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Class Reunion Stories- 1
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Howard High School alumni become major Atlanta force
by Hal Lamar
What do Vernon Jordan, Walt "Clyde" Frazier, attorney Howard Moore, Olympic gold medalists Miriam McDaniel and Margaret Matthews, the late Maynard Jackson, former Atlanta Mayor, federal judge Clarence Cooper, business mogul Herman Russell and former Atlanta Police Chief Eldrin Bell all have in common? Before any of them rose to the heights they achieved in their varied political, sports, legal, business and law enforcement acumens, they all passed through the ivy walls of historic David T. Howard High School (DTH).
Enough figures probably haven't been created to document the thousands and thousands of students turned teacher, preacher, firefighter, police officer or laborer who walked the halls, attended classes and played on the school’s athletic teams. Howard was the second high school to open for blacks in 1949 after starting its life as a grammar school in the early '20s. Howard was named for David T. Howard, a prominent, prosperous Atlanta mortician.
To preserve the legacy of the home of the Ramblers (said to have been named for the popular automobile), the David T. Howard national alumni association was created.
The group, started 12 years ago with a few hundred hard core Howard High alums, has grown to over 1,300. President Wayne Jones (Class of 1952) said the true origins of the association can be traced to the Howard Class of 1961, which held a breakfast attended by about 150 people. “From there, we assembled as a group and the national alumni association was off.” The national group was organized in 1993.
He said members from almost all of Howard's classes (1948 until 1976 when the school was officially closed) all fall under the umbrella of the national alumni association. Howard began as a grammar school in 1923. One of its most prominent graduates, Martin Luther King, Jr., finished in 1940. The building still stands and houses several school administration offices and the official archives of the Atlanta public school system. “When we learned three years ago they were trying to tear down our school building, we circulated petitions and Councilmember C.T. Martin ensured the building was preserved.
One of the association's principal functions is preserving the school's rich legacy, but they are also very busy in the local community. They formed a drug prevention partnership with the Atlanta Public School system and do a drug prevention program at the Howard building with the Family Involvement Center. The alumni group has also adopted Walden Middle School located two blocks from the old DTH building, Parkview Manor Nursing Home and last year’s mentoring program sent over 100 seventh grade Walden boys to day camp.
On October 11th, the association will roll back the hands of time by bringing back the old stunt night that was popular in the 1950s and 60s especially at predominately black schools who used the event as a fundraiser for its general fund.
The association will celebrate a park opening named for T. Herman Graves, the school's only football coach in its history who taught at Howard starting in 1943.
To learn more about the Howard National Alumni Association, contact Wayne Jones
at 404-223-1111. Membership for Howard graduates is free.
A profile of the Association is at sweetauburn.com.
About the author
Hal Lamar is an Atlanta native and a staff writer for the Atlanta Voice newspaper (atlantavoice.com). He was educated in the Atlanta Public school system but unfortunately didn't attend David T Howard High School
This article originally appeared in the Atlanta Voice.
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63 years of reflection, Class of 1937
by Ted Crossland
Five ladies enjoyed a grand reunion and period of reflection from their 63-year-old graduation day. In 1937 three boys and sixteen girls finished their “regular course” at Lee Woodard High School, Wilson (Black Creek), Wilson County, North Carolina. Then after some additional education and training they joined the world of work and wonder.
In September 2000 five of these (now 80 + year-old) “girls” joined together for the first time in 63 years to reflect on all that has happened and “catch up” on the intervening years. Helen Evans (Fulghum) Joy, Gladys Evans Simpson, Rachel Davis Cross, and Helen Yelverton Freeman (Class Vice-President) gathered in the home of Margaret Willis Taylor (Class Treasurer) at Nichols, South Carolina, to enjoy lunch and each other. They swapped tales and photographs while rebuilding their memory banks. The next day they reconvened in Wilmington, North Carolina, at Helen Yelverton Freeman’s home for an afterglow and to continue tales of memories and friendship.
There is a rumor in the wind that when they reconvene their catching up will perhaps include remembering skits from the school banquet on May 7, 1937. Helen Yelverton played Etta Williams in the one act farce – Billy’s Coming! Or the Gladys Evans role as a nurse in the two act farce comedy – Aunt Billy from Texas! Perhaps they will recall the Commencement Sermon for graduation on May 16, 1937, at eleven o’clock and the hymns sung that day – Onward Christian Soldiers and Bless Be the Tie that Binds. These women have certainly marched onward remembering their binding ties and becoming real survivors.
About the author
Ted Crossland is Helen Joy's son-in-law (husband of Libby (Fulghum) Crossland) and a retired Naval submarine officer now living and working in Yorktown, Virginia. As a member of the York County Historical Committee he performs Public Information Officer duties for the group and travel through as much history as is possible.
He reports that these five wonderful women and their friendship is still strong.
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Black and white
by Connie E. Curry
She is black, I am white. Linda Carroll enrolled at Buckeye Valley High School in Delaware, Ohio, in 1971. She was shy, and appeared sad and frightened. She was of color and different from students at a predominantly white, country school.
She stood alone near the office that first day. Was that for security? I wondered about her and felt pain for this new minority student. Courage doesn’t hide in a cave and I knew she had courage. I was drawn to her and wanted to comfort her and offer friendship. She accepted my invitation for lunch and a friendship grew. We shared a common interest … sports. We led our school to victories on the basketball court.
We graduated and life took us down different paths and new lives. Her parents left our community. I never forgot her and I often looked for her. Many times when the new telephone book came, I looked for her name in hope she was back in my area. I called many wrong numbers in surrounding areas hoping to find her.
One day an unfamiliar e-mail message appeared. I am not sure why, but I opened it. (I ALWAYS delete unfamiliar mail.) The e-mail simply read, “Connie, I don’t know if you remember me, but I attended school with you. You made my days happy and I just wanted to thank you.” Of course her name had changed. I never would have found her.
Remember her? How could I forget this brave girl, forced into a school that did not quite know how to interact with her, who brought me so much joy.
I shared the news with my family. I immediately wrote back and couldn’t wait for her response. I was curious about her adult life; where she lived, and whether she had children, a career and happiness.
We rekindled our friendship, shared family stories and pictures on the Internet. I could almost hear her laughing as I told her all the silly things about my adulthood.
She had recently been very ill and survived against all odds. My dear friend fought again to enjoy life and won!
She recently came from Florida to see her old home, and there were two people she wished to visit. Mr. Dewitt, her bus driver who stood up for her against racial slurs, and me. It had been 30 years since we had last laughed together. It was as if those years were never lost. Our friendship picked up as if it were 1974. We drove by her old home and Buckeye Valley High School, and visited Mr. Dewitt.
I am grateful that I had entered my name on a high school reunions web site. This wonderful technology reunited two friends who won’t be lost again.
We laughed like teens, and I knew when she left that we would reunite another time.
About the author
Connie E. Curry, a freelance writer and columnist in Ohio, loves to write nonfiction humor and personal interest stories. She writes for many magazines, and won the James Thurber Humor Writing Contest. She is a member of the New American Voice, a Delaware Writing group and Write Life Writing Group. “Life is full of humor and my three children and granddaughter give me the tools to put laughter into words.”
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