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One of the most exciting times of any high school year is the week of the Junior/Senior prom. When I was coming up, teachers in preparation for the prom never give homework or tests. And it was a way for the junior class to show the senior class that they could outdo the seniors. The senior class wasn’t allowed to see decorations or know the theme for the prom until the night of the prom.

Work started in the fall with magazine sales. The junior class always had magazine sales in the fall. That is how the junior class paid for the prom and booked the band. Curtis Mayfield and The Casuals was the band that we booked. Bob Marshall and the Crystals were who we wanted to book, but they weren’t available.

May-I Dudley Taylor and I were responsible for the band and the bandstand so I went ahead and asked her to the prom my junior year. We had known one another for years and were good friends. We had a good time and she was beautiful and we took pictures at her home.

In my senior year, I asked my good friend, the late Claudia Gardner Parvin to the prom. She had a boyfriend, Leon Mason, who was involved with spring football ball at N.C. State and I didn’t want her to miss the prom her senior year. So, I invited her to the prom and she accepted. Leon could out- run me so I kept my hands to myself.

Weekends were for the beach but we had the Pamlico. My junior year we had breakfast at Eleanor Rollin’s home and then went to a movie. My senior year we had a weekend at the Gerard’s on Blount’s Creek. That way we stayed off the roads and came back home with Virginia and Walter.

Now, kids have their pictures taken and drive limousines to the prom. They don’t stay to the end and head to the beach that evening. Parents worry! Make your parents proud and stay safe and live for the Pamlico River!

How times have changed.

They were the best of times with the best of friends and in the best of places, Washington, N.C.! The Original Washington!