Works of Class members from the Class of 1970

Did she mention my name?

by James Lewis

It’s so nice to meet an old friend
And pass the time of day
With talk of hometown Milledgeville
A million miles away
 
Does Bonner Park still have a swimming pool
And little league games
And by the way,
Did she mention my name?
 
Did she mention my name, just in passing?
And when the talk ran high
Did that look in her eye seem far away?
Is the Culver Kidd drugs and soda fountain
Still on Hancock and Wayne?
And by the way, did she mention my name?
 
Does Threshold still play the Teen Club
On Friday and Saturday nights?
Does the movie theater downtown
Still play one movie at a time?
Do all the stores still close at noon
On Wednesdays, just the same?
And by the way,
Did she mention my name?
 
Did she mention my name, just in passing
And when the talk ran high,
Did that look in her eye seem far away?
Are the Baldwin Braves still on fire?
Do they still win all their games?
And by the way,
Did she mention my name?
 
You know I often walk her hallways
In my mind and in my heart
Even though construction crews
Have taken her apart
Sometimes she’s like a good friend
I left standing in the rain
And by the way,
I heard her mention your name!
 
She mentioned your name, just in passing
And when the talk ran high
That look in her eye seemed far away
You know she gave us our direction,
A path we can claim
And by the way,
I heard her mention your name!
 

 

MILLIANS: Did she mention my name?

By Rick Millians                                                                              April 1, 2022

“It’s so nice to meet an old friend and pass the time of day

And talk about the hometown a million miles away . . .

And by the way, did she mention my name . . .”

-- Gordon Lightfoot song from the ‘60s

* * *

James Lewis has deep roots in the Milledgeville area.

His grandfather ran a general store in Bluff Creek, on the banks of the Oconee River in Washington County, deep in the heart of kaolin country. The chalk miners would come to the store to buy lunch.

His father, James Lewis Sr., ran Lewis Barber Shop in the Town and Country Shopping Center when the southside of Milledgeville was a busy place, crammed with Central State Hospital employees.

Mr. Lewis, a Pearl Harbor survivor who returned from the war to become a Master Barber for 40 years, might have cut your hair. He surely cut his son’s hair: short, even when James might have wanted it to grow longer.

“It’s in their blood” to cut hair short, James said of his father’s generation of barbers.

So, James grew up in Milledgeville, attending West End Elementary School and then Baldwin High School. Even though he wanted to play the saxophone, James wound up playing the clarinet in the West End band in the fifth grade. Bob Lamb was the band director. James’s dad used to cut Bob Lamb’s hair, too.

James gave up the clarinet in the eighth grade, much to the chagrin of his father and Mr. Lamb. But James had visions of bigger things, musically — like playing the guitar. We’ll get back to James’s music career in a minute.

James attended Georgia College before matriculating to the dental school at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.

Dr. James Lewis practiced dentistry in the southwest Georgia town of Thomasville for the next 40 years, retiring in 2016. He found his wife, Marianne, when she came to his office looking for a job as a dental hygienist.

“I make the joke,” James said, “I tell everybody that she came in looking for a job and I told her if she’d marry me, I’d hire her.”

Their friends and family laugh and say: “She must have needed that job pretty bad.”

James and Marianne have two children and six grandchildren. Number six was born just a few months ago.

Now, back to James and his music.

He did learn to play a guitar. He was basically self-taught, although back in the ‘60s he liked to go to the Teen Club and talk shop with the guitar players in the Royale V band, Wayne Burgamy and Dennis Carr.

James continued to play the guitar, and time away from his Thomasville dental practice was often spent at a small church where he served as volunteer music minister. He played bass guitar in the church’s contemporary band.

Which finally brings us to the present. James, like me, was a member of the Baldwin High Class of 70. Yes, the covid-cursed class that had to postpone its 50th reunion several times. We’re up to No. 52 – which just doesn’t sound as significant as No. 50. So, the whole thing was rebranded “The Class of 70 Turns 70” because we were born in 1952.

The celebration, including our friends from the GMC Class of ‘70, is finally happening this weekend. James is going to be a part of the entertainment — along with Charles Grimes and his “Reunion” band.

James has written a song for the occasion. It’s a take on Gordon Lightfoot’s “Did She Mention My Name,” Milledgeville version.

“It’s a song,” James said, “that I hope will draw us back to the late ‘60s. When I started putting it together, it just flowed, the things I remembered. What was going on at school and around town.”

Like when the old Baldwin and West End still existed, before the buildings underwent the wrecking ball to make way for condos and parking lots.

“I want everybody to have a feeling that not only have they been a part of a wonderful group of people in the Class of 1970 at Baldwin and GMC, but that we have actually accomplished things in our lives,” James said.

“Whether we think so or not, we have touched people. We have changed lives in good ways. We have had hardships; we have had good times. Some stayed in Milledgeville. Some moved away. We have created a legacy. We have made a difference.”

But what you really want to know is: Did she mention your name? And: Who was she?

The Class of 1970 at Baldwin and GMC will find out this weekend.

Rick Millians, a 1970 Baldwin High graduate, worked at newspapers in Georgia, Ohio and South Carolina before retiring. Reach him at: rdmillians@aol.com