I never did finish telling you about my year in Fayetteville. I wrote about falling out of the tree in August before my fifth grade year, and I told you about having scarlet fever over Christmas. I’ve also written a bit about the early history of the town. There were a few other memorable things I’d like to share about my time there.
MARCHING WITH THE HIGH SCHOOL BAND
First of all, football season was memorable because my dad decided he wanted me to be a twirling mascot with the high school band. He was the band director. It was fine with me. I don’t know what would have happened if I’d said no because I generally did whatever my parents asked me to do. I had been a mascot also in second grade when we lived in Texas, so it wasn’t a totally foreign idea. I remember practicing with the twirlers after school. The only one in particular that I remember was Tana, who lived near us and who gave me a few twirling lessons even though I already knew how to twirl. I enjoyed the lessons with her, and I remember her telling my dad that I “caught on fast.”
According to the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, the former high school was closed in 1999. In Panorama of Fayette County, John Cavalier says it had been converted to a middle school in 1977. 1 A new addition had been built in 1953. John Cavalier includes the photo below in his book and says, “The wooden building seen on the left was the former Estuary School. It was moved here in 1958 to accommodate the seventh and eighth grade black students. Building torn down in 1971.” That may be true, but in the school year 1959-1960, it was used as the band hall. I know that because I had to go over there for fifth grade band as I started learning to play the alto horn, and I also had to go over there to practice with the twirlers. I am pretty sure the Fayette County schools had been fully integrated by that time because I remember black students being in my fourth grade classroom the year before in Mount Hope.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
The elementary school was quite old even when I was there. I don’t know if there is a new building yet or not, but I found this photo published by yelp.com. I don’t know what year it is, but it looks the same as I remember it except for all the wooden play equipment. When I was there, the school had huge swings that would go really high—fun! The play equipment shown in the photo looks tame by comparison.
I remember many of my classmates by name, and I have had fun looking through some of the Fayetteville annuals at Ancestry.com to see what happened to them in high school. There were some really smart girls in my class, and it appears they were all very active and successful. Even though I was only in Fayetteville for one year, I remember those friendships fondly. Most of the girls were in Girl Scouts with me. We used to meet in the First Methodist Church and the leader was a very nice lady, whose name I don’t remember. They surprised me on my birthday by taking a trip to some restaurant or cafe to get ice cream.
Some of their names are mentioned in this news article about a birthday party I attended.
As I remember it, there was only one fifth grade class. Our teacher was Mrs. Shackleford. She was a very good teacher, and I had a good year despite the broken arm and the bout with scarlet fever. One of my best subjects was always spelling, and I won the Fayetteville spelling bee that included grades five through eight. As a reward, I got to go with the school “safety patrol” to the state Capitol in Charleston. I had been there before, but it was still fun to take the day off from school for a trip.
The runner-up and I progressed to the next/second spelling bee, which included other schools in Fayette County. That event was held in the evening, so many parents were in attendance. The top two spellers would get to continue to the third level. Well, I was one of THREE left near the end of the bee, so everything was on the line when I was given the word “accost”. Even though I had spelled it correctly at home when we practiced, for some reason, I could not remember whether it had one “c” or two. Unfortunately, I made the wrong choice, and only included one “c”. So that was the end of my spelling bees for that year. I was quite angry with myself for not doing better—certainly not angry with anyone else.
Having taught 30 years in elementary grades, I could say a lot about this report card. Some of it is just weird. I would never require students to do 30 book reports in one year. Nor would I ever put a grade for Weekly Reader on the report card. There are a couple of other things I would do differently, but I was proud that I made 100 on the West Virginia History Test at the end of the year.
AT HOME
We lived in this green house on Harvey Street. I remember that not long after we moved there, two teenage boys got in a fight right by that church. I was traumatized. I had never been around violence (thankfully), and I remember being very upset by that. Fortunately, I don’t remember anything else of that nature occurring while we lived there. (Google Map photo)
I do remember that the snow was very deep that winter. Standing in the driveway, it was up to my waist. I hated it. Never enjoyed snow much at all. The house was pretty close to everything. It was only a short walk to school, to the library, to Ben Franklin, to the grocery, and even to the theatre. Even in the snow, I walked many times to the library, which I loved due to the fact I was an avid reader.
The library was behind the large brick building on the left. I believe the Antique Mall pictured (green awning) used to be a small grocery I walked to many times. Beyond that you can see the Methodist Church, where I used to go for Girl Scout meetings. (Google Map photo)
I found a photo on Google of the Fayette Theatre downtown.
It’s the same one I went to when we lived there in 1959. I loved movies with Doris Day in them, and I was surprised that my mother allowed me to go there all by myself when I wanted to see Pillow Talk, starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson. It was less than a five-minute walk from our house, so it was quite safe.
I had a lot of responsibilities at home. I had to wash dishes after the family meal almost every night. (UGH). It was also in fifth grade that I started ironing all my own clothes. At that time, I had three younger siblings—ages 5, 2, and an infant—and I helped care for them a lot. I have always been good with kids, and I guess that is why. I don’t remember feeling any resentment toward them. One thing I remember is hanging diapers out on the clothesline and bringing them in when they were frozen stiff.
Whenever I got the chance, I would play a word game with friends on the front porch. I remember JOTTO. I have not had the game since then, but I noticed it on eBAY recently, so I might try to get it. I suppose the one I had was the 1956 version, now being sold for almost $45!
We attended church in Fayetteville, but I don’t remember much about it. Seems like we attended more frequently in Mount Hope. This photo was one we took at Easter. I don’t know why my mother dressed me in navy blue. In my opinion, I look awful in navy, red, and white, and I rarely wear those colors, even today.
Those are some of the things that stand out from that year. It was a year that provided good memories, and sometimes I wish we had stayed there.
If you grew up in Southern West Virginia, feel free to write about it and post it on our Facebook page or maybe even allow me to publish here on Substack.
Cavalier, John. Panorama of Fayette County. McClain Printing Company, 1985, p. 175.
I enjoyed your story. I used to ride the greyhound bus to Gauley Bridge all by myself to go to the movies. I loved them.