Page 78 - some-stuff-i-wrote-and-some-stuff-i-didn't-(2011)-h-morris-williams

Some Stuff I Wrote (2001) H. Morris Williams

Speaking of Those ‘48 Grads

August 17,1993

Mr. President... Wendell H. Colson (CHS, 1948) was recently elected president of the

Florida Bankers Association. He is also president and board chairman of Sun Banks, Inc. of Florida.
Starting as Sun Bank’s first trainee in 1952, Wendell has risen to a position where eighteen Sun

Bank presidents are answerable to him. Sun Banks, Inc. operates three-hundred seventy-five offices
and $20 billion in assets. Wendell’s wife is the former Mary Brown (CHS, 1948).

Speaking of the Class of 1948... They were one of the most “together” classes of the 1940's.
Friendships were especially close among fellows like Wendell Colson, Pat Summerall, Jack

Goodwin, Sam Oosterhoudt, Jack Rountree, Earl Giebeig, Dudley Crabbe, Hill Brannan and Walter
Skinner. Among the girls, the richest kind of friendship existed among Sylvia Davis, Billie Sue

Haltiwanger, Mary Brown, Rosemary Daniels, Frances Rhoton, Sallie Williams, Barbara Touchton,
Dorothy Sue Barrett, Betty Bevans, and others. There is a bond of love and loyalty that still exists

among them that makes them closer than many sisters. Even to this day, they still meet yearly to
spend a week on the Ichetucknee River and renew their lifelong fidendship that seems to get richer

as the years go by.
October 22,1993 — St. Augustine High School... This may be the answer to a CHS trivia

question of the future: when was the final CHS football game played at Memorial Stadium and who
was the opponent? All of you football fans will want to be there for that historic occasion. In fact,
we have only four home football games this season so you’ll want to be there for all of them.

Starting early is not too soon ... Earl Watts retired from our school system last year after

a distinguished career as our kindergarten principal. When asked for the best advice he could give
parents on preparing their children for kindergarten, he said, “Parents should read aloud to their
children at least ten minutes every day - from birth!” In support of this philosophy, the Lake City

Kiwanis Club International committed to a three-year program to give a book to the family of each
newborn baby in our county.

The Fort White Wilsons ... Four generations of Wilsons have attended Fort White Public
School. They are Ester Wilson, Carl Wilson, Steve Wilson and now Carlee and Corey Wilson. In

the first generations, Esther Shoemaker Wilson was a third grade student in the historic two-story

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