Mary Lynne Rhyne Cloninger

Whenever I'm running late, Mr. Jordan's advice still runs through my head, "Band, when you on time, you LATE." My favorite memories are around Football Friday nights. We had a blast in the band! I'll never forget the most awesome performance at South Point when THEIR fans gave us a standing O. Wicked good! And we loved yelling until we were hoarse with those great cheerleaders for the hardworking guys on the field. Can't you still hear the fight song and see Steve dancing around with the cheerleaders when we scored? Great memories!

I married a Stanley guy (Rusty Cloninger) who graduated EG in '75. We're celebrating our 28th this year, and still live in the Stanley area (Southfork) and can hear the EG band practicing on hot summer days before school starts, and the cheers of the crowd on Friday nights. Brings back lots of fond memories.

I graduated from Belmont Abbey in '94 and decided to try real estate until my kids were older. They're older and my nest is empty, but I'm still loving real estate and most days work from home. It's a wonderful life! (And I occasionally get to do a co-sale with Scott Farmer and catch up with him a bit, which is nice).

WARNING: BRAG SECTION BEGINS HERE: I'm really proud of my sons. Adam was president of the student body his high school sr. year, then at NCSU was on study body, chair of the diversity committee, and 2010 president of his fraternity. He played football all 4 years at Highland (but that new program was NOT like our EG days--although he still loved being on that team). He also was awarded the Gen. Hugh Shelton leadership scholarship at NC State--a fantastic honor. We love his wife, Laura.

Charles did chorus and the arts at EG. He was in the school plays all 4 years, and his art work was chosen for a show at the Mint Museum. Cool. He also went to Governor's School for voice in '07. God blessed him with a gorgeous voice (that he did NOT get from me). We enjoyed the vocal concerts at ASU, and he won a student art Expo for one of his graphic designs. He is engaged to another artist he met when he took a job in Carrboro. When they get married our family will be complete until (if) we are blessed with grandchildren.

Both of our sons earned Eagle Scout, which was a major accomplishment and a huge time commitment for them, especially as they became teenagers and more interested in "fumes" at 16---gas fumes of their cars, and per"fumes" of the girls, too, but they both made it.

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Now that our boys are raised, Rusty and I are enjoying our "youth" again. I never did the live music scene as a teenager, but we're winding back the clock and enjoying our second chance life with the kids out of the house. Rusty has a real day job, but he was a drummer in recent years for several bands. He played a couple of years ago at the Cricket Arena (exciting for him to be on the same stage where he saw groups like the Stones and Talking Heads through the years). He played at the Blumenthal in November '09 as drummer for his nephew who was a winner at the Charlotte Music Awards. He played on the same night as The Belmont Playboys a couple of times, and that was a trip back in time to see Chipps Baker and Mike Hendrix in their band. They play a little different music than we heard them play back in those days with Mr. Jordan, like "Oya como va."

I hope all goes well with all of you--my '79 classmates!