Class of 1965 AHS alumni Authur Arden was able to conquer death and accomplish his goals even with the difficult obstacles placed in his way. Arden’s high school  life journey wasn’t what he expected.

Authur Arden was born in New York City and grew up in the South Bronx for majority of his childhood. In the Bronx, Arden’s family lived in tenements that were built in the 1800s. Arden remembers living up on the sixth floor and that there was no elevator.

As Authur Arden was entering high school a job opportunity for his father arose in Washington, D.C.,  and therefore his family to move to Virginia.

Arden’s high school experience was nothing close to perfect and was actually one of the toughest times in his life, however he still enjoyed it. “My time at Annandale High School was one of the greatest times of my life,” Arden said.   

Poor health conditions have been a big part of his life into high school and caused him to miss out on a lot. However, he was able to get through two years of physical education and for a while Arden played the clarinet and was a part of the marching band. Arden remembers his experience in the marching band.

“During the march, they would always place the bass drum right behind me so when we were marching I would  try to listen intently to the music so I could fit in right, but instead all I heard was bang bang bang. I hated that bass drum behind me,” Arden said.

During junior year, his health conditions continued to follow him and the first thing that almost killed Arden was his allergies. He grew up on an extremely strict diet because of how severe his allergies were. “I was so allergic at one point that all my mother could feed me was rice with cinnamon on it because I was allergic to everything else,” Arden said.

He was later told he had stage four brain cancer. The doctors diagnosed him with Astrocytoma, a type of brain cancer that takes over the central nervous system. Arden’s parents were told that he would not make it. To Arden, this battle with cancer was just another little hurdle in his life.  For about five months Arden fought vigorously for his life and he was able to recover. He returned back home in a wheelchair, but the courageous young man did not allow himself to stay in it for long.

“One day the physical therapist came over to my parent’s house and knocked on the door, he saw the door open and when the door completely opened he saw me standing there while the wheelchair was in the corner. He said, ‘look at you’ and I said, ‘yeah look at me,” Arden said.

When Arden returned back to school he worked diligently to catch up on everything he had missed.In 1965, Arden was able to graduate on time, along side his fellow classmates. Authur Arden had one goal set for that day in Constitution Hall.

“I promised all the kids that I would not accept my diploma in a wheelchair. They wheeled me in my wheelchair up to the stage and it took me some time but I was able to stand up and walk across to receive the diploma in my hands,” Arden said.

Despie the odds aganist Arden with his health, he did not let that stop him from achieveing his goals. He beat cancer and obatined what he wanted most, to graduate with his class. Many high school students think their lives are stressful and complicated, but have not endured what Arden had to go through.