As the 50-year reunion of the last graduating class from Adkin High School came to a conclusion at Emmanuel Hill Memorial Free Will Baptist Church on Sunday, Harold Boyd — the 1963 class vice president — reflected on how he and several others were able to plan the gathering a year ago.
“Last Labor Day, six of us got together at Golden Corral and decided to get everyone together,” Boyd said. “We looked at the weekend of June 6, which is the day we graduated, Independence Day and Labor Day. We picked Labor Day because more people were acclimated to come home.”
Although everyone couldn’t make it, about 35 members attended service and fellowship at the church, with Boyd — the chairman of the reunion — glad the committee was able to work quickly to contact everyone for the reunion.
“While we were going through the directory, we found out we had 30 people in our class who passed away, including Betty Sykes, who died three weeks before the event,” Boyd said. “It prompted us that much more to go full speed ahead and get it done. It was just a matter of picking up the ball and running with it.”
Eldress Janet Grady, a member of the Class of 1963, delivered the sermon. She was excited to have the time with her former classmates and friends.
“It is exhilarating, great, full of love and it’s an excellent experience to be here with my classmates after 50 years,” Grady said. “It was just a fun-filled and exciting weekend, topped off with a spiritual atmosphere.”
Boyd said the committee did pretty well, considering there were classmates coming from across the nation.
“We had classmates come in from Boston, New York, Maryland, D.C., Virginia and even California,” Boyd said. “Now everyone is going to receive a registry with their classmates’ information to stay in touch.”
One of those California residents is Queen Shamala Bessie Davis-Sykes, who has seen many changes since she graduated from Adkin; she moved soon after graduation.
“We used to live in places like Lincoln City, and now we live in places we couldn’t afford,” Davis-Sykes said. “Places we couldn’t even walk to back then, we now stay by.”
Davis-Sykes also saw negative changes to both downtown Kinston and African-American businesses since her time in Kinston.
“The downtown area is so blighted,” Davis-Sykes said. “Where did the businesses go? Were they part of the tobacco complex?
“Also, integration destroyed many black businesses and we lost our economic benefits. A lot of people got educated and moved for other opportunities they couldn’t reach back then.”
Grady said schools weren’t integrated until the 1970-71 school year. She has also seen several economic changes as well.
“The economy has changed, especially with the teenagers,” Grady said. “There were no jobs for us, while teenagers now have money in their pockets. So many buildings have been torn down and there’s a lot of redistricting. Of course, when I was in high school, there were no integrated schools.”
Frederick Chadwick felt the continuity of the neighborhoods took a major hit between his graduation from Adkin and now.
“The main thing to me is we had neighborhoods and neighbors who looked out for each other,” Chadwick said. “Nowadays, it’s more fragmented. Back then, there wasn’t anyone I didn’t know. There also seems to be a lot more crime now.”
Chadwick continued to say there were many things found in the old neighborhoods that there isn’t presently.
“A lot of what we needed was in our neighborhoods,” Chadwick said. “We had black stores, cleaners, doctors, dentists and even a hat blocker. I don’t see as much of that today.
“There isn’t as much of an attempt to come together for the greater good; it’s everyone for themselves.”
Taking a look backAdkin's class of 1963 reflects on the changes of KinstonJunious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JuniousSmithIII.