Gone but not forgotten: grads of old Pleasant Garden High to meet
This is the season for class reunions, and some of those classes have clocked much mileage since graduation day.
A blog last week reported the the 73rd anniversary of the Class of 1933 at Greensboro Senior High School (now Grimsley) reunion coming up May 13 at Muirs Chapel United Methodist Church.
A week before on Friday, May 5, the Class of 1941 at the former Pleasant Garden High School will hold its 65th reunion. The site will be Centre Friends Meeting Fellowship Hall on N.C. 62.
Compared to Grimsley's Class of '33, which had 375 graduates, Pleasant Garden was a tiny high with 39 graduates.
When survivors get together, they'll be plenty of to recall, including the school's six-man football team. It would be awhile before P-G had enough students to pull 11 on the field at the same time.
It could find, however, find nine players for a baseball team. My, how those country boys could play. Pleasant Garden won the state's Class C division in 1940 and 1941.
Class historian Gerry Kirkpatrick of Greensboro writes that the class's size got a boost from the presence of the Kirkman triplets - Mary, Marian and Stacy. The class also had two brother and sister combinations.
In a news release about the reunion, Kirkpatrick recalls teachers and especially the principal, E.D. Idol. Idol later became superintendent of the old Guilford County School System, made up of rural schools and some close to the city, such as Bessemer and Rankin.
Idol also did some teaching at P-G.
"We often enjoyed 'side tracking' Mr. Idol from the scheduled class topic to more interesting life experiences," Kirpatrick writes.
The class, he boasts, was the last to graduate after attending 11 years. In 1942, a 12th graded was added to the county schools. Rural schools in those days tended to be "union schools" housing all grades
The Class of '41 is blessed with longevity and good luck. Kirkpatrick says of the 39 grads, 21 live, as does one teacher, Louisa Millard Douglas.
Five sweetheart couples in the class married after graduation, according to Kirkpatrick's count.
Many graduates stepped out of their cap and gowns and into military uniforms. The United State's entry into World War II would come with the bombing of Pearl Harbor that December. P-G warriors saw combat in the Pacific and Europe.
"Fortunately, the class suffered no casualties...and the classmates were able to return home to continue their lives, most within the local area," Kirkpatrick says.
Pleasant Garden High lasted until the early 1960s when it and rivals, Alamance(Rep. Howard Coble's alma mater) and Nathanael Greene highs were consolidated into Southeast Guilford High School. The three schools left behind remain as elementary schools.
For more information about the reunion: call Kirkpatrick starting Thursday at 297-0033.