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Columbia High School Class of 1948 a close-knit group Photo links with this story; photos, and text will be added, and text will corrected where needed. A roster of the graduating Columbia High School Class of 1948 is included. By Ed Waggener email: ed@columbiamagazine.com Phone 270-384-0612 The 1948 graduates of Columbia High School (CHS) remain a close group. They hold class reunions every five years, as many Adair County high schools' alumni do. The last one was in 2003, the next one will be in 2008. But in between, several of the 1948 CHS graduates in the Columbia area meet informally on a more frequent basis. Saturday, September 10, eight of the graduates met at Lindsey Wilson's Cranmer Dining Center. It's an easy way for them to keep up with the Class of 1948 news with little formality. They included Daisy Sandusky White, Martha Collins Bell, Mildred Jean Dillingham Sparks, Emily Cain Edwards Sargent, Kenneth Scott, Bea Coomer Beard, Allene Collins Aaron, and Gladys Combest Murrell. Former Adair County Court Clerk Bob White, not a member of this class, attended with his wife, Daisy. It took grit to get an education at Columbia High School in 1948 The Columbia High School Class of 1948 is an outstanding alumni group. It took grit back then to get an education. Emily Sargent remembers that. "I believe ours was the first class when school buses went out into the county," she said. She was lucky, her father would usually take her to school by car from their home on Rocky Hill Road. "But when it snowed, we'd walk," she said. But they only had to walk as far as today's Pelham Branch Road, or what used to be called Old Greensburg Road. There, at the junction, they'd catch a ride with Bob Jeffries, who had the use of his dad's farm tractor. "We'd ride the farm tractor on those snowy days," she remembers, "all the way to Bob's grandmother's (Mrs. Zell Jeffries') house, and he'd leave the tractor there and then we'd walk on to school from there." Maurice T. Keys was in the class. He was the Class of '48's top basketball player, though in 1947-1948 a younger sensation, Clyde Bryant, was already seen as the Columbia Redhounds' messiah, and the town just knew that one day, Clyde Bryant and John Burr would bring a state basketball title to Columbia. It was the Manifest Destiny kind of thing. It was going to happen, sure as Jesus. Miss Mary Lucy Lowe was the the Principal of Columbia High School when the Class of 1948 was there. In those days, though, the real CEO of the school was the Superintendent, who at that time was H.R. Kirk. Mr. Kirk was a courtly, polished individual, who, they said, could pray one of the prettiest prayers ever heard at the Columbia Presbyterian Church. The curriculum was fairly broad at Columbia High School in 1947-48, then, judging from the faculty the school had. Miss Frances Russell taught English, French, and Latin. Mrs. Bernice Flowers taught history and Latin. And a relative newcomer to the faculty, Emma Woody, taught German. Mr. Woody had moved to Columbia as a Smith-Hughes Act subsidized teacher, the first vo-ag department head at the school. And Mrs. Billy Walker, Emily Sargent remembers, was a math teacher. And for more foreign language, Miss Willie Rosenbaum also taught French. Meal time was much different back then.Many students brought lunches from home. The school had a cafeteria. And because the campus was pretty much the whole town - schools were much less like penal colonies in days - some of the students also were able to have lunch at home. That was out of the question for Emily Sargent, but she does remember that she and her group often headed over Graded Hill (Guardian Street) to Brown Drug Store, a major all-ages social center then. For those who wanted a good, filling meal for a quarter, there was the Furkins' Little Store next to school. There pops or "dopes," - Coca Cola hadn't lived down it's early trace of opiate reputation - were served in returnable glass bottles. They were a nickel, the same price as potato