A great- grandmother, Ms. Burruss is the lively 78-year-old widow of the late state Rep. A.L. Burruss, a mover and shaker in the General Assembly who served as House Speaker Pro Tem and Majority Leader at the time of his death in 1986.
Ms. Burruss said the prom affair started in the late 1960s, when her son, Robin Burruss, now CEO of the family's food manufacturing business Tip Top Poultry, attended Marietta High. The family pool house behind the Burruss home was a favorite hangout for teenagers, "and that way I could keep an eye on them. I wasn't born yesterday," Ms. Burruss said.
The MHS superlatives began gathering on her front porch to be photographed, and the event morphed into the entire senior class doing so before taking their dates to prom, she recalled.
"As many beautiful homes as there are in Marietta, I can't imagine why they keep coming, but now it's the children of the those children. I look out and I see those grandparents and knowing they had theirs done right here - that's why a lot of the kids want to come, because their grandparents did," she said.
Senior Melanie Valentine, who intends to study psychology at University of West Georgia in Carrolton, said she's been waiting to be photographed in her prom dress on Ms. Burruss' staircase for a long time.
"I've seen it every year in the paper, like even when I was a little girl, and it's something I've always looked forward to, and this year I finally got to do it. It's exciting to be here," she said.
The time has come, she said, to grow up.
"It's bittersweet because I have met so many wonderful friends at Marietta, and I have to say goodbye to them, but I am ready to move on and try new things," Valentine said.
Valentine said she bought her dress at Tie the Knot on the Square.
"It was the second dress I tried on and I fell in love with it - second dress. That's pretty good. I have to say my mom actually picked it out, and I tried it on and it was perfect," she said.
Senior Erik Houston, who is bound for the U.S. Military Academy this summer with nominations from U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, chose a creative way to ask senior Savannah King as his date.
"I did a scavenger hunt and laid out the letters P, R, O, M throughout the school, and she found them throughout the day, and we met at the end of the day," Houston said.
Added King, who intends to study chemistry at the University of Georgia: "I said 'yes,' of course."
Ms. Burruss said the students who flood her lawn every year are always on their best behavior.
"They are so well behaved. I was telling the principal, what a nice job. I don't see smokers out there. They don't ever mess up the flowers. It is just amazing, they really take notice where they are," she said.
Ms. Burruss said she hasn't seen much of a change in the Marietta High School students over the years.
"I don't know. Maybe (principal Leigh Colburn) gives them a talk before they come. I had no idea until this year that she was out there directing everything, and I think the kids respect her that much."
On second thought, the young ladies do dress a bit differently these days, Ms. Burruss said.
"The dresses have evolved. They're so 'with it' now. It is not 'Gone with the Wind'-Belle South, you know, anymore. It's Hollywood," she said.
Colburn expected around 450 students to attend the prom at the Hilton Marietta Conference Center. The theme was "Under One Moon," and it was a prom for both juniors and seniors. Colburn said one of the things that makes Marietta special is the connection between past and present.
"We had a lot of people out here who are parents who went to Marietta High School," Colburn said. "We had a couple whose dads played on the football team together. And they were here tonight, so I think that's part of what makes it special is a reconnection with the students and the past, and I think it's a beautiful setting and we were lucky with the weather tonight, and so it's just, I think, a nice way and a nostalgic way for the kids to start out on the prom."
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