I’m a proud Class of 1973 Baker High School graduate. We were the Buffaloes, and we had great teachers, a winning band and a never-give-up football team.

Baker was a blue-collar town, but none of us felt richer or poorer than anyone else. Over the years, we’ve held reunions, but we mainly keep in touch through social media.

My best friend in high school, Trudi, is as amazing today as she was in her teenage years. She married a fellow Buffalo, John, and this amazing couple still keeps up with the happenings back in Louisiana.

Two of my favorite people, Lynn and Al, met in high school, and I remember the day Al first met Lynn. We were in science class, and he turned around and told me he’d met the girl he was going to marry.

That was 50 years ago, and they’re still going strong as are Trudi and John. Six guys, including John and Al, were friends in high school and have stayed best buddies for the past 50 years.

They call themselves the “Sam Castons.” The wives and, in my case ex-wife, stay in touch as well because we go back even further than high school.

The friends and memories we made back then are some of the building blocks that made us who we are. That’s why what happened to Baker High School was so sad.

After the 80’s, the area declined economically. The school system in Baker was part of the East Baton Rouge School board. In early 2022, the City of Baker School Board separated from the East Baton Rouge system and created its own school district, thinking they could do a better job on their own.

It was a disaster.

Lack of money and other factors took their toll. Mold was found, the buildings abandoned and slowly rotted from neglect.

Every time I’d go back to Louisiana, I’d drive past Baker High and practically cry, seeing broken windows, litter and graffiti on the walls where we once hung pep rally posters and club meeting notices.

Finally, the city razed the main buildings. The school district is rebuilding, but the place we called our home away from home was gone.

Recently, I met up with Al and Lynn. They were heading to the Austin area to watch the solar eclipse with Trudi and Johnny, and they had a surprise gift for the “Sam Castons.”

Weeks ago, Al was driving past the site where Baker High School once stood, and he saw a pile of bricks. He stopped and picked up a dozen or so, not knowing what he’d do with them, but wanting a keepsake.

Al went back for more a few days later with an idea in mind, but the trash collectors had already come and gone. He’d gotten the last of the bricks from Baker High.

Al and Lynn cleaned up the bricks and had a metal plate made for the ones that were in decent condition. On top is a red metal plate with black letters, our school colors. Engraved in the script used on our high school diplomas are these words:  “Baker High School, Memory Brick, Class of 1973.”

I can’t ever thank them enough for saving a keepsake of the place where we met life-long friends.

What we had isn’t lost because the bricks and mortar are gone. All of us carry our high school memories with us everywhere we go.

Thanks to Al and Lynn, in case I forget those long-ago days, there’s a slightly weathered brick on my desk to remind me.

 

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.