With a little more than 50 years since graduation, it certainly says something when seven of your fellow students gather in your honor. That is exactly what happened at the Progressive Woman’s Association’s Women of Distinction Luncheon last week when Paula Holyfield Mangieri was the Keynote Speaker

 

When the 1970 Washington Irving class graduated, little did seven of the girls know that 52 years later they would be gathering to celebrate each other and last week to honor their classmate Paula. The girls gather monthly just to catch up and it was at this luncheon that they were catching up with each other and with fellow graduate, Paula.

 

Paula delivered the Keynote message to the seven honorees and the approximate 80 attendees who had gathered to celebrate Black Heritage and Culture month.  Her message theme was “What in the World.”

 

Paula grew up in the Clarksburg area attending local schools and graduating from WI before attending local colleges. She then moved to Ohio where she worked and has established a home and where her son and his family resides.

 

I first met Paula when she was a freshman, and I was assisting with a community action summer Camp.  She was a friend of my sister, Cathy Burnett Fisher, and she then became my friend and for several years she served as a camp counselor. Paula has several members of her family still residing in Clarksburg and she returns here to visit them. Paula never hesitates to help me when I ask.

 

It was so rewarding to observe the kinship between Paula and her friends as they caught up. I personally want to thank these women for attending the luncheon and assure them that Paula was certainly honored.

 

I want to urge you to catch up with your fellow classmates. You know we are what we are and now all we can do is remember the “good times” from back then. Talk about our dances and our dates, our teachers, and the clothes we wore.  We will look at all of those happenings with a different perspective.

 

Time will be changing soon.  Get out the green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and just remember that Spring is on its way.

 

Take care, stay healthy and until next week,” Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine.”

 

Editor's Note: Pictured with Rhonda Holyfield Mangieri, standing, are Paula Johnson, Pam Mitchell, Carol Baker, Susie Wright, Beth Allen, Terry Brewer, and Mary Ann Ribas.  All are 1970 graduates of W I.