Mr. Bayless, in l996, at the very first Milby
reunion I'd been notified of (because I had no family in Houston, no reunion
committee had ever found me until then). I'd been "missing from the herd".
He spoke at the reunion breakfast and I got him to pose with the l955 debate
team members, who were present.
My debate partner was David DuBose (I debated in
men's debate back when there were only a few mixed-teams to break new
ground), beside Mr. Bayless, in the dark red shirt and the man in the
patterned shirt is Gerald Mize (later a debate partner of mine at the U. of
H.), who was my very best friend for years. Beside me is Gary Canion (who
later became an Episcopal priest), a friend since days at Deady, and back in
my life again after all those years. We immediately became close friends
again and they all (9 debaters in all) came up to spend Columbus Day
week-end with us in Nashville, where my husband was teaching Ethics n
Vanderbilt Medical School, after that reunion. We had an unforgettable time.
I also began a correspondence with Mr. Bayless and
had just sent him an e-mail at his newly acquired e-mail address when I
learned that he'd died. I'm so glad that I was able to let him know how
much he'd meant to me. Debate and speech writing helped me be organized
enough to bring order into chaos as I finished growing up (if I've done
that) and something I continued throughout college. I was pre-law, before I
switched to studio arts at Trinity University, because they had no law
school program, and I was allowed to attend full time at no charge because
my husband was teaching there. That was too good to pass up.
I am so glad I have this photo and thought that
I would share it.
Thank you,
June (Head) Zaner
class of l955