>> [MUSIC] And it
was two separate communities, if you think about it.
Black/White community, and of course,
all of the Blacks
in Cobb County pretty much knew each other because
Lemon Street was the focus point
of activities for their kids and the community.
So all of us knew everybody that first year,
because you got to meet everybody.
And I didn't know
an awful lot about Marietta High School at that time.
I did get to learn a good bit
about it though in future years,
but folks were still very nice.
There's one thing I always noticed and still notice in
Marietta is that the people work together.
We have more diversity now,
of course, than we did then.
But having said that,
there are very few things that folks will not pull
together to get accomplished if it
need to be accomplished for the community,
and I always have felt that was
a strong point and still feel that way.
I had been told I guess in March or
April of the year before that they would
consider to send me to Marietta High School.
Well, me not being
as interested in going as perhaps I should have been,
I didn't say an awful lot about it to anybody else.
I said, in July,
I might need to ask Mr. Hill,
and I'm going to be at Lemon street,
and that is what I asked him.
He said, no, you're going to Marietta High School.
I said, okay.
No one ever asked my permission to send me.
They just said, that's where you're going.
And of course, in August of '66,
I came to Marietta High School,
1966 that is,
and I was there for the next 40 years.
[LAUGHTER] So it was a good experience
and folks at that time were still very nice to me.
And one of the people
I've always given a tremendous amount of
credit for making my transfer
from Lemon Street to
Marietta High School is called [inaudible].
He was a gentleman I worked very closely with.
And he was always very helpful.
And we are still friends,
and it has been over 40 years now.
So that's how I got here.
And again, I had
a very easy time
changing from Lemon Street to Marietta High School,
primarily because of him. [MUSIC]