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GREENSBORO - The words community and family spilled off the lips of Dudley High School alumni Sunday afternoon as they gathered to remember the place during the combined alumni association's 33rd annual reunion.

Former students from nearly 70 years of the high school's history sat in the shade of trees on the front lawn and reminisced about a time when, for many, there were few other choices for high school.

"The thing about Dudley is we were all neighbors. If you lived on this side of town, you knew each other," said Yvonne Lyons-Revell, president of the alumni association.

Lyons-Revell remembers students walking from Market Street and Murrow Boulevard to get to school - and some bused in from even farther away. She laughed as she recounted how she and some friends pooled their money to get a taxi ride to school.

Those feelings of community are what bring alumni back, Lyons-Revell said, from just a few years ago to years well before integration and from points as far away as the West Coast.

Norman Hoyle came from his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the reunion. Each year the class celebrating its 50th reunion plays host for the event, and as a proud member of the class of 1958, Hoyle said there was no way he would miss this reunion.

For Hoyle, Dudley is the base his successes are built on.

"I'm so thankful for the foundation of knowledge it gave me," he said.

Hoyle recalls a time when the leaders of the school took their responsibilities seriously. The Friendship Crest was an informal group of about 24 students, including the class president, athletic team captains and other notables. A member of the student-organized club, Hoyle recalled their greatest coup was getting school officials to allow juniors to attend the senior prom.

Many alums spoke about the familylike bond they have with their fellow classmates. But for some Dudley graduates, the family bond is the real thing.

Helen Adamson, class of 1939, sat with her daughter, Lois Adamson-Owens, at the picnic. They represent two of the four generations of the family to attend the school.

"I loved to see them grow up," Adamson said of the generations of Dudley grads.

The conviction goes beyond reunions. Lyons-Revell said classes compete to donate the most to the school each year. Last year, more than 45 members of the alumni association volunteered in the schools.

"We as alumni watch this school like a hawk," Lyons-Revell said. Dudley's tradition of community and education must be shared with its current student body, she said.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at 373-7351 or brian.ewing@news-record.com