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October 10, 2005

The Homecoming Week I Don't Remember... But Will Never Forget

I transfered to NWA my freshman year and I was a part of probably what was the most spirited class to ever go thru the school. After we graduated, we heard many kids in classes behind us say that the school sort of lost the glue that held it together when we all left.

Homecoming at my high school was much more than just a football game. It was a week long celebration. Probably the part I enjoyed the most was the spirit dress days. We wore uniforms to school. We had khaki, navy or green plaid shorts & skirts or khaki or navy slacks with white or light blue oxford shirts. We also had white, red, yellow and navy cardigan jackets and pullover sweaters. At the time I hated it, but looking back, it was wonderful. During Homecoming week there were assigned spirit days. 50's day, Hippie Day, Cowboy's & Indians Day, Hawaiian Day, Nerd Day, Cartoon Day, and I'm sure there are a few others I am forgetting that we had during the four years.

Each class was awarded points for participating in things like the Dress days, and HOW you participated. Sure there were other classes who had students dress up on the spirit days, but no other class had the majority of their class participate like our's did, and when we did something, we did it all the way. On Cowboy's & Indians day, we pitched tents in the front lawn of the school and did dances around the flag pole before school started. On Hippie Day, during our morning assembly, we stacked up all the chairs where our class normally sat & sat on the floor Indian Style with our Peace Signs and Blankets. We were Nuts.

The two weeks leading up to and then Homecoming Week also prepare you for those all-nighters you will no doubt be pulling when you get to College. Why do high school kids pull all-nighters for three weeks for something like Homecoming you ask? Hall Decorations, that's why. The main hallway was divided into four main sections and each class was in charge of decorating it. The lockers, the floor, the ceiling, the teacher's doors, all of it. This was by far the biggest competition between the classes during Homecoming Week and we spent weeks working on it.

In normal situations, you would expect the Seniors to win, something... but once my class got there it was all over. We had won the hall decorations, dress days, everything... the past two years and Homecoming 1990, my Junior year, we had every intention of keeping that record spotless for the next two years. I was 16, finally coming out of the shell I had been in since I started at NWA two years earlier, and participating a lot more in the late night hall decorating parties.

It was Wednesday night, October 10th, 1990 and my parents had picked me up from the class president's house where we were busy putting the last minute touches on our decorations. Now, I can't even remember what they were. The next night would be our Bonfire and the night to actually put up our decorations.

When we got home my parents followed me around the house and into my room. This is weird I thought. And then it started. My mom told me, "John H. called tonight. He said that today, for no apparent reason Jeanne left school and she had an accident." Mama continued to tell me what Jeanne's stepfather had said in this still mysterious telephone call. "Jeanne's pick-up truck hit a tree after she lost control of the truck on those crooked roads between her home and the school. The pick-up exploded when it hit the tree. The fact that she had on her seat belt caused her to not be able to get out in time. The only way that the authorities knew that it was Jeanne's body in the truck is because license plates do not burn."

Jeanne was a girl I had met when I was in second grade, and we became inseparable throughout our years in elementary school. We went to the same school until eighth grade, when I transferred to a private school. We also went to the same church. Then in our first year of high school, we were separated even more. That is when I transferred again, this time to NWA, and she moved to Burnet, Texas. There she was living with her mother, stepfather, stepsister & stepbrother. Not long after they moved to Burnet, she decided she wanted to go live with her father and stepmother in Dalhart, Texas and she lived with them for about a year. She had just moved back in with her mother just three short days before the accident.

I went to school the next day but I could not stop myself from crying, especially when I saw the two friends who had tried to replace that void I felt in my heart when Jeanne had moved away two years ago. I went to the Bonfire and I stayed at the school and helped put up my portion of the hall decorations but I called and had my mom pick me up not long afterwards. I just couldn't handle the stress of it all. That and crepe paper doesn't seem to stand up to tears very well.

I went to school Friday, everyone was excited and smiling... I was still crying. The English teacher gave us a test that day over a the book we were supposed to have read during that 6-weeks period. I think she was the only teacher who gave any homework or tests or anything during the week of Homecoming. Wench. Since I hate to read, I was usually the one driving all over Houston the night before the test looking for the Cliff Notes, but with all that was going on, I hadn't even remembered we were having the test that day.

I don't remember who we played that night for the Homecoming game, although I am assuming that we won since that was the only year we went to the playoffs. All I remember is that it was an absolutely beautiful night in Houston. It wasn't hot or humid, it wasn't cold or rainy, it was ... perfect. It's weird the things you remember. I don't remember who we played, but I remember what I outfit I wore. I wore the one-peice floweredy jumpsuit that I had my junior year school picture taken in.

The funeral was Saturday afternoon in Burnet and my mother and I got up early Saturday and drove up there. I saw her family waiting in the funeral home, crying, and hugging the visitors, but they also seemed to be in another world. The room boasted the smell of roses and carnations, and other flowers that were affixed to the various arrangements of flowers covering the small room where her coffin was. The aftertaste of tears burned my mouth. All I wanted to do was run out of that room, but my legs would not move. Just being in that room with all the sights and smells of a funeral home had paralyzed my body.

The pastor of the church we had attended together for so many years back in Houston had also made the trip to Burnet to preside over Jeanne's service. It was comforting to have him there and know that he knew her on a personal basis. It was an emotional service and when the invitation was offered, many of her friends lifted their hands in acceptance.

After the funeral, the graveside service and the meal that was served at the church, my mom and I drove to Waco to spend the rest of the weekend with my grandparents. I remember sitting down on the couch next to my grandmother and falling asleep in her lap. To this day, my grandmother's lap is still the best place in the world to take a good nap. There is an air of comfort and love in that house that makes you feel that no matter what is wrong in the world, it will all be ok just long enough for you to get some sleep.

I cried for months after Jeanne died. Now, I think twice before I put on my seat belt; although its the law and I also know people who's lives they have saved. I realize and have told this story to many a teenager, when I was teaching, who I overheard talk about leaving school to go home or to go eat lunch (or whatever) without "signing out" first. I really don't remember much about that Homecoming Week, But Jeanne, I will never forget.

Jeanne Marie Pollan
February 15, 1974 - October 10, 1990

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at October 10, 2005 09:00 AM

Comments

Posted by: SillyNessa at October 10, 2005 12:11 PM

Posted by: Andevine at October 11, 2005 02:23 PM

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