Tina Wright Photography: ~Class of 1980

I am a 1980 Graduate of Sheffield High School in Sheffield, Alabama. That is only about an hour and a half from where I live in Huntsville. Last weekend I celebrated my "30 Year Class Reunion"!! ... Unbelievable!! I say a lot, that I don't feel nearly as old as "they" (whoever "they" are) tell me that I am. Our class had not had a formal reunion since our "10th Class Reunion" so for many, we had not seen each other in 20 years! On Saturday we had a "bring your own picnic lunch" on the Campus at the school, we were able to take a tour, reminsce, catch up on friendships, and for me begin taking hundreds of pictures! If you are on FaceBook you can go to the Sheffield High School Class of 1980 Link to see many of those. From the picnic I had several highlights and there is no way to mention them all today... but here are a few... My precious husband became my assistant for the day because I took our Group Photos, I set them up and Craig took the shot! He did an awesome job! The funny part came when other friends asked him to take pictures with their cameras too! It worked out pretty well, because I would in turn hand him my camera and say "do mine too!" LOL! I have more pictures of me on my camera than my camera has EVER seen!!

(This picture was taken the Summer of 1978)

Craig graduated from Sheffield in 1978 and we started dating when I was a Sopomore so we spent a lot of time roaming the halls of this school! It was fun doing it again with my Husband(who we recently celebrated our 24th Anniversary!)/Assistant for the day. I couldn't have done last weekend without him!! Thank you Craig! I love you!! :) ...

That night we met at a well known local Restaurant, Dale's Steakhouse, to complete our evening and our Reunion. Yes, the Sheffield High School Class of 1980 created many new memories in 2010 and we are already making plans for a "35th Reunion" in 2015! We all decided we will NOT wait quite so long to get together next time! ... It was so great to see everyone!

This sort of became "The Team" that pushed the reunion together, although "not pictured" is another classmate Barry Rickard who also played a crucial role. That doesn't mean that we did everything by any means! It takes way too many to mention!! I just think we were hardheaded enough to keep pushing! LOL! With our adult lives being SO busy it really is hard to get everything together. But... it is ALWAYS worth the effort!

Thedra Allen Richardson & I were on the Dance Team together our Senior Year ... I love this "girl" !! She was always so much fun! We were the only two Seniors on the Dance Team, and that was the first year for the Dance Team at Sheffield, such an honor! ... She is still a Diva too!

Nancy Pursley and I have been friends since 2nd Grade, Mrs. McCarty's class... Nancy is one of my "Forever Friends" ... She is what I call a "Friend through thick & thin" ... Always only a phone call away ... and currently lives in the Atlanta area... I (We) count on Nancy to help us keep up with our classmates through the years. She is kind and merciful and has always been the one to let us know when a classmate has had a death in the family or has had a serious need... I haven't been able to spend time with Nancy in a very long time and it was so great to see her!! :) ... She laughed & said that we kept up better with each other when Craig & I lived in London ("Snail Mail") than we do now! (That is until FaceBook came along! Yay FB!) ...

Leslie Blake DiNella and I... another "Forever Friend" ... Leslie & I have been friends since 6th Grade! and no matter how long it has been since we have seen each other last, we always manage to pick right back up where we left off last... She & her family currently live in the Nashville area. She married a Sheffield graduate also, and I used to work for his precious dad, Dr. Ronald R. DiNella who passed away a couple of years ago.

Our precious Foreign Exchange Student, Rodrigo Ferrada who came all the way from Chile to be with his former SHS Classmates! We had so much fun seeing Rodrigo again! I had the privilege of becoming friends with Rodrigo our Senior Year because he was a part of the band with us! and such a hoot he was!

He hasn't changed a bit!! LOL! ... Yes, I took the picture above back in 1980... (I share a lot of how I have been carrying a camera around with me since I was in the 5th grade, not quite up to Digital Quality, but I'm so glad I have the memories!!) ...

Thanks for letting me take some extra time to share a few special moments from last weekend with you! ... There were SO MANY MORE!!! ...