Atwood High School Alumni Invite Classmates to Get-Together on October 21

All former Atwood High School students from the classes of 1956-1983 are invited to attend a Grand Get-Together on Saturday, October 21.

The event is open for all graduates, former students and former faculty to attend at West Carroll High School located at 760-TN-77, Atwood, Tennessee. The reunion starts at 9 a.m. with coffee and conversation time to visit, reminisce and look at old yearbooks and pictures.

At noon, attendees are encouraged to bring a dish. Those with last names beginning with A through I are asked to bring sandwiches for six people; those with last names J through R are asked to bring chips and dip, fruit or veggie trays or cold dishes; those with last names S through Z are asked to bring a dessert for six people. Visitations and new class photos will be taken from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Organizers ask that folks register so they can have a headcount by Oct. 11, 2023. Registration for the event is available by the following methods:

Commenting on the Atwood High School Alumni Facebook page.

Emailing dinahgordon@att.net.

Text or call 913-296-2584 or 731-695-3796.

Mailing to Barbara Tolley at 270 Harts Mill Road in Atwood, TN 38220.

So far, almost 100 people have registered to attend the get-together. Folks who miss registration but decide they want to attend are encouraged to come anyway.

Jimbo Webb is one of six organizers for the get-together event, including Barbara Tolley, Johnny Keymon, Debbie Keymon, Terry Emerson, Dinah Gordon and Phyllis Clark Chandler. Webb said that he’s most looking forward to seeing people who haven’t seen each other in forever.

“If you graduated from Atwood High School in 1956, you’re about 85 years old,” Webb said. “If you graduated Atwood High School in 1983 you’re about 58 years old. When we see each other, especially at the funeral home, we say, ‘boy we need to get together before another one of our classmates is gone.’”

Webb said that this get-together is not being planned as an annual event, and he wants to make sure everyone who attended Atwood High School knows they are welcome to come.

Donations to fund the event are requested, and two items will be sold at the get-together. A booklet with high school class portraits and vintage maps of Atwood will be sold at the get-together.

Webb said that any leftover funds will be passed along to West Carroll High School’s Beta Club to help pay for their trips to conventions this school year.

Background

Before Atwood High School was established in 1956, Atwood School taught students until grade 10. After 10th grade, that area of Carroll County attended Trezevant High School until graduation.

“My mother attended Atwood School in the Great Depression in the 1930s,” Webb said. “She went to the 10th grade at Atwood, then she would catch a train to go from Atwood to Trezevant. She would graduate from Trezevant.”

Webb noted that former Atwood Mayor James Halford technically graduated from Atwood three times. Once in 10th grade in 1954, then when the high school opened in 1955 he graduated from 11th grade. Finally in 1956, 12th grade was added where he graduated again.

Fast forward to 1983, and Atwood and Trezevant high schools consolidated into West Carroll Jr./Sr. High School.