Lifelong Friends Travel to Rowlett to Bring Reunion to Schoolmate

This week, Doug Dills is hosting a school reunion at his Rowlett home that he didn't know was going to happen.

"These are my brothers," Dills said hugging his schoolmates from Camden Military Academy in South Carolina. "I'm the only one that really looks the same as I did back when I was 18!"

Dills, Arnie Levine, Truette Dobson, Mike Thompson and Paul Johnson met at Camden Military Academy and have been friends for more than 50 years.

"You're 17 years old and now your turn around, you're 70," Thompson said.

The group flew to North Texas from North and South Carolina to surprise Dills because he missed a school reunion. Dills, who uses a wheelchair, didn't think he'd be able to travel to South Carolina.

"I got into a funk, I guess you'd say, when I got sick," Dills explained. "Started getting down on yourself. You start having thoughts you shouldn't have about your existence."

"I could just tell he missed us," Levine said. "I said I'm going to see Doug, anybody wanna go? And it was like, immediate, immediate, immediate. There was no hesitation. They said, yeah!"

"When Arnie called and said Doug needs us," Truette Dobson said holding back tears. "You drop everything."

"Everything you could hope for is right here," Johnson said looking at his friends.

They reminisced over a yearbook, newspaper clippings, and old photos.

"There's Doug right there," Levine said pointing to a black-and-white, younger version of Dills. "We pick up right where we left off that day in 1970."

"There's a bond that's there because you're going through all the same crap. You're also going through all the good stuff," Dills said. "Funny how the stuff comes back to you in your memory bank."

Small reunions like theirs don't typically make news, but the lessons we can learn from them are worth sharing.

"They brought me from here, to here," Dills said lowering his hand from the floor to above his head. "Because they took the time to show me they love me."