Jinna Russell has decided to retire from the Advocate.
(Yes, we have the same last name.)
And no, we’re not related.
Jinna is into the internship phase of her graduate studies and has decided that this and other commitments would keep her from giving this column as much time as it deserves. Jinna is a lifelong Lake Highlands resident, graduated from THE high school, married a lifelong Lake Highlands resident and is raising her kids in Lake Highlands. I’m honored to be following her.
I’ve been around, though. My wife, Alice, and I moved here from another, less-significant part of Dallas in 1979, and we live in our second Lake Highlands home. We have a son at the high school and a daughter at Lake Highlands Junior High. Both of the kids are in band.
That’s right. I’m a band parent. Keep that in mind if you ever send your child to my door to sell me something for their organization. I have a stack of forms handy that disclose my band parent status and a binding contractual agreement stating that the minute I buy a raffle ticket you agree to support the Lake Highlands area bands in perpetuity. One of my kids will be knocking at your door approximately 14 times per year.
And I really do know a great deal about our neighborhood. I’m confident that I could find just about every street in Lake Highlands without a map. I’d do very well in a Lake Highlands geography bee. For instance, I’ll wager that 99 percent of you could never find Thurgood Street, even though you pass by it several times each week.
But I don’t really know that much about Lake Highlands High School. You’re going to have to help me.
I want you to use this column to tell about good works and accomplishments of former Lake Highlands students and residents. I want proud parents who still live in this area to keep us up-to-date on children who have moved away. We can use this space to pass along happy events – weddings and births – and also news that might be sad, such as memorials and passing. Tell me if you’ve visited a Lake Highlands graduate in Istanbul or spotted a letter jacket on a ski lift in New Hampshire.
Let’s work together to make this space an exciting bulletin board. To get things off to a lively start, I thought we could do a poll. Answer the following questions, and send your replies to one of the places listed below.
Some of these questions are trivia, some are opinion, and some are just to see how well you are paying attention.
- Who is the most famous Lake Highlands High School graduate whose name is the same as it appears in the high school yearbook?
- Who is the most famous Lake Highlands graduate with a different name?
- Which graduating class had the most divorces after their 20th reunion?
- The family member of which Lake Highlands residents appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in September?
- Which Lake Highlands High School graduate is married to the guy who was journalism teacher at my high school? (Yeah…this is deep trivia, but I promise, the possibilities are limited and everyone will know the name and say, “No kidding!”)
- What is the name of the movie made at Lake Highlands High School? Who was the director?
Send in your answers, and I’ll reveal all the results next month.
Please send answers and any other information to:
FAX: 343-1380
Mail: 9923 Milltrail Drive, 75238
E-MAIL: rrussell@tenet.edu
