Spring 1956, twenty eight young people graduate from Farragut Consolidated School and spread their wings to fly off and change the world, or at least some small part of it. Fortified with the energy of youth and no fear of the unknown this band of brothers and sisters spread like a covey of Quail on the first day of hunting season.

College, the military, marriage, jobs consumed their time as each sought their own special way to deal with the future.  Armed with a solid education, a good sense of values and a hard work ethic that only comes from being raised in a small farm community, these leaders of the future were soon to find out that the days at old FHS had prepared them well. They were already one step up the ladder of life ahead of their contemporaries.

Teaching, medicine, nursing, farming, postal service, masonry, management, law enforcement, housewives, accountants, agri-business, politics, retail sales, office work and journalism were just a few of the fields to which the Class of 56 made sizeable contributions.

Life is never smooth. Each member of the class experienced joy and sorrow, victory and defeat, good times and bad, new friends and old ones, loyalty and deceit, successes and failures and all the other things life can throw at a person. But in the end, they all stood the test and overcame the challenges placed in their individual pathways.

Success and happiness are the two best words to define the group today.

Along the way, six of their classmates passed away.  They too had shared the good and the bad and were called home much sooner than anyone would have expected them to go. They will forever be an integral part of the Class of 56.

June 13, 2006 all but one of the remaining twenty-two gathered for a reunion. Also present were two classmates that did not graduate with the original twenty-eight but will always be a part of the group.

And so this web page is a tribute to and a gift of the Class of 56.  A tribute to a group of farm kids that have had a positive impact on the world and did change it or at least some small part of it for the better. A gift to those that follow to demonstrate that people can make a difference regardless of their bloodline, size of their pocket book or place of birth.

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