What are your favorite memories of Forrest High School?
Every year on August 15, I remember the beginning of Rebel football two-a-day practice sessions. NB Forrest Football was a three year right of passage for a guy like me with a lot of determination but not a hell of a lot of natural talent! Those thunderous pre-game pep rallies in the gym and the big game itself always made it all worth it. I have never heard Dixie played as well or as loud since! Enough to give a young Reb goose bumps! Being on that team is still one of the highlights of my life.
Some of my fondest memories are of the swim team. Being the Gateway Conference's least capable one-meter springboard diver did not spoil it at all for me. The practices and meets were coed and the girls looked great in speedos! Go Rebels!
I have wonderful, fun memories of acting in some of the plays put on by the thespians our senior year. I especially remember playing opposite the lovely Rita Ballard in the Senior Class production of 'You Can't Take It With You'. Some may remember that Rita and I actually had a romantic kissing scene in that production and it scared me to death! Rita had the poise and confidence of a veteran stage performer and I was an awkward, self-conscious kid dressed up like a grownup. I might as well have been on stage with Ann Margaret. As far as I was concerned, she was a goddess. I would not have been surprised at all if Rita had gone on to make it big in the real world of stage and cinema! You would not have to be a theater critic to recognize that she had real talent. She was a natural performer. Rita got me through a couple of unforgettable onstage kissing scenes and forever won a special place in my heart. We were never a real-life item, but I was deeply saddened to hear of her passing. I never saw Rita again after graduation, so she is still a beautiful, vivacious, young teenage girl in my memories and always will be.