Central/Eastern Wayne alumni parade kicks off homecoming weekend
By Steve Herring
Published in News on May 26, 2018 8:29 PM
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Ten years after their graduation, alumni from the Eastern Wayne class of 2008 pose for a photo in the back of a truck Saturday during the Central Eastern Wayne Alumni Parade.
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Some of the younger members of the Dancing Divas of Destruction dance in the annual Central Eastern Wayne Alumni parade Saturday in the Central Heights Community.
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Marlon Lewis and Omar Marrero, seniors at Eastern Wayne High School, watch the Central Eastern Wayne Alumni parade from the top of the Central Heights neighborhood sign Saturday.
Friends, families and memories.
That is all it takes to bring people back year after year for the Central/Eastern Wayne Alumni and Friends annual homecoming weekend.
It is no different for the association's 46th annual homecoming that got underway Friday and continues through today, the alumni said.
"I just will never forget those times. I never will," Dellson Jackson, Eastern Wayne High School Class of 1973, said Saturday morning as he and his classmates were cooking hamburgers, hot dogs and brats -- anything class members might like.
They were among the many classes that had tents set up and were cooking in the large field behind Eastern Wayne Middle School.
Jackson lives within sight of the school -- what was once Central High School that he attended from first through eighth grade.
"You never forget your younger days," Jackson said. "This here is the school of my youth. It used to be Central High School, which we graduated from Eastern Wayne.
"We went all of the way up to the eighth grade then Eastern Wayne was built, we went over to Eastern Wayne and that is where we finished. We are proud of both of them."
Jackson remembers the teachers who worked hard to educate the students.
But it also was a change going from a black school like Central to an integrated Eastern Wayne, Jackson said.
"I didn't have any problems with it, it was just different," he said. "It was an adjustment, but you adapt."
But once they learned their new classmates they found out they were all the same, classmate Jesse Martin said.
"We just fellowship and enjoy one another's company today," Jackson said. "I enjoy seeing my classmates and keeping in touch with them and fundraising for the kids who are coming up and need help with their education."
Jackson said one of his favorite memories of Eastern Wayne was playing basketball at least when he "wasn't riding the pine."
Alphonso Battle, Central High School Class of 1959, has been involved with the association since the start.
His class was among the ones that originated Central Alumni back in 1966.
"We did that for about three years then we started the Class of '59 and Friends." he said. "We continued on and in the '70s started Central Alumni and Friends."
Eastern Wayne was added in the 1980s, he said.
"We are trying to pass this thing on so it will continue to go on," he said. "Our main goal is to give scholarships, and that is what we try to do. That is what the organization is about, scholarships."
Another goal is to preserve the memory and history of Central High School, Battle said.
"We want them (new alumni) to carry it further than we have," he said. "We try to have the best interest of the people who're involved in the alumni."
Gary Powell, Class of 1979, of Charleston, S.C., has been attending the reunions for the past five years.
"I really didn't know they existed because a lot off our class, we were military brats, local people and they leave and come back," he said. "I was kind of the same way."
Powell joined the Army following graduation, and it was years before he started spending time back in North Carolina.
Living in Charleston, about about four and a half hours away, is as close as he has lived to Goldsboro since he left home, he said.
Powell said he left the busy city to come back home for the Memorial Day weekend.
"It is still home to me," he said. "That is the thing I like most about being here. We are all cooking, everyone is happy, getting along, good food, lot of laughs, good memories."
One of his favorite high school memories was the year that Eastern Wayne was finally able to defeat Goldsboro High School in football.
That was his class, the Class of 1979, he said.
"That was the most significant part of my senior year, being a part of the class that beat the giant because that is what they were," Powell said.
The picnic is Powell's favorite event of the homecoming weekend.
"This class right here, we get together on Facebook and say OK it is time to get the ball rolling," he said. "We all come together with our talents and put this spread together.
"This is the part that I love the most, not so much the parade, you are in the midst of it here for me. The school was tight in my opinion."
Powell said that closeness is very evident as classmates set up for the picnic and that he likes to see his classmates and spend time with them and catch up on times.
"And talk about our grandkids," he said.
The homecoming weekend kicked off with a Friday night banquet at the Goldsboro Event Center.
Elderess Mildred McLaurin Ross of LaGrange, Central High School Class of 1968, was the speaker.
A Dutch breakfast meeting was held at 7 a.m. Saturday at Murray's.
The parade lineup began at 11 a.m. Saturday at Eastern Wayne Middle School. The parade started at noon and wound through the community before ending back at the school.
The annual family picnic started at 1 p.m. at the school. Dinner was served from 2 to 3 p.m. and was followed by games and activities for all ages.
The homecoming ball was held Saturday night at the Goldsboro Event Center.
Classes ending with 3 or 8 are being honored.
A worship service will be held at 11 a.m. today at Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church.
The awards, recognition and scholarship program will be held at 5 p.m. at Woods Chapel UAFWB Church.
The speaker will be Jimmy Bowden of Stafford, Virginia, Class of 1973. Scholarship recipients and retirees will be honored.