School celebrates reunion
Published 6:58 pm Monday, July 27, 2015
The members of the Southwestern High School class of 1965 who were celebrating their “Golden Anniversary” reunion on Saturday pose for a photo. From left are James Copeland, class valedictorian; Norris Baker, class president; and Robert Holland, class vice president.
The alumni of Nansemond County Training School and Southwestern High School celebrated their next-to-last “Golden Anniversary” reunion on Saturday.
The school has official reunions only once every three years. Each year, the class whose 50th anniversary is that year gets special recognition.
As the school graduated its last senior class in 1970, this year’s class is the next-to-last one to be able to celebrate its 50th officially.
The oldest living graduate of Nansemond County Training School, 103-year-old B.J. Holland, is greeted at Saturday’s reunion by another, somewhat younger graduate, Enoch Copeland, who is helping him remove his hat as he steps inside the Hilton Garden Inn.
The every-three-years scheme was devised as a way of celebrating reunions but dedicating the majority of the group’s resources toward its ambition — seeing the former school building become a community center.
“That’s our ultimate goal,” said J. Harold Faulk, president of the Nansemond County Training School/Southwestern High School Alumni Association. “We’re hoping to keep the project alive and well for Holy Neck.”
The first public high school for black students in what was then Nansemond County, the Nansemond County Training School was built in 1924 with $1,500 from the Rosenwald Fund, established by Sears, Roebuck and Co. leader Julius Rosenwald to provide seed money for simple but safe schools where black children could learn.
Local black families contributed $5,000 to the Nansemond County Training School, and $11,500 in public money also went into the pot.
The former building still stands on the site of the former Southwestern Elementary School. That building was constructed in 1956, and in 1964, the name was changed to Southwestern High School.
After graduating its last senior class in 1970, the building began housing grades four through seven. In 1979, it became a middle school, and in 1990, it became an elementary school. Last year, it closed and students moved to the new Pioneer Elementary School.
Faulk said the group would like to see the building renovated into a community center, such as has been done with the former East Suffolk High School, another Rosenwald School, as well as the former Robertson Elementary School. They now are the East Suffolk Recreation Center and Whaleyville Recreation Center, respectively.
Faulk said the alumni already have paid for the design of the project.
“We brought some money to the table to partner with the city,” he said. “That was the foundation of our school — the community plus Rosenwald.”
Among the guests of honor at Saturday’s reunion was the oldest living graduate, 103-year-old B.J. Holland. Mary E. Williams, 95, was also in attendance.
The three graduates in attendance celebrating their golden anniversary, from the class of 1965, were James Copeland, Norris Baker and Robert Holland.
About 75 people total attended. After lunch at the Hilton Garden Inn, guests toured Pioneer Elementary School and then returned to the Hilton Saturday evening for dancing.
