Former Newville School students remember the good times

Sue Hartley Ward sat patiently outside the gymnasium at Westgate Recreation Center.

A large envelope rested on her lap. A din of noise that sounded like elementary school lunchroom chatter could be heard inside.

She pulled a folder from the envelope and proudly displayed her 1941 graduation program from Newville School. In just a few minutes, Ward, 87, would be inside sharing memories of Newville School with hundreds of others who went there.

She would laugh and talk about the bus ride from Tumbleton to the school on Happy Hollow Road. On rainy days, she said students would time a rush to one side of the bus so it would slide into the ditch.

“We would slip into that gully and miss school,” she said, throwing her head back and laughing heartily.

She would talk about leaving school and going downtown to Gene Hodges’ store for nickel ice cream, or to the Joyce Theater for a movie that cost a dime to see.

“Wonderful times,” she said.

They all spoke warmly about Newville School. About 350 came out Saturday evening for the reunion. They came from Dallas, Tampa, Tennessee, North Carolina and other places. They shared hugs, phone numbers and stories — lots of them.

Newville’s first schoolhouse opened in 1889. Over the years, a small but thriving community built itself around the school.

Billy Harrison went to Newville School in the 1950s. Back then, Newville had everything — two hardware stores, a theater, barber shop, dry cleaner, two doctors, a drug store and three grocers.

“Now, it’s all gone,” Harrison lamented.

The school closed in 1967 at the decree of Federal Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. Some students were sent to Abbeville and the rest to Headland.
Now, Newville is hardly a stop in the road.

“When you close the school, you close the town,” Harrison said.

It was a painful time for the community, especially for the students.

Joe Singletary was a sophomore when Newville School closed.

“That was some kind of bad,” he said. “Very painful.”

But Saturday night wasn’t planned to rehash painful memories. So the people gathered and talked about happier times, such as the time Sherrill Singleton, Billy Lingo and a handful of others led the Newville Bearcats to a Peanut Bowl championship. They ran into the old sweethearts and chatted while the music of Brenda Lee, Patti Page and Loretta Lynn played in the background.

Ted and Mary Mims were Newville School sweethearts who got married in 1951, shortly after Mary, a Newville cheerleader and valedictorian of her senior class, graduated. Ted, an All-Wiregrass quarterback and guard, graduated the year before. They celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary this year.
“We loved everything about it,” Mary Mims said.

“Everybody was just like a happy family,” said Joleen Kirkland, a 1950 graduate. “If you were in the same class, then y’all were like family members.”
Jo Harrison Howell, who helped plan the event after talking with former classmates and learning that many were passing away, said it felt like a family reunion.

“Newville has held a special place in my heart for a long time,” said Howell, who moved away from Newville at a young age and now lives in south Florida. “We all grew up together, all the way from first to 12th grade. Everybody knew everybody.”