Mary Rachel (Johnston) Shankles was born in Newport, Arkansas, in 1948 and graduated with the NHS Class of '66. Rachel, as she has been called since college days, has a vivid memory of her escapades with her sister Cindy (Johnston) Sweat and the neighborhood kids
McLain Street Gang includes stories of her neighborhood on McLain Street, childhood friends, classmates at East Newport School, the Blue Bridge over the White River, small town life, and Headlee's Rexall Drug Store, where her dad worked.