There is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan called “Forever Young”. The song haunts me. Looking back through the yearbooks from Dora High School, it seems like every year we lose someone to one tragedy or another. We struggle to make sense of what has happened and in our minds we see their picture……and in that picture they will always be forever young.
I don’t remember the exact date, but I remember it was in the fall of 1964 or the spring of 1965 when Larry Spears was killed.. It was late one rainy night and there came a knock at our door. A neighbor who also lived in West Pratt, came to tell us that there had been a bad car wreck less than a hundred yards from our house. My daddy got up and went to see if he could help.
Larry and Billy Rich had turned on the road that leads from the National Guard Armory to the Dora/Cordova road.
The road was fairly new and with the rain and fog, the driver lost control near the bottom of the hill and the car flipped killing Billy instantly. Larry Spears died a short time later. I did not know Larry personally, but I remember his car. He had an old 1949 Ford Coupe with the words “Little Half Fast” written on the rear fenders.