I just got off the phone with Ron W.--a college friend. He had met a priest friend of mine who gave him my number.
We both went to high school in the same town--Gary, WV. But until my senior year of high school I had never gone to school with Black students--the schools were still segregated. My senior year Gary District High sent three male athletes and three smart girls over to Gary High to break the color barrier. Ron was not one of them.
The next year the schools merged--black students all over the county (our county was about 50%-50%) went to the white schools because they had, of course, been better maintained.
Ron and I met at West Virginia University our freshman year.
He introduced me to his friends by saying, "This is Jim. We went to different high schools together."
Old friends and book ends do hold things together.
We promised to keep in touch.
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