I had so many calls about the old brick elementary building in Andrews that I thought I would share some of the class pictures. It is amazing to see how the clothing styles have changed, yet some are very similar to what we are wearing today.
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Everyone remembers the huge oak trees on the side near the cafeteria and how all the kids ran out the doors at recess. “Oh, I loved to play kickball in the back of the school building,” said Suzanne VanGorder. “I remember how I loved to play ball with Carmen Birchfield and Sheila Grindstaff, and we liked to play down in the pines, where we could run and jump down the hill. I have not thought about that in years, but we had the most fun in that building.”
VanGorder said, “Back then when your teacher told you to sit down and behave, you did, because your parents expected good behavior. I just remember that it was such a happy atmosphere during school, and we had wonderful food in the cafeteria. Those ladies knew how to cook.”
The cafeteria ladies actually cooked fresh food, as Ruth Palmer would go in early and peel enough potatoes to feed the students mashed potatoes. And they had homemade yeast rolls, pan baked macaroni and cheese, and the best meatloaf you have ever eaten.
Carmen (Birchfield) Moore said that she loved Alice Hogsed, who was her teacher in the sixth grade. Then Mrs. Hogsed moved up a grade and Carmen got her again in the seventh grade. “We had some great teachers. I remember one time I was reading a book when Mr. McFalls was teaching and he caught me. So, he made me learn and recite to the class the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ‘The Village Blacksmith.’ Our eighth grade year was fabulous, and it was the first year we got to change classes,” said Carmen. “I went to school in that building from the fourth through the eighth grades. I remember quite vividly that when the “Marble Kids” moved up to Andrews, the boys would walk around the building in one direction and the girls would walk around the other way during recess, so we could check out the new students,” said Sheila Grindstaff Seay. “I loved the scent of the pine trees when the windows were open, because we did not have air-conditioning back then.
“When I was in the eighth grade, I thought I had really moved up because we got to change classes, I felt so grown up. And I remember that comforting smell of the oil mixture that Mr. Johnson and Mr. Tatham put on the wood floors,” said Sheila.
This is a poem I wrote several years ago, and it always makes me think of the huge oak trees that stood like sentinels around the playground of the old brick building:
“I walked amidst the falling leaves as they came tumbling down, with childhood memories close at hand, a tear fell to the ground. For once I played beneath such trees, and frolicked in the sun, I remember well the games we played, I loved them everyone.
“The scent of pine waifed through the air around the needled earth, appraising grounds of shady lanes, a fortune is the worth. Upon a log I sat and dreamed of a younger carefree time, when life was like a passage through storybooks and rhyme. The years have swiftly counted by, for time is not to store, through loving eyes you look around and wish you had seen more. For the tender times of childhood games, will melt away like snow, and like the dust of ancient winds, we know not where it goes.”
Kandy Barnard is a columnist for the Cherokee Scout. To talk about the Andrews Valley, call her at 361-3268 or email kandybarnard@gmail.com.