Lance Martin

Graduated from East Texas State in 1993 with Journalism degree. Worked for newspaper in Greenville, Texas for five years and then leapt to the aerospace/defense industry where I've been ever since. Moved to Waco a couple years ago and live in a community called China Spring, a 3A district north of Waco (think China Spring: Waco as Lindale:Tyler).

I chose that kind of town because I wanted the same environment for my kids as I had growing up in Lindale. Why I would subject someone to that kind of pyschological torment, I'm not sure. Maybe it's a sadistic revenge. Or maybe, just maybe, I have a little romantic delusion that it was all much more enjoyable than it seemed at the time.

The further I get from 1988, the more it confuses me. Maybe this reunion will put it all into perspective and I'll finally be free from the demons that haunt my mind. If not, there's always the music. Never forget the music.

So many.... I'll add more from time to time:

-- Anyone remember Mr. Land and his little hit-his-own-leg-with-a-paddle-and-never-flinch trick?

-- Mrs. Jones' butterfly pendants

-- Tony Ragsdale getting licks and howling as loudly as he can (every time)

-- Swiping the key to the science lab cabinet and then being hunted down by Mrs. Jones when Mr. Pruitt's class was waiting to do a lab and couldn't get to the safety glasses.

-- Mark Smith's beautiful truck catching on fire by the wood shop/ag building and some idiots throwing cut grass on it thinking the morning dew would snuff the fire.

-- Bombing at the junior high talent show

-- When we were the first class to attend all three years at the 'new' junior high, making the transition during school

-- Spirit stick competitions at the pep rallies

-- JoJo Sweiven and her 'radical' haircut and skate persona

-- The old primary campus built by WPA and that old gym. Once saw a donkey basketball game there LOL.

-- working at McDonald's with Allestine Clifton, Wanda Starr, Todd Douglas and many, many more.

-- Hating Brownsboro

-- Ferguson's grocery store before the fire and Flemings Affiliated Store

-- Westberry's chicken (before it exploded)

-- The candy store

-- Tindell's drug store

-- Western Auto before it moved

-- The Eagle Emporium video game hall

-- How the book "the god of rock" said I was going to hell for liking heavy metal

-- Mr. Scott on the intercom during standardized tests reading the instructions "Put your pencils down."

-- Mr. Adams being a damned good math teacher and his wife spending every class filling her chalkboard with notes for us to transcribe over and over

-- learning BASIC on TRS-80s with Mr. Neal

-- Being voted Most Likely to be a Game Show Host at prom.

-- Marcus Boney's zaniness.

-- Motley Crue Bad Boys T-shirts

-- Campaigning for Bill Coats for Judge (Mrs. Jones' husband's political opponent)

-- Space Shuttle Challenger

-- The principal telling some of us who had pulled a prank "Nothing I hate worse than a bunch of smart-assed freshmen."

-- Mrs. Blair/Harris' student teacher who always used the variable R and pronounced it as R-ah.

-- Mrs. Blair/Harris' chalk allergy

-- Run DMC from kicker boxes in pickup trucks

-- Video book reports for Mrs. Porsche (Richard Ivey and I still have a couple of these)

-- The after-hours club in Longview (Ferraris?)

-- Eagle 97.1 (How sad is it that they brought it back just as it was and is now "oldies" rock?)