Marlene Goodwin recalls getting ready to go to the 1953 Thanksgiving Day football game between Robert E. Lee High School and its gridiron rival, Andrew Jackson High. Goodwin – then a senior and known as Marlene Nall – laughs when she looks at photographs taken at that popular annual tradition.
“We went to those games in high heels, dresses and hats – we even wore corsages!” Goodwin said. “And the boys were in suits!”
Goodwin, 88, is once again reminiscing about her high school years, as the Robert E. Lee Class of 1954 prepares to celebrate its 70th reunion. With a Sept. 26 dinner at Timuquana Country Club and a brunch the following day at the home of class member Dotty Laumer Risley, it is an event with special meaning.
“This will likely be our last big reunion,” she said.
A simpler time
A River City native who grew up in the Lake Shore neighborhood, Goodwin has fond memories of the Jacksonville of her youth.
“It was a simpler time,” she said. “We didn’t lock our doors at night – we felt safe. Families only had one car – if they had one – and we had no A/C. As kids, we played kick the can and chased fireflies…we felt safe to be out after dark. But you knew when dinnertime came, you were expected to be at that dinner table!”
There was no eating meals in front of the television, Goodwin noted; most families didn’t have one.
“We would gather around the radio,” she said. “We had come through the Depression and World War II – we grew up knowing that fathers and brothers and family members went to war. It was all about doing without – and doing whatever you could to help your country.”
Patriotism was particularly strong in the city of her youth, Goodwin noted.
“Jacksonville was a Navy town,” she said. “We all appreciated the importance of what the military did for us.”
Due to a lack of available military housing, Goodwin added, many families – including her own – would rent out rooms in their home to young Navy couples.
“They became like members of your family,” she said. “That whole way of life – all of that formed the people we became.”
High school days
When the Class of 1954 entered Robert E. Lee High School in 1951, Harry Truman was president. Gasoline was 29 cents a gallon, Tony Bennett was on the charts with “Because of You” and movies like “The African Queen” and “The Day the Earth Stood Still” were being shown at the Five Points Theatre.
Jacksonville only had three high schools at the time, and Robert E. Lee was one of the largest.
“There were so many clubs at school, there was plenty to do,” said Goodwin, recalling her participation in the Y Teens and Spanish Club. “We had sports, a school newspaper, an annual and a wonderful glee club that put on shows like ‘The Merry Widow’ and ‘Cinderella.’”
But most of all, Goodwin remembers her classmates. Names like Mildred Way, Wilson Smith, Bill Watson and Budd Porter populate her memories of the Class of 1954.
“Our valedictorian was Betty Jane ‘BJ’ Anderson Langley, and she had the cutest little Henry J car,” she said. “I would see her coming and say, ‘Here comes BJ in her little Henry J!’”
The boys had short haircuts and the girls wore full skirts, with penny loafers or black and white saddle shoes that were polished every night.
“We were well groomed!” Goodwin said. “And we ‘went steady,’ which seems very different than what young people do today.”
A particular memory Goodwin recalls was when Porter was selected to participate in a statewide driver’s education contest. Under the direction of Mr. B.B. Mendoza, Porter practiced driving loops outside the school for weeks, eventually taking the top prize in the competition.
The prize: A 1954 Pontiac Chieftain.
“Winning a new car in 1954 was pretty exciting!” Goodwin said, noting that many years later, when she toured the high school after its restoration following a fire in the 1980s, she was surprised to see a photo, blown up to life size, of Porter and Mendoza standing beside the car in 1954.
When graduation came, the girls wore long, white dresses – many of them handmade by their mothers – and carried bouquets of red roses.
Following graduation, Goodwin married and worked for the Federal Reserve and the government before starting a family. After raising her children, she returned to work, eventually retiring as an office manager for the Reynolds & Reynolds company.
Lifelong friendships
Much has changed since Robert E. Lee’s Class of 1954 graduated – including the school’s name. In 2021, it officially became Riverside High School.
“But it will always be Robert E. Lee to the Class of 1954!” Goodwin said.
Over the years, the classmates have stayed in touch. Many students, like Goodwin, married someone from their class, and for many years an annual weekend fishing trip was held to renew old acquaintances.
“We’ve had wonderful reunions over the years, with as many as 200 attendees from our class of 372,” Goodwin said, noting that past reunions have drawn graduates living in Indiana, Virginia, the Carolinas and elsewhere.
With many class members now deceased, however, she expects that this year’s 70th reunion will have approximately 50 attendees, who will gather and reminisce about that class of bright, hopeful young men and women with their whole lives ahead of them.
“It was just so wonderful,” she said. “It was almost like an ‘Age of Innocence,’ living in that special time.”
Members of the Robert E. Lee High Class of 1954 who would like to attend the 70th reunion may contact Marlene Goodwin at 904-384-1001 or [email protected].
