Remembering… | Linda Bingham

Antlers High School Class of 1964

**Leonard Noah**, February 11, 1965, died on board ship in the North China Sea. Our first casualty of the Vienam War.

Cathey S. Bartlett Foster, US Navy LTJG, died September 23, 1989, buried Arlington National Cemetery. Cathy was also a Vietnam veteran. She died at the age of 43 from an aneurysm.

Harry Alexander, details not known

Willie “Wickie” Greenwood, November 14, 2000, in Odessa, Texas

Hazel James Forbit, November 27, 2000, burial in Broken Bow

Rowdy Settles, May 24, 2005, burial Hugo

Bill Franks, June 7, 2001, burial Antlers

Erma Jean Mack Deupree, February 16, 2009, burial Antlers

Nick Ward, December 15, 2013, burial Darwin

Joyce Gooch, January 10, 2014

Mary Lynn Tims Maxwell, June 6, 2015, burial Antlers

In the Class of ’64, we each grew into the roles we would play throughout our lives, cast in that role from our own nature or group dynamics. We were good at sports, or we liked to write, or we were the class cut-up, class president.

Mary Lynn was Best Friend. Not just to every kid in our class, but to every kid in school. You could say the entire population of Antlers counted Mary Lynn as Best Friend. People were forever stopping her wherever she went to say hi, give her a hug. People knew her because she was the girl on crutches. She could not hide or minimize her difference. Her vulnerability made people protective, I guess, and she radiated back the love we had for her with all her great heart. No one ever cherished family and friends more than Mary Lynn.

She had so many talents, that girl. She could write and paint. She had a bright inquiring intelligence and an open mind, a dry sense of humor. She loved to talk, loved to tell stories. She had a delicious sense of irony. She longed for the freedom the rest of us took for granted, that we could walk, skip, run.

Our friend Mary Lynn is no longer tethered to this earth with leg brace, crutches, or wheelchair. She is free.

We loved you, sweet friend.

Linda Glass Bingham, 2015