Pike Hill School alumni reminisce

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON News Editor for the Southern Standard

Former students Thelma Masey, right, and Maxine (Gordy) Winton look at some of the old photographs brought to the reunion. The pictures brought smiles to the faces of these ladies, who have fond memories of the school.

It?s been 45 years since a student sat at a desk at Pike Hill School, but even after all that time former students still have fond memories of the small elementary school in the Faulkner Springs community. In fact, those memories inspired a group of Pike Hill alumni to organize a reunion, inviting as many of their classmates they could contact to attend.

The school was founded in 1905, more than a century ago, and was closed in 1951, giving it a 46 year history of educating students in the rural community it served. Pike Hill alumni Laura Wilson Bryant and County Wayne Pryor were instrumental in organizing the reunion as well as the placing of a sign at the site of the school to commemorate and mark its existence.

The Pike Hill Reunion was held at the Mt. Leo Church of Christ annex building and drew a good crowd, with some former students traveling from as far away as Florida, Maryland, Georgia and South Carolina to attend.

Those attending were treated to a meal from Main Street Bakery, drawings for a number of door prizes and live music. Local radio personality Bobby Newby, who knew many of the Pike Hill students while they were attending school, entertained the crowd with a number of amusing anecdotes, several of which were about the students and the times at the school.

The committee involved in organizing the reunion included Pryor, who was chairman of the reunion committee, and Bryant, who acted as chairperson of the coordinating committee, Nelma Brown Justin was treasurer, and Thelma Ruth Masey was secretary. Also assisting Bryant on the coordinating committee, along with co-chair Ernest Morton, was Charlotte Tuck Pearsall, Don Leatherwood, Paul Rowland and George Crim. This group took on the responsibility of sending out invitations, calling alumni and organizing the celebration. The wives of committee members, including Lou Leatherwood, Pearl Morton and Sally Pryor, also provided invaluable help, according to Bryant, who said all the committee members put in a lot of hours.

?They really worked hard and did a good job,? Bryant said. ?We couldn?t have done it without them.?

Eddie Graham, who now owns the land the school was on, worked with the group and allowed them to put up the permanent Pike Hill School sign.

Bryant and Pryor both said the school was a wonderful place, though it didn?t have much in the way of amenities. A pot bellied stove warmed the building, which began as a one room school but had another room added later on to accommodate its growing student body. A cistern and nearby spring provided drinking water and the restroom facilities were outside.

Still there were memories that stuck with the students, like a unique method of cooking meals on occasion, as Bryant recalled,

?We had to bring food, but once in a while we?d cook on the stovepipe and bake bread,? Bryant said. ?And then sometimes a big pot of beans on top of the big pot-bellied stove.?

?There was an oven over the stovepipe,? Pryor said.

The event was attended by at least one former teacher, Betty Yeager Lively, who started teaching at Pike Hill when she was 19-years old. The former students got to reminisce about old times, pie-suppers, sports and teachers and classmates who have passed on.

?We?ve got good memories,? Bryant said. ?Good memories.?