This story is based on an interview with Carlene Jenkins, 89, a retired personal shopper from Austin. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Three years ago, it became time for my husband, Robert, 90, a retired dentist, and me to downsize and move from our house in Austin.
A lot of people in our situation tour different facilities to find the right one. However, it was a no-brainer for us to choose Westminster Senior Living in the city center.
So many of our friends were already residents, and we’d go at least once a week for dinner and other social occasions.
Those friendships have lasted many decades — one of the gentlemen, Russ Butler, 89, and I met almost 80 years ago in sixth grade.
I went to the University of Texas
Then there is Mike Roche, 91, raised only two blocks from my childhood home, who, like me, attended the University of Texas in the mid-to-late 1950s.
In fact, there are too many people to name at Westminster who share one of the best and strongest connections in life. At least 50 of us — about 10% of the total number of residents — went to the same school, Austin High.
For example, Russ and I graduated in 1954, and Mike was the Class of ’53. The others include Martha Vetrees, Class of ’48, and Cynthia Lynch, 77, one of the youngest in the group, who graduated in 1966.
Cynthia organizes an official reunion at the facility each March, but every day is a reunion for a certain core of us.
Mike and I were cheerleaders
We make a point of meeting on Tuesdays at the bar, where we’ll share a gin and tonic or a lemon water before sitting down to dinner at a big table.
We call the group “ROOL,” short for “Rest of Our Lives,” because we’re always there for one another.
There’s so much to catch up on because we’ve been friends forever. Mike and I were on the same cheerleading team. They called them yell leaders. Mike still has his old uniform.
We’d be at all the games that the boys played. It was a really good time. Everybody in our cohort liked each other, and there was never any unkindness or bullying.
Austin High was very big, and in my junior year, there were 1,200 people. Many of our parents either worked for the government or the University of Texas, so we had a lot in common. It’s funny, as my mom was a former student, too.
We wear the school colors
The uniforms were maroon and white — an unusual combination. Still, we wear our colors at formal reunions, often bringing along our old photographs and yearbooks.
We sing the school song, “Loyal Forever,” which includes the line, “Spirit Unequaled, Never Let It Die.”
There’s also the fight song, which is more risque, of course. Let’s just say that it’s about freshmen, beer, whisky, and rye, and leave it there!
We are so lucky to be part of this fun community. None of us gets lonely because we’re among precious friends we’ve known all our lives.
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