CLARKSVILLE, TN – In 1969, Joseph Ricky Reynolds made a decision that set a course for his life he never imagined. Now, 54 years later, Reynolds proves that change takes courage and that dreams are possible.
Reynolds was 15 years old during the height of the Vietnam War. “Young people were rebelling, and the school here was a little bit, a little bit wild at that time—a lot of fights. A lot of crazy stuff going on,” he explains. “I skipped some classes, but I didn’t do bad on grades back then,” he says.
One afternoon, Reynolds and his friends decided to drive out to Paris Landing to swim. But when he dove into the shallow water, Reynolds broke his neck, paralyzing him.
“I felt some hands grab me and pull me out,” he remembers. “When I raised up, it was like 1 million needles were sticking all through me, and I flopped back down, and I can’t remember much from that moment on.” Hours passed until he finally made it to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The doctor told his family if he made it through the night, he would never walk again.
“I was 15, going on 16, and I couldn’t move anything,” he explains how he stayed immobile in the hospital bed for the next 57 days. “I couldn’t move my legs. I had no feeling from about my chest down.” He pauses as the memories from the experience still overwhelm him. After nearly two months in the hospital, “I started moving my toes.”
Finding a way back
“At that time, I was rough and tough and mean. It turned me around, you know; I started going to church trying to do better, and it completely turned my life. In one way, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
After 63 days in the hospital, Reynolds walked out using two canes. Recovery would be a long slow process. Returning to school, an even longer wait. Reynolds recalls that his family’s home was 20 miles from the school down an old gravel road. “I was going to have to catch a school bus to go to school and try to deal with getting on a bus, getting off,” he says. “In a lot of ways, it was a good thing because when (Charlotte High School) said, ‘Hey, we’re really not equipped. Really what they were saying, we’re not equipped to handle your situation. That’s pretty much what they were saying. In a real nice way.”
Refusing to give up, Reynolds found the next best thing and began to work at his uncle’s hardware store. “Just keep on moving. It was my theory. Keep on, keep going forward, doing the best I could.” It is this mindset that continues to propel him forward. He met his wife, became a successful businessman, and raised a family. Through it all, “I’ve always been an advocate of education.”
Returning to school
His daughter, Misty, first introduced the idea of Adult High School.
Reynolds was apprehensive but could not resist the idea of returning to school. He praised Judy Weimer, school counselor at Adult High School, and the team for their support through the process. After his daughter set up his home computer, he couldn’t stay away. “I wanted to work six, seven, eight hours a day. And I’d call and talk to Judy,” he laughs. “Judy would say, ‘Well, the students don’t work that much.’”
On Wednesday, Reynolds joined the rest of the graduating class from Adult High School and finally crossed the stage he’d been dreaming of for so long. In true grandfather fashion, his focus turns instead to bragging about his grandson Andrew, who is graduating from Clarksville High School. “We took our senior pictures, not all together, but you know, at the same time,” he says proudly.
Reynolds hopes his experience will encourage others to embrace challenges and push through their struggle. “The kids that are coming to Adult High School and (traditional high schools), especially in the last two or three years. Things have been so hard, and I know a lot of young people go through some really hard shifts in their home lives. I see they’re fighting struggles similar to mine. Anybody can accomplish just about anything they want to accomplish with some support.”
That’s what he found at Adult High, the support and encouragement to keep moving forward. Reynolds will continue pursuing his passion and is working on a book about his life story. “I’m not ready to quit learning. I think you learn something every day.”