trip: (Front row) Irene Cave, Margaret Lane, Helen Lane, Earlene Brewer, Gwendolyn Hall, Lavenia McRae, Mattalice Youmans, Jeanette Meeks, Margaret Lynn, Rema Dent, Vera Hunter, Beulah Harden, Louise McBride, Myrtle Sutton, L. Rodgers, and Gladys Aaron. (Back row) F.C. Randall, Earnest Thompson, E.L. Thompson, L. Flanders, Pinky McRae, Archie Alexander, Ray Kicklighter, Congressman Hugh Peterson, Will H. Williams, Carlos Alexander, Winston Ivey, Don R. Greenstead, Earl Swinson, Joe Underwood, David Randall, G. T. Gray and Williard Partin.

Class of 1946 Memories

From the memoirs of Bobbie Rae Thompson Durst.

School classmates, with handwritten identifications on the photograph.

The Class of 1965: Through the Years

John Todd, Johnny Griggers and C.M. Youmans provided the photographs of the Class of 1965’s first-grade classes, taken on April 20, 1954.

Mrs. Braddy’s first-grade class, April 20, 1954 — This is Mrs. Braddy's 1st Grade class from 1954. Top row: ?, ?, ?, ?Chris McRae. Second Row: Mrs.Braddy, ?, ?, ?, DeLaine Mayes, Susan Smith, ?, ?, ?. Third Row: Kenneth Burton, Janette Findley, ?, ?, ?, Latrelle Jarriel, Ronnie Bryant, Grace Collins, Billy Yarbrough, Sarah Rich. Front Row: ?, ?, Terry Bryson, ?, ?, ?.

Mrs. Carr’s class above and Mrs. House’s class below, April 20, 1954 — This is Mrs. Carr's 1st Grade class from 1954. Top row: Mrs. Carr, ?, ?, ?, ?, Carol Kight, Evelle Gibbs, ?, Eula Moore, Carol McDilda, ?. Middle Row: Judy Mixon, ?, Gwen Clark, Jimmy Youmans, ?, ?, ?, Don Thompson, Jane Jones. Front Row: Phillip Odom, Danny Smith, ?, John Todd, Gerald Tootle
This is Mrs. House's 1st Grade class in 1954. Top Row: Greg Tucker, David Edenfield, ?, William Grimes, Chris Matheson. 3rd Row: Benny Anderson, ?, Betty George, Teresa Ferraro, Nancy Wright, Lorraine McNair, Rod Wilkes, Mrs. House. 2nd Row: Sharon Tillman, ?, Joan Wilkes, Wayne Gibbs, Martha Carol Williams, Hoke Green, Elaine Wright, ?, Linda Faye Sawyer. Bottom Row: Don Carter, Jackie McCumbers, Larry Powell, Chip Matheson, Theron Gore, Tommy Proctor.

The Class of 1965 senior trip group in Washington, D.C. — 1965 Senior Trip: (front row) Aleace Goff, Betty Page Jones (chaperone), Marijon Meadows, Evelle Gibbs, Lou Ann Lanier, Audrey Rollinson, Annie Ruth Mosley, Salley McMath, Susan Smith, Betty George, Carol Kight, Karen Jarriel, Marilyn Smith, Sue McCumbers, Betty Hall, Carol Williams, Sharon Tillman, Cherry Boatright (back row) Durwood Mosley, Billy Yarbrough, Henry Griffin, Dwayne Dykes, Chris McRae, Don Carter, Jacky Jones (chaperone), Chip Matheson, Johnny Griggers, Archie Toler (chaperone), Phillip Odum, John Todd, Tim Palmer, Chris Matheson, Albert Aiken, Ronnie Stewart, Rod Wilkes, Larry Wilkes, Cecil Garrett.

Class of 1965 classmates gathered for the 2007 cookout — 2007: The Class of '65 gathers at Chris McRae's home for a cookout and some big time storytelling!!

“Reunion”

Portrait of Lynda Holland Reynolds — Lynda Holland Reynolds, Class of 1969.

By Lynda Holland Reynolds, Class of 1969

A spelling bee, a four-forty relay

Speech contests, high jump - Field Day

Ms. Clark, Ms. Humphrey, Ms. Morris

Ms. Causey and Ms. Thompson, of course!

A President's death - favored by few

I was on the playground - "Where were you?"

Ms. Aaron, Ms. Wilkes, Mr. Toler, Ms. Price

Racing the first bell - couldn't let it ring twice!

Radiator-warmed rooms, cold halls, wooden floors

Gray (or green?) lockers, high ceilings, heavy doors

The lunchroom - vegetable soup

The Lyons Roar - facts and fun, scoops

And "slang books" hidden from sight

The canteen, the breezeway, college night

Jack Lemon Sours, Bobbie Brooks, John Romain

Smoking ring petition - something ventured, nothing gained!

Class officers' elections, the "most whatever" queens

Basketball, football, and other Bulldog dreams

Tests and report cards, the worst of our fears

An auditorium of ashes once flaming with our cheers!

Ms. Hallford, Ms. Beasley, Spanish ---- Ahora

Don't you wish you had studied more-a ??!!??

Girlfriends, boyfriends, best friends, just friends

Breaking out, "breaking up", "making out", making amends

Some near, some far, some in-between---one gone

We all walked together once, and so, we never walk alone."

Lynda wrote this poem in anticipation of a class reunion. The “one gone” in the next-to-last line refers to L. C. Moore, the only classmate lost at that time. Lynda was one of our most talented, creative classmates.

Lynda passed away on March 19, 2007, from complications of cancer.

51 People on a Packard!

Children and adults crowded onto and around a Packard automobile — 1952. Photograph by Billy Yarbrough, Sr.

Back in the golden era of drive-in theaters, J. W. Griggers of Lyons drove into Pete's Drive-In with 51 human beings, mostly kids, crammed into and onto his vintage Packard to win a "Load the Car" promotion being staged by the now long-defunct theater. The feat was captured on film by local photo enthusiast, Billy Yarbrough, manager of the Pal Theater in Lyons, and made Griggers a local hero of sorts, especially among the kids, who gained free admission to the theater for making up the largest crowd entering in and on one car.

The photograph, taken in 1952, was the talk of the town. You can see 42 people. Presumably, another 9 are in the car or on the other side, away from the camera. Florine Griggers helped identify a few of the people on the car, relying on her memory.

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