Don Smith, class of 1944, very aptly put into words the feelings of our Forties Classmates,  "So, they moved Welch High School from the top of the hill to the top of the mountain and they even changed its name.   But we all know,  there will always be a Welch High School.  Those of us who were in Welch High School in the 1940’s, through the years,  have come to realize how fortunate we were to be “on the hill” as students, with an outstanding team of teachers who gave us the knowledge and skills we needed to cope with the years ahead.  Mr. Hollandsworth,  beloved “Pop” to everyone,  kept all of us in line without overdoing discipline.    And teachers such as Mahala Toney,  LaNelle Agee, Elizabeth Kailing, Kermit Grogran, Eva B. McCoy, Eva Marchitelli, Janice Vermillion, Vernon Callaway, and many, many others,  gave us an education that is our treasure today.  At the time we were at Welch High School, we were too young to realize how fortunate we were to be students there,  but with the wisdom of our years, we now appreciate the blessing of those school years and this wonderful experience of being together again sixty years later at this reunion. "