Before the class of 1969 encountered Wilson, no other student in the preceding senior classes had managed to make better than a 78 in chemistry, she said.

The class of 1969 was the first and only class to make A grades in chemistry, Lance said.

Before graduating, Lance said the class hugged, an embrace of the memories they had created at Pinevale High School. At graduation, the class did not walk into service, they strolled, a testament to their achievement as graduates and students at the high school, she said.

Those gathered on Friday also recalled beloved teachers like Ruth Council and the late Mildred Hunter as people who demanded excellence and expected greatness from all students.

“They treated us as if we were their children,” Lance said.

The standards set by the teachers were not things the students were expected to aspire to but goals they were expected to surpass, Helen Miller Baker said.

The fact that the class of 1969 was the last to graduate from Pinevale and the major societal changes happening brought the class closer together, Lusharon Woods Wiley said.

“The teachers gave us an education morally, ethically and spiritually as well,” she said.

The lessons learned at Pinevale are still a part of who they are today, Wiley said.

Houseal and his fellow classmates are banding together to get a commemorative plaque placed on the grounds in memory of the school.

The plaque will be located at the Pinevale Learning Center, now a facility within the Valdosta City School System, he said.

“We want to place it as a landmark on what we call hallowed ground,” Houseal said.

Former Valdosta City School Superintendent Sam Allen authorized the placement of the plaque.

Houseal hopes to get the funds collected and the plaque designed in the coming month.