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The last time I spoke with Felix Brady, I had gone to interview him for the Andrews Journal newspaper about serving in World War II with the “Fighting Seabees,” where he was stationed on Guadalcanal.
After we finished talking about the war in the Pacific theater, he started telling me about going to school in Andrews. He gave me a picture of his class that he thought was in the fifth grade. The picture was taken in front of the old rock gym that used to sit behind the elementary school, before this historical building was demolished, which Felix said was “troubling.”
Keep in mind that he was in his 80s, and I was totally amazed that he still knew every student in that picture. There was only one student that he knew was a Truett, but could not think of his first name. Felix died on Feb. 6, 2009; he was 89 years old.
I have scanned many pictures of the students that attended the old elementary school that used to sit on the hill right above Dr. Vollmer’s office on what we call “the schoolhouse hill.” Everyone loved to see the old pictures, and we could identify many of them when we contacted a student that was in that class.
Everyone who attended the school has different memories of the building. But everyone seems to remember the smell of the wooden floors, which were oiled down periodically with linseed oil to clean and preserve the wood, and it made them shine. And, of course, the wooden floors squeaked when you walked down the hall.
I was in high school and I will never forget getting the message that the elementary school was burning and it seemed that everyone in town was gathered somewhere on the schoolhouse hill to watch it burn. Everyone was crying, and I remember turning to see those who were standing behind me and seeing the reflection of the orange flames in their eyes and in the tears that were rolling down their cheeks. We were standing in front of Dan and Rosalind Hawk’s house as the school we loved went up in smoke.
Earla Creasman Jones was the librarian at the school. She was young and beautiful with hair down to her knees, and all the girls idolized her, and the boys loved her sports car. I talked to her this week, and she told me some things about the fire that I did not know.
She said the day the school burned that the teachers had a long meeting in the library. “We were there fairly late, but it was not hardly dark when we left,” said Earla. “Then later that night the boiler room exploded.”
Earla explained that at each end of the building there were a set of double doors that were padlocked when the school closed. She said the boiler room exploded with such force that it blew the double doors off and the one that flew off down the hill toward the dentist office was still bolted together.
The boiler room was located under the area of the library, and thank goodness the teachers had left.
Kandy Barnard is a columnist for the Cherokee Scout. To talk about the Andrews Valley, call her at 828-361-3268 or email kandybarnard@gmail.com.