chips, Moon Pies, peanuts and candy bars. The sandwich counter in the back of the Little Store had 15 sandwiches: hot dogs fixed either way - with catsup or mustard; shredded barbecue, hamburgers, and pimento or tuna fish sandwich. The best thing was that a prudent diner could win the whole tab back with a single purchase of a nickel drum of peanuts. There was a chance to win a shiny new penny, nickel, dime or quarter which was inserted into the occasional box. My older brother, Arthur Lee, would always win a quarter if he could shake the box. He could distinguish between each of the coins; winning a quarter was a nice return on a 25 investment.-ED "We were one of the largest classes at Columbia High School," Bea Beard remembers. "I believe we started out with 130. There were three home rooms," she said. This was a class with a lot of grit. Out of the 130 freshmen, 74 of them received diplomas from Columbia High School, Bea Coomer Beard believes. Mrs. Beard is the unofficial class historian and unpaid alumni director. She furnished the following list of graduates. The names in parenthesis are married names, and "(dec.)," of course, denotes that Mrs. Beard has learned of that 1948 CHS graduates death. The list is as follows: Allene Collins (Aaron), Norman Aaron (dec.), Buddy Antle, Charles Antle, Margie Ballou, Stella McKinney (Ballou), Tyler Baker, Betty Bardin (Bottom), Stephen Tyler Bowe, Margie Burris (Coffey), Freeda Burton (Snead) (dec.), Marcella Burton (McQueary), Garen Bybee (dec.), Emma Jean Campbell (dec.), Tony Clark, Martha Collins (Bell), Gladys M. Combest (Murrell) David Claycomb, Bea Coomer (Beard), Ernestine Coomer (Morris) (dec.), Hazel Cravens (Arnold), Edwin Russell Cundiff, Kathleen Dohoney (Reeves), Mildred Dillingham (Sparks), Marie Dunbar (Baise), Emily Cain Edwards (Sargent), Lynwood Goff, Martha Hubbard (Gaskins), Faye Hadley (Willan), Mildred Harmon (Rogers) (dec.), Alda Hartford (Sellers), Addie Mae Reeves (Hendrickson), Arthur June Hendrickson, Tom Ed Holmes, Charles Edward Hood, Carl Hughes (dec.), Ruby Hutchison (Worthington) (dec.), Mildred Jeffries (Baker), Joy Haven Jones (Hood), Mildred May Jones, Ronald Kelsay (dec.), Jeannie Keltner Wilson (dec.), Morris T. Keys, Pat Lancaster Callison, Inez Lawless (Sagala), Nelda Sue Lloyd (Rowe), Margie Wooten (Moore) (dec.), Martha Murrell (Brockman), James Page, Mary Ruth Page (Sumner), Frank Paxton (dec.), Wilma Pelley (Ballou), Kenneth Powell, Ralph Reece, Myradine Rice, Ceola Rowe, Edward Rutledge, Kenneth Scott, Veneer Shepherd (Bentley), Bobby Short, Maxwell Simpson (dec.),Madeline Sparks (Loy), Bobby Squires, Houston Stephens, Fay Sublett (Bennett), Anetna Walker (Russell), Frances Wesley (Cunningham), Chan Taylor (Otis), Jessie Tupman (Shirley), Juanita Tutt (Hesford), Billy Walker, Imogene Watson (Schroelbuche), Eura Nell Webb (Russell), Daisy Sandusky (White), Rachel Willis (Thiel), and Hugh Young. Daisy Sandusky was the class valedictorian. Mary Ruth Page was salutatorian. They keep in touch, despite distances, despite disasters The Columbia High School Class of 1948 has kept in touch, though today a large number of them live a great distance away. Mrs. Beard is staying in touch with those who are ill or a awaiting medical reports which might suddenly alter their lives. And they've kept in touch with through reunions. At the 2003 one, 30 of the class members were in attendance. One classmate, Juanita Tutt Hesford, will be coming back to Columbia after Hurricane Katrina wiped out her Pascagoula, MS, home. The class members made it a point to learn about the situation and will be welcoming her home. They were a hardworking group, whose ranks include many highly successful business people, several who earned business degrees, and maybe one or two who got into a few scrapes along the way, but on balance, they seemed to have done better than most, with lasting bonds as great as any Adair County class has ever had. Related photo links:
This story was posted on 2005-09-15 14:55:22
